Laser printers for filePro on SCO Unix...

[GCC Consulting]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: filepro-list-
> bounces+gccconsulting=comcast.net at lists.celestial.com [mailto:filepro-
> list-bounces+gccconsulting=comcast.net at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf
> Of Mike Schwartz
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 2:17 PM
> To: filePro mailing List
> Subject: Laser printers for filePro on SCO Unix...
> 
>      I have a customer who needs a fairly hefty laser printer to attach
> to
> the parallel port of their Unix server.  They are looking at HP 4240's,
> 4250's and 4515's and also at Lexmark T644's and W840's.
> 
>      Previously, they used OTC dot-matrix printers, but now that OTC is
> out
> of business, they want to try a couple of laser printers and get out of
> the
> dot-matrix world.
> 
>      Unfortunately, even after reviewing the past emails on this
> subject,
> I'm still not sure how I can be certain that these printers will accept
> straight ASCII print on their parallel ports and work with the filePro
> printer drivers.
> 
>      Here is a Lexmark page, indicating that the W540 is "HP 5e
> compatible":
> 
> http://www.lexmark.com/lexmark/product/home/757/0,6970,204816596_653293
> 751_4
> 91779829_en,00.html?tabId=1#top
> 
>      However, as I recall, that doesn't mean that it is not a "windows-
> only"
> printer.
> 
>      If a printer has a CUPS driver, does that mean for certain that it
> accepts straight ASCII characters through the printer port?
> 
>      It would be nice if I could get my hands on one of these printers,
> then
> actually plug it in and test it, but, I would have to purchase one to
> do
> that.  It will probably not be returnable, so I would have to "eat" it,
> and
> these printers all cost a lot of money!
> 
>      Or, do any of you have a suggestion for a different model of laser
> printer that will print at upwards of 40 pages per minute and print at
> least
> 100,000 pages a month reliably for at least a couple of years?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Mike Schwartz

As a personal aside, I hate Lexmark printers.  Any of my Windows based
clients who purchased them and not necessarily for use with filepro, got rid
of them fairly quickly.  I don’t mean the small home printers, I am talking
about their heavy duty printers.

Now I have most of my clients on HP 4000 series printers. All of them are
very satisfied with the performance and quality of these machines.  Since
most of these printers are getting fairly heavy use, the tray rollers are
usually replaced once or twice a year.  Twice a year for the printers
printing mostly labels.  

All of these printers are printing at or near their monthly duty cycle.

I know there are some on the list who don’t like HP printers, but based on
my and my client's experience, I would stick with them.


Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting
rkreiss at gccconsulting.net