New printer prints blank pages

Brian K. White brian at aljex.com
Wed May 17 12:24:18 PDT 2017


On 5/17/2017 11:22 AM, scooter6--- via Filepro-list wrote:
> So a GDI printer, while it can print a test page in Linux via CUPS, filePro
> is not able to send data to this type of printer successfully I assume is
> what you're saying?

Yes, and no.

If a printer works with any other app on linux, (or any *ix), then it 
works with filepro, if you want it to.

Linux applications generally only output postscript or pdf, and the only 
way "linux" prints to such printers, is because the print spool/queue is 
configured to invoke a postscript-to-foo or pdf-to-foo converter. 
(various common image formats are handled too, like you can "lpr 
file.jpg", but that's not how most applications print to print spoolers)

You could set up a printer driver that converts pcl-to-foo exactly the 
same way if you wanted. It's just a matter of digging in to cups 
configuration a little more than usually needed, because filepro does 
not output postscript or pdf directly.

One way to go is, you could have filepro execute a pcl-to-postscript 
conversion in it's own printer config so that the print spooler receives 
postscript the same as from any other app.

Or you can add a pcl filter to cups so cups can accept pcl in addition 
to postscript.

I don't have a nice write-up of what exact steps to take. From a little 
googling, it looks like you have to touch a few different things. Create 
a pcltops or pcltopdf filetr, add a mime-type for pcl in a couple 
places, and probably specify that mime-type on the lpr command line 
rather than rely on automatic detection.
(like: # grep '\<pcl$' /etc/mime.types
application/vnd.hp-pcl pcl
So:
lpr -d printername -o document-format=application/vnd.hp-pcl file.pcl)

It looks like it would take a fair amount of trial & error to get it 
working the first time, but after that it would be an easy recipe to 
reproduce. It would be useful for all of us.

Given the above, maybe the simpler way is just make a simpler script 
that just converts pcl to ps, and invoke that as part of the printer 
config in filepro, and that way you avoid having to get into the guts of 
cups. You'd be feeding PS to cups, which it handles already.

Although, this is all for when, for whatever reason, you can't simply 
use a printer that takes pcl5 or lower natively. It's both more 
efficient (in cpu/memory/disk/network) and more reliable to simply use 
lpr -o raw and a printer that supports pcl. I would always do THAT when 
you have any choice.

But, it's not really true to say "linux can print to this printer but 
filepro can't?" No. filepro can actually print to a pcl6 or gdi printer 
exactly as well as any other linux application, because none of them 
prints to those printers either. They are all printing PS or PDF or 
plain text, and cups is converting on the fly. It could do exactly the 
same for PCL and it wouldn't be any different.

-- 
bkw


> On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 11:12 AM, Bob Rasmussen via Filepro-list <
> filepro-list at lists.celestial.com> wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 17 May 2017, Henry Melancon via Filepro-list wrote:
>>
>> I often wondered why my HP Laser Jet 5550 and 8000 have "PCL6" in their
>>> descriptions shown in the Windows Print information of my computer.  They
>>> both, of course, print to FilePro just fine.
>>>
>>
>> It's because what you see in the Windows description is the printer
>> language that the Windows printer driver OUTPUTS. It may be one of several
>> languages that the printer supports, which is why there are often multiple
>> drivers available for the same printer.
>>
>> Note that filePro uses the driver at a very low level, transparently, so
>> the driver's output language is irrelevant. What's important is what the
>> printer can understand.
>>
>>
>> Henry W. Melancon
>>> Documentation Supervisor
>>> Quality Control
>>> Gulf Island LLC
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Filepro-list [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+hemelancon=
>>> gifinc.com at lists.celestial.com] On Behalf Of Jim Asman via Filepro-list
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2017 9:48 AM
>>> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
>>> Subject: Re: New printer prints blank pages
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --------------- Original Message ---------------
>>> At 10:31A Wed May 17 2017, Bill Randall wrote:
>>>
>>> Unless Jim knows something we don't,  PCL6 will not work directly with
>>>>
>>> filePro
>>>
>>> Correct. PCL6 is "compiled" not interpreted like PCL5.
>>>
>>>
>>>> This is from our website and manuals.
>>>>
>>>> Printers specs must support one of the following...
>>>>
>>>> PCL-3
>>>> PCL-5
>>>> PCL-5c
>>>> PCL-5d
>>>> PCL-5e
>>>>
>>>> ...to work with filePro directly.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Add PCL3+
>>>
>>> Delete PCL5d     No such animal AFAIK
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jim
>>> --
>>> jlasman at telus.net                      Spectra Colour Services Ltd.
>>> Phone: (604)584-0977                   Surrey, BC  CANADA
>>> Cell: (604)619-0977                   https://na01.safelinks.protec
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>>>
>> Regards,
>> ....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.
>>
>> personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
>>  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
>>           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
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>>             web: http://www.anzio.com
>>  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
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>>
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