New printer prints blank pages

[Bob Rasmussen]

See bottom post.

On Wed, 17 May 2017, Brian K. White via Filepro-list wrote:

> 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

Brian, I think you're saying filepro PCL printing on Linux could be MADE 
to work, theoretically, NOT that it DOES work. Am I right? If so, let me 
point out that writing a PCL to PS (or to PDF) translator is a very large 
undertaking.

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)
             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
             web: http://www.anzio.com
  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
                  10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
                  Portland, OR  97223  USA