[Info-vax] DCPS v2.7 problem with HP P2055dn printer

[Alan Frisbie]

I have been using DCPS with HP printers (4000, 2300, 2420,
8150, etc.) with good luck for years.   Since the P2055
is listed in the DCPS Release Notes as being supported,
I figured that all would be well.

After discovering that some Postscript language features
(MediaType) are not implemented in the P2055, and modifying
my software to work around the missing parts, I thought
all would be well.   Unfortunately, the P2055 (P2055dn,
to be precise) and DCPS v2.7 do not seem to play well
together.

The first problem is that any print job, Postscript or
plain text, has a better than 50/50 chance that an extra
page will print.   This page is blank except for a small
diamond character near the upper left corner.   Since we
are using expensive label stock, this is unacceptable.

The second problem is that sometimes (30% or less) the
print job (again, Postscript or plain text) will remain
in the "Printing" state for long after the last page has
printed.   Then, perhaps several minutes later, the
entire job will print again!   Again, this is unacceptable.

If I simply move the ethernet cable to another printer
model (see above), everything works perfectly.

When printing from a Windoze box (using it as a PCL
printer), none of these problems happen.   The few
times I tried with a Linux system (Postscript mode),
I saw no problems, but I haven't done it enough times
to be absolutely certain yet.

Since I can just switch the cable to another printer
and have it work OK, I tend not to blame DCPS.   On
the other hand, I have seen no problems when using it
with Windoze of Linux.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Is there any feedback path to HP to protest the lack
of the Postscript MediaType parameter in the P2055?

Who is maintaining DCPS these days?   Is there any way
to contact them?

I really need some under-$600 Postscript printers that
will work reliably with DCPS.   Any suggestions?
These are for light-duty use, with probably less than
500 pages per month.

Thanks,
Alan