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

[Paul Anderson]

In article <YaGdnRR1eIwfVt7WnZ2dnUVZ_hednZ2d at supernews.com>,
 Alan Frisbie <Frisbie_REMOVE at Flying-Disk.com> wrote:

> 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.

DCPS V2.7 supports the HP LaserJet P2055 printer, but I did not have 
time to sufficiently test one before my time was up at HP.  This 
printer has exhibited problems not typical of HP printers.

One problem is that the printer's PostScript product name doesn't match 
what DCPS V2.7 was coded to expect.  HP has moved away from using PPD 
files for printers, so it's harder to figure out the product name.  
DCPS expected "HP LaserJet P2055" or "HP LaserJet P2055 Series" but I 
found out too late that the printer uses a slightly different string.

Send this PostScript code to the printer to print the value of Product 
Name:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
/Courier findfont
14 scalefont
setfont
50 740 moveto
statusdict begin
    product
    /printername where
    { pop 32 string printername }
    { () } ifelse
end
exch
(    Product Name: ") show
show
(") show
50 710 moveto
(    Printer Name: ") show
show
(") show
50 680 moveto
(PostScript Level: ) show
/languagelevel where
{
    10 string dup languagelevel exch cvs show
    50 650 moveto
    (         Version: ) show version show
    50 620 moveto
    (        Revision: ) show 100 string dup revision exch cvs show
}
{
    (1) show
}
ifelse
showpage
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then define (/EXEC /SYSTEM) the DCPS$queuename_PRODUCT_NAME logical 
name to that value.  This will ensure DCPS will treat the printer as a 
P2055 and not a generic HP printer.

> 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.

I changed DCPS in V2.7 to handle printers that did not store the 
current media type in .  For these printers, /MediaType was set to be 
the requested media type in an attempt to force that type to be used, 
since no comparison could be made between the requested type and the 
type currently set by the printer.

Have you captured the PostScript output from a Windows system to see 
what code is being used to select media type?  Also notice if 
DeferredMediaSelection is set to True or False.  HP always sets this to 
True in the printer and DCPS usually sets this to False at the 
beginning of the job.  When DeferredMediaSelection is True, some magic 
part of the printer figures out how you want your job to print.  DCPS 
likes to control your job with PostScript commands instead so that's 
why DCPS sets the value to False.

There's no supported way to change this value other than modifying the 
printer-specific LPS$$INITPSDEVICE module.

> 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.

This sounds like either a problem with the printer's language-sensing 
mechanism, although you mentioned to me that there's no way you found 
to control the printer's "personality".

> 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.

Maybe the printer is not returning a PostScript end-of-job character 
(Control-D) when it's done with the job.  Try using a DCPS LPD queue 
and see if the same problem occurs.

> 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.

Did you select Media Type from Windows or Linux?

> 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?

You'd have to find the product manager for that model.

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

Engineers in Bangalore, India are maintaining DCPS now.  They can be 
reached through your regular problem escalation channel.  AFAIK there's 
no other method to more directly reach them.  Or you could contact Rick 
Wood (rick.wood at hp.com) who is an escalation manager in the US.  He 
used to be my boss.

> 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.

It's more likely DCPS will work well with HP printers than other 
brands.  Finding one that has a MediaType entry in its PostScript 
dictionaries so your media type selection code works will be a 
challenge since that's not one of the attributes mentioned in the 
glossy brochure or on the features card at Staples.

Paul