root@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Operator) (05/08/91)
Hello all --
Briefly, I have been asked to price, purchase, and place
(presumedly in working order :-) a Laserjet IIp printer on
a Series 400 node. I have little (read zero) background
regarding the connectivity issues involved in HP/Apollo
configurations, although I have little doubt that this will
change by the time this project has been completed.
In addition to the above mentioned, this machine is running
the MC68040.
I believe my ignorance to reside chiefly in the following
areas:
1.) What will I need in the way of hardware add-ons?
2.) Will I need to take possession of device drivers
designed specifically for use with the 68040?
3.) What daemons will need to be activated or
modified to support the LaserjetIIp?
4.) Area #4 includes all areas unreferenced by numbers
1, 2, & 3.
I am most grateful to any and all who take time to step
into this fray, and offer my thanks in advance.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua 24:15
/**************************************************************
* Vance R. Fields III | Motorola SPS *
* ----- *
* System Administrator | Austin, TX 78735 *
* | *
**************************************************************/krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) (05/10/91)
HP sells printer support packages for HP laserprinters and HP plotters as an extra-cost add-on. They are roughly $150 each. They are listed in the HP/Apollo Direct catalog. The packages contain the proper cables for the built-in parallel interface of the series 400 machines along with the software drivers. I have no experience with HP's packages, so I can't comment on reliability, bugs, features, etc. -- David Krowitz krowitz@richter.mit.edu (18.83.0.109) krowitz%richter.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet (in order of decreasing preference)
philip@cel.cummins.com (Philip D. Pokorny) (05/11/91)
You could also try using only the postscript emulation of the printer with the Apollo supplied Postscript print drivers over a serial port. This sould require no extra software drivers or hardware (You will need a serial cable, make it or buy it...) but it will be slower (serial versus parallel) and you won't be able to use the HP PCL features of the LaserJet. For my tastes I'll take Postscript any day... (Any size font you want, any rotation you want....) Sincerely, Philip D. Pokorny :)
dente@els.ee.man.ac.uk (Colin Dente) (05/20/91)
In article <9105101354.AA01451@richter.mit.edu> krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz) writes: >HP sells printer support packages for HP laserprinters and HP plotters >as an extra-cost add-on. They are roughly $150 each. They are listed >in the HP/Apollo Direct catalog. The packages contain the proper cables >for the built-in parallel interface of the series 400 machines along >with the software drivers. Or, indeed, for the serial interface of a DN box if you buy the serial option instead of the parallel one. > I have no experience with HP's packages, >so I can't comment on reliability, bugs, features, etc. Features are good - I just got the Laserjet support kit, and it seems to do everything I want - with the exception of supporting software/cartridge fonts (they say this may be added later). As for reliability & bugs - I can't really say - I've only just got it, but I haven't seen it fall over yet. My only real gripe (apart from the fonts) is that it is *slow* - it takes of the order of 1 minute to format 5 pages of A4 on a DN3000 running 10.3. Other than that - it looks pretty good, but, as always, caveat emptor... Colin -- Colin Dente | JANET: dente@uk.ac.man.ee.els Manchester Computing Centre | ARPA: dente@els.ee.man.ac.uk University of Manchester, UK | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!manchester!dente ... I am the one you warned me of ...