Re: Issue with PCL3GUI output

(Responses in-line...)

On Sun, 23 Jul 2017, William Bader wrote:

> You can run 'gs -h' to see the full list of printers that your version
> of gs supports.
>
> If you have the gs source, you can find the pcl3 drivers in
> contrib/pcl3/src/gdevpcl3.c
>
> The device name goes with the -sDEVICE= option. For example, to test
> hpdj310, change -sDEVICE=pcl3 to -sDEVICE=hpdj310
>
>
> /* Printer-specific and fixed device structure instances */
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdjplus,  HPDeskJetPlus);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdjportable, HPDJPortable);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj310,   HPDJ310);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj320,   HPDJ320);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj340,   HPDJ340);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj400,   HPDJ400);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj500,   HPDJ500);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj500c,  HPDJ500C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj510,   HPDJ510);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj520,   HPDJ520);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj540,   HPDJ540);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj550c,  HPDJ550C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj560c,  HPDJ560C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj600,   HPDJ600);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj660c,  HPDJ660C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj670c,  HPDJ670C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj680c,  HPDJ680C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj690c,  HPDJ690C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj850c,  HPDJ850C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj855c,  HPDJ855C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj870c,  HPDJ870C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj890c,  HPDJ890C);
> pcl3_device_instance(hpdj1120c, HPDJ1120C);

I've already tried a few of these, with no improvement.

> It looks like the only thing that happens with the
> -sPJLLanguage=PCL3GUI2 option is that the pcl3 driver writes the
> string into a '@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=' line at the start of the file.
> The code is in contrib/pcl3/src/pclgen.c

Hmmm, I could've sworn that using -sDEVICE=hpdj550c also omits the
<esc>%-12345X at the beginning and end of the output.  But I could
be mistaken.  (I know for certain that "magicfilter" does not include
sending <esc>%-12345X prefix/suffic for any of the supplied filters.)

> If you have a pcl3 file that prints, you could look what it uses.

I looked at a .prn file from Windows 8.1 and it was totally different
(not only different content, but different "architecture").  But using
netcat to copy it to the printer _does_ result in useable output.
(This is why I am so confident that netcat is not part of my trouble!)

I'll be happy to share the test.prn file if anyone is willing to look
at it.

> CUPS is hard to debug when a printer doesn't work. If you can connect
> to the printer from a USB or parallel port, that might be better for
> testing.

When else would you want to debug CUPS?  When it _is_ working?  :)

Physical connectivity isn't really an option unfortunately.  WiFi
access was one of the key reasons for getting this particular device.

> HP LIP has an entry for the DeskJet D2545 
>
> I have Fedora 25, and the last time that I set up a networked HP
> printer, I installed the hplip-gui package and then ran hp-setup. It
> did a network scan, found the printer, downloaded the driver, and
> created the CUPS printer entry.

I had cups+hplip installed and tried to use hp-setup but it (hp-setup)
failed to even connect to the printer.  Using the CUPS auto-discover
for the printer, and selecting the appropriate ppd files resulted in
non-working setup.  (There were _two_ ppd files for the 2540_series.
The hpcups file complained about a missing color profile, while the
hpijs file simply connected to the printer and hung "forever", which
required manual intervention to cancel the job.)

In any event, cups is way over-engineered and much too complex for my
taste.  I'm a minimalist (some might even say, Luddite)!  And I don't
use Linux, I use NetBSD, which precludes using some of the fancier
hplip user interface utilities.  (Even hp-setup runs in a text mode,
rather than gui mode.)

I've had previous HP printers working with the old (now antiquated)
"magicfilter" package, which examines file types (based on offset and
expected value) and invokes appropriate filters;  for postscript files,
"appropriate" == ghostscript.  My hope was that the shell script I
posted in my initial inquiry would serve as an appropriate template
which, once working, could easily be pasted into the magicfilter
configuration.

Anyway, based on Chris Liddell's response, it seems extremely unlikely
that this printer will ever work in ghostscript, given the lack of
support for the pcl3 driver.  (That's not meant as a complaint, just a
paraphrase - I _do_ understand free software!)  So I'll just have to
keep the old Windows 8.1 laptop around, and ftp transfer files there
for printing.

Thanks for your comments.


+------------------+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Paul Goyette     | PGP Key fingerprint:     | E-mail addresses:          |
| (Retired)        | FA29 0E3B 35AF E8AE 6651 | paul at whooppee dot com   |
| Kernel Developer | 0786 F758 55DE 53BA 7731 | pgoyette at netbsd dot org |
+------------------+--------------------------+----------------------------+