About printing to Laserwriters.

25 responses total.

I have obtained a .PCL graphics file that should be printable on a
Laswerwriter.  How do I print it? 

I guess that wasn't enough information. Here is what the author of the
.PCL graphic files has to say about them:

    "Currently I have drawings only in PCL4 bitmap format.  PCL4 or PCL5
is the language used by all HP compatible laser printers.  One day, I
might convert them to postscript but I need a program to scale postscript
and I need time to do it. If you don' like drawings in this format, throw
them away and don't complain!  I will not supply you with GIFs or other
versions.  You can only print these files on a HP compatible laser
printer. 

     "The drawings are made in format A4 (210x297mm) and I have no idea
how it will print on American paper sizes.  However, this document and the
drawings are made for non (North) Americans who want to modify their
modules to 220V and most part of this group is metric and knows what is an
A4 format.  Also I am tired of American programs that say this paper size
(A4) is not supported or not supported with this kind of device.  Finally
I can get a little bit of revenge :-) 

    "These files are to be considered as binary and can contain any
characters, even MSDOS and Unix EOFs!  Under MSDOS use "copy XXXXX.PCL
LPT1 /B" to get binary output.  The DOS "PRINT" will not work.  It might
perhaps not work on some "redirected network printers".  To print these
drawings under Unix, just use "lp xxxxx.pcl".  In some cases, you might
need "lp -oraw xxxxxx.pcl".  On some networked printer for MSDOS you might
need to do the following to eject the page.  Type "copy con lpt1" type
than ^L^Z and press Enter.  That is Control-L and Control-Z. 

"Good luck!"

[I want to print the files from a Mac.]

Why?

  Rane, when you say "LaserWriter," I'm assuming you mean an Apple
LaserWriter (I think that's a trademarked name for their laser
printers).  If that's the case, I would expect that a PCL file
wouldn't print on a LaserWriter.  PCL is HP's page description
language.  I think all Apple's laser printers use QuickDraw or
PostScript.  *Maybe* some can do PCL too, but I tend to doubt it.

You're right, but I have access primarily to LaserWriters. I do have an
HP DeskWriter. Can I print a .PCL file on that? The .PCL files were provided
in a .zip folder and the readme in it is a Mac file. I've looked for
converters from .PCL to Postscript, but no luck. Even Adobe Acrobat
won't touch it. So I came here, looking for solutions.....

Why what, alan?

I think the author is telling you that in their experience theirs is the 
way to print these files. They don't even want to continue to entertain any
other solution.  This reminds me of my efforts to get Conner 210 drives to 
be slaves or master to other manufacturers. I wasted about 5 hours of my life 
learning a totally useless lesson about not mixing these drives. They work
great when hooked together or alone. Perhaps Kinkos could print that for you.
Just  hand them the disk and ask them to make the least expensive copies.

If you upload a copy of your file, I may be able to print it on my boss's
PC which is connected to a HP Laserjet II.

The files are from http://www.io.com/~hattersj/modX10.html  
They are right up your street, too - circuit diagrams for X10 modules.
I was able to download three drawing last week, but the site has been
refusing ftp connection the last couple of days (and the number of 
drawing files is now 5).

I *would* like to know how to print them to n HP Deskwriter - there must
be a utility to feed a .PCL file directly into the driver.....but I can't find
it.

I had similar troubles with my conner 210 a couple weeks ago.  It's all cool
now.  It really needed to be master, so I just put it on the second channel
with the CD.  :P

Klaus (n8nxf) succeeded in printing the .PCL files on a DeskJet, and I
took his lead and printed them from an XT-class Zenith (8088) on a
DeskJet 500. All it took was the MSDOS command given in #2. The only
problem was the files were probably the largest ones the XT had ever seen...
250K each...and I ran out of HD space copying them to the 20MB HD. 

Was the Zenith networked with Lantastic or something similar?  What kind of
connection is it?  Does this involve chair scooting/walking, or does it spool
from real computer to Zenith to printer automagically?  

It was a DOS copy command to the parallel port LPT1....if you *really* want
to know. .PCL is a printing protocol in binary format, all ready to be ported.
The file got to the Zenith on a 1.44 MB floppy, straight off a Mac. Have I
addressed all the questions. 

Oh, a sneakernet connection.  I'm looking at getting something like a PPP
connection between my couple computers.  Something to play with...

I had a Mac-PC net, using comm programs - with direct serial connection.
However we've moved the Mac station, and I haven't rewired the house (yet).
I do have (in effect) PPP between two Macs - at least, client/server function.
This is with AppleTalk. Well, OK, it isn't IP/TCP. Hams are using that
between computers via radio, but I haven't tried it yet.

Hi from Kiwanis.  We have two Apple and one DOS-type laser printer that we
would like to get working.  Someone is coming Monday to buy an Apple printer
and it could be a laser printer.  
HP Laserjet 2686A
Apple Laserwriter (no other info, the first?  We were told 300 dpi text, 150
dpi graphics, or a half page in 300 dpi)
Apple Personal Laserwriter

Questions:  How to do a self-test on laser printers?
Is there any reason to hook up to a computer to test it?
At least the large Apple one makes grey smudges on a printed page, so we know
it prints from a computer.  The Mac people only work Saturdays.
How do we open and clean them?  We were told the larger Apple needs cleaning
and maybe some parts replaced, or that may have been the smaller Apple.

What is an appropriate used price?
What can we tell people about the relative merits of the two Apples compared
to eaach other and to Imagewriter IIs?

What is the self-test procedure and the correct price of a used Color
Stylewriter 2500?

If you know any of the answers please call us at 665-2211 before midnight,
or post them here.  We are about to attempt to turn on the laser printer and
do a self-test and if we cannot figure out how, to connect it up to a Mac
computer and make guesses at how to print screen.  F13 = printscreen. 
Hopefully we can find the on switch.  Two places to hook up to in back, one
wide and one narrow.  (This is ridiculous).  Plugged it into the wall, it did
not come on.  There is a large switch looking thing with some cryptic symbls
on the side.  Found an on switch around the corner from the power cord.  Two
lights are blinking over the cryptic symbols - a rounded U and a thing like
a bent sheet of paper.  Now it is making a noise.  It just printed a smudgy
test sheet without being asked to, with a sort of ghost image displaced 3/4
page down.  We are looking for printer cables.  
        Assuming you can print from the computer, we will now attempt to open
the printer and clean it (based on our extensive experience cleaning one very
dirty laser fax machine - vacuum the dirtier parts and then use alcohol on
a clean cotton cloth on any glass or rubber parts or anything that looks
dirty, but no alcohol on the plastic parts, just a dry cloth).

I bought a fine working Apple LaserWriter IIf from the Grex auction for
$50.  You have to pay about three times that to get a referbished one from
the store.  You need a utility disk to turn test page printing on and off.
I don't have one but plan to look on the Apple FTP site for the proper
utility.  In order to print from an Apple, you must be sure that the
driver for the particular printer is turned on.  Go to the chooser,
located under the Apple picture at the top-left of you screen, and select
the LaserWriter icon.  If it's not there, it will have to be loaded from
the system disk.  There are also some DIP switches that might need to be
set depending if are using the SCSI port, serial port or AppleTalk. (On
the printer)

I think we have reached the point where we should be figuring out why there
is a ghost image, rather than how to print from the computer, since the
printer obligingly printed us a test sheet when we turned it on and cleaning
did not eliminate the smudges or the ghost image half a page down.  So far
we only vacuumed out grey dust. May attack teh newer Laswer Writer with teh
occasional paper jam first, it sounds mechanical.  I don't know how to find
the chooser, our Mac people can show me how.  Did nto need a utility disk for
our laser printer.  I should have someone show me how to turn on and boot a
Mac at least, when we are not busy (if ever).

I presume the quicky course in choosing a printer on a Mac has resolved
some of those questions. 

I presume one has to clean the drum on a laser printer, now and then. I
have no idea how best to do that, except to not scratch it.

When you figure it let me know too.  Searching via Deja News, I see that
brake fluid is good for cleaning hard rubber rollers.  Cleaning the OPC
drum will not improve the image and may damage the drum.  Foam rollers
can be cleaned with a crevice tool but no closer than 1/8" to prevent
static buildup.

(Digression - Klaus, I'd like to put a copy counter on my Canon P6E. Have
you ever had one apart and could say where to pick off a signal? It should
not be difficult to find a place to pick off a voltage, or even install
a microswitch, but I'd welcome some prior knowledge of the device before
I open it.)

Why is brake fluid better than 97% isopropanol for cleaning rubber?  We will
attempt to work on teh paper jam in the newer Apple LW because we have a
customer for it and it sounds easier than the ghost image problem.

People gave me a list of reasons for a ghost image, including old drum and
old engine, neither of which we can afford to replace.  The engine which is
good for 100,000 has done 122,000.  Does anyone know someone who can use old
laser printers for parts, otherwise maybe Clague school wants to take it apart
for educational purposes. 

Harve's Electronics will accept broken monitors and if they cannot fix them
someone picks up twice a month and uses them for parts or swaps good parts
between them, we can drop off up to ten at a time every two weeks.

Rane, I've never had a laser printer to play with till now and the used one
I got works fine so I doubt I'll be exploring the innerds.  On top of that,
It's and old LaserWriter ;-)  As you suggest I'm sure there is either an
optical or mechanical switch somewhere that you can get a signal off of.

The brake fluid advice comes from a guy who repairs laser printers for
a living so I'd give it a go.  I suspect that the brake fluid is good
for removing old, glazed rubber and returning the roller to it's original
condition.  There is ozone generated in laser printers and ozone is hard
on rubber.

My kids class is doing a unit on simple machines and they are asking for
donations for old mechanical devices that the kids can take apart.

Our laser fax also had a ghost image.  THe company said buy a new drum.

A ghost image on any type of laser printer indicates a failure of the
cleaning element inside the cartridge, on cartridge based units.  If you
have a unit where JUST THE DRUM can be removed, the drum itself is
probably not the problem unless it is fairly old.  The cleaning element
should be looked at first on non-cartridge based units.

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