David Erdman wrote:
>
> Hi. I have an NEC 860 laser printer (installed in apsfilter as an hp lpplus),
> though not great...is working at 300 dpi with linux. the printer seems to
> work with say for instance..printing with netscape, or staroffice. but when
> printing with lpr, everything prints sideways. could someone help with this?
> Is there a configuration i need to add to apsfilter, or a command line option
> i didnt see in the man page.
I'm responding very generally, and from memory, from conversations I had
with NEC tech support before deciding to NOT buy the 860. I apologize
if any innacuracies creep into this reply:
The NEC 860 (and in fact, more printers than you can count) rely on
drivers added to Microsoft Win/NT/9x to give it much of it's
functionality. It's at least functional (many HP printers are not).
But the version of PCL in its firmware is not the most recent. It only
offers 300 dpi. And doesn't include too many fonts either, although
that's usually not a problem; if you need fonts you're generally using a
driver that knows how to download them.
The reason your printer is printing in landscape mode is most likely
because that's its power-on default. Why? I have no idea. Can it be
changed? Likewise no idea. Ask NEC tech support. Alternatively, get a
copy of the codes for PCL (someone with an old HP printer may have this
for you; I know that you can get it via faxback from HP but I can't find
the document number at this time) and create a file with those codes in
it; then either append it to the beginning of each file you send via
lpr, or just send it separately before sending any other files.
Years ago I wrote (for the first HP Laserjet) a small (CP/M) program
called HPRINT which allowed you to specify what you wanted on a command
line; I did rewrite it for DOS, but I don't have it now. I suppose I
could write something again if there's enough interest. It worked
something like this:
> hprint cp
would put your printer into compressed portrait mode.
I hope this helps; I'm an old-timer with computers, having started in
the 60s, and with Linux, having run a webhosting company with kernel
v0.99, but I'm an absolute newbie with SuSE; I've just bought SuSE 6.1
while waiting for a Red Hat 6.0 that I'd ordered to arrive directly from
Red Hat. Red Hat 6.0 costs us$79; SuSE 6.1 was us$29 (at Fry's, in So.
Calif.); at the price, I think SuSE is a much better buy, and comes with
a lot more software. I'll try it this week.
Jeff
--
Jeff Lasman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Internet Products Manager, Jatek Corp.
Main office: Tel: (310) 375-7646 Fax: (310) 375-0892
Internet Products: Tel: (909) 787-8589 Fax: (909) 782-0205
24hr Internet Products Support: Tel: (909) 787-8589 Fax: (909) 782-0205
