Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 14/7/19 4:09 pm, Jonathan Drews wrote: > "Unlike PCL, PostScript is device independent. This means that the > PostScript language creates all of the print data and does not rely > on the printer for print data. This allow the output to be > consistent when printed on more than one type of printer or print > device. Specifically, the graphic objects will be consistent and in > some cases of higher quality than PCL." This could be re-written: "Unlike PCL, PostScript is device independent. that the print quality is at the mercy of the PostScript interpreter implemented inside the printer. If they have done a good job, graphic objects will be consistent and in some cases of higher quality than PCL, but can equally be terrible if the firmware developer has done a shoddy job." Really it's just moving the problem. If the PostScript interpreter in the printer does a poor job of generating the raster image to be printed, it's going to look crap no matter what. That does mean that PCL printers do have an up-side in that you can at least control the PostScript→PCL end of the equation, and if the PCL is well documented, it is theoretically possible to get good quality output. -- Stuart Longland (aka Redhatter, VK4MSL) I haven't lost my mind... ...it's backed up on a tape somewhere.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 11:18:16AM -0700, BSD user wrote: > > > On 7/16/19 11:03 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > > > *** WARNING *** > > ulpt(4) needs to be disabled in the kernel (see config(8)) or the printer > > will not be available to libusb. > > > > > > I read the manpage for config (8) and I can't seem to find the appropriate > > configuration file in /usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile. I'll have to > > read up on compiling the kernel and modifying it's configuration file. > > Once again thanks for all the generous help form you guys. > > > > Regards, > > Jonathan > > > > I think you can temporarily disable ulpt via ukc, but I can't confirm as > I'm currently travelling. > > As sthen@ said (IIRC) earlier in the thread, if your printer has > networking (ethernet or wifi) support, it's usually easiest to just > print over the network as it saves having to mess with kernel configs > and device node permissions. > > Thanks for your suggestion. I got a Xerox Phaser 6022 Laser printer. It's working great. I made a separate post about configuring it using CUPS.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 18.07.19 10:57, Gregory Edigarov wrote: Just for myself until the better solution arive I for a while have put such lines into rc.shutdown also, how about having kernel.conf file, that will be used by rc script after kernel relinking. i.e something like this in the end of /etc/rc if [ -f /etc/kernel.conf ]; then config -ef /bsd < /etc/kernel.conf fi On 18.07.19 10:07, Stuart Henderson wrote: On 2019-07-16, Robert Klein wrote: How about: config -ef /bsd
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
Just for myself until the better solution arive I for a while have put such lines into rc.shutdown On 18.07.19 10:07, Stuart Henderson wrote: On 2019-07-16, Robert Klein wrote: How about: config -ef /bsd < It still works, but it prevents "kernel reordering" from taking place, which is both a security mitigation and (for release users) the mechanism used for applying syspatches to the kernel. And of course for snapshot users it needs to be re-applied every update. We don't have a good solution for this yet.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 2019-07-16, Robert Klein wrote: > > How about: > > config -ef /bsd < disable ulpt > quit > EOF > > > Dunno if that still works, though, I networked my printer. It still works, but it prevents "kernel reordering" from taking place, which is both a security mitigation and (for release users) the mechanism used for applying syspatches to the kernel. And of course for snapshot users it needs to be re-applied every update. We don't have a good solution for this yet.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
+1 :))) For instance, with epson C5790 (but also 5690, etc all xx90 printers) the PPD file is available: http://download.ebz.epson.net/dsc/du/02/DriverDownloadInfo.do?LG2=IT==69279=7ab2791f6b67457707398fa7a534e6acdf4bce44 and CUPS does the job! On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 2:32 PM Stuart Henderson wrote: > > > You are making life much harder for yourself by rejecting CUPS. >
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Tue, 16 Jul 2019 20:03:14 +0200, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 10:36:03AM -0700, BSD user wrote: > > > > > > On 7/16/19 4:13 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > > On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: > > > > > > At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more > > > OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges > > > cost a lot (> USD $120.00) > > > > > > Kind regards, > > > Jonathan > > > > > > > I may just be a luddite, but after wasting multiple days messing around > > with cups, ghostscript, hplip et al, I decided it was just easier to > > print everything via postscript. > > > . > . > . > > This solution doesn't offer the convenience of automagically converting > > arbitrary file formats to PCL or whatever the printer format of the day > > is, but it works for me without having to have add a ridiculous number > > of packages and configs. > > > > Thanks Roderick: > > I got to this instruction in the CUPS Readme: > > > *** WARNING *** > ulpt(4) needs to be disabled in the kernel (see config(8)) or the printer > will not be available to libusb. > > > I read the manpage for config (8) and I can't seem to find the appropriate > configuration file in /usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile. I'll have to > read up on compiling the kernel and modifying it's configuration file. > Once again thanks for all the generous help form you guys. How about: config -ef /bsd <
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 7/16/19 11:03 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 10:36:03AM -0700, BSD user wrote: On 7/16/19 4:13 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges cost a lot (> USD $120.00) Kind regards, Jonathan I may just be a luddite, but after wasting multiple days messing around with cups, ghostscript, hplip et al, I decided it was just easier to print everything via postscript. . . . This solution doesn't offer the convenience of automagically converting arbitrary file formats to PCL or whatever the printer format of the day is, but it works for me without having to have add a ridiculous number of packages and configs. Thanks Roderick: I got to this instruction in the CUPS Readme: *** WARNING *** ulpt(4) needs to be disabled in the kernel (see config(8)) or the printer will not be available to libusb. I read the manpage for config (8) and I can't seem to find the appropriate configuration file in /usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile. I'll have to read up on compiling the kernel and modifying it's configuration file. Once again thanks for all the generous help form you guys. Regards, Jonathan I think you can temporarily disable ulpt via ukc, but I can't confirm as I'm currently travelling. As sthen@ said (IIRC) earlier in the thread, if your printer has networking (ethernet or wifi) support, it's usually easiest to just print over the network as it saves having to mess with kernel configs and device node permissions. Because I don't trust printers and their ancient firmware and "cloud" features, I threw my printer on an isolated VLAN with a firewall rule set in my router to block any outgoing internet traffic from the printer. Cheers
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 10:36:03AM -0700, BSD user wrote: > > > On 7/16/19 4:13 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: > > > > At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more > > OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges > > cost a lot (> USD $120.00) > > > > Kind regards, > > Jonathan > > > > I may just be a luddite, but after wasting multiple days messing around > with cups, ghostscript, hplip et al, I decided it was just easier to > print everything via postscript. > . . . > This solution doesn't offer the convenience of automagically converting > arbitrary file formats to PCL or whatever the printer format of the day > is, but it works for me without having to have add a ridiculous number > of packages and configs. > Thanks Roderick: I got to this instruction in the CUPS Readme: *** WARNING *** ulpt(4) needs to be disabled in the kernel (see config(8)) or the printer will not be available to libusb. I read the manpage for config (8) and I can't seem to find the appropriate configuration file in /usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile. I'll have to read up on compiling the kernel and modifying it's configuration file. Once again thanks for all the generous help form you guys. Regards, Jonathan
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 7/16/19 4:13 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges cost a lot (> USD $120.00) Kind regards, Jonathan I may just be a luddite, but after wasting multiple days messing around with cups, ghostscript, hplip et al, I decided it was just easier to print everything via postscript. My printing "workflow" is quite rudimentary, but it has yet to fail me. I set up a simple lpd server on my desktop pointing to my Brother printer, from which I can print raw .txt, pdf or postscript files directly via lpr/lpd. If I find myself needing to print a file that isn't in one of these formats, I simply convert them to that format manually. If I need to print a .doc or .odt file, I just open them in LibreOffice and export them to pdf, which can then be printed via lpr. (As an aside, LibreOffice supports rendering pages to postscript and printing them directly as it seems to detect my lpd setup and offers "Generic Printer" as an option, allowing me to print directly from within LibreOffice.) This solution doesn't offer the convenience of automagically converting arbitrary file formats to PCL or whatever the printer format of the day is, but it works for me without having to have add a ridiculous number of packages and configs.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
This may help: https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/ports/print/cups-filters/pkg/README?rev=1.10 On 7/16/19 7:13 AM, Jonathan Drews wrote: On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: On Tue, 16 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: These are the notes I made for printing on my old OpenBSD computer: [...] It seems too complicated. In principle only the a field "if" to printcap should be necessary. 1) Go to http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP and look for the Deskjet 6940 Unfortunately dj6940 uses hplip. A filter from HP. That is not ghostscript. Does hplip run in OpenBSD? Do someone know how to configure a printer with hplip? Ist it possible with lpd or only cups? Rodrigo Hi Rodrigo: I spent most of tonight and into the early morning trying to get printing working on OpenBSD, without using CUPS. I downloaded and compiled foomatic-rip and got it installed. It worked but the *.ppd file could not be read. I got this message from lpd-errs: foomatic-rip version 4.0.12.246 running... called with arguments: '-w132', '-l66', '-i0', '-n', 'root', '-j', 'PrintTest.txt', '-h', +'jaguar.users.co', '/usr/local/sbin/hp-deskjet_6940_series.ppd . . . CUPS filter for this PPD file not found so the *.ppd files depend on CUPS, it seems. At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges cost a lot (> USD $120.00) Kind regards, Jonathan
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 2019-07-16, Jonathan Drews wrote: > On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: >> >> On Tue, 16 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: >> >> > These are the notes I made for printing on my old OpenBSD computer: [...] >> >> It seems too complicated. In principle only the a field "if" to >> printcap should be necessary. >> >> > 1) Go to http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP >> > and look for the Deskjet 6940 >> >> Unfortunately dj6940 uses hplip. A filter from HP. That is not >> ghostscript. >> >> Does hplip run in OpenBSD? Do someone know how to configure a >> printer with hplip? Ist it possible with lpd or only cups? >> >> Rodrigo >> > Hi Rodrigo: > > I spent most of tonight and into the early morning trying > to get printing working on OpenBSD, without using CUPS. I > downloaded and compiled foomatic-rip and got it installed. It > worked but the *.ppd file could not be read. I got this message > from lpd-errs: > > foomatic-rip version 4.0.12.246 running... > called with arguments: '-w132', '-l66', '-i0', '-n', 'root', '-j', > 'PrintTest.txt', '-h', > +'jaguar.users.co', '/usr/local/sbin/hp-deskjet_6940_series.ppd > . > . > . > CUPS filter for this PPD file not found > > so the *.ppd files depend on CUPS, it seems. > > > At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more > OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges > cost a lot (> USD $120.00) > > Kind regards, > Jonathan > > You are making life much harder for yourself by rejecting CUPS.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Tue, Jul 16, 2019 at 08:06:20AM +, Roderick wrote: > > On Tue, 16 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > > These are the notes I made for printing on my old OpenBSD computer: [...] > > It seems too complicated. In principle only the a field "if" to > printcap should be necessary. > > > 1) Go to http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP > > and look for the Deskjet 6940 > > Unfortunately dj6940 uses hplip. A filter from HP. That is not > ghostscript. > > Does hplip run in OpenBSD? Do someone know how to configure a > printer with hplip? Ist it possible with lpd or only cups? > > Rodrigo > Hi Rodrigo: I spent most of tonight and into the early morning trying to get printing working on OpenBSD, without using CUPS. I downloaded and compiled foomatic-rip and got it installed. It worked but the *.ppd file could not be read. I got this message from lpd-errs: foomatic-rip version 4.0.12.246 running... called with arguments: '-w132', '-l66', '-i0', '-n', 'root', '-j', 'PrintTest.txt', '-h', +'jaguar.users.co', '/usr/local/sbin/hp-deskjet_6940_series.ppd . . . CUPS filter for this PPD file not found so the *.ppd files depend on CUPS, it seems. At this point, I am going to look for another printer that is more OpenBSD friendly. My Desjet 6940 is pretty old and the cartridges cost a lot (> USD $120.00) Kind regards, Jonathan
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Tue, 16 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: These are the notes I made for printing on my old OpenBSD computer: [...] It seems too complicated. In principle only the a field "if" to printcap should be necessary. 1) Go to http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP and look for the Deskjet 6940 Unfortunately dj6940 uses hplip. A filter from HP. That is not ghostscript. Does hplip run in OpenBSD? Do someone know how to configure a printer with hplip? Ist it possible with lpd or only cups? Rodrigo
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 04:49:47AM +, Roderick wrote: > > > On Sun, 14 Jul 2019, Adam Thompson wrote: > > > Nearly every printer sold today (including cheap inkjets AND b > > printers) have these tracking dots. [...] > > > The absolute highest resolution graphics today are mostly printed using > > ESC/P (if Epson), PCL3 (if HP), or whatever Canon uses (if Canon). [...] > > Thanks for the nice review! I thing the OP was interested in unexpensive > printing. There play some other factors a role: price of toner, price > of drum, if the cartridge contain both or not, if there are other > producers of the cartidge than the producer of the printer, etc. > > Rodrigo > Folks: Thanks for your helpful replies. I wanted to implement something like this. These are the notes I made for printing on my old OpenBSD computer: 1) Go to http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi?make=HP and look for the Deskjet 6940 *.ppd. Download the *.ppd from here: http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-DeskJet_6940 2) Install a2ps from packages. pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.0/packages/i386/a2ps*.tgz (where the * denotes the appropriate version. 3) pkg_add ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.0/packages/i386/hpijs*.tgz to install the HP print driver 4) Copy HP-DeskJet_6940-hpijs.ppd to /usr/local/sbin/ 5) Modify your /etc/printcap so that it looks like this: lp|HP6940:\ :lp=/dev/ulpt0:\ :af=/usr/local/sbin/HP-DeskJet_6940-hpijs.ppd:\ :if=/usr/local/bin/foomatic-rip:\ :sd=/var/spool/output/lp:\ :lf=/var/spool/output/lp/log:\ :mx#0:\ :sh: This assumes that you are using a USB printer. 6) Go to /var/spool/output # cd /var/spool/output do: #mkdir lp then do: #chown daemon:daemon lp/ as root. 7) As root do: # touch /var/spool/output/lp/log 8) edit /etc/rc.conf by changing the variable lpd_flags=NO to lpd_flags="" 9) Add your hostname to /etc/hosts.lpd. Your entry should look similar to this: # $OpenBSD: hosts.lpd,v 1.2 1996/07/20 00:28:28 deraadt Exp $ # as described in lpd(8), place one legal access hostname per line my.computer.us 10) Reboot the computer and printing should be working. Unfortunately, the package foomatic-rip is no longer available. Once again, thanks for all the helpful advice. Kind Regards, Jonathan
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sun, 14 Jul 2019, Adam Thompson wrote: Nearly every printer sold today (including cheap inkjets AND b printers) have these tracking dots. [...] The absolute highest resolution graphics today are mostly printed using ESC/P (if Epson), PCL3 (if HP), or whatever Canon uses (if Canon). [...] Thanks for the nice review! I thing the OP was interested in unexpensive printing. There play some other factors a role: price of toner, price of drum, if the cartridge contain both or not, if there are other producers of the cartidge than the producer of the printer, etc. Rodrigo
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 2019-07-14 15:40, Stuart Henderson wrote: If you don't want trackable prints, don't buy a colour laser printer of any brand, it is very common. Unsure about mono and inkjet printers, I would tend to assume that they're common on at least most hi-res colour printers. Nearly every printer sold today (including cheap inkjets AND b printers) have these tracking dots. It's unclear why/how this came to be; I've heard multiple stories and am unsure which to believe, if any. Regardless of the why/how, consensus is clear: those dots are real and can tie output back to your printer. I read that Postscript printers produce superior graphics (from Xerox website): In 2019, that remains true only in a very small number of edge cases. The absolute highest resolution graphics today are mostly printed using ESC/P (if Epson), PCL3 (if HP), or whatever Canon uses (if Canon). Mostly people "prefer" Postscript output over PCL because the default rendering gammas(sic) are slightly different and Postscript is usually perceptually more pleasing. Adjust gamma on your PCL printer from 1.1 to 1.2 and *poof* just as good as Postscript. YMMV, even Postscript-compatible printers are all different nowadays. If I was looking to spend money on a nice printer I'd get one which can accept postscript and PDF directly over lpr. (I'd be very tempted by the hp "pagewide" printers. Also Kyocera seem good especially for high volume stuff). I haven't tried Kyocera recently, but I have tried HP recently in that line. Stay as far away as you can get. All the decent PageWide printers seem to be discontinued already, and the replacement 11x17" color OfficeJet Pros are severely lobotomized and need to talk to the "cloud" for almost all functions except basic print-to-paper... and even that doesn't work very reliably, even with the Windows/MacOS drivers. If I was looking for something cheap and cheerful then I would worry less about postscript but look for something where I can see signs of support in the ports tree. The HPLIP ports are nice and easy to use and work with a wide range of HP and some other printers, easiest to use with CUPS (it really isn't difficult), but if you want to avoid it I believe the HPIJS part of HPLIP can be used without CUPS. I've heard good things about brlaser for the non-postscript Brother printers too, though most of them do have ps anyway. Even if keeping things cheap I would definitely want something with an ethernet port (it doesn't add much if anything to the cost) for flexibility of positioning the printer, easier sharing between machines, and not having to mess around with permissions on device nodes etc.. Agreed - most decent business printers nowadays come with both ethernet and wifi, so you get the best of both worlds. Brother's mono lasers are generally *excellent* value for the money. Color lasers unknown. Stay away from their color inkjets, they are effectively Win/Mac-only. (But if you are on Win/Mac, those provide excellent $/page.) Epson's color inkjets are pretty good, and at the *really* high end beat color lasers in all ways, and include Postscript. (Those high-end units also cost many 10s of $Ks. But, wow, nice specs.) Lower-end units support ESC/P and mostly work with CUPS. Buy the business models if you want a decent cost-per-page. Canon printers can be decent, but are not usually good value for money... YMMV, just make sure you can return it if you can't make it work. HP used to be very good, and their mono LaserJets are still acceptable. Color LaserJets... less good, but maybe still acceptable. Inkjets? Who knows, there's a new model every week, each incompatible with the last one. Your best bet will likely be to purchase a new "business-grade" printer from a shop that will let you return it if you can't get it to work. Unfortunately, YMMV depending on what part of the world you're in, any local promotions/sales, the phase of the moon, whether Jupiter is in alignment with Saturn, etc., etc. Good luck, -Adam
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 2019-07-13, ropers wrote:
> On 13/07/2019, Jonathan Drews <> wrote:
>> Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will
>> work
>> with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP
>> Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some
>> Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript
>> printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be
>> appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to
>> avoid CUPS. Kind Regards,
>> Jonathan
>
> I don't have advice on what's a good PostScript printer or PS printer
> brand, however here's why I personally consider Xerox a bad vendor and
> bad actor, because here's what's wrong with my Xerox Phaser 6130N:
>
> * It comes with steganography built in.[1][2] They never tell you
If you don't want trackable prints, don't buy a colour laser printer
of any brand, it is very common. Unsure about mono and inkjet printers,
I would tend to assume that they're common on at least most hi-res
colour printers.
On 2019-07-13, Jonathan Drews wrote:
> 2)
> I read that Postscript printers produce superior graphics (from
> Xerox website):
>
> Pros:
>
> Graphical objects are often more detailed.
> The same print file should print identically on two or more
> different print devices. (This most beneficial when used for
> printing drafts on one printer then sending out to a printing
> company for production.)
A "postscript printer" is a printer that includes some kind of computer
running software ("RIP", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_image_processor)
that runs a program written in the postscript language to produce a page
image, and feeds that image to the printer side of things.
You can get the same end result with a less smart printer by running the
RIP on a computer instead, e.g. ghostscript is a RIP.
What Xerox are mostly going on about is that you can use the same file
to produce output on e.g. a laser printer, garment printers, prepress gear
etc and get the same results on all of them (within the limits
of the print technology). This probably mattered more in the past (and
maybe does a bit on windows), typical usage on unix and macos today
would be based around postscript or pdf anyway.
Nowadays one of the main advantages to a unix users of having a
postscript printer is that it has a high likelihood of working without
too much hassle, filtering out non-postscript printers nicely avoids
Windows-only "GDI" printers etc.
If I was looking to spend money on a nice printer I'd get one which can
accept postscript and PDF directly over lpr. (I'd be very tempted by
the hp "pagewide" printers. Also Kyocera seem good especially for
high volume stuff).
If I was looking for something cheap and cheerful then I would worry
less about postscript but look for something where I can see signs
of support in the ports tree. The HPLIP ports are nice and easy to use
and work with a wide range of HP and some other printers, easiest to
use with CUPS (it really isn't difficult), but if you want to avoid it
I believe the HPIJS part of HPLIP can be used without CUPS. I've heard
good things about brlaser for the non-postscript Brother printers too,
though most of them do have ps anyway. Even if keeping things cheap
I would definitely want something with an ethernet port (it doesn't
add much if anything to the cost) for flexibility of positioning the
printer, easier sharing between machines, and not having to mess
around with permissions on device nodes etc..
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 12:09:20AM -0600, Jonathan Drews wrote: > On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 06:03:05AM +0200, Tomasz Rola wrote: > > On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 08:06:07AM +0200, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > > > work > > > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP [...] > > > > I am not sure why you want to avoid CUPS. > > I have had difficulty getting cups to work in the past. I am just a simple > desktop user, so I really don't have a great grasp of computer > fundamentals. That begs the question as to why a desktop user would > use a complicated system like OpenBSD. Short answer: [...] Overally, I agree with your opinions except with that saying that OpenBSD is complicated. But it may be subjective. Try to imagine someone who wants to change wheels in a big truck, in a middle of a desert, with his bare hands (because the lousy car maker gave no tools). This is how my experiences with Windows were so far and *this* was complicated. > I never could get CUPS working in previous versions of OpenBSD. > Also, IIRC CUPS requires chown and chmod to certain /dev files. I am > loathe to do that. I really don't want to mess with root file > permissions. IMHO, if you need a service, then add your account to > the appropriate group in /etc/groups. > [...] > > > According to Xerox's web page on Postscript, they claim that > Postscript gives higher quality renderings: > > "Unlike PCL, PostScript is device independent. This means that the [...] > device. Specifically, the graphic objects will be consistent and in > some cases of higher quality than PCL." I smell marketing, unless they can show some examples which do not look like being specially crafted to prove their case. Of course, there might be differences - each time one wants to simulate a continuous line from square/round dots, there was plenty of research that went into achieving this illusion to satisfy the eye and I expect each of the great printer companies to have some patented algorithms of achieving the goal. But, since they are in the game for many decades, I expect the results to be comparable. Ok, so to sum up, so far you are ok with quality of your printer, just not so happy with Windows side? My own experience with CUPS was only so-so. About 7-10 years ago I connected my old (by then) HPDJ 840C and things did not work. So I mangled system a bit: I assumed one of the previous HPDJs was close relative to mine, copy-pasted description of either 630 or 620c (sumthing like this) and changed names to 840c (and maybe I changed some more, I really do not remember, it should be in old config files). From what I remember, CUPS caught up even though I was never sure why. Perhaps I had to resign from using the highest dot density supported by 840, but this was not a big deal since I wanted economic print, so I used 300 and 150dpi and dithering, rather than more dpis and full ink. So, CUPS worked for me, after a while. However, I am not sure if I would be able to help with setting it up - a year ago my twenty years old dj went into cartoon box (inks and printing heads - they were mostly ok but ink replacement dried up and I only printed once or twice a month, each time having to unmount the cartridge and wash heads in sumthin (sometimes isopropanol, sometimes lcd cleaner, which ever was at hand). The CUPS side, however, once it was up, it stood up, so I cannot complain. And it has got nice www interface, allowing me to set up few virtual printers (say, one for color print, one for 300dpi, and so on). But, it could probably be set up without CUPS. Perhaps you can arrange things so that you can try whichever printer works for you and is supported on OBSD, and compare same printed pages with whatever the bestest print thing there is in a nearby print shop? >From my experience (in my city and country) such shops are located near universities and cater to students, so they must be affordable. Chances are, the personnel will happily voice their opinions on the subject (just like any other opinion, incl mine, apply salt, especially that they may sell printers, too). -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
Jonathan Drews writes: > > I am not sure why you want to avoid CUPS. Not a terrible propsal because it is a bloated piece of crap, but on the other hand it must interface with the satanc devices we call printers so concessions must perhaps be made. > fundamentals. That begs the question as to why a desktop user would > use a complicated system like OpenBSD. Short answer: Generally, don't. OpenBSD is not designed for users. They might (and frequently do) get some mileage out of it but when something goes wrong they're in the same place as the rest of us: on their own. > I never could get CUPS working in previous versions of OpenBSD. I'm afraid I've never tried because I just gave up on printing. Paying 10p per sheet to do it around the corner is easier, cheaper and puts my sanity at less risk (but librarians, man...). On the few occasions when cups has been the answer, I've spun up or found somewhere a linux box/VM and used that. God knows what it's doing underneath as I mash my way through the clicky gui but I can just print the dozen or so sheets I need and nuke the entire thing without having to care about such trivial concerns as security or long-term reliability. Good luck. > Also, IIRC CUPS requires chown and chmod to certain /dev files. I am > loathe to do that. I really don't want to mess with root file > permissions. IMHO, if you need a service, then add your account to > the appropriate group in /etc/groups. This is almost certainly possible and has already been arranged for. > According to Xerox's web page on Postscript, they claim that > Postscript gives higher quality renderings: > > "Unlike PCL, PostScript is device independent. This means that the > PostScript language creates all of the print data and does not rely > on the printer for print data. This allow the output to be > consistent when printed on more than one type of printer or print > device. Specifically, the graphic objects will be consistent and in > some cases of higher quality than PCL." This is misleading at best. PCL may be device-dependent but it's never used until the device is known and only for the final communication with that device. Whether it and your computer use PCL as a private protocol to convey part-processed postscript is a largely irrelevant cost-saving method introduced by printer manufacturers so that they don't need to implement a full-blown (turing-complete) postscript interpreter in what these days is disposable hardware. Their last sentence is as close as you can get to an outright lie without actually lying. As mentioned elsewhere, postscript is just a programme which is interpreted by a software running on a CPU to produce a raster image. What does it matter whether it's done by your computer's CPU or the printer's? Matthew
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sat, 13 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: I hope that you got it: with a postscript printer you do not need ghostscript. The printcap is easy to configure. Here is a sample printcap I came across in misc: 1) lp|xerox|Xerox_WorkCenter_3225:\ :lp=/dev/ulpt0:\ :sh:sd=/var/spool/output/lpd:\ :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs: For a printer using ghostscript you will need one field more. I have for my PCL printer: lp|lj4l:\ :lp=/dev/ulpt0:\ :if=/usr/local/libexec/lpr/iflj4l:\ :sh:sd=/var/spool/output/lpd:lf=/var/log/lpd-errs: my file iflj4l contains a filter that translates Postcript to PCL for the lj4l printer. Well, it does in my case something more. This filter is normaly a script that calls gs (Ghostcript). You can see here how to write the script: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/printing-lpd.html Or just google for a specific printer: you are not the only one with the problem. You do not need cups. Rodrigo.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sun, Jul 14, 2019 at 06:03:05AM +0200, Tomasz Rola wrote: > On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 08:06:07AM +0200, Jonathan Drews wrote: > > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > > work > > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > > printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be > > appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to > > avoid CUPS. Kind Regards, > > Jonathan > > I am not sure why you want to avoid CUPS. I have had difficulty getting cups to work in the past. I am just a simple desktop user, so I really don't have a great grasp of computer fundamentals. That begs the question as to why a desktop user would use a complicated system like OpenBSD. Short answer: 1)Speed and stability. OpenBSD is fast! What prompted this post was that my Windows 10 computer completely mangled a simple print job when I needed to get a shipment off. I am so done with things being constantly broken by Windows updates. 2) OpenBSD man pages are the best! 3) OpenBSD is very stable. 4) Utilities like dc, mg, pdksh, Vi and EMACS are indispensible. 5) Dump and restore are important because I have a lot of expensive embroidery files on my OpenBSD computer. 6) Xterm based Mplayer plays videos better than Windows! That is super important because I have a lot of video classes. So for all those reasons, I want to get printing working. I never could get CUPS working in previous versions of OpenBSD. Also, IIRC CUPS requires chown and chmod to certain /dev files. I am loathe to do that. I really don't want to mess with root file permissions. IMHO, if you need a service, then add your account to the appropriate group in /etc/groups. > In case it is not clear, Postscript is just a programming language > (stack based, somewhat like contorted Forth with graphics > instructions, go have a /usr/bin/less on your favourite *.ps file and > see). The printer "supporting Postscript" is just the one with CPU and > enough memory to run interpreter inside the box. > > Thus, just like one feeds txt file to raw printer and gets raw txt > display, so - I think - one feeds ps file and printer runs it, > resulting in printing page (consecutive pages). I believe no special > filter is necesary, because ps files start with magic line (well, some > do not, possibly those produced by some proprietary programs, but I > cannot recall right now) and chances are, PS-printer will recognize > such line and act accordingly. > > However, I have seen documents, even single pages, with so many > details that Ghostview running on relatively recent computer choked on > it. I have no idea how much memory PS-printer can have, but I would > not count on it having enough. My current desktop has 12gigs and four > cores (not very fast), but obviously only one is tired by GV. > > I would try going with CUPS and printer with good resolution. Unless > you have very specific needs requiring exactly such device (hard to > tell, specific people have specific needs). But why running an > interpreter and producing a bitmap onboard a printer would be better > than running an interpreter (possibly up-to-dated) and sending a > bitmap to the printer? Would one be able to spot a difference? Just > curious. > According to Xerox's web page on Postscript, they claim that Postscript gives higher quality renderings: "Unlike PCL, PostScript is device independent. This means that the PostScript language creates all of the print data and does not rely on the printer for print data. This allow the output to be consistent when printed on more than one type of printer or print device. Specifically, the graphic objects will be consistent and in some cases of higher quality than PCL." > -- > Regards, > Tomasz Rola > > -- > ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** > ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** > ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** > ** ** > ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
I'm currently travelling so can't confirm, but i'm 99% sure it's an MFC-L5700DW Jul 13, 2019, 12:22 PM by ibs...@ripsbusker.no.eu.org: > On Sat, Jul 13, 2019, at 18:52, antithe...@tuta.io wrote: > >> The model I have also supports uploading scanned documents to an FTP or >> SFTP server, which is great, as it allows me to have a working >> multifunction office printer with no drivers required. >> > > This would make scanning so much easier for me. What model do you have? >
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 08:06:07AM +0200, Jonathan Drews wrote: > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > work > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be > appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to > avoid CUPS. Kind Regards, > Jonathan I am not sure why you want to avoid CUPS. In case it is not clear, Postscript is just a programming language (stack based, somewhat like contorted Forth with graphics instructions, go have a /usr/bin/less on your favourite *.ps file and see). The printer "supporting Postscript" is just the one with CPU and enough memory to run interpreter inside the box. Thus, just like one feeds txt file to raw printer and gets raw txt display, so - I think - one feeds ps file and printer runs it, resulting in printing page (consecutive pages). I believe no special filter is necesary, because ps files start with magic line (well, some do not, possibly those produced by some proprietary programs, but I cannot recall right now) and chances are, PS-printer will recognize such line and act accordingly. However, I have seen documents, even single pages, with so many details that Ghostview running on relatively recent computer choked on it. I have no idea how much memory PS-printer can have, but I would not count on it having enough. My current desktop has 12gigs and four cores (not very fast), but obviously only one is tired by GV. I would try going with CUPS and printer with good resolution. Unless you have very specific needs requiring exactly such device (hard to tell, specific people have specific needs). But why running an interpreter and producing a bitmap onboard a printer would be better than running an interpreter (possibly up-to-dated) and sending a bitmap to the printer? Would one be able to spot a difference? Just curious. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 13/07/2019 08:06, Jonathan Drews wrote: Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will work with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to avoid CUPS. Kind Regards, Jonathan Brother appear to include PostScript in their printers, my HL-3170CDW certainly has it.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sat, Jul 13, 2019, at 18:52, antithe...@tuta.io wrote: > The model I have also supports uploading scanned documents to an FTP or > SFTP server, which is great, as it allows me to have a working > multifunction office printer with no drivers required. This would make scanning so much easier for me. What model do you have?
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
I have had great success with 'Brother' brand printers. They support postscript very well. Another feature of them that I like is that I can print pdf files to them directly via lpd. Additionally, I like that they don't have any hard drive and/or permanent storage, which means that there is no ability for the printer to save your documents, which is nice as it means they can be sold or disposed of without worry about personal information being accessible. The model I have also supports uploading scanned documents to an FTP or SFTP server, which is great, as it allows me to have a working multifunction office printer with no drivers required. Jul 12, 2019, 11:06 PM by easyfashioncloth...@gmx.com: > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > work > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be > appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to > avoid CUPS. Kind Regards, > Jonathan >
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
> On 2019-07-13, "Jonathan Drews" wrote: > > > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > > work > > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > > printers? Ghostscript is a filter app which converts various inputs to a PDL (page definition language) which a printer supports. I would recommend reading 'Printers' chapter in older edition of 'UNIX and Linux system administration handbook', it describes all things in human language :) Anyway, to learn more about printing, just write a filter which would `cat' input file to a 'output' file, you will see that top of the file data contains additional info like user invoking the printing etc... Very interesting for curious people. j.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
> I am not familiar with Postsript printers. Thanks for correcting > me. I want something that will work with Ghostscript and not > depend on Printer Command Language (PCL). Just search for a printer that supports Postscript. Many laser printers do. I have an HP LaserJet M402dn. It supports Postscript level 3 and speaks USB and Ethernet (lpr at the least, maybe IPP as well). Low volume monochrome, prints duplex, reasoably inexpensive.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sat, Jul 13, 2019 at 03:22:16PM -, Christian Weisgerber wrote: > On 2019-07-13, "Jonathan Drews" wrote: > > > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > > work > > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > > printers? > > Your question is confused and self-contradictory. > > A "Postscript printer" processes Postscript itself. > > By contrast, Ghostscript is used to process Postscript on the host > computer and send the raster data to a dumb printer that cannot > handle Postscript by itself. > > So which type of printer are you asking about? > > -- > Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de > Thanks Christian: I am not familiar with Postsript printers. Thanks for correcting me. I want something that will work with Ghostscript and not depend on Printer Command Language (PCL). There are two reasons for this: The printcap is easy to configure. Here is a sample printcap I came across in misc: 1) lp|xerox|Xerox_WorkCenter_3225:\ :lp=/dev/ulpt0:\ :sh:sd=/var/spool/output/lpd:\ :lf=/var/log/lpd-errs: 2) I read that Postscript printers produce superior graphics (from Xerox website): Pros: Graphical objects are often more detailed. The same print file should print identically on two or more different print devices. (This most beneficial when used for printing drafts on one printer then sending out to a printing company for production.) Cons: Print processing can be slow. Not found in as many platforms as PCL. Print file and memory requirements are larger.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On Sat, 13 Jul 2019, Jonathan Drews wrote: Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will work with Ghostscript (Postscript). If you find a printer that understands postcript, then you will be perhaps happy. You will not need Ghostscript. Otherwise, you need to translate the postscript file that you want to print to the language of the printer: this is done with ghostscript, as far as it supports this language. Perhaps a PCL printer + Ghostscript? I use a HP Laserjet 4l and am very happy. Inexpensive printing, but unfortunately HP does not support it anymore, perhaps it will get difficult to get the toner. Perhaps the following helps you to see what language a printer supports and how, if possible, to configure it with ghostscript: https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/openprinting/database/databaseintro But see also for a specific printer how expensive is the toner cartridge and how many pages you can print with it. Rod.
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 2019-07-13, "Jonathan Drews" wrote: > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > work > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > printers? Your question is confused and self-contradictory. A "Postscript printer" processes Postscript itself. By contrast, Ghostscript is used to process Postscript on the host computer and send the raster data to a dumb printer that cannot handle Postscript by itself. So which type of printer are you asking about? -- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de
Re: Postscript printer recommendations
On 13/07/2019, Jonathan Drews <> wrote: > Hi Folks: I need some recommendations on what brand of printers will > work > with Ghostscript (Postscript). The cartridges for my 15 year old HP > Deskjet have gotten too expensive. I know Xerox makes some > Postscript printers. Are there any other manufactureres of Postscript > printers? I am running OpenBSD 6.5 as a desktop. Any advice would be > appreciated. Also, I just want to use printcap and lpd. I would like to > avoid CUPS. Kind Regards, > Jonathan I don't have advice on what's a good PostScript printer or PS printer brand, however here's why I personally consider Xerox a bad vendor and bad actor, because here's what's wrong with my Xerox Phaser 6130N: * It comes with steganography built in.[1][2] They never tell you about this. Do you trust that NONE of the recipients of any letters you print will ever extract the stego-info establishing a link between that printer and you, making that printer more or less personally identifiable to you? (That's assuming you're not in huge free-for-all communal living with a very large unmonitored "anyone can print here" pool.) Do you trust all recipients to not sell that valuable info to the highest bidder or national political police[3], so in case you ever engage in any whistleblowing[4] or activism, or truthful journalism about, say, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, the Five Eyes and the NSA will already have your info on file?[5] Btw., if you register your purchase like Xerox want you to, that link to you is established by default. Apparently they've a built-in RTC too since they secretly timestamp your documents as well; because *that's* useful to you. All without your prior knowledge and consent. So they advertised a printer that I bought and paid them for based on their offer and representation, but unbeknownst to me at the time, the printer had a surveillance anti-feature built in that significantly undermines my privacy every time I use it. Xerox do not let me turn the spy dots off either, because they're not there for me, they're there against me. If I sold the girl next door an electric shower with a camera built in that spies on her without her prior knowledge and consent every time she uses it, what would you think of me? That's what I think of Zerox, and I'm keeping that typo because nomen est omen. Worse, Xerox apparently pioneered this. They invented this. It wasn't just, some secret court in a totalitarian country forced them to. They went out of their way to mislead their customers into significant vulnerability and privacy liability. In this, Xerox's business by misrepresentation and then exploitation is unethical to the point of fraud, and to the extent it's organised and they've done this secretly, in bed with TLAs, Xerox are a RICO. Do you want to buy a printer from your friendly neighbourhood RICO? I would have sued their arse over it, it was just, I was not doing so well at the time, and couldn't deal with fighting an additional battle, so I felt I had no choice but to keep using the printer for the time being, and that's turned into years, and in fairness, I still have issues. Not everyone is equipped to get into a fist fight with a RICO. That doesn't mean I approve or consent, just that my energy and options are limited. * The printer has alignment issues. They're not severe, but if you do any crafting etc. where you expect the page to be exactly centered, it won't be. I've never figured out how to fix this on the printer, and trying to compensate elsewhere is a PITA. * The printer has colour management issues. They're not severe, but a colour page may be printed a tad too dark, and compensating in e.g. GIMP by brightening things up there before printing is a stupid hack. * The printer has toner adherence issues, where a full-colour print may throw lots of toner onto the paper and especially some of the darker toner won't properly stick to the paper and may flake off. This may be related to the colour management issues too, i.e. it's trying to fuse an excess of toner. In fairness, I now buy refill toner because fuck giving Xerox any more money, and it may be that this is slightly worse on non-original toner -- maybe. I'm sure Xerox would eagerly say that's the only reason, but in my experience, not really. Also, any deliberate incompatibility with third party COTS toner is an anti-feature too. Oh, and Xerox put an ID chip in their toner cartridges too for pretty much mostly that reason. * The fuser broke too soon, after not much use and had to be replaced. I'm sure Xerox would also pick up on that as an excuse for the toner adherence issues, but not in my experience, it's happened before as well. Apparently a plastic cogwheel split just from heat from just leaving the printer on standby, which I didn't even do that long or that often, not anything like in a commercial office. Is there an alternative? I still don't know, but would also appreciate advice, just like you.
