DJ500 dead after >= 16 years.

[Predrag Punosevac]

David Kelly wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 12:02:25AM -0800, Gary Kline wrote:
>   
>> 	Nutshell, I'd like anyone's ideas/experiences with some of these 
>> 	new HP/<<< or whateverbrand>>> printers. I wouldn't *mind* if I
>> 	could scan in text from a techy paper into HTML or PDF or text.
>> 	But mostly, like 99.44%  plain black text.  My old deskjet used
>> 	gs as a filter to print PostScript.  Do we have any such plugin
>> 	support, or are printers still roll-your-own?  [FWIW, I can't
>> 	seem to get CUPS working...  altho it maay be my misssing
>> 	/dev/lpt0.]
>>     
>
>   
Why don't you check http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting for 
the most comprehensive information available.

Just couple a comments. I would keep native LPD spooling system instead 
installing CUPS unless you need to use something
like HPLIP drivers. To stay on the same note, you should ask yourself 
firstly what is printer for.
If you are doing intensive black and white document printing like in an 
academic environment Laser Printers will give you the greatest millage 
and cost per copy ratio. In that case you should definitely try to
buy a printer that speaks Post Script language and avoid any drivers. 
The mentioned Brother HL series is wonderful.
I have just good words for Lexmark Optra series. HP Laser jet above the 
1300 do speak full Post Script. Always a good decision. Be careful with 
HP 1000-1200 they might be problematic as they do not even speak PCL. 
See above link for the full explanation.

If you are using printing at home and need occasional color printing I 
would suggest you go with the HP deskjet/officejest  or even better with 
all-in-one device. HPLIP http://hplip.sourceforge.net/ will unlock full 
functionality of all-in-one devices including scanning via hpaio scanner 
drivers included in HPLIP.

There are couple Epson all-in-one devices that are fully supported with 
Gutenprint for the printer driver and sane-backhands for the printing. 
Something like CX-3800 or similar. Check the SANE web-site for full 
list. Note that SANE has released new
backhands two weeks ago and I am not sure if the FreeBSD port has been 
updated to 1.19 version.

If you decide that you do NOT need scanner stick with the printer that 
speak full PCL and which are listed in the foomatic-db or/and ghostscript.


Personally, I have HP laser jet 4L. Speaks PCL and listed in foomatic-db.
I have Office Jet R60 all-in-one  speaks PCL and listed in foomatic 
-db.  In  order  to unlock scanning it has to be attached
separately to network as HPLIP doesn't support parallel port devices 
despite their claims that they do. It does but over the network.
Photosmart C5250 all-in-one. This is my wife printer for her photos but 
is also a scanner and copier. Full functionality unlocked with HPLIP 
drivers.


I hope that this helps

Predrag

P. S. You may also check the following couple articles.

How to edit printcap file and use foomatic filter

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/07/08/FreeBSD_Basics.html?page=1

How to use apsfilter

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2003/11/06/Big_Scary_Daemons.html

How to use ghostscript as a input filter and lots of other goodies by 
our own Ted

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/corp-net-guide/index.html

How to set up HPLIP on FreeBSD
http://dsteinbrook.googlepages.com/hpliponfreebsd

Note that the Handbook is more than enough to set up Post Script 
printer. You may also want to read man pages
for printcap. Nice info.
If you



> I have been pleased with my purchase of a Brother HL-5250DN several years
> ago. Was $250 at the time, usually can be found on sale now for under
> $200. Refurbished HL-5240's under $100.
>
> This is a 30 ppm (rated) laser with ethernet, USB, HPL-6 and Brother's
> Postscript-3 clone. Also prints duplex. 3rd party toner refills are $20
> for roughly 7,000 pages. Drum is rated at 25,000 pages. If it doesn't
> last that long a new or refurbished printer is cheaper than a
> replacement drum.
>
> Have fond memories of old HP-4000N, HP-4050N, and HP-5000N printers but
> nothing used was available as inexpensive as the Brother was. The
> Brother is better suited for my uses as its very quick to warm up from
> sleep, maybe as fast as my DJ-990.
>
>