Re: TCP/IP network printing idea for GS/OS

[Eric Rucker <bhtooefr@gmail.com>]

On Jan 12, 1:21 am, Polymorph <polymorp...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Jan 12, 3:08 pm, Eric Rucker <bhtoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I had an idea that should work great for network printing using
> > Marinetti...
>
> > The JetDirect "protocol" is basically a raw data stream. Open port
> > 9100 on the print server, and dump data in... and as far as the
> > printer's concerned, it was connected via a serial or parallel cable.
>
> > So, one could write a GS/OS port driver to do this, and I suspect, if
> > one knew how port drivers worked (I barely have the foggiest idea, but
> > not having access to the TBRs, and not being all that good at
> > programming means I'm utterly failing figuring it out,) a Marinetti
> > port driver for the print manager could fairly easily be written.
>
> > Anyone see any holes in my ideas here?
>
> I don't see any holes as such, wouldn't you still have the limitation
> that you would need a GS/OS printer driver for whatever your target
> printer is? So writing a new port driver wouldn't open up printing to
> any new printer models, but rather allow network printing to printers
> already supported by GS/OS. Or have I misunderstood how JetDirect
> works?
>
> As most users probably don't have/want an older printer connected to
> their network, writing such a port driver may have little practical
> value. I could be very wrong however.
>
> It sounds like an interesting idea nonetheless.  ;-)
>
> Cheers,
> Mike

This is true that it wouldn't open up printing to any new models, but
I think you underestimate how many models are supported by GS/OS.

Anything that can support PCL 3 or higher is supported (by either
Harmonie or Independence,) which means almost every HP laser, quite a
few non-HP lasers (my year old Brother HL-2070N is supported just
fine, I actually tried it with Independence, and a Rube Goldbergian
setup that basically turned my ThinkPad into a serial-to-WiFi
adapter,) and even some HP inkjets.

IIRC, the LaserWriter driver can feed many PostScript printers.

And, IIRC, many Canon and Epson inkjets support Epson dot-matrix
emulation, and there are Epson drivers, too.