To: Eric Rucker Eric Rucker wrote:
On Jan 12, 1:21 am, Polymorph <polymorp...@hotmail.com> wrote:On Jan 12, 3:08 pm, Eric Rucker <bhtoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
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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.
OK, I did forget about PCL-3 support in many laser printers. I do own a copy of the Harmonie drivers for use with an older HP-640C. But I don't own a laser printer to test it on.
ISTR the LaserWriter driver that came with GS/OS only supports the earlier LaserWriters, but again my memory maybe failing me. Or does Harnonie/Independence come with an updated LaserWriter driver?
I'm also thinking that many printers brought out in the 90's had Epson (ESC/P) dot-matrix emulation, but I don't believe they do so any longer. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I think its a neat idea (I've had similar ideas floating around in my head for a while too), but there may be more practical ways to bring IIgs printing to the masses. I would even be happy with the LaserWriter "print-to-postscript-file" method updated to include colour (i.e. update the LaserWriter driver to print in colour). Then you could write a simple application to copy the postscript file across your network and run through Ghostscript for printing on *any* printer.
Cheers, Mike