Re: DeskJet 870

[Jose Manuel Cerqueira Esteves <jmce@titania.cii.fc.ul.pt>]

On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, Alec Smith wrote:

> I'll have to give it a try later... Thanks.
> 
> People have suggested the 550c filter, but all it seems to do is spit out
> blank pages and partial print jobs when I print from a Winblows system to
> the Linux box using Samba. Someone else sent a modified filter more
> specific to an 870 and it just plain didn't work. And here I was thinking
> that making the 870 work would be just as easy as setting up an old
> DeskJet 520.

Greetings

Here's how I have configured a 870Cxi here, using lprng and magicfilter
under Debian 2.0r3:

1. In my /etc/printcap, I put:

lp|dj870|hpdj870cxi|color|HP Deskjet 870 Cxi @othello
	:lp=/dev/lp1
	:if=/etc/magicfilter/dj870cxi-filter
	:af=/var/log/lpd/hpdj870cxi.acct
	:lf=/var/log/lpd/hpdj870cxi.errs
	:sd=/var/spool/lpd/hpdj870cxi
	:mx#0
	:sh

2. Created directory /var/log/lpd and both files under it, with the following
ownerships and permissions:

drwxr-s---   2 lp       lp           /var/log/lpd
-rw-r-----   1 lp       lp           /var/log/lpd/hpdj870cxi.acct
-rw-r-----   1 lp       lp           /var/log/lpd/hpdj870cxi.errs

3. Ran 
  checkpc -f 
once or twice, thus automatically creating the spool directory and some files
under it.

4. Created /etc/magicfilter/dj870cxi-filter starting from dj550c-filter.
I am using the hpdj driver, which apparently can only print at 300x300 dpi
on this printer (if anyone managed to use it for higher resolutions,
I would be interested in knowing about it).  
You can find detailed information about its options from,
ftp://ftp.pdb.sni.de/pub/utilities/misc/hpdj.html (a PostScript manual
is included).
I have used the hp850 driver before (installing gs-aladdin "manually");
this could printer at higher resolutions, but was also not totally free 
from problems, particularly bad reproduction of colours with low saturation.
Since the version of the gs-aladdin package installed here does not include
the hp850 driver, I decided to continue using hpdj for now.

Here is the start of my /etc/magicfilter/dj870cxi-filter 
(all the remaining lines are equal to those original dj550c-filter);
please note that some lines have been wrapped: each group
of 4 lines starting with a "0" and having "/usr/bin/gs" in it is in fact a 
single line (a single entry) in the filter setup file..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#! /usr/sbin/magicfilter
#

# Magic filter setup file for HP DeskJet 870 Cxi color printers with
# both black and CMY cartridges installed
#
# This file has been created starting from the dj550c-filter of magicfilter.
# Version 2.0          
# José Manuel Cerqueira Esteves, 1999-01-20.
#
# This file has been automatically adapted to your system.
#

# PostScript
0	%!		filter	/usr/bin/gs  -q -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE 
-sDEVICE=hpdj -sModel=unspec -r300x300 -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -sColorMode=CMYK 
-dCompressionMethod=9 -sMediaType=plain -sPrintQuality=presentation 
-sOutputFile=\|"cat 1>&3" - 3>&1 1>&2 
0	\004%!		filter	/usr/bin/gs  -q -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE 
-sDEVICE=hpdj -sModel=unspec -r300x300 -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -sColorMode=CMYK 
-dCompressionMethod=9 -sMediaType=plain -sPrintQuality=presentation 
-sOutputFile=\|"cat 1>&3" - 3>&1 1>&2 

# PDF
0	%PDF		fpipe 	/usr/bin/gs  -q -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE 
-sDEVICE=hpdj -sModel=unspec -r300x300 -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -sColorMode=CMYK 
-dCompressionMethod=9 -sMediaType=plain -sPrintQuality=presentation 
-sOutputFile=\|"cat 1>&3" $FILE 3>&1 1>&2 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


5. After you do all this you just have to:

 /etc/init.d/lprng stop
 /etc/init.d/lprng start

and try to print something...

By the way, with hpdj it may be convenient to do some gamma correction
(I haven't done it yet, with my current config), adding to each `gs' 
invocation the name of a file containing for instance 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%!
{0.4 exp} dup dup currenttransfer setcolortransfer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

or

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT HERE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%!
{0.4 exp} settransfer 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But this you may try later on.
I don't remember what used to be the preferred value of the parameter for 
gamma correction ("0.4", above) among the users here.
I used to keep this in a filed called /etc/dj870cxi_gamma_correction.ps 

I haven't tried Samba with my current setup yet, but did configure it a
few days ago on another machine with an HP LaserJet 6L (also using lprng
and magicfilter) and everything seemed to run smoothly... 
but only after replacing the original HP Windows drivers with a fresh
set downloaded from HP (with Windows, I usually feel the need to 
follow a brute-force approach).

It would be most desirable if printer manufacturers gave some contribution
to help their printers achieve under Linux the same level of quality
possible under MS-Windows (when this works, of course). 
It would mean some more customers... Anybody from HP reading this?
Currently, I try to buy only the best supported printers under Linux,
and Epson inkjet printers seem to be better than those of HP in that respect.

Best regards
                                            JMCE