Re: OT: laser printer: HL-5250DN or another one?

["H.S." <hs.samix@gmail.com>]

Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 10/23/07 17:53, Russell L. Harris wrote:
>> * H.S. <hs.samix@gmail.com> [071023 17:07]:
>>> If I under the specs of the above two printer properly, both are
>>> postscript printers:
>>> 2070N:  PCL6, IBM Proprinter, Epson FX
>>> 5250DN: PCL6, BR-Script3, IBM Proprinter, Epson FX
>>>
>>> and these are the ports that they have:
>>> 2070N:  10/100 Base-TX Ethernet, Parallel, USB
>>> 5250DN: 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet, Parallel, Hi-Speed USB 2.0
>>>
>>> I was actually looking just for the 10/100 ethernet ports to connect the
>>> printer to a switch on the little office network that we have there. How
>>> does this relate to HP JetDirect ethernet interface? And, er, what is HP
>>> JetDirect and wouldn't it exist only in HP printers?
>>>
>>> thanks,
>>> ->HS
>> Forgive me; I misread your letter.
> 
>> The specifications you cite above do NOT indicate Postscript
>> capability; look for the term "Postscript".  Postscript is a universal
>> printer control language which is a much-preferred alternative to
>> proprietary languages such as PCL6, etc.
> 
>> In general, text output in Linux is Postscript by default; numerous
>> other printer control languages are accommodated, but sometimes the
>> process of accomodation becomes rather involved, and doesn't always
>> work quite right.
> 
>> HP JetDirect is the generic name which HP uses for its ethernet
>> interface, which typically is a plug-in module which can vary from one
>> printer model to the next.
> 
>> My point (which I did not make very well) was that a printer with
>> Postscript capability and a built-in ethernet interface typically is
>> well worth the price, because of the time savings which accumulate
>> over the years.  Configuring Linux for a non-Postscript printer and
>> making a parallel- or usb-interface printer available to other
>> machines on the LAN can be very expensive, if your time is worth
>> anything.
> 
> While having a PS interpreter built into the printer is nice, it is
> *not* vital.  The ghostscript interpreter will convert PS to PCL
> without blinking an eye.
> 

Excellent to know that.

Now, Eric mentioned memory in his post. I can understand that since
sometimes the 2070N at my home takes quite a while to print a page with
graphics in it (it has 16MB RAM). HL-5250DN comes with 32MB. How does
that sound? It also has an empty slot to accommodate 64MB, 128MB, 256MB
or 512MB (144-pin DIMM).

->HS