PCL 5 Color LaserJet Printer/MFC

Thu Feb 2 19:14:02 PST 2023

Good advice... there is an addition that I have to make.  Recently, I saw a beautiful little printer that normally sells for $218 (an HP).  It did it all... and it was on sale (and still is I think) for $118!  Big paper tray, just black, no color for the ridiculous expense of color cartridges... etc., etc.  Best of all it was said to be PCL5 compatible.  Now, I did not find this written down anywhere on the HP site, and believe me I looked.  However, an old contact at HP confirmed to me on the phone that it "appeared" to be fully PCL5 compatible.

I bought two of them for a customer.  If you don't see the ruse in the above, it's screaming out at you.  PCL5 compatible does NOT mean that it does PCL5 "natively" like our old favorite HP-3s and Hp-4s, as well as of course the HP-4000 series. ☹

It just means that with aid of Windows and various drivers provided by either MS or HP, or even other vendors of other software, etc., it *can* print PCL5 documents passed through all this "stuff".

If you have a*nix system using an old style interface, and pass your PCL5 right directly to a printer expecting it to print, do NOT get one of these little cheap printers.  I found out later, after I sent them back, that a Linux CUPS compatible setup file is available somewhere on the HP site, and can be installed with some of the new "installers" like HP-Smart and some other Windows dependant methods.  Perhaps, the Linux group of files can be put on the Linux server and you would presumably have no trouble printing a PCL5 document sent through the CUPS, but again, if you are on some other *nix, or even a horribly outdated SCO 5.7 or something, and it isn't the rather expensive version offered for yearly license by Xinuos, you are out of luck.

(Well, you could cobble together some things that look like the Linux CUPS stuff that is provided on the distrib package from HP, but not if you value your ever dwindling time left on this globe... you, like me, probably have much better things to do.

Eventually, I just told the client involved that they had to purchase a true PCL5 native machine , and it was a plug-in-play replacement for all the 4000s that were beyond breaking down.
BTW, the HP guy told me that if I truly needed to use the ancient PCL5 code, then I was limited to thei8r 200 or 400 series of printers which still did that sort of thing.  (The two printers I bought *were* 200 model line printers, and as I said, they only did the trick on a Windows O/S with the Windows drivers.  

I'm not giving any new insight here, it is the same old thing about a brain-dead printer versus one that has some intelligence (and fonts) built right into its chip set.  Apparently, those chips are too "ancient" to be legacy supported, and that really is a shame, because pre-PCL6, the PcCL5 was the only game in town to talk directly to a printer.

Well, of course, PostScript has the same sort of problems these days, and it's all about versions there, every new "driver" has this stuff built into it, just like they do with PCL5.  In the hardware itself... not anymore.. no matter whether they say PCL5 compatible or not.... and that is the clue. In this case, if you really *need PCL5*, go native.

JJE

P.S. I did by the way, fully test the $118/208 dollar PCL5 compatible printers before I sent them back.  I loaded the correct manual IP settings onto one, and directed a ready-to-go PCL5   document down the cat-5 cable to the thing from SCO 5.7.  It just sat there in some state of non-acknowledgment.  I had really thought that if I could just get to this printer with a file, it would simply print it.  No joy.  And, no, I have not called the HP guy back to let him know he was wrong.  I think he knew all the time that PCL5 compatible did not *mean* PCL5 as it used to  mean. 

So, unfortunately, this is another case of a printer just *identifying* as PCL5, when it really is a ____ fill in the blank.  ��

--
John Esak
Tucson, Arizona

-----Original Message-----
From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+john=timescape.com at lists.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Walter Vaughan Jr via Filepro-list
Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2023 2:07 PM
To: filePro Mailing List <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Subject: RE: PCL 5 Color LaserJet Printer/MFC

I asked ChatGPT and here you go ��

I'm sorry, but I don't have access to current information about specific copier printers that support PCL 5. However, you can check the specifications of various copier printers and look for those that support PCL 5. Many copier printers now support PCL 5, PCL 6, and PostScript, so it should not be difficult to find a printer that meets your needs.

To find a copier printer that supports PCL 5, you can do the following:

Check the manufacturer's website: Most manufacturers provide detailed specifications for their copier printers, including the supported printer languages.
customer reviews: Customers often provide information about the features and capabilities of copier printers, including which printer languages are supported.

Contact the manufacturer or a dealer: If you have specific questions about a copier printer, you can contact the manufacturer or a dealer for more information.

It's also important to consider other features of the copier printer, such as print speed, resolution, connectivity options, and paper handling capabilities, to ensure that the printer meets your requirements.

-----Original Message-----
From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+wvaughan=steelerubber.com at lists.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Robert Repko via Filepro-list
Sent: Thursday, February 2, 2023 11:39 AM
To: Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
Subject: PCL 5 Color LaserJet Printer/MFC

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