NewDeal Technical Support Document 272

Specific Printer Notes, Hewlett Packard


This document contains notes about using Hewlett Packard printers with NewDeal software

Note: You must have NewDeal software to use NewDeal print drivers. NewDeal print drivers will not work with other Windows, OS/2, or DOS programs.
All HP Printers
All HP DeskJets
HP DeskJet 500
DeskJet 550C
DeskJet 560C
DeskJet 600, 800, 1000, and 1100 series
DeskJet 672C and 692C
HP DeskJet 712C, 720C, and 722C
HP DeskJet 1120C and 1120Cse
DeskJet 1200 series
All HP LaserJets
LaserJet drivers in Sony CD Manager
HP LaserJet+
HP LaserJet II
HP LaserJet III
HP LaserJet 4
HP LaserJet 4L
HP LaserJet 2100
HP PaintJet
HP OfficeJet
HP ThinkJet


All Hewlett Packard Printers

Sending Escape Codes from DOS

You can send escape codes to your printer to configure its mode, paper size, and other settings without using the printer's physical control panel. Consult your printer manual for a list of escape codes that apply to your printer. Here's how to send escape sequences to your printer using the DOS editors EDIT.

Escape sequences begin with the escape character, ASCII 127. In EDIT, the escape character is created by pressing Ctrl+P, then Esc. A left arrow will appear when you press the Esc key.

For example, the command for switching some printers to landscape mode is Esc&l10. First, create the escape character, then type &, then l (lowercase L), then 1 (one), then 0 (zero). Now you can print the file directly from EDIT, or you can save it and send the file to the printer whenever you like using the COPY command at the DOS prompt (COPY filename.ext PRN /B).

All HP DeskJets

Margins

The DeskJet has minimum margins larger than .25 inch. Therefore, if you're using 8.5 x 11 page size, and if the software thinks there's anything within the top or bottom half inch of the page, then the software believes it needs to tile the page over two pieces of paper, or else "scale to fit."

There are several ways to approach this.

Printing From AOL

Printing directly from the AOL application in version 1.x or 2.x with a DeskJet series printers, the printing will be chopped off. The 1/2 inch margin means that data (thought to be sent to the printer) gets chopped. If you are using version 2.x, copy and paste the data to TFE and print it from there or use the logging feature of AOL and print the log from the Text File Editor.

NewPlanner Printing

When printing from NewPlanner in landscape mode in version 1.x, the print out is moved far to the left and has lots of room on the right margin. Page Setup does not allow you to play with the margins, only the orientation and page size. Also, it cuts off the header. The DeskJet enforces margins that are wider than the 1/4" that the NewPlanner in version 1.x assumes. This means that Planner will write to areas of the page that the printer is incapable of printing to, hence the problem. This could also happen in NewWrite, since headers can extend up to within a 1/4" of the edge of the page. Try reducing the page size in order to print the entire calendar.

Starting in version 2.0, this was addressed in several ways:

Mysterious 'E'

Several folks have reported that printing on their HP DeskJets resulted in one extra page containing nothing but an upper case "E" in the upper left corner, before each good page of the document. One customer reports that the mysterious "E" only happens on computers with a VTECH BIOS.

Several customers report that toggling the NumLock key on or off prevented the spurious "E" and extra form feed. Others report that toggling the setting for the NumLock key in CMOS eliminates the spurious "E" and form feed.

Envelope print driver patch for version 2.x

This patch is not recommended or endorsed. Use it at your own risk.

Here is a patch which changes the way the DeskJet driver prints envelopes. If you don't have experience editing binary files with DEBUG or Norton DiskEdit, etc. you might want to have someone help you through this, although it isn't very difficult. IT IS IMPORTANT TO FIRST COPY THE FILE DESKJET.GEO TO ANOTHER FILE FOR A BACKUP in case of a problem. For example:

cd\newdeal\system\printers
copy deskjet.geo deskjet.sav
Now you can safely edit the original DESKJET.GEO. I used Norton DiskEdit to locate the string <esc>&l#H (that's a lower case L, not a number 1). In hex the string is 1B 26 6C 23 48

Change these five bytes to null characters, in hex 00 00 00 00 00. Save the change and you're done.

Here are step by step instructions for performing the patch using DEBUG. For each DOS or DEBUG command below, hit the ENTER key after typing the command.

  1. Exit the software and get yourself to the DOS prompt.
  2. Change directories by typing:
    CD\NEWDEAL\SYSTEM\PRINTER
  3. Make a copy of DESKJET.GEO in case you make a mistake:
    COPY DESKJET.GEO DESKJET.SAV
  4. Start Debug:
    DEBUG DESKJET.GEO
  5. You'll see the elegant Debug prompt, a single hyphen with the blinking cursor after it.
  6. Search for the bytes we want to change:
    S 100 2000 1B 26 6C 23 48
  7. Type the above line EXACTLY at the - prompt and hit enter. Debug will respond with an address consisting of two four-character sequences separated by a colon. Write down the four characters to the RIGHT of the colon for use in the next step. In my case they were 116E, but it is possible that it could be different in yours.
  8. Type the following line EXACTLY and double check it before hitting enter. (I'm showing 116E as the address offset, but if yours was different then make the substitution.):
    E 116E 00 00 00 00 00
    (those are zeros, not capital O's)
  9. If you have done everything above correctly, then type at the - prompt:
    W
    (this writes the modifications to disk)
  10. Quit Debug by typing:
    Q
To print an envelope with the modified driver, insert it into the printer and press the envelope load buttons. Then issue the print command from the software. Your DJ 500 will no longer spit out the envelope that you're trying to print on. The original escape code in the software creates an explicit page feed from the paper tray. It isn't needed because the DJ500 is smart enough to know to feed a sheet of paper if there isn't one ready to print.

HP DeskJet 500

Envelope Printing

  1. From the File menu, choose Page Size.
    • For Type, select Envelope
    • For Size, click on Envelope #10
    • Decrease the Width to 8.5 inches.
    • Click Apply, then Close
  2. From the File menu, choose Page Setup and change the margins as follows.
    • Top Margin: 0.375 inches
    • Bottom Margin: 0.375 inches
    • Right Margin: 0.25 inches
    • Left Margin: 0.25 inches
  3. Click Apply, then Close
  4. Enter the return address at the very top left of the envelope form on the screen. When entering the addressee information, start the first line about two inches down from the top, and three or four inches from the left margin.
  5. From the File menu, choose Print. Then click on the Options button.
    • Change the height to 4.5 inches
    • For Paper Source, select Manual
    • Do NOT select Envelope for "Type of Paper."
    • Click OK.
  6. Feeding the envelope into the printer is the tricky part. DeskJets have a button on their main panel to advance the envelopes into the printer. Do NOT use this button. To feed the envelope, insert the envelope face down, lengthwise (portrait), into the top paper tray until the top edge of the envelope is barely touching the large paper feed rollers.
  7. Now click on the Print button. If the envelope is ejected and the envelope text prints on a sheet of paper, the envelope was inserted too far under the large paper feed rollers in step 6.
Note: When printed correctly, the return address will print one inch down from the top and one inch in from the left margin. This is unfortunate, but normal.

To print multiple envelopes

Follow the above procedure for the first envelope. For the second envelope, use the envelope feed button on the printer to insert the envelope into the printer. Then click the OK button on screen (in the dialog box that's prompting you to insert the next sheet of paper).

DeskJet 550C

Envelopes

The 550C loads envelopes lengthwise, the left side of the template becomes the top of the paper feed, and the printer's minimum 1/2" margin applies. The return address block in the template supplied with the software needs to be moved 16 points to the right.

Successful envelope printing on the 550C is a snap:

  1. Follow directions in the HP manual for printing envelopes, but load envelopes flap left.
  2. Select Print in the File menu.
  3. At the Print dialog, select Options.
  4. At the Options dialog, select:
    • Type of paper in printer: envelope
    • Size of paper: Envelope #10
    • Paper feed: click on "lengthwise" feed (first choice)
  5. Click on OK in the Option dialog, then click on Print in the Print dialog.

DeskJet 560C

The 560C uses the same drivers as the 550C. The CMYK driver has been available starting with version 2.01. The CMYK driver uses true black along with the three other colors. The 3-color driver does not use black ink, but makes muddy purple by mixing red, cyan, and yellow. The 560C prints 600x300 dpi only in black and white mode. In color mode, it's 300x300.

DeskJet 600, 800, 1000, and 1100 Series

If your model is not specifically listed in Preferences, Printer, use a driver for a different HP DeskJet printer from this list of drivers recommended by HP. In some cases, the substitute driver will not provide access to all of the printer's capabilities. NOTE: When using an HP LaserJet driver to print to an HP DeskJet printer, page formatting may work differently.

HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS

The HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS is software that replaces the front panel switches found on older HP DeskJet printers. The HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS does not replace printer drivers; it must be used along with DOS software printer drivers. The HP DeskJet Control Panel may provide access to features of the printer that are not available from within NewDeal. The HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS also lets you monitor the printer's status and clean and align the print cartridges.

NOTE: The HP DeskJet 720C, 820, and 1000C series printers do not have an HP DeskJet Control Panel for DOS, since they were developed as Windows-only printers. However, some DOS settings can be made in the DOS or Advanced tab of the Windows printer settings.

DeskJet 672C and 692C

The HP DeskJet 672C and 692C are reported to work with the 550C drivers in NewDeal software.

HP DeskJet 712C, 720C, and 722C

The HP DeskJet 700 series printers are "Windows-only." You must have Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 or 98, because the drivers that speak the new proprietary printer language required by these printers are available only from HP and only for MS Windows.

However, if you run New Deal Office, or other DOS programs, from Windows and use the HP DeskJet 550C drivers, then the Windows driver for the 700 series printers will capture the output from NewDeal and convert it to the proper language. The manual for these printers contains a section specifically about printing from DOS programs. Those instructions apply to New Deal Office. Also, you might need to try the various settings for "DOS", "BIOS", or "7" for the parallel port in Preferences, Computer. The "DOS" setting is most likely to work.

HP DeskJet 1120C and 1120Cse

The HP DeskJet 1120 series printers are reported to work with the HP DeskJet 550C drivers in NewDeal.

HP DeskJet 1200 series

Unfortunately, there is no 1200C specific driver available as of this writing. Some folks report good results with the PaintJet XL300 driver. You can also use the HP DeskJet 550 driver, however the margins may be off-center on the 1200C when using the HP DeskJet 550 driver. Folks have adjusted the margins or positioned things on the page to compensate, though obviously it means you don't get WYSIWYG and you can't make use of the full 8 inch wide printable space. The HP DeskJet 1200 series consists of two printers: the 1200C and the 1200CP. The 1200C uses the new PCL 5 language for color and the PCL 4 language for black and white. The 1200C reportedly works well in black and white mode if you select the HP LaserJet II compatible print driver. If you have the PostScript option on the 1200C, you can use the PostScript drivers.

All HP LaserJets

Blank or Faint Printouts

The problem

The HP LaserJet spits out blank pages or pages with a few faint lines printed on them when user tries to print.

The solution

This will happen if the printer is set to landscape mode. Run a printer self-test by pressing ALT+TEST on the printer's control panel. If the test page comes out printed sideways, the printer is in landscape mode and it must be changed to portrait mode.

Envelopes

Put the envelope in your paper tray, set up for ordinary 8 1/2 x 11 paper, put it all the way over on the right. Put the envelope in upside down so that the top of it is on the left side, away from the track which the envelope will be pressing up against (ignore the little picture on the printer showing the opposite). After having called up your document to the screen and replaced the text with whoever's address, print it, not in text-only mode, but in regular mode.

Here is an approach that has been reported to work well with the HP LaserJet IIP:

  1. Set JOB SIZE to COM10. (That means Envelope #10. Note that PAPER SIZE remains at LETTER.)
  2. Set ORIENT to L. (That's Landscape.)
  3. Set MAN FEED to ON. (That's Manual Feed. This may not be essential.)
In the software:
  1. Set PAGE SIZE to ENVELOPE 10. (This is in Page Size in the File menu. Note that Orientation remains set to PORTRAIT.)
  2. Set PAPER SIZE to ENV 10 LANDSCAPE. (This is in File, Print, Change Options.)
Then stick the envelope in the printer like this:
  /\
 /  \
  ||
  ||
=======
|\    |
| \   |
|  \  |
|  /  |
| /   |
|/    |
=======
Some more ideas about envelope printing:

Memory

When it comes to printer memory, how much is enough?

512K of memory in a laser printer is often not enough to print a full 8.5"x11" page at high-resolution, and one MB is barely enough. Larger pages require even more memory. If you don't have enough memory in the printer, your document may print in strips because it fills up the available memory. All laser printers that ship with one MB or less need at least one MB of RAM added for proper printing from our software.

For instance, an 8.5x14 (legal) size document could require as much as 1.2 meg. Not all pages require the maximum amount of memory; it's a function of the amount of the page that is actually covered with text or graphics (the software compresses empty space, sometimes called "white space," which is why even a 512K printer can print some high-resolution pages if they're simple enough).

If pages print successfully in low mode, but not in high mode, then it's a good sign that the problem is not enough memory in the printer.

There is a mathematical relationship between the amount of memory on the printer and the largest page we can print. If you assume the worst case (most complex page), it goes something like this:

A laser printer that prints at 300dpi (dots per inch) would require 300 bits for every horizontal inch of the page. An 8" page has 7.5 printable inches, which means each horizontal line would require 300 x 8 = 2,400 bits of memory. There are eight bits in a byte, so a single horizontal line would require 2400/8 = 300 bytes. Every vertical inch of the page has 300 of these lines. Therefore, every vertical inch requires 300 x 300 = 90,000 bytes of memory. 90,000 bytes is about 88K. So, for instance, an 11" page (with 10.5 inches of printable vertical area) would require 10.5 x 88 = 924K of printer memory, worst case. That's nearly one meg (1,024K). A 14" page (with 13.5 inches of printable vertical area) would require 13.5 x 88 = 1,188K (about 1.2 meg).

The amount of memory actually available with our version 1.2 drivers is a function of the number of fonts the user has already downloaded because those drivers won't remove the fonts from the printer's internal memory. This means that even if the user has 2 megs of printer RAM, he or she may still run into problems printing if most of that RAM is taken up by previously downloaded fonts. (Cycling power on the printer should let you know if this, indeed, is the problem.) Our newer HP drivers that have "fast" text-mode printing (available in version 1.2.8) behave a little differently. These new drivers remove downloaded fonts from the printer's memory if the user chooses the Text Only option when printing. This is the only way of knowing how much memory is available on the printer (the HP printers provide no status reports on memory availability). For most people using our software products, this removing of downloaded fonts won't be a problem. The only problem we can think of would be when printing to a network printer that has standard pre-downloaded fonts (fonts that get downloaded when the network starts up). If somebody on the network prints using one of these drivers in text mode only (and, thereby, removes any downloaded fonts) he or she may not be too popular around the office.

However, they can always avoid text mode printing or use the "HP Compatible" driver--which has a more passive text mode option. The newer HP drivers have a new "text mode"; they will download the software fonts to the printer, making text mode printing lightning fast while essentially persevering WYSIWYG printing of text--fonts, sizes, styles and all--(graphics will still require non text mode printing).

The drivers in version 2.0 have been improved to give the user control over whether to retain the fonts downloaded to the printer or whether to remove them.

Will more printer memory speed up printing?

Slow printing may be due to your computer and the fact that our software prints in graphics mode. It takes a lot of information transfer between the computer and printer when printing graphics (especially at 300 or 360 dots per inch). Since the software time shares between applications (your printer spooler is actually an application), the more work you do while printing, the longer it will take for the spooler to get a piece of computer time and get the printing done.

Here are some suggestions to speed up printing

Printer Speed

The reason the pages print so slowly when you print at full resolution on the HP LaserJet is that we are fully imaging the page to 300 dots per inch using our outline fonts and graphics routines, and then shipping the final page over to the laser printer. This is great when you are doing a complex one page flyer because it allows you to get a true WYSIWYG display on the screen of what will come out on the printer, and you can do neat font rotations, and so forth that the IIP does not support, but it gets kind of slow when you want to print a long document that is mainly text.

The software contains a much more powerful document imaging system than the HP printers and sometimes you will want to take advantage of that to create elaborate pages. However, we realize that on other occasions you want fast high resolution printing, so starting with version 1.2.8, we provided a special "font downloading" print driver for LaserJets and compatibles.

For those of you working on long documents, source the documents in the mono font and print your initial drafts as "text only". This will use the resident courier font of the HP printers and print quickly (as fast as the HP's are capable of). When you are ready for the final printing, change to the desired fonts, and be prepared to wait.

The downloading of fonts will allow you to print text documents out at full resolution. But complex graphics documents will still have to be printed at medium resolution if you don't have enough memory in the printer. The full resolution of the HP printers is 300 dots per inch. When you do the math this works out to 1 meg of memory required to image a full 8 1/2 X 11 inch page.

LaserJet drivers in Sony CD Manager

The Sony CD Manager does not include LASERDWN.GEO, which is the 1.5 mb PCL download driver. Therefore the following printers are not listed in Preferences, Printer: CD Manager customers with any of the printers listed above should choose HP LaserJet IIP (512K) or HP PCL Download Font Driver (512K). Both these choices use the same driver, LASDWN5.GEO. This driver works exactly like LASERDWN.GEO, except for the ability to download in 1.5 meg chunks, which should not affect performance in any way.

HP LaserJet+

The print drivers for the HP LaserJets send out a reset command (Esc-E) as part of the printing process. This has the effect of re-setting the number of copies counter on the HP LaserJet Plus. This problem should not occur on LaserJet II and up, however, which don't reset this counter upon receiving an Esc-E. This means printing multiple copies of a document on a LaserJet Plus will be rather slow.

HP LaserJet II

To print lots of copies a document on a Hewlett Packard LaserJet II without waiting hours, do this:
  1. On the LaserJet control panel, press the MENU Button.
  2. Use the plus and minus keys to set the number of copies you want.
  3. Press the ENTER RESET MENU Button.
  4. Press the MENU Button repeatedly to scroll to "00 READY."
  5. Press the CONTINUE RESET Button and hold until you see "07 RESET."
Now whatever image is sent to the printer's memory will be printed as many times as you want. This works because the print driver doesn't tell the Laser Jet how many copies to print, so it doesn't override the "Number of Copies" setting when it prints.

Note: Remember to reset the number of copies to "one" when you are finished, because the printer retains the settings even when it's powered down.

HP LaserJet III

Problem

Trouble printing to legal size sheets fed manually into HP LaserJet III. No legal-size tray. Page and Paper Size set to 8.5 by 14 in the software as well as on the printer. Set to Manual Feed in the software. HP gives error message "PC Load Legal" and stops. Hitting Reset/Continue button causes page to print out properly up to the 8.5 x 11 point, at which point it stops.

Solution

Turn Manual Feed to ON, on the printer control panel.

HP LaserJet 4

The HP LJ 4 will work with the LJ III driver. Text-only mode provides 600X600 dpi and very fast printouts. A customer reports better results using the "HP LaserJet II compatible" driver with the HP LaserJet, rather than the driver named for the HP LaserJet 4. There is a dip switch setting for 600 dpi on the printer. Changing this switch to 300 dpi improved print quality for several users. The HP LJ 4 driver supports 600 dpi in PostScript mode, but only 300 dpi in PCL mode.

HP LaserJet 4L

Envelopes

After choosing Print from the File menu (or CTRL+P or clicking on the printer icon), click on the Options button in the Print dialog box. Near the top of the Options dialog box is a line that says Type of Paper in Printer. Click on Envelope.

You'll immediately see the little icons below change into envelopes. You should also see the line Size of Paper in Printer with a scrollable list of standard envelope sizes. I generally use the #10 Envelope template and so choose the #10 envelope size.

The software will automatically change to a landscape orientation. Click on the OK button at the bottom and it will put you back to the Print Dialog box. Make sure the rear door of your 4L is open (otherwise your envelope comes out pretty wrinkled). There's a little dial on the left rear that opens the rear door. Be sure to feed your envelope through the manual feed slot on the front. The left edge should go in first. Put it all the way over on the left side. Insert the envelope until you hear a gentle click. Then click on the Print button. Voila! You have a beautifully printed envelope!

To print more envelopes you just go through the normal routine, but if you print anything else in NewWrite without closing the program you'll want to be sure to go back into the options menu and click the Paper button again before you print (otherwise you'll get some pretty weird results).

Built In Fonts

A customer says: "I discovered that changing the default font on my HP 4L to CG Times gave me all sorts of grief when I tried to print. I could print out at a "text only" level just fine, but mysterious letter Bs appeared all over the page when I did anything else. I also noticed streaks in graphics that had never been there before. Using the Explorer software, I changed the default back to Courier and the problem disappeared as well. I miss the CG Times when I print from the text editor, but not enough to go back to mystery B's and streaks!"

Straight Path Printing

Another customer reports: "Before I tried printing straight through on my HP4, I called HP Tech Support to ask if I would screw anything up if I tried this. As far as they could tell, there should be no problem. The fact that the back door must be closed for printing is most likely because the fuser assembly is exposed when it is open, and they figured it would be too dangerous (burn-wise) to print with the door open. Having said that though, the tech rep said printing this way should not cause any problems.

"There is a small micro switch about half way up on the right side that must be depressed to get the printer to work. (If you look at the back door, you will see a small, rounded tab on the right that is used to depress this switch). When you open the door, you will get a paper jam message. All you have to do is depress the switch and wait for the printer to warm back up (I used a small pencil eraser). Then you have to push On Line again to be able to print. After you have done that, simply send your print job as usual and wait for it to print. I discovered that sometimes the paper will catch on the lowered door, so you might want to be ready to catch the paper as it comes out of the printer. Use the upper tray.

"The only problem I had is finding something that could be used consistently and safely to depress this switch without breaking anything. Ideally, two people should be used to print this way. Since this method would be used for thicker papers, like card stock, I asked him about this. He said that although HP does not recommend anything over 36 pounds, it probably would not hurt anything. I then said that people have been running thicker paper through HP III printers for years without problems, and he said that the HP4 should be no different, but no guarantees, either."

HP LaserJet 2100

The HP LaserJet 2100 is both a PCL printer and a PostScript printer. It should work with the HP LaserJet 4 drivers in Newdeal software, both the PCL mode and the PostScript mode drivers.

HP PaintJet

The original HP PaintJet is not supported by the software and will not print in color. You can probably print in black and white using the QuietJet print driver, but resolution may be limited and there may be border and page size problems (due to limitations on border edge printing). The newer PaintJet XL-300 is supported.

HP OfficeJet

The OfficeJet is a multifunction machine including printer, fax, and scanner/copier. NewDeal has not tested the OfficeJet with NewDeal software. The printer is equivalent to an HP DeskJet 500, but requires the special Windows driver that comes with the machine. HP includes a DOS redirection utility, which captures PCL3 output from DOS programs and sends it to the Windows driver for the machine. The Windows driver then translates the output from the DOS program into the proprietary print language for the OfficeJet and sends the print instructions to the machine. In order to print on the OfficeJet 500 or 520, you must run NewDeal from Windows and use the HP DeskJet 500 drivers in NewDeal. You might need to change the setting for the LPT port in Preferences, Computer from "BIOS" to "DOS" or "7".

HP ThinkJet

The ThinkJet is not supported directly, but the QuietJet driver should work in low quality mode. However, your documents may come out shifted 3/4" to the right with the far right part cut off. The reason seems to be that the ThinkJet enforces a full 1 inch margin. A work around is to use Page Setup functions to set left margin 3/4" less than you really want it to be, and a right margin 3/4" more. In other words, for normal 1" margins on a document, set the left margin at .25 inch and the right margin at 1.75 inches.
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Last Modified 26 Jun 1999