Very Computer

Is the HP 870Cse printer compatible with linux? Does compatiblity with
linux mean that this printer understands HP print control language?

Is the issue with the 820Cse *not* working with linux due to no driver
for the windows printing system being available on linux or is it
something more fundamental?

I have a TI 5200 laptop and a dockmate.  Undocked I can access the
parallel port with /dev/lp1.  How can I get to the dockmate parallel
port when docked. I believe it hangs off the PCI bus and is not a
pass-through port like the serial port.

Thanks for you help,
jeff

--
Jeffrey A. Greenough
Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering, LBNL
MS 50D-3439, 1 Cyclotron Rd.
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone: (510)486-5348, FAX: (510)486-6900

Quote:>Is the HP 870Cse printer compatible with linux? Does compatiblity with
>linux mean that this printer understands HP print control language?

Quote:>Is the issue with the 820Cse *not* working with linux due to no driver
>for the windows printing system being available on linux or is it
>something more fundamental?

The latter. This is not even a real printer, just some dumb device
* off of the parallel port. You can't use it in DOS/NT/OS2 ... ,
neither . Same problem with the Winmodems, by the way.

Michael
--

**************************************************************************
Satellite Safety Tip #4:
                If you see a bright streak in the sky coming at you, duck.

Now, I don't know if there is a program to control the printer,
but it might possible to write one. But you need the complete
list of the PCL code. If someone has them, please...

Julien

[Posted and mailed]

I am using an HP 870Cse with no problems under Linux.  It uses the DeskJet
550/560/6xx ghostscript driver.  All the print control is built into the
printer, which uses a RISC processor and 2M of ROM and 512K of RAM.
It uses PCL Level 3.

The HP 820 is a Windows "GDI" printer, and requires the host computer to
perform the print control functions through the driver.  It is sold as a
Windows-only printer.  Avoid it like the plague.  

Note that the HP870Cse is sold as Mac compatatblei (System 7.1), and I seem
to remember that
HP's web page has a compatability matrix that shows "Unix" compatability for
this printer.

David

Quote:> Is the HP 870Cse printer compatible with linux? Does compatiblity with
> linux mean that this printer understands HP print control language?

> Is the issue with the 820Cse *not* working with linux due to no driver
> for the windows printing system being available on linux or is it
> something more fundamental?