Very Computer

The printer that I had hoped to use to place my 820Cse brain dead printer -
the 870, is no longer being manufactured according to an HP rep. - he
suggested the 890, but didn't know if it would work with LINUX or not.
Anyone else know or use the 890?

Also, I asked him about their 'network' capable printers; he didn't know
what that was.  I'm running a small lan here at the house, and would like
the convenience of a lan printer, without paying an arm and a leg.  Any
suggestions?

Ben
--
Ben Bailey
917 Stream Valley Trail
Alpharetta, GA 30202
770-664-2810

http://www.avana.net/~bbailey

Quote:>The printer that I had hoped to use to place my 820Cse brain dead printer -
>the 870, is no longer being manufactured according to an HP rep. - he
>suggested the 890, but didn't know if it would work with LINUX or not.
>Anyone else know or use the 890?

Quote:

>Also, I asked him about their 'network' capable printers; he didn't know
>what that was.  I'm running a small lan here at the house, and would like
>the convenience of a lan printer, without paying an arm and a leg.  Any
>suggestions?

Your best option for a netwoked printer is to hang the printer off of
a linux box. You can use either lpr or lprng to let other linux boxes
print to the machine, and run samba to allow Windows to see the printer.

You can also set up one of the magic filters to automatically run
ghostscript on postscript files, and to pass through native PCL files
directly to the printer.

I'm using this exact setup with my Laserjet IIP+. I also recommend that
you use lprng instead of lpr. It just works better.

Mike

: The printer that I had hoped to use to place my 820Cse brain dead printer -
: the 870, is no longer being manufactured according to an HP rep. - he
: suggested the 890, but didn't know if it would work with LINUX or not.
: Anyone else know or use the 890?

Do you have to go through the HP rep ? Now that the 890 is outtThe 870
seems to be available for less than $400 at the local BestBuy or Office Depot.
I don't know much about the 890. I just remember seeing it at the store
and thinking "great, I just bought an 870 and it is already outdated..."
But if the spec says "works with PC, Mac, and DOS" you are pretty safe...
If it says "exclusively for Window" it won't work.

As for network printing, the 870 was supposed to be "network friendly"
(whatever that means) but from reading the Linux printing HOWTO it
sounds like it is very easy to setup a remote printer server. If that's
the case then it doesn't really matter if the printer is network aware or
not as long as the machine that it is connected to can be setup as a
print server...

bruno. (not speaking for HP)

Thanks for the response.

I was actually in a local Computer City, looking for the 870.  A guy came
up, asking if he could help.  Being familiar with the (average) level of
help being offered, I said no.  He replied that he was a HP Rep, and showed
me his HP badge he was proudly wearing, and would gladly answer any HP
questions.  So I asked him where the 870 was, as there were none on
display.  That's when he said they were discontinued - guess CC had already
run out of their stock level.  He suggested the 890 instead.  However, he
didn't know anything about it other than it would work with Windows.  As to
what 'network friendly' means, he didn't know.  He suggested I call HP's
800 number; I had already done that, and all I got was the response "it
means it's friendly with networks".  So, I guess I got the (average) level
of help after all, huh?

Ben
----------
Ben Bailey
917 Stream Valley Trail
Alpharetta, GA 30202
770-664-2810

http://www.avana.net/~bbailey

: As to what 'network friendly' means, he didn't know.  
: He suggested I call HP's 800 number;

The 890 is described at
<http://www.hp.com/peripherals/printers/dj890c.html>

Sounds to me like a faster 870, better color technology, and smaller muzzle
drops. It takes "HP PCL level 3 enhanced printer language" so it is safe
to say that it isn't one of the winpriters and should work with Linux.

Here's the network friendly part:

Multiple users can easily share with optional HP JetDirect print servers.

Here's what I could find on the Jetdirect print server that supports
TCP/IP.

             J2591A
                      HP JetDirect EX Plus print server,
                      Ethernet/802.3, BNC (10Base2), RJ-45
                      (10Base-T)

A couple of web pages describing it are at

http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/jetdir/jdex/jdex.htm
and
http://www.hp.com/rnd/products/jetdir/jdinfo/jdinfo.htm

It looks like a box that sits on your network. You then plug the printer
into it. The box can talk TCP/IP (amoung other protocols)
I have no idea on pricing...

bruno.

Quote:> The printer that I had hoped to use to place my 820Cse brain dead printer -
> the 870, is no longer being manufactured according to an HP rep. - he
> suggested the 890, but didn't know if it would work with LINUX or not.
> Anyone else know or use the 890?

Quote:> Also, I asked him about their 'network' capable printers; he didn't know
> what that was.  I'm running a small lan here at the house, and would like
> the convenience of a lan printer, without paying an arm and a leg.  Any
> suggestions?