How do I print to a networked PCL-only printer?

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vunce1999 Author

Level 1

8 points

How do I print to a networked PCL-only printer?

Hello.

I am new to the Apple discussion area and the whole world of Apple for that matter so please forgive me if this posting is badly placed, redundant etc.

We have a network (i.e. TCP/IP) Ricoh Aficio 2228 color multi-function printer/fax/scanner/copier.

Unfortunately, this is a PCL-only machine and I am wondering if we can use it from our MACs. The vendor provides PCL & Postscript drivers for Windows-based PCs but only a postscript driver for the MAC.

Even if we cannot take full advantage of all of the features (such as fax), would somebody be kind enough to provide me with a "how-to" so that we can at least print out a Word/Excel document from our MACs?

I have seen bits and pieces elsewhere and some of them refer to "gutenprint" but I am not sure if this would be right/ideal for our particular Ricoh device.

Thanks.

-R

iMAC, Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Feb 18, 2008 12:28 PM

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Answer 1

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

Feb 18, 2008 1:12 PM in response to vunce1999

Within the Gutenprint driver set there is a Generic PCL5e and PCL6 that you can use.

What you can do is create a new IP printer. For the protocol select either LPR or HP JetDirect - Socket (this is printing to RAW Port 9100). If you select LPR then ensure you enter the correct queue name (check what the PC's use for the queue name however you may find they default to Port 9100).

Then in the Print Using, type gener and all the Generic PCL Gutenprint ppds will appear. Select the PCL5e or PCL6 (depending on what the Aficio supports) and click Add. This should get the Mac printing from most of its applications.

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Answer 2

vunce1999 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 18, 2008 3:15 PM in response to PAHU

Thanks Pahu - I can now print ... but only in black & white.

At the expense of sounding fussy, I am pretty sure that some people in our office will "need" to print in colour as well.

I tried the PCL5c and PCL6 drivers and both of them seem to use greyscale or something. I didn't see any print options for colour.

Any ideas?

Thanks again!

-R

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Answer 3

Feb 18, 2008 4:07 PM in response to vunce1999

vunce1999 wrote:
Thanks Pahu - I can now print ... but only in black & white.

At the expense of sounding fussy, I am pretty sure that some people in our office will "need" to print in colour as well.

The Gutenprint Generic PCL drivers do not support color. The Ricoh 2228 uses the PCL 5c language. You can use the Generic PCL 5c driver from the HPIJS driver package. _ http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/hpijs_

Matt

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Answer 4

vunce1999 Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 22, 2008 10:55 AM in response to Matt Broughton

Matt Broughton wrote:

vunce1999 wrote:
Thanks Pahu - I can now print ... but only in black & white.

At the expense of sounding fussy, I am pretty sure that some people in our office will "need" to print in colour as well.

The Gutenprint Generic PCL drivers do not support color. The Ricoh 2228 uses the PCL 5c language. You can use the Generic PCL 5c driver from the HPIJS driver package. _ http://www.linux-foundation.org/en/OpenPrinting/MacOSX/hpijs_

Matt

Hello Matt and thanks for your input. I did download & install the hpijs pkg (along with RIP & ghostscript). I then added a printer, supplying the same IP address for the printer as for the Gutenprint printer. I also used the same queue name ("lp"). It warned about the queue already being there or something. I said to continue.

Everything seemed to be OK so I tried printing (the indicated driver was the hpijs driver, NOT gutenprint) but it came out in greyscale. Now the hpijs printer is showing as being "paused" and when I try to "resume", it complains "client-error-not-found".

As you have probably gathered, I am really clueless about the MAC...

What is the "queue" anyhow? Did I goof by specifying the same queue name as for the gutenprint printer? Do I need to remove the gutenprint printer?

Sorry for the cluelessness. As always, any guidance would be appreciated.

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Answer 5

Feb 23, 2008 12:22 PM in response to vunce1999

Since you have it working with the Gutenprint driver, double-click on that in the Print & Fax pane. The window for that printer will appear. Click on the Get Info button, the one with the "I" on it. Then click on Driver from the tabs on the top. Once you are there, you can click on the driver, and the menu will let you change the driver to the color driver you need.

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Answer 6

Feb 23, 2008 5:40 PM in response to vunce1999

If you follow the suggestion Bruce made of assigning the HPIJS printer driver to your existing queue that is working, you will probably want to delete the printer that you are having problems with.

Everything seemed to be OK so I tried printing (the indicated driver was the hpijs driver, NOT gutenprint) but it came out in greyscale. Now the hpijs printer is showing as being "paused" and when I try to "resume", it complains "client-error-not-found".

To solve the problem of printing greyscale with the HPIJS driver, you should look for *Printer Features* under the *Copies & Pages* or Layout pop-up menu in a print window. Make sure that it is set for color printing.

The "client-error-not-found" is often a symptom that the part of the printing system has stopped. You can force it to run all the time if you turn on printer sharing.

What is the "queue" anyhow? Did I goof by specifying the same queue name as for the gutenprint printer? Do I need to remove the gutenprint printer?

The "queue" is often used interchangeably with the term "printer" or "printer queue". It refers to the line of print jobs awaiting their turn to print. It is a good idea to always use a different name for each printer when you create. This is more for your convenience and clarity. The printing system will append a suffix to any printer name that already exists if you try to use the same name so the printing system can tell them apart.

Matt

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