Brian, here's a nagging question for HP. Are "product managers" the right
target? If so, this is timely, if not, maybe you could demonstrate the
effectiveness of 3KWORLD.COM by really getting an answer. I'll cc the
HP3000-L and hope for the best. Thanks in advance!
<rant mode, sorry I can't help myself>
HP is still selling its PCL5 documentation package as if it's the latest &
greatest, it's simply not. May we please see official PCL6 documentation?
PCL6 has existed (assuming that anything > PCL5 must be PCL6) since at least
1995 when the HP5si/mx was released, and HP (Boise?) has (finally!) admitted
its existence beginning iirc with a bug workaround designed to properly
handle prepunched forms (same problem as letterhead - back & front of page
are not the same, and the printer firmware wrongly assumes its ok to use the
back for the front when duplexing).
HP is understandably more attuned to the huge PC market where printing is
concerned, but it would be really nice if they'd make the "guts" available,
rather than simply saying "Use the PCL6 driver", which is NOT a solution (or
even a crummy workaround) for me, as I don't get to use somebody's
out-of-the-box driver from an HP3000.
I need explicit detail of escape sequences which talk to the newer printers,
beginning I believe with the HP5si/mx which I first saw in 1995 and
including newer ones like the HP8100. These printers are "paper-type"
capable, ie I can programatically specify that I want 3-hole or letterhead
and the printer can take care of knowing which tray from which to pull.
The documentation of this feature is poorly described in the user manuals
accompanying the printers, and the only source of any REAL documentation of
these features is on a PCL website, 'near' the one which documents the
PREPUNCHED 'workaround', amounting to a spotty list of PCL sequences, never
actually identified as being post-PCL5 OR completely describing the whole
idea of paper-types.
So somebody forks over their $105 for what they are told is documentation of
'the latest', and it's obsolete!
If I had real documentation, I could make the PREPUNCHED workaround work,
and could also realistically deal with paper-types, a fine concept.
(BTW I've been asking this question for 5 years now; my first loop involved
endless telephone tag and ended with "Join the HP Peripheral Developers
Club" which I did and got nowhere. Since then I've got "there's no such
thing as PCL6" and "we're doing it a different way" and now "Use the PCL6
driver".
May we please have PCL6 documentation?
Tracy Pierce, Systems Programmer
Golden Gate Bridge, Hwy & Trnsp Dist
P.O.Box 9000, Presidio Station
San Francisco, CA 94129-0601
phone 415-923-2266
email to [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, March 13, 2000 12:45 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: An e3000 Overview with HP Product Managers
>
>
> Here is your opportunity to bring your HP e3000 questions to
> the HP product
> managers.
> Tuesday March 14, 1 p.m. PST/4 p.m. EST -- The Three e's --
> An HP e3000
> Overview -- Join Hewlett-Packard product managers Dave Snow,
> Pam Miller,
> Alvina Nishimoto and Adrian Den Hartog for an engaging
> one-hour HP e3000
> overview and Q&A. Advance questions may be posted on HP's
> message board at
> http://www.3kworld.com/link.asp?page=28 or e-mailed to
> [log in to unmask]
> For more information click http://www.3kworld.com/link.asp?page=26
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> Brian K. Trembath
> Content Manager, 3kworld.com
>
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