We have 1/2 dozen LaserJets of various types and vintage, and even a
Goestetner mopier that emulates a LaserJet 4, working fine as network
printers to our 5.5 X3 production system. We've even managed to get all
the setup information correct so that our users cannot tell whether any
given LaserJet is a network connected printer or a serially connected
printer.

I knew we had to use JetDirect cards or JetDirect EX boxes with MPE/iX
network printing. OK, a little annoying especially since HP does not
make a JetDirect EX with a serial port, but we can deal with it. What I
did not notice until recently, and what is really annoying, is the
apparent requirement that the printer support some level of PCL.
[Although it must be very basic since the ThinkJet is supported and most
of the younger people around here never even heard of the ThinkJet.] Of
course we have dozens of non-HP character impact printers acquired over
the years such as Okidata and Printek that I would like to gradually
convert to network printers as we remove DTCs from remote sites. And I'd
like to avoid the added management overhead of a third-party print
solution. But it looks like I'm screwed by HP's half-assed network
printing enhancement. I have not been able to make an Okidata or Printek
printer attached to an HP JetDirect Ex work off our HP3000s, presumeably
because neither supports PCL.

So the question is: Has anyone had success connecting a non-PCL printer
to an HP3000 using MPE/iX's network printing? If not, does anyone know
what minimum PCL is actually required to support any kind of network
printing?

John Burke
Pacific Coast Building Products
e-mail: [log in to unmask]