OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Hardware => Topic started by: madbrain on January 09, 2019, 09:51:51 am

Title: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 09, 2019, 09:51:51 am
I have the following :
- a Brother MFC-L8850CDW all-in-one laser printer (2014 model)
- a Canon Pixma Pro-100 inkjet photo printer (2012 model)
- an Epson Workforce 7110 inkjet photo printer (2014 model)
All of them are networked with Ethernet.

I didn't see any of them listed with ArcaOS CUPS drivers.
Is there any chance of getting one or more to work, and if so, with which driver ?
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Eugene Gorbunoff on January 09, 2019, 12:11:07 pm
Brother MFC-L8850CDW spec => https://support.brother.com/g/b/spec.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=mfcl8850cdw_us_eu_as
seems that it supports PostScript and PCL.
OS/2 supports all PostScript printers.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: mauro on January 09, 2019, 12:31:16 pm
Hi Julien, since all the 3 models seem to support the PS Post Script mode, you should be able to find a compatible printer driver model among the ones already included in the OS2 selectable printers list. Just seek in the file/printer title the "PS" or "Post Script" definition.  In my case, I have a Samsung Xpression C460 wireless printer (color laserjet) which I could configure to print by selecting a HP Color laserjet 8500 series driver with Post Script capability mentioned in the driver title.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: ivan on January 09, 2019, 02:25:58 pm
Hi Julien,

I have a couple of Brother laser printers (DCP-9020cdw and HL-3170cdw) that work using the PSPRINT driver (on ArcaOS) and the PSCRIPT driver (on OS/2) via the SLPR port driver.  The only thing necessary to get them working was to import the PPD from the LINUX drivers (after cleaning them) using the instructions included with Alex Taylor's PSPRINT-30_905 package.

I can, and do, use the scanner of the DCP-9020cdw via Peter Moylan's FTP Server.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: mauro on January 09, 2019, 05:42:50 pm

I can, and do, use the scanner of the DCP-9020cdw via Peter Moylan's FTP Server.

Hi Ivan, I'd like to understand more about this, since my Samsung Xpression C460 acts also as scanner but no idea on how I could scan.
Thank you
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: ivan on January 09, 2019, 06:30:55 pm
It all depends on the settings for the printer.  If the printer has the ability to scan to FTP over the network it is easy.

1) setup Peter's FTP Server and enable either a directory or a disk (I have disk F: set to rw) set the login name and give it a password.
2) open the printer settings, go to the scanner settings page and give it the IP address of the server, the login and a directory for the scans and the ftp password.  Then setup several scan profiles for example, colour scan, document scan, scan to pdf, etc (depends on how the firmware of your printer is setup.
3) do a test scan. If it works OK, if it doesn't you most probably have a problem with the ftp server setup (I have to admit I had a problem adding another drive to the settings because I was years since I first setup the server).  There is also the possibility you might get one of the scanner settings out of range (go over the manual carefully and don't try and ask it to do something lot listed).

Peter's FTP Server is available on hobbes.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: roberto on January 09, 2019, 08:29:09 pm
...
- a Brother MFC-L8850CDW all-in-one laser printer (2014 model)
...
Is there any chance of getting one or more to work, and if so, with which driver ?
I that you, would start the simplest Brother8850. In five minutes you will start it up.
Select Computer - Printer - Install Printer. Install legacy drivers-- and select this driver: Generic Postscript (Enhanced), after the printer is created :
Propertis-- ouput port-- SLPR (in the values for SLPR, see the printer test page with the values)
After having one running the others will be similar, but with more time you can go evaluating other possibilities. Cups ....

Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 10, 2019, 09:49:32 pm
I that you, would start the simplest Brother8850. In five minutes you will start it up.
Select Computer - Printer - Install Printer. Install legacy drivers-- and select this driver: Generic Postscript (Enhanced), after the printer is created :
Propertis-- ouput port-- SLPR (in the values for SLPR, see the printer test page with the values)
After having one running the others will be similar, but with more time you can go evaluating other possibilities. Cups ....

Thanks. I couldn't find the "Generic Postscript (Enhanced)" driver, only "Generic Postscript".
I got this to work, somewhat. But with the following limitations :
- no color options
- no duplex
- resolution only up to 300 dpi

Printing from Firefox resulted in an error, also. But printing from E.EXE, as well as a desktop screenshot, worked. This may be a bug in Firefox rather than the driver.

Is there a way to get color / duplex / higher resolution to work ?
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 10, 2019, 09:50:42 pm
Hi Julien, since all the 3 models seem to support the PS Post Script mode, you should be able to find a compatible printer driver model among the ones already included in the OS2 selectable printers list. Just seek in the file/printer title the "PS" or "Post Script" definition.  In my case, I have a Samsung Xpression C460 wireless printer (color laserjet) which I could configure to print by selecting a HP Color laserjet 8500 series driver with Post Script capability mentioned in the driver title.

As far as I'm aware, only the Brother laser supports Postscript natively.

Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Dave Yeo on January 10, 2019, 10:55:09 pm

Printing from Firefox resulted in an error, also. But printing from E.EXE, as well as a desktop screenshot, worked. This may be a bug in Firefox rather than the driver.

Firefox is somewhat broken when it comes to printing. The last version should be able to print to postscript but generally it is better to print to a file, postscript (ps) or pdf with the extension signaling which and then print the file.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: roberto on January 10, 2019, 11:11:46 pm

Thanks. I couldn't find the "Generic Postscript (Enhanced)" driver, only "Generic Postscript".
I got this to work, somewhat. But with the following limitations :
- no color options
- no duplex
- resolution only up to 300 dpi

Printing from Firefox resulted in an error, also. But printing from E.EXE, as well as a desktop screenshot, worked. This may be a bug in Firefox rather than the driver.

Is there a way to get color / duplex / higher resolution to work ?
You are not running Arcaos503, in this version you have the driver that says "Generic Postscript (Enhanced)" with color, resolutions 150-300-600-1200-2400
To make printer tests it seems better to use the epm.exe editor. The e.exe does not print in arcaos503, the standard firefox does not print directly, but recently another Firefox has come out, which does print directly. I have not tried this, but the Seamonkey has worked for me.
The other printers look to configure them with cups, check the netlabs cups page for help.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 10, 2019, 11:26:34 pm
You are not running Arcaos503, in this version you have the driver that says "Generic Postscript (Enhanced)" with color, resolutions 150-300-600-1200-2400

Yes, I'm running ArcaOS 5.0.3 . This is the only version of ArcaOS I have. Can you tell me where to find the "Enhanced" driver, as opposed to the regular one ?

Quote
The e.exe does not print in arcaos503,

It sure did for me.

Quote
the standard firefox does not print directly

It does have a print option. But it fails.

Quote
The other printers look to configure them with cups, check the netlabs cups page for help.

I checked in CUPS, and those other printers are not listed there (and neither is the Brother). This is why I posted here.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: ivan on January 10, 2019, 11:49:22 pm
Hi Julien, 
 
The enhanced postscript printer driver roberto is talking about is the PSPRINT.DRV I mentioned at the beginning found in <boot drive>\sys\install\PRNDRV\PMDD_6 It also has the readme telling how to setup and add a PPD for your printer (heading: Importing PPD Files).

You can print to file in firefox and use that to produce a PDF, which is what I use it for.

I have found CUPS is more trouble than it is worth, in fact I have never got it to print to any of my printers which I why I have all postscript printers now.  With the imported PPDs they just print.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 11, 2019, 12:04:01 am
Hi Julien, 
 
The enhanced postscript printer driver roberto is talking about is the PSPRINT.DRV I mentioned at the beginning found in <boot drive>\sys\install\PRNDRV\PMDD_6 It also has the readme telling how to setup and add a PPD for your printer (heading: Importing PPD Files).

You can print to file in firefox and use that to produce a PDF, which is what I use it for.

I have found CUPS is more trouble than it is worth, in fact I have never got it to print to any of my printers which I why I have all postscript printers now.  With the imported PPDs they just print.

Thanks ! I wonder why the installer in ArcaOS does not offer an option to install this driver. "Install legacy driver" only shows and loads the PSCRIPT.DRV .
This is really well hidden !

I changed the driver on my printer object and can now use duplex and color. However, resolution is still stuck at 300 dpi. Not sure where to get a PPD for my MFC-L8850CDW.

Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Doug Bissett on January 11, 2019, 03:36:57 am
Quote
I have found CUPS is more trouble than it is worth,

I find CUPS (as supplied by ArcaOS), to be simple to use, and more than capable. A couple of clicks, and start printing. Of course, I am careful to get a supported printer. I had a HP D110a, which got too expensive to support, then I got a HP OfficeJet 3830, which works very well, with CUPS. My brother has another HP printer, that works very well with CUPS. All of them are WiFi attached, which enables the built in web page, and that will do scanning for you, using a web browser.

When you use OS/2, you need to be careful what you buy.

Quote
I wonder why the installer in ArcaOS does not offer an option to install this driver.

If it isn't offered, it probably means that there is a licensing problem, or it doesn't work very well. You would need to ask Arca Noae.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Lars on January 11, 2019, 07:58:46 am
Thanks ! I wonder why the installer in ArcaOS does not offer an option to install this driver. "Install legacy driver" only shows and loads the PSCRIPT.DRV .
This is really well hidden !

I changed the driver on my printer object and can now use duplex and color. However, resolution is still stuck at 300 dpi. Not sure where to get a PPD for my MFC-L8850CDW.

https://github.com/liberodark/Print-PPD/blob/master/Brother/brother_mfcl8850cdw_printer_en.ppd
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: ivan on January 11, 2019, 06:27:22 pm
Hi Julien,

Attached is a cleaned and prepared for import by the PIN.EXE from my library of Brother PPDs (I prepared them while I was deciding which printers to get).
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 12, 2019, 10:32:53 pm
Hi Julien,

Attached is a cleaned and prepared for import by the PIN.EXE from my library of Brother PPDs (I prepared them while I was deciding which printers to get).

Thank you ! Let me give that a try .
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 13, 2019, 03:31:33 am
When you use OS/2, you need to be careful what you buy.

I ran OS/2 primarily from 1992 to 2007, so I'm well aware of that. I had only touched it a little bit again a few years ago with ECS, mostly in VMs. And now with ArcaOS.
My hardware choices are not dictated by OS/2 anymore. I think I'm fine with having 1 printer supported, the Brother one. The other 2 are mainly photo printers, and I am not sure there would be good drivers for them other than the proprietary ones Canon and Epson offer for Windows and Mac.

Quote
I wonder why the installer in ArcaOS does not offer an option to install this driver.

If it isn't offered, it probably means that there is a licensing problem, or it doesn't work very well. You would need to ask Arca Noae.
[/quote]

Considering this other driver is located on the ArcaOS CD, I doubt it's a licensing issue. Seems like a bug to me to only show the non-enhanced driver by default in the list, unless someone knows where to look for it. I will add this to my long list of tickets :)
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 13, 2019, 03:51:17 am
Hi Julien,

Attached is a cleaned and prepared for import by the PIN.EXE from my library of Brother PPDs (I prepared them while I was deciding which printers to get).

Thank you ! Let me give that a try .

I did the following .
1) ran cleanppd.cmd on your PPD

2) copied the files from c:\sys\install\prndrv\pmdd_6 to c:\bro

{0}[c:\bro] dir

 Volume in drive C is ARCAOS         Serial number is A627:05B8
 Directory of  C:\bro\*

 1-10-19  14:42           2,507      0   ___A_  AUXPRINT.PAK
 8-11-13  13:43           3,181  5,031   ___A_  cleanppd.cmd
 1-12-19  18:40          26,027      0   ___A_  mfc-l8850cdw.ppd
 2-13-17  21:51         141,978     61   ___A_  pin.exe
 2-13-17  21:51          10,100      0   ___A_  pin.sym
 2-13-17  21:51          58,799     61   ___A_  ppdenc.exe
 2-13-17  21:51           5,300      0   ___A_  ppdenc.sym
 2-13-17  21:51       4,041,475      0   ___A_  printer1.pak
 2-13-17  21:51         851,194 20,524   ___A_  psprint.drv
 2-13-17  21:51          20,511      0   ___A_  psprint.ea
 3-18-16  20:16          34,683      0   ___A_  psprint.hlp
 2-13-17  21:51          23,726      0   ___A_  psprint.lst
 2-13-17  21:51          38,164      0   ___A_  psprint.sym
 4-10-16  22:32          33,969      0   ___A_  readme
       5,291,614 bytes in 14 files and 0 dirs
       5,320,704 bytes allocated
 271,993,995,264 bytes (253GB) free

3) ran pin PPD :

{0}[c:\bro] pin ppd . .
PostScript resource packaging utility version 1.21
Copyright (c) IBM Corp. 2000,2001. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) netlabs.org 2007,2010. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) Arca Noae, LLC 2015,2016. All rights reserved.

Producing Printer Device PAK
reading driver extended attributes
  fail
SYS0005: Access is denied.

fail

{1}[c:\bro]

I tried different combinations of arguments, but always got the same issue. I had PSPRINT.DRV loaded from an existing printer object, but that shouldn't have been a problem since it was another copy in c:\bro . Anyway, I deleted all the printer objects referencing this driver, and still get this permission issue. Maybe one process still has it loaded somehow. But still, this shouldn't be an issue with the copied file.
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Alex Taylor on January 13, 2019, 05:21:58 am
Quote
Quote
I wonder why the installer in ArcaOS does not offer an option to install this driver.
If it isn't offered, it probably means that there is a licensing problem, or it doesn't work very well. You would need to ask Arca Noae.

Considering this other driver is located on the ArcaOS CD, I doubt it's a licensing issue. Seems like a bug to me to only show the non-enhanced driver by default in the list, unless someone knows where to look for it. I will add this to my long list of tickets :)

It's right there in the list under "Printer drivers included with OS/2":  "Generic Postscript (Enhanced) | PSPRINT.DRV".
Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: Lars on January 13, 2019, 02:46:35 pm

I did the following .
1) ran cleanppd.cmd on your PPD

2) copied the files from c:\sys\install\prndrv\pmdd_6 to c:\bro

{0}[c:\bro] dir

 Volume in drive C is ARCAOS         Serial number is A627:05B8
 Directory of  C:\bro\*

 1-10-19  14:42           2,507      0   ___A_  AUXPRINT.PAK
 8-11-13  13:43           3,181  5,031   ___A_  cleanppd.cmd
 1-12-19  18:40          26,027      0   ___A_  mfc-l8850cdw.ppd
 2-13-17  21:51         141,978     61   ___A_  pin.exe
 2-13-17  21:51          10,100      0   ___A_  pin.sym
 2-13-17  21:51          58,799     61   ___A_  ppdenc.exe
 2-13-17  21:51           5,300      0   ___A_  ppdenc.sym
 2-13-17  21:51       4,041,475      0   ___A_  printer1.pak
 2-13-17  21:51         851,194 20,524   ___A_  psprint.drv
 2-13-17  21:51          20,511      0   ___A_  psprint.ea
 3-18-16  20:16          34,683      0   ___A_  psprint.hlp
 2-13-17  21:51          23,726      0   ___A_  psprint.lst
 2-13-17  21:51          38,164      0   ___A_  psprint.sym
 4-10-16  22:32          33,969      0   ___A_  readme
       5,291,614 bytes in 14 files and 0 dirs
       5,320,704 bytes allocated
 271,993,995,264 bytes (253GB) free

3) ran pin PPD :

{0}[c:\bro] pin ppd . .
PostScript resource packaging utility version 1.21
Copyright (c) IBM Corp. 2000,2001. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) netlabs.org 2007,2010. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) Arca Noae, LLC 2015,2016. All rights reserved.

Producing Printer Device PAK
reading driver extended attributes
  fail
SYS0005: Access is denied.


Delete AUXPRINT.PAK first. Then, I think you need to run "ppd . psprint.drv". Finally, you then need to select that driver on creating the printer so that the whole set of files eventually end up in directory \os2\dll\psprint.
You can also do the PPD importing via the "manage printers" object (File->import PPD) in your printers directory.

Title: Re: 3 printers in the house - will any of them work with OS/2 ?
Post by: madbrain on January 13, 2019, 11:39:43 pm
Delete AUXPRINT.PAK first. Then, I think you need to run "ppd . psprint.drv". Finally, you then need to select that driver on creating the printer so that the whole set of files eventually end up in directory \os2\dll\psprint.

Thanks. I got it to work finally !