From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jul 19 15:47:38 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 96D18B20 for ; Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:47:38 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "wonkity.com", Issuer "wonkity.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4209025ED for ; Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:47:38 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9) with ESMTP id s6JFlVFr078034 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO); Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:47:32 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9/Submit) with ESMTP id s6JFlV0s078031; Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:47:31 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:47:31 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: Polytropon Subject: Re: printcap configuration problem In-Reply-To: <20140719171346.712611fa.freebsd@edvax.de> Message-ID: References: <1405676044178-5929730.post@n5.nabble.com> <1405689027711-5929805.post@n5.nabble.com> <20140719015149.1cb323c2.freebsd@edvax.de> <20140719171346.712611fa.freebsd@edvax.de> User-Agent: Alpine 2.11 (BSF 23 2013-08-11) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 19 Jul 2014 09:47:32 -0600 (MDT) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:47:38 -0000 On Sat, 19 Jul 2014, Polytropon wrote: > On Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:44:03 -0600 (MDT), Warren Block wrote: >> On Sat, 19 Jul 2014, Polytropon wrote: >> >>> This is an example of how I have been working (outside of CUPS), >>> the /opt/libexec/ps2pcl-dup.sh filter: >>> >>> #!/bin/sh >>> /usr/bin/printf "\033&k2G" || exit 2 >>> /usr/local/bin/gs -q -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dPARANOIDSAFER \ >>> -dSAFER -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -r600x600 \ >>> -sDEVICE=ljet4d -dDuplex=true \ >>> -sOutputFile=- - && exit 0 >>> exit 2 >>> >>> You can see that I've been using gs (ghostscript) with the options >>> defining the required paper size (ISO A4) and resolution (600 dpi). >>> The printer driver used by gs is "ljet4d" which works with the >>> HP LaserJet 4000 DN I'm still using. >> >> The LJ4000 is a PostScript printer. > > In fact, it has many personalities, PS is one of them. It also > handles PCL, and additionally ASCII. Therefore it has a multiple > personality disorder, but that's actually fine, because each of > them has its advantage. > > Personalities can be selected at the operator panel of the printer. > Setting AUTO usually causes the correct output to appear. They can also be selected with PJL, but I agree that Auto usually does fine. >> The trick of modifying the incoming >> PS file to set the page size will be faster. Here, gs has to build and >> send a multi-megabyte bitmap. > > I found that using PS directly is slower than using gs, but I'm > going with this solution with just works (TM) for many years now. It somewhat depends on what generates the PostScript file. Some applications render a big bitmap and then convert that to PostScript, which makes it bigger and loses the resolution-independent advantages. Real PS programs are usually much smaller than the equivalent bitmaps. If the printer can handle PCL6, it might be faster that ljet4 (PCL5) due to bitmap compression. The gs driver is pxlmono.