triouble with my Deskjet 500

Ian Smith smithi at nimnet.asn.au
Sun Oct 1 09:50:04 PDT 2006


Re: freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 152, Issue 13
On Sun, 1 Oct 2006 freebsd-questions-request at freebsd.org wrote:
 > Message: 30
 > Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 17:12:10 -0700
 > From: Gary Kline <kline at sage.thought.org>
 > Subject: triouble with my Deskjet 500

Hi Gary,

 > 	The trouble is that it only prints in ASCII Aand fails to fails
 > 	to print xv images or anything else PostScript.  I'm playing
 > 	around withthe following in /usr//local/libexec:
 > 
 > #!/bin/sh
 > #
 > # hpif - Simple text input filter for lpd for HP-PCL based printers
 > # Installed in /usr/local/libexec/hpif
[..]
 > #  Read first two characters of the file
 > #
 > IFS="" read -r first_line
 > first_two_chars=`expr "$first_line" : '\(..\)'`
 > 
 > if [ "$first_two_chars" = "%!" ]; then
 >     #
 >     #  It is PostScript; use Ghostscript to scan-convert and print it.
 >     #
 >     #  Note that PostScript files are actually interpreted programs,
 >     #  and those programs are allowed to write to stdout, which will
 >     #  mess up the printed output.  So, we redirect stdout to stderr
 >     #  and then make descriptor 3 go to stdout, and have Ghostscript
 >     #  write its output there.  Exercise for the clever reader:
 >     #  capture the stderr output from Ghostscript and mail it back to
 >     #  the user originating the print job.
 >     #
 >     exec 3>&1 1>&2
 >     /usr/local/bin/gs -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=djet500 \
 >         -sOutputFile=/dev/fd/3 - && exit 0
 > else
 >     #
 >     #  Plain text or HP/PCL, so just print it directly; print a form feed
 >     #  at the end to eject the last page.
 >     #
 >     echo "$first_line" && cat && printf "\033&l0H" &&
 > exit 0
 > fi

 > 	It's pretty obviouslythat I can toss the first several lines that
 > 	came from the originl hpif file; this was before I cared about
 > 	graphics.  I lost the ghostscript part when my system had its 
 > 	fatal trap.   Anybody out there who has an ancient hp djet500?
 > 	or can help otherwise.  I'm out of ideas.

I ran into exactly this after upgrading 4.5-R to 5.4-R (now 5.5-S); that
fancy stderr/stdout dance doesn't seem to work &/| be needed anymore.  I
got sick of Mozilla crashing trying to print and dug up this fix, forget
where/how.  Way over commented, but times like this it comes in handy :) 

#!/bin/sh
#% /usr/local/libexec/if-lq850 smithi 6/4/3
#% v2 29/6/6, maybe the 3>&1 stuff is what doesn't work in 5.4-R?
#% as advised by FreeBSD handbook, from:
    #  ifhp - Print Ghostscript-simulated PostScript on a DeskJet 500
    #  as installed in /usr/local/libexec/hpif
#% modified for printer canon bj10sx (configured as an epson lq850)

#  Treat LF as CR+LF:
#  (HP specific - and the bj10sx is switch-set for this)
# printf "\033&k2G" || exit 2

#  Read first two characters of the file
#% was 'read first_line' - presumably this ignores \ or spaces

IFS="" read -r first_line
first_two_chars=`expr "$first_line" : '\(..\)'`

if [ "$first_two_chars" = "%!" ]; then

  #% dunno where I found this?  Worked on 4.5, but not on 5.4?
  if 0; then
    #  It is PostScript; use Ghostscript to scan-convert and print it.
    #
    #  Note that PostScript files are actually interpreted programs,
    #  and those programs are allowed to write to stdout, which will
    #  mess up the printed output.  So, we redirect stdout to stderr
    #  and then make descriptor 3 go to stdout, and have Ghostscript
    #  write its output there.  Exercise for the clever reader:
    #  capture the stderr output from Ghostscript and mail it back to
    #  the user originating the print job.
    exec 3>&1 1>&2
    /usr/local/bin/gs -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=lq850 \
        -sOutputFile=/dev/fd/3 - && exit 0
  fi
  #% instead use the default as per current handbook

    /usr/local/bin/gs -dSAFER -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=lq850 \
        -sOutputFile=- - && exit 0

else
    #  Plain text [or HP/PCL], so just print it directly; print a form feed
    #  at the end to eject the last page.
    #% use w/out closing ff, was:
    #% echo $first_line && cat && printf "\033&l0H" && exit 0
    #% looks HP-specific .. how about just (12d = $0c =) printf "\014" ?

    echo $first_line && cat && exit 0
fi
exit 2

# Finally, you need to notify LPD of the filter via the if capability:
# :if=/usr/local/libexec/hpif: in /etc/printcap

#% :if=/usr/local/libexec/if-lq850

# That is it. You can type lpr plain.text and lpr whatever.ps
# and both should print successfully.

Cheers, Ian



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