How to: Set up HP LaserJet 4L with Mac OS X 10.2

[Chris Belwinds]

You still have an old HP Laserjet printer sitting on the attic? Your Mac does not have a parallel port and Mac OS X does not support old Laserjets? Think again. With Mac OS X 10.2, the freeware gimp-print and a network print server (f.e. SMC Barricade DSL router) you can get your printer running again. This is how you do it:

1. Install gimp-print;
2. Start "Print Center" and click the "add" button from the menu;
3. Choose "TCP/IP printer";
4. Uncheck the "use default queue on server" and enter "lp" (LP all lower case in the field);
5. Enter printer IP (f.e. 192.168.123.254) according to your router's manual;
6. Choose printer model (here: HP --> pcl 4l);
7. Click "add" button;
8. Make further adjustments using the CUPS browser interface at http://127.0.0.1:631/ ;
9. You must esp. refine the font quality by choosing "manage printers" --> "configure printer", then increase "density" from 1.000 to 2.000 and switch from "grayscale" to "black&white". Click "continue". Done.
10. You now have a new CUPS printer (called lp 192.xxx.xxx.xxx) which appears whenever you choose "print" from any application. Before each printout make sure to increase the image quality from 150x150 dpi to 300x300 dpi which will surprisingly improve the letter quality as well. Obviously gimp-print regards fonts as images and prints them accordingly.

Enjoy!
(Thanks to all who have thrown in a couple of thoughts here, esp. Finch who had the idea of avoiding the standard queue and entering "lp" instead...;-)

And again in German:

1. gimp-print installieren;
2. Print Center aufrufen und ohne die gimp-print-Tastenkombination ("Alt+Hinzufügen") einfach nur "Hinzufügen" anklicken;
3. "TCP/IP-Drucker" auswählen;
4. wichtig: "Standardwarteliste" deaktivieren (Häkchen entfernen) und stattdessen nur in Kleinbuchstaben lp (LP) in "Name der Warteliste" schreiben;
5. Druckeradresse gemäß Router-Handbuch eintragen (z.B. 192.168.123.254);
6. Druckermodell aus Pull-Down-Liste auswählen ("HP" --> "pcl 4l", dies ist ein gimp-print-Treiber!);
7. "Hinzufügen" anklicken;
8. CUPS im Webbrowser unter http://127.0.0.1:631/ aufrufen, um noch Feinjustierungen vorzunehmen;
9. Schriftqualität durch Erhöhung von "density" im Bereich "Configure printer" von 1.000 auf 2.000 und Schriftfarbe von "grayscale" auf "black&white" verbessern;
10. im Druckmenü vor dem Ausdruck "Image Quality" anklicken und die Auflösung von 150x150 auf 300x300 dpi hochsetzen. Es scheint so, als ob gimp-print Fonts als Bilder druckt (?). Diese Option bewirkt jedenfalls, dass die "Treppchen" aus der Schrift verschwinden!

Fertig!

 

[flippers]

I'm on a wireless network at home and still want to use my HP Laserjet 6P printer on 10.5 - so I hooked up the old SMC7004ABR Barricade router to the printer, reset the wireless hub so that is was using the 192.168.2.xxx range instead of the default 192.168.1.xxx (seemed better for the Barricade this way) and then set up the printer using LPD: 192.168.2.1 and Queue: LPT1.

Mind you this is not clear in the users manual for the Barricade - I had to ask tech support there for a copy of the MAC Printer document to solve this..."LPT1" was the critical bit - "LP" did not work.

John :-#)#