Printing
========
I have been using the HP LaserJet 1200 probably since 2006 (I'm not sure as I
have the printer for a very long time). It's a Poscript-enabled printer with a
parallel port. Thus it is a perfect companion to my SGI machines (as you may
know, the non-PostScript and non-ASCII printers are supported on IRIX but only
as a paid extension - and use of alternative like the CUPS is much less
straightforward than on the Linux).
The printer is not bad but it's a basic one - no double side printing or other
fancy features. It processes PostScript internally so there are no requirement
for the computer. It means that even the old good Indy can print graphics and
text without problems.
But during the time there have arose some issues: the PostScript files from
some software have started to be less and less compatible (it is easier to get
a PDF and convert in to PostScript by hand) and there is a trend to embed big
raster images into PDF and PostScript files. And here is a problem - the Raster
Image Processor in the printer (it is said that it's a Motorola ColdFire CPU at
90 MHz so it's a m68k thing - so a cousin of CPUs used in old Palm handhelds)
has limited processing power and limited RAM. It's very fine for my usual
prints - a TeX-created files which include vector graphics (XFig images,
Gnuplot outputs and so) but it became less and less suitable for files obtained
from others.
I know than I have to to print e-tickets for Czech trains in a page-after-page
method but yesterday I needed to print a 10-page scientific article. It does
not include any fancy graphics but it was only available as a PDF which
included scanned text. It take more than hour and I have to sent individual
pages to printer in order to prevent overload of the RIP...
It was not the first time when I experienced this problem. So I'm thinking what
to do. Should I get a more powerful printer (with larger or expandable RAM)?
Are there such things with a parallel port? A networked printer is an overkill
for my needs. I still use a cartridge which I have bought as new when I hove
got the printer (it was already a second-hand item but only slightly used).
By the way, it you have the same printer and you don't know how to print its configuration and status page, it's easy [1]:
----
To print a configuration page, hold down the gray button for about three
seconds, then let go. The upper LED (the green one) should start flashing, and
the configuration page will print out.
----
For example, my own printer printed 49736 pages till today (nos of them by it's
previous owner) and has just 8 MB of RAM. And the expansion slot is free! So a
solution (at least a partial one) of my problem can ne to find a compatible RAM
and install in into the computer (I mean ..the printer..).
Reference:
[1]
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:6nlcit-eifsJ:
http://configpages.blogspot.com/2011/07/hp-laserjet-1200-configuration-page.html+laserjet1200+print+configuration&hl=cs&ct=clnk
