Printing over a network

[TronPlayer]

Hi!
Is it possible to print via a real A1200 over a network to a modern printer? Are there any WB drivers or a PC side server for this? I would like to print from word processor and spreadsheet programs. Is this possible at all?
Thanks!

[Loedown]

No idea if this will work

http://www.epapersign.com/LPT-to-USB...usb-connector/

[rkauer]

You can use ancient drivers that resembles like modern-featured printers and test this way over a network.

The mileage may vary, but, for example, you can use an newish Canon USB printer with ancient BJC10 Amiga driver and use a network redirection.

Read more directly from the source...

[desiv]

Originally Posted by TronPlayer

Is it possible to print via a real A1200 over a network to a modern printer?

Thread necro, but just working on this...

Originally Posted by TronPlayer

Are there any WB drivers or a PC side server for this?

Yes, it works...

I just did this.
We got an inexpensive networked laser printer for my wife, but it doesn't support postscript.. Just modern drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux.

So, I have an A1200 I wanted to use with that...

2 steps...
One, IF your Amiga natively supports the printer (i.e. the printer is Postscript and or there's a driver in the Amiga already for it), then you only need NetPar from Aminet.
(Actually, it was NetParLPR http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/NetParLpr version 2.2.)
(I tried netprinter, but didn't have much luck...)

Netpar replaces your parallel.device file with it's own that redirects output to your networked printer.

So, that's good. But say your printer isn't Amiga friendly?
Well, Linux is your friend. ;-)

By default (on my Ubuntu), CUPS and ghostscript are installed.
Ghostscript will convert postscript to something you can print.

So, I was able to set up the printer on my Linux machine (this printer has a Linux driver). Then I went into CUPS and configured sharing.
From my Windows machine (for testing), I set up a Postscript printer (Adobe has a DL for a generic driver) and pointed it at my Linux desktop using IPP.. Voilla!

Now, the problem is that NetPar only supports LPD type of printing, not IPP/CUPS... No problem there.
Ubuntu (and many others) have CUPS-LPD. But LPD is disabled.
I just went into my inetd.conf file and added a line:
printer stream tcp nowait lp /usr/lib/cups/daemon/cups-lpd cups-lpd -o job-sheets=none,none

Then I rebooted to make sure it was taking effect.
(Ubuntu has messed up the inetd stuff a bit, so best to reboot)

Set the Amiga to print to a Postscript printer on the parallel port and graphics are printing, basic text (sysinfo), and ..er.. Final Writer failed..

Hmm..

Turns out Linux doesn't like the PostScript file generated by Final Writer.
I can't even view it in a Postscript viewer, so it's not just the printing part.

I find and load Wordworth 7, and it's printing!!!
(I did tweak the top margins a bit to get it not to cut off the first 2 lines.)

So now, any printer I can print to from a Linux box, I can print to from my Amiga 1200...

desiv
(p.s. Great, almost out of toner.. Too much testing..Oh well.. Hopefully my wife won't need to print too much before the order I just placed arrives..) :-)

[Calabazam]

Originally Posted by desiv

Thread necro, but just working on this...

Yes, it works...

I just did this.
We got an inexpensive networked laser printer for my wife, but it doesn't support postscript.. Just modern drivers for Windows, Mac and Linux.

So, I have an A1200 I wanted to use with that...

2 steps...
One, IF your Amiga natively supports the printer (i.e. the printer is Postscript and or there's a driver in the Amiga already for it), then you only need NetPar from Aminet.
(I tried netprinter, but didn't have much luck...)

Netpar replaces your parallel.device file with it's own that redirects output to your networked printer.

So, that's good. But say your printer isn't Amiga friendly?
Well, Linux is your friend. ;-)

By default (on my Ubuntu), CUPS and ghostscript are installed.
Ghostscript will convert postscript to something you can print.

So, I was able to set up the printer on my Linux machine (this printer has a Linux driver). Then I went into CUPS and configured sharing.
From my Windows machine (for testing), I set up a Postscript printer (Adobe has a DL for a generic driver) and pointed it at my Linux desktop using IPP.. Voilla!

Now, the problem is that NetPar only supports LPD type of printing, not IPP/CUPS... No problem there.
Ubuntu (and many others) have CUPS-LPD. But LPD is disabled.
I just went into my inetd.conf file and added a line:
printer stream tcp nowait lp /usr/lib/cups/daemon/cups-lpd cups-lpd -o job-sheets=none,none

Then I rebooted to make sure it was taking effect.
(Ubuntu has messed up the inetd stuff a bit, so best to reboot)

Set the Amiga to print to a Postscript printer on the parallel port and graphics are printing, basic text (sysinfo), and ..er.. Final Writer failed..

Hmm..

Turns out Linux doesn't like the PostScript file generated by Final Writer.
I can't even view it in a Postscript viewer, so it's not just the printing part.

I find and load Wordworth 7, and it's printing!!!
(I did tweak the top margins a bit to get it not to cut off the first 2 lines.)

So now, any printer I can print to from a Linux box, I can print to from my Amiga 1200...

desiv
(p.s. Great, almost out of toner.. Too much testing..Oh well.. Hopefully my wife won't need to print too much before the order I just placed arrives..) :-)

Very useful post, thanks

Would you have any clue about a non-postscript printer connected to a MacOsX computer and shared over the network with Apple Bonjour?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by Calabazam

Would you have any clue about a non-postscript printer connected to a MacOsX computer and shared over the network with Apple Bonjour?

Not for sure..
I'm betting that the Amiga won't talk Bonjour natively...

However, as OSX is based on the MACH kernel, they have ports of Ghostscript and LP for it....
So there's a good chance a similar process will work..

I'm considering picking up a Raspberry Pi just for this...
I could have that guy as my "print server", and also use him for other Linuxy things (ssh, web, etc), but only a few bucks investment and should be quiet...

Just adding to this.
Today I added another printer to the config.
I have a USB based Epson color inkjet printer. It's plugged into the Linux box.

So, I went to the NetParLPR install and added another printer. Same host, but different printer queue name.

Then I went to my Amiga and typed
setenv NetPar/ActiveUnit 1
(Or something like that, I shut the Amiga off and didn't take notes)

Then I went into Personal Paint and told it to print color postscript. (Note: Remember to change the print mode from PRT to Postscript in PP, or you will print a text version of the postscript definition. Wasted some paper/ink there.)

Printed fine..
(Well, I think I have to adjust my top margin a bit, but basically fine..)
You can rerun the setenv command changing the number to 0 for the original printer.
I have read that NetParLPR integrates with Turboprint (which I don't have) or prt42_50 (which I haven't tried) to make it even easier to use...

desiv
p.s. Interesting side note. I placed that line in the inetd.conf to get this working. After that, I saw I needed some updates, including updates for CUPS. (Not sure what my problem with FinalWriter was at the time, I thought might be related, so I installed them.). And when I rebooted, it didn't work at all..
Turns out the "update" commented out my line in the inetd.conf file.
It was still there, I just had to remove the comment, but weird... Not sure why they did that...

[rkidd7952]

Originally Posted by Calabazam

Very useful post, thanks

Would you have any clue about a non-postscript printer connected to a MacOsX computer and shared over the network with Apple Bonjour?

To address an open question on this old thread, the procedure for a Mac is pretty similar to Linux. The Mac uses CUPS, so everything you need is already installed. This doesn't use Bonjour, but configures CUPS to accept LPD jobs. Assuming the Mac has the driver installed and can print, here are the additional steps.

* In System Preferences->Printer, select the printer and check the box to share the printer on the network.
* Edit /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.cups.cups-lpd.plist (sudo vi ...cups-lpd.plist). Find the ProgramArguments array and add the following two lines to the end

    <string>-o</string>
    <string>job-sheets=none,none</string>

For reference, here's what ProgramArguments looked like after adding these lines on a clean 10.10.2 system:

        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
                <string>/usr/libexec/cups/daemon/cups-lpd</string>
                <string>-o</string>
                <string>document-format=application/octet-stream</string>
                <string>-o</string>
                <string>job-sheets=none,none</string>
        </array>

* Start the cups-lpd service: sudo launchctl load -w
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.cups.cups-lpd.plist

You can test the system at this point:
* From the Terminal, verify that you can print a postscript file using 'lpr <file.ps>' (If you don't have a postscript file handy, there's a postscript option in the save as PDF menu in the standard Mac print dialog)
* Use the 'lpq' command in Terminal to view the configured print queues.
* You should also be able to telnet to your Mac's IP on port 515 from another system on your network (telnet <mac> 515).

When you configure NetPar, use your Mac's IP as the printer host, and the string shown in the 'lpq' output as the printer name.

Regards,
Robert

[jPV]

I've used both lpr.device and netprinter.device to successfully print on two different network laser printers from several Amigas.
http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/lpr-dev
http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/NetPrinter

I guess most proper laserprinters with PCL/PS support should work without more tricks. HP Laserjet5 series driver from Turboprint seems to work fine in my case with different brands of printers.

I can print fine from FinalWriter (both graphics and PS modes), CED, APDF, PageStream (you can even install printer spesific PPD driver to it), etc.

[Starglider 2]

Originally Posted by desiv

One, IF your Amiga natively supports the printer (i.e. the printer is Postscript and or there's a driver in the Amiga already for it), then you only need NetPar from Aminet.
(Actually, it was NetParLPR http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/NetParLpr version 2.2.)
(I tried netprinter, but didn't have much luck...)

Netpar replaces your parallel.device file with it's own that redirects output to your networked printer.

I've installed NetParLpr on my A500+ with fully working plipbox internet. Files say "Printing" but nothing reaches the printer.

It's a Canon inkjet on an LPD print server. I entered the print server's IP address during NetParLpr install.

Any ideas? Should it "just work"?

Cheers!

I know this is an old thread but I just installed NetPar and everything is working fine to a new HP CLJ MFP M281fdw. Is there a way to disable the banner page? I have looked through the guide and I cannot find anything on it. To me it just wastes a page of paper. I don't have a "JobNAME" configured so it is just using defaults what looks to be from Genesis or possibly my HOSTS file.

[DofD]

I've had really good success using NetPrinter from Aminet. You enter the IP address of the printer and select whether to use RAW or LPR, I use RAW.

I tried NetPrinter but with 3.1.4 they have taken out the ability to add a custom device to the printer preferences of netprinter.device. I have contacted Thomas Richter about it. My 3.9BB4 still has that option. When I try to configure NetPrinter Prefs and hit USE or Save, it crashes my machine with an 80000004 error.

Netpar works great except it wastes a sheet of paper for the banner page. If I can shut that off. I will be totally happy but I do want to try NetPrinter because it has been updated in 2012 and NetPar is 1998.

I am hoping in 3.1.4, I can turn on attributes in the printer prefs icon information but I don't see anything intuitive to do it.

[DofD]

Originally Posted by chartech

I tried NetPrinter but with 3.1.4 they have taken out the ability to add a custom device to the printer preferences of netprinter.device. I have contacted Thomas Richter about it. My 3.9BB4 still has that option. When I try to configure NetPrinter Prefs and hit USE or Save, it crashes my machine with an 80000004 error.

Netpar works great except it wastes a sheet of paper for the banner page. If I can shut that off. I will be totally happy but I do want to try NetPrinter because it has been updated in 2012 and NetPar is 1998.

I am hoping in 3.1.4, I can turn on attributes in the printer prefs icon information but I don't see anything intuitive to do it.

That kind of sucks in 3.1.4 for printers. Hopefully they'll change that. I wonder if there is tooltype for the printer prefs that would allow the setting of a custom device? Something like DEVICE=netprinter.device

I have tried that :
DEVICE = netprinter.device
UNITNUM=0

but when I tried to configure Netprinter prefs with IP and hit SAVE or USE, it crashes my machine. It also didn't seem to do anything because NetPar still worked on Parallel.
I was also thinking of trying to just use the 3.9BB4 printer prefs.

I will update as soon as I know more about 3.1.4.

[Daedalus]

I haven't done it, but it *should* be possible to transplant the 3.9 printing system into 3.1.4. You'll need to replace all parts - printer.device, drivers, prefs programs and prefs files (in ENV:sys and ENVARC:sys), and you'll also need to transplant Reaction to get the prefs programs working, but it should work then. Just make a backup of your setup so you can go back to the previous setup if it doesn't work...

Here is what Thomas said:
You can't, because there are no fields like this in the preference editor right now. You can continue to use the 3.9 prefs, though. Just make sure you delete the "printergfx" preferences file in ENVARC:sys. The printer device does support printing to other devices than parallel and seriell, and supports the prefs format of 3.9.

Here is what Thomas said:

You can continue to use the 3.9 prefs, though. Just make sure you delete the "printergfx" preferences file in ENVARC:sys. The printer device does support printing to other devices than parallel and seriell, and supports the prefs format of 3.9.

So you are correct.

But does anybody know how to turn off the "Banner Page" on NetPAR? This works great except for wasting a page of paper every print!

I would like to add that if anybody is looking to Print off their Amiga 3.9BB4 or 3.1.4 or Amiga4.1FEU1, Buy a HP CLJ that supports PCL5, 5e,5c and Postscript Emulation. I bought a new HP CLJ MFP M281fdw and I am able to print via USB on 4.1FE and network via NetPAR on 3.9BB4 and 3.1.4. I have printed from Pagestream4 and Finalwriter97 in color. FW seems to work best with Postscript driver built in. I purchased StudioPro II back in the 90s and I have the full version 2.21. I have been trying to get it to work because it supports PCL5c.

It is nice to know we can print from an Amiga to a new HP printer in 2019!

[Rixa]

Originally Posted by chartech

Here is what Thomas said:
there are no fields like this in the preference editor right now.

In case anyone cares, I wrote a little program to do what the 3.1.4 prefs editor doesn't let you and configure a custom device to print through.
It worked for me and I could afterwards continue to use the 3.1.4 prefs editors without messing it up. Uploaded to the zone as setcustomprinter.lha.

[Matt020]

Originally Posted by Rixa

In case anyone cares, I wrote a little program to do what the 3.1.4 prefs editor doesn't let you and configure a custom device to print through.
It worked for me and I could afterwards continue to use the 3.1.4 prefs editors without messing it up. Uploaded to the zone as setcustomprinter.lha.

Is anyone able to upload setcustomprinter.lha to the zone again?

Cheers!

[indigolemon]

It's still there on the google drive eab mirror: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AG...JLmDE23-vIPSBF