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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] postscript network printers
  • Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 17:04:26 +0000 (UTC)

On Thu, 8 Dec 2005, Anthony Albert wrote:

On 7 Dec 2005 at 22:35, sindi keesan wrote:
QMS finally called back while I was here and explained that the flash rom
(eeprom?) on the 'controller' (motherboard) is bad ('image checksum
error') and no, we can't solder in a new one with a soldering iron, but I
can buy a replacement controller. They named two wholesalers.

Ahhhh... this explains much. Though, I would bet that you could
replace it with a sufficiently skilled touch. However, you'd probably
need to find another printer of the same model first, from which you
could download the contents of the flash, to program the new one before
soldering it into place.

They implied that it could not be soldered by hand. But my partner fixed three dead motherboards by replacing capacitors and two of them still work. I thought the rom (is this the CMOS?) is usually socketed.


One of them found the part number and can order the controller for
$823.85. For about $500 I can buy the entire unit, refurbished.

That's often the case these days - replacement parts are more expensive
than purchasing a replacement. You may be able to find another used
one, cheap, as a source of parts - that's what I was able to do with
mine.

Some other places sell the board for $400-500 (new).

The shipping on a dead printer would be rather high but maybe someone will sell just the board. I found a site where people were giving away various HPs 'for refurbishing', or selling refurbished laser printers newer than this one for $100-300. Probably all mono.

I am investigating the larger HP now - 22"x24"x30" and takes 1.2 amps peak current, 1100 watts while printing. I could use some extra heat this month. I may need to open it to add SIMMs for 600 dpi, so I can print the 200 dpi scanned documents people insist on sending instead of 300 dpi.
Netpbm lets me scale them from 200 to 600 dpi first.

The idiots at HP posted the pdf manual in color, so you can't print it on that printer without first converting it (pdftopbm, or maybe gs has some filter. One time I was able to manually edit a pdf file to remove the color.) It displays okay in mono.

QMS support suggested selling the toner cartridges on ebay. They are at
least $50 each new and there are four of them. Anyone want them?

Definitely a possibility that you could sell them. I would suggest
going around to local businesses, first, though. Surely there's some
that have the same model, that could use some inexpensive toner. What
make and model is the printer, anyway - you've never said?

QMS Magicolor 2, about 7-8 years old. The larger HP is LJ 4si, 1995.
The local fax repair place did not want either of them, for anything, free. He says the parts for the QMS cost too much.

I will try out the older HP si monochrome printer instead. It is said to
have fed some sheets of paper (after the roller was lightly sanded)
and printed a page from DOS (printscreen?). I am hoping it will work with
netpbm as a deskjet printer at 600x600 dpi. Have not looked inside for
hard drives or memory.

No hard drive, needs 4MB RAM for 600 dpi and comes with only 2MB.
My older HP came with 1.5MB, because 300 dpi legal needs 1.2MB.

HP printers (and most lasers), when hooked up to the parallel port,
will work pretty much like line printers, if all you're feeding them is
plain text. In DOS, you can do "copy file1.txt lpt1: " and it'll print
out okay.

Great, I will try printing text with it first.
It does PCL (no mention of 5) and if you add something optional, also ps.
Is PCL what the deskjets use?

Good luck,
Anthony Albert
===========================================================
Anthony J. Albert albert AT umpi.maine.edu
Systems and Software Support Specialist Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
"This is only temporary, unless it works."
--- Red Green


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