HP Laserjet III via USB/LPT dongle to Windows XP?
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From: Frantisek.Rysanek on 2 Dec 2008 07:45 Dear All, I've tried to attach an old HP LaserJet III to a modern notebook PC using a cheap USB-to-LPT dongle. I used the generic USB printing support (driver for the dongle) in XP, installed a HP LJ III printer manually (the stock XP driver) and pointed the printer profile to use the virtual USB printing port. The first result is, that it just doesn't work. The printing subsystem in Windows keeps trying something for a while, then merely says that the printing failed. I am aware that maybe the stock XP driver still relies on physical LPT hardware (or on LPT hardware-specific low-level driver in XP). There's also a slight chance of some hardware mismatch (logic levels mismatch, LPT/USB dongle under-powered, fuzzy PSU rails inside the dongle etc). The dongle is based on this chip (Prolific PL2305): http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/files/%5CIO%20Cable%5CPL-2305%5CDoc%5CData%20Sheet%5Cds_pl2305_v1.3.pdf The USB device is clearly alive - the dongle is detected by the XP OS and the generic USB printing support driver gets loaded. Do you have any explicit experience/knowledge that this should / should not work? In the past, I've been into various printing tricks: redirecting the print jobs to a file, to a network printer via Samba or LPR (Microsoft built-in or 3rd-party spooler), to a local XP-borne GhostScript installation... I'm pretty sure I could redirect the HP LJ III driver's output harmlessly into some sort of common "virtual pipe" along those lines - and then maybe forward the traffic back to the USB device by some other means. At a first attempt, I can see that the USB device doesn't respond to the PRN or LPT device names. Is there any way to reach the USB printer port by some common device name from the Windows command line? Or, for that matter, a simple way to open the raw USB LPT port from Windows user space programmatically, via the Win32 API? At the hardware level, I don't think the LJ III would use some non- standard signaling, that would require direct software access to the LPT hardware. Quite the contrary - to me, the LJ III is a "mother of all printers", a reference printer implementation. If you attach just anything to its Centronics port and start sending bytes of data, using the Strobe and Busy signals in a vaguely standard way, you just have to get some output :-) I would expect that any USB/LPT converter provides at least this much. Any ideas are welcome :-) Frank Rysanek
From: Arno Wagner on 2 Dec 2008 14:29 In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc Frantisek.Rysanek(a)post.cz wrote: > Dear All, > I've tried to attach an old HP LaserJet III to a modern notebook PC > using a cheap USB-to-LPT dongle. I used the generic USB printing > support (driver for the dongle) in XP, installed a HP LJ III printer > manually (the stock XP driver) and pointed the printer profile to use > the virtual USB printing port. > The first result is, that it just doesn't work. The printing subsystem > in Windows keeps trying something for a while, then merely says that > the printing failed. > I am aware that maybe the stock XP driver still relies on physical LPT > hardware (or on LPT hardware-specific low-level driver in XP). > There's also a slight chance of some hardware mismatch (logic levels > mismatch, LPT/USB dongle under-powered, fuzzy PSU rails inside the > dongle etc). The dongle is based on this chip (Prolific PL2305): > http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/files/%5CIO%20Cable%5CPL-2305%5CDoc%5CData%20Sheet%5Cds_pl2305_v1.3.pdf > The USB device is clearly alive - the dongle is detected by the XP OS > and the generic USB printing support driver gets loaded. > Do you have any explicit experience/knowledge that this should / > should not work? > In the past, I've been into various printing tricks: redirecting the > print jobs to a file, to a network printer via Samba or LPR (Microsoft > built-in or 3rd-party spooler), to a local XP-borne GhostScript > installation... I'm pretty sure I could redirect the HP LJ III > driver's output harmlessly into some sort of common "virtual pipe" > along those lines - and then maybe forward the traffic back to the USB > device by some other means. > At a first attempt, I can see that the USB device doesn't respond to > the PRN or LPT device names. Is there any way to reach the USB printer > port by some common device name from the Windows command line? Or, for > that matter, a simple way to open the raw USB LPT port from Windows > user space programmatically, via the Win32 API? > At the hardware level, I don't think the LJ III would use some non- > standard signaling, that would require direct software access to the > LPT hardware. Quite the contrary - to me, the LJ III is a "mother of > all printers", a reference printer implementation. If you attach just > anything to its Centronics port and start sending bytes of data, using > the Strobe and Busy signals in a vaguely standard way, you just have > to get some output :-) I would expect that any USB/LPT converter > provides at least this much. > Any ideas are welcome :-) > Frank Rysanek Hi, I do not really know what to do under XP, but maybe you can use Linux to see whether it can work at all. With KNOPPIX or another live CD you can do this without installation. It is possible that the dongle and the LJIII are incompatible. Arno
From: Hari Seldon on 2 Dec 2008 16:03 <Frantisek.Rysanek(a)post.cz> schreef in bericht news:ea9359dc-3c84-47c3-9dc8-f23821477dc2(a)n10g2000yqm.googlegroups.com... > Dear All, > > I've tried to attach an old HP LaserJet III to a modern notebook PC > using a cheap USB-to-LPT dongle. I used the generic USB printing > support (driver for the dongle) in XP, installed a HP LJ III printer > manually (the stock XP driver) and pointed the printer profile to use > the virtual USB printing port. > > The first result is, that it just doesn't work. The printing subsystem > in Windows keeps trying something for a while, then merely says that > the printing failed. > > I am aware that maybe the stock XP driver still relies on physical LPT > hardware (or on LPT hardware-specific low-level driver in XP). > > There's also a slight chance of some hardware mismatch (logic levels > mismatch, LPT/USB dongle under-powered, fuzzy PSU rails inside the > dongle etc). The dongle is based on this chip (Prolific PL2305): > http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/files/%5CIO%20Cable%5CPL-2305%5CDoc%5CData%20Sheet%5Cds_pl2305_v1.3.pdf > The USB device is clearly alive - the dongle is detected by the XP OS > and the generic USB printing support driver gets loaded. > > Do you have any explicit experience/knowledge that this should / > should not work? > > In the past, I've been into various printing tricks: redirecting the > print jobs to a file, to a network printer via Samba or LPR (Microsoft > built-in or 3rd-party spooler), to a local XP-borne GhostScript > installation... I'm pretty sure I could redirect the HP LJ III > driver's output harmlessly into some sort of common "virtual pipe" > along those lines - and then maybe forward the traffic back to the USB > device by some other means. > > At a first attempt, I can see that the USB device doesn't respond to > the PRN or LPT device names. Is there any way to reach the USB printer > port by some common device name from the Windows command line? Or, for > that matter, a simple way to open the raw USB LPT port from Windows > user space programmatically, via the Win32 API? > > At the hardware level, I don't think the LJ III would use some non- > standard signaling, that would require direct software access to the > LPT hardware. Quite the contrary - to me, the LJ III is a "mother of > all printers", a reference printer implementation. If you attach just > anything to its Centronics port and start sending bytes of data, using > the Strobe and Busy signals in a vaguely standard way, you just have > to get some output :-) I would expect that any USB/LPT converter > provides at least this much. > > Any ideas are welcome :-) > > Frank Rysanek You can - but it will cost you - order an usb to LPT cable.
From: Don Phillipson on 2 Dec 2008 17:44 <Frantisek.Rysanek(a)post.cz> wrote in message news:ea9359dc-3c84-47c3-9dc8-f23821477dc2(a)n10g2000yqm.googlegroups.com... > Dear All, > > I've tried to attach an old HP LaserJet III to a modern notebook PC > using a cheap USB-to-LPT dongle. I used the generic USB printing > support (driver for the dongle) in XP, installed a HP LJ III printer > . . . > I am aware that maybe the stock XP driver still relies on physical LPT > hardware (or on LPT hardware-specific low-level driver in XP). Does this setup also require that LPT be enabled in BIOS (perhaps not done if you have up to now worked only via USB)? -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
From: Frantisek.Rysanek on 23 Dec 2008 10:05 On 2 Pro, 13:45, Frantisek.Rysa...(a)post.cz wrote: > Dear All, > > I've tried to attach an old HP LaserJet III to a modern notebook PC > using a cheap USB-to-LPT dongle. I used the generic USB printing > support (driver for the dongle) in XP, installed a HP LJ III printer > manually (the stock XP driver) and pointed the printer profile to use > the virtual USB printing port. > > The first result is, that it just doesn't work. The printing subsystem > in Windows keeps trying something for a while, then merely says that > the printing failed. > > I am aware that maybe the stock XP driver still relies on physical LPT > hardware (or on LPT hardware-specific low-level driver in XP). > > There's also a slight chance of some hardware mismatch (logic levels > mismatch, LPT/USB dongle under-powered, fuzzy PSU rails inside the > dongle etc). The dongle is based on this chip (Prolific PL2305):http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/files/%5CIO%20Cable%5CPL-2305%5CDo... > The USB device is clearly alive - the dongle is detected by the XP OS > and the generic USB printing support driver gets loaded. > > Do you have any explicit experience/knowledge that this should / > should not work? > > In the past, I've been into various printing tricks: redirecting the > print jobs to a file, to a network printer via Samba or LPR (Microsoft > built-in or 3rd-party spooler), to a local XP-borne GhostScript > installation... I'm pretty sure I could redirect the HP LJ III > driver's output harmlessly into some sort of common "virtual pipe" > along those lines - and then maybe forward the traffic back to the USB > device by some other means. > > At a first attempt, I can see that the USB device doesn't respond to > the PRN or LPT device names. Is there any way to reach the USB printer > port by some common device name from the Windows command line? Or, for > that matter, a simple way to open the raw USB LPT port from Windows > user space programmatically, via the Win32 API? > > At the hardware level, I don't think the LJ III would use some non- > standard signaling, that would require direct software access to the > LPT hardware. Quite the contrary - to me, the LJ III is a "mother of > all printers", a reference printer implementation. If you attach just > anything to its Centronics port and start sending bytes of data, using > the Strobe and Busy signals in a vaguely standard way, you just have > to get some output :-) I would expect that any USB/LPT converter > provides at least this much. > > Any ideas are welcome :-) > > FrankRysanek Thanks to all who replied... First of all, the bit of information about Prolific 2305, that was a misinformation - not true - courtesy of the dongle vendor. Now I can't find that note on their web site anymore. The actual chip used on the inside is a WinChipHead CH340S (or so the label says) - although by function and pinout it would more closely resemble a CH341. It shows some signs of life both in Windows and in Linux (usblp.c) - I do get some data printed on paper, fairly garbled (the Windows test page). It seems as if the dongle expects bidirectional communication, but reading back the printer status somehow always fails. Both Windows and Linux throw error messages along those lines. It fails exactly the same way with LaserJet III and LaserJet 6P. I've even tried improving power rail filtering inside the dongle, to no avail. I've posted a more detailed request for help to linux- usb(a)vger.kernel.org. If those gurus don't help (I hope they don't blacklist me right away for offtopic questions), I guess hardly anyone else can help me :-) Frank Rysanek
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