How do I use internal printer fonts such as lineprinter

[TJ25]

Thank you for your reply

There is no need to develop, on my behalf, an interim version of PCL paraphernalia as I am content with the alternative of using the generic text print driver which PCL paraphernalia drives well and as I said is much faster than normal printing.

With regard to the Illegal Attribute error I removed the fourth SETFONT sequence involving the PCL5 Font Select attribute and the file printed correctly although the last text came out as Courier as expected.

I then changed the SETFONT sequence using the example given in the V3 manual for lineprinter font (one byte longer) and the printer again rejected it with illegal Attribute error.  Thus I think I have confirmed that my printer does not support this feature.

With regard to the new printer instance not showing up in Devices and Printers, on further investigation, I have learnt the following:

Devices and printers will only show one printer icon when you have configured multiple printers that use the same port (e.g. USB001).

In my case it uses the M178-M181 icon. However, right clicking on it and using the second section of the window does allow you to select the properties etc of either device (i.e. both the M178-M181 printer instance and the Generic Text printer instance.

However if preferred the old Printers Folder can be launched from Windows 10.

Open a command prompt and paste this in.

                start shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\0\::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}

or create a shortcut with

                C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "start shell:::{26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}\0\::{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}"

This will allow you to see all the individual printer instances.

I am now happy with the answers to my question.

[dansdaduk]

I'm planning on producing a 'maintenance' version (3.2.1.0) of PCL Paraphernalia - other users may need the 'v3/v4' issue fixed.

... and I must commend you, both for reporting back that you have an answer (of sorts) for your original problem, and for detailing your extensive research efforts.

[dansdaduk]

New (maintenance) version 3.2.1.0 of PCL Paraphernalia is now available.

Just start your existing copy of the application, and a pop-up should indicate that an update is available.

Agree to the update, and the new version should be downloaded and started.

[A couple of users have stated that the application did not start after the update - this appears to be because anti-virus (in one case Windows Defender) blocks the updated application may need to 'unblock' it, then try starting it again].

If you can check that the application works with both v3 and v4 drivers on your system, I'd be obliged.

I don't have the time (I'm in quite poor health at present), or the resources (I'm retired, and now have only one PC and two printers) to fully test the release (but it works fine on my system).

[TJ25]

I have tried the latest version of PCL Paraphernalia and it appears to work well with my prn files etc.

Thank you for your efforts and I am sorry to hear you are in poor health.

Therefore I dont want you to exert yourself if you are still unwell and so please ignore the below. It is just my thoughts and curiosity. I dont really need an answer.

I have managed to invoke the line printer font by the following PCL code as listed by PCL paraphernalia but modified by me for this reply

Offset            Type                                        Sequence                              Description

00000000       PCL Parameterised            <Esc>%-12345X                   Universal Exit Language (UEL)

                         Comment                                                                                Switch language to PJL

00000009       PJL Command                      @PJL ENTER                          LANGUAGE=PCL<CR><LF>

                            Comment                                                                             Switch language to PCL

00000022       PCL Parameterised            <Esc>(8U                               Primary Font: Symbol Set (8U = Roman-8)

00000026       PCL Parameterised            <Esc>(s0p                              Primary Font: Spacing: Fixed

0000002b                                                         16.66h                                     Primary Font: Pitch (16.66 characters per inch)

00000031                                                         8.5v                                          Primary Font: Height (8.5 points)

00000035                                                         0s                                              Primary Font: Style (Upright, solid)

00000037                                                         0b                                             Primary Font: Stroke Weight: Medium

00000039                                                         0T                                              Primary Font: Typeface (0 = Line Printer)

0000003b      PCL Parameterised            <Esc>%1A                              Enter PCL Mode: Cursor = HP-GL/2

0000003f       Data                                                                                           303132333

00000048       PCL Parameterised            <Esc>%-12345X                   Universal Exit Language (UEL)

                         Comment                                                                                Switch language to PJL

There is a passthrough to PCL in PCL XL. Is it possible to insert this code and return to PCLXL without specifiying a new font and getting PCL XL to use this font for future text?

[dansdaduk]

Thanks for checking the new version.

PCL XL c/r 3.0 does indeed introduce a “PCL Passthru” mechanism.

But if your printer does not support the “PCLFontSelect” mechanism (also introduced in c/r 3.0), then I consider it to be very unlikely that it would support the “passthru” mechanism.)

[dansdaduk]

... and the Font Sample tool, selecting PCL XL and the LinePrinter font, and symbol set 8U, will generate a print job to select that font via native PCL XL operators/attributes.

Analysis (via the PRN File Analyse tool) will show you an interpretation of the binary post-fix notation.

But unless you are generating the (PCL XL) print job yourself (without using a printer driver), this probably isn’t much help.

[TJ25]

Thankyou for your excellent replies.

As you say this is of not much practical use.

I normally use Word or Excel and even if I generated a binary prn file from Word and developed a prn file to switch to Lineprinter font which I could concatenate in front of the word file by copy/b then the setfonts and downloaded fonts of the word prn file would carry on being used.

Speaking of which I cannot find a switch to switch off downloading true type fonts. But as I said I am quite happy to use Word as is.

[dansdaduk]

>> ... even if I generated a binary prn file from Word and developed a prn file to switch to Lineprinter font which I could concatenate in front of the word file by copy/b then the setfonts and downloaded fonts of the word prn file would carry on being used ...

It had been at the back of my mind what mechanism you thought you could use to insert a set of PCL XL operators and their associated attribute lists at the correct point within the print job generated by the application (Word) and driver (PCL6), since (as far as I'm aware, the standard drivers do not offer any such functionality.

The method you you outline would definitely not work, since the pre-pended PCL XL would have to be enclosed within a pair of Universal Exit Language escape sequences, and (after the first UEL) introduced with the appropriate PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = PCLXL command, itself followed by a valid PCL XL header and relevant introductory operator/attributes.

The UELs would be interpreted by the printer as the start/end of a separate print job, hence any effect would be lost with the terminating UEL.

... and as you surmise, the 'commands' within the generated print job would override anything else.

Any such set of PCL XL 'commands'has to be inserted at the correct point in the (highly structured binary post-fix) print job.  

[dansdaduk]

... and here is an edited extract from an analysis of a captured PCL XL print job which prints text using the printer-resident LinePrinter font:

 

 

 

I've selected the variant of the font which is bound to the '0N' symbol set, since this (8-bit) set is a strict subset of the Unicode character set.

The '8U' symbol set only matches this for the lower 128 characters; the upper 128 characters don't match any of the 'internal' sets used on modern computers.

[TJ25]

You are a star.

Thank you for your information.

Any  thoughts on where the don't download true type fonts configuration may be switched?