Laser printer as dot-matrix printer

[JacekM]

242/5000

Is it possible to set the HP 1020 printer (with PCL, PJL command or any other) so that it works like a dot matrix printer?
My controller will send text to the printer without any control characters (except the new line mark) and it will be printed like on dot-matrix printer.

My controller can send any characters.

[Jim_Asman]

That is a simple task for a printer that speaks  PCL3 or PCL5. Unfortunately, the 1020 is a "host based" printer that must be run through a printer driver.

[JacekM]

Thanks for your answer!

Which of the simpler HP printers (maybe from the family 1100) has the ability to switch to this mode of operation without printer driver?

How should i do this switch in case of HP printer that supports PCL language? Could you send me any small example?

[Jim_Asman · Accepted solution]

It appears that the LJ1100 is a PCL5e printer, and as such can do everything you want.

Typically, PCL5 printers can detect from the context of the data received what is required. As such, from a DOS prompt you should be able to simply copy the text file to the printer port. Something like  copy /b textfile LPT1:

A PCL5 job should start with <esc>E, your text, followed by another <esc>E.   <esc> representing ascii char(27)/hex 1B

Now, PJL is used as a wrapper that surrounds the complete PCL file that at the beginning selects the language, which in the case of the 1100, is only PCL5. Other models also support Postscript.

In the case of    <esc>E Your text <esc>E   you will by default get 10 pitch Courier text and 60 lines of text at 6lpi on letter sized paper. Slightly more lines on A4. All of these parameters can be configured with PCL commands that you would put just after the first <esc>E. That will likely be 25 bytes MAX.

You can get VERY clever with PCL programming. I would suggest the you Google for the PCL Technical Reference Manual, a PDF of about 1000 pages that has all the answers. In the meantime, you might be a little more specific about what you are trying to do.