How to format Compact Flash for LJ? Or get old version of JetAdmin?

[AlanHK]

I am setting up a LaserJet 2420N which has a slot for Compact Flash to use for fonts, etc. I inserted a card in FAT format but the printer reports it is unitialized. What format do LaserJets use for disks (presumably the same for CF)? The manual says that you can do this with JetAdmin, but the only version of JetAdmin available anywhere that I can find is the latest, 10.x, which will not run on my WinXP. If the format is something standard I can format the card externally with a card reader.

HP seems to have purged all version of JetAdmin from their site except the current one. I need version 7.8 to 8.1, if anyone has it available.

[John_Getzke]

> Compact Flash to use for fonts, etc...The manual says that you can do this with JetAdmin

You are referring to WEB JetAdmin (currently 10.4 SR1):

https://h30670.www3.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=J6052AA

Can you share with us where you found the information suggesting that WJA can manage the fonts for you?  Thats a new one for me.

I found teh Software Technican Guide with talks about managing fonts on page 142:

http://h20628.www2.hp.com/km-ext/kmcsdirect/emr_na-c00250782-1.pdf

Fonts
The Fonts group box contains a Font Card(s) check box and a corresponding Configure button.
Selecting the Font Card(s) check box tells the driver that a Font card is installed, and that stored
data about the fonts on the card is available. When the check box is selected, the Configure button
is enabled. Click the Configure button to open the Configure Font Card(s) dialog box. If the Font
HP traditional drivers Card(s) check box was not selected when you opened the More Configuration Options dialog box,
selecting that check box automatically opens the Configure Font Cards dialog box.

Figure 3-26 Configure Font Cards dialog box

Use the Configure Font Cards dialog box to perform the following tasks:
_¡ Add up to two font cards by clicking the Add button.Specify a unique font-card name.
_¡ Select specific font card data files that contain lists of fonts on specified cards.
_¡ Select one or more installed cards in the Installed Font Cards list. The list to the right (Fonts) shows all of the fonts that are available on the selected card(s).
_¡ Enable or disable one or more of the selected font(s).

Complete the following steps to configure a font card:
1 Make sure that the font card is installed correctly.
2 Click Add. The Add Font Card dialog box appears.
3 Click Browse. The Font Card Files dialog box appears.
4 Find and select the appropriate Printer Cartridge Metrics (PCM) file that came with the font card.
5 Click OK.
6 If you want to, you can specify a Font Card Name in the Add Font Card dialog box.

So perhaps what you are looking for is something that can format a drive in PCM (Printer Cartridge Metrics)?

[AlanHK]

>Can you share with us where you found the information suggesting that WJA can manage the fonts for you?  Thats a new one for me.

In the 2400 Series User Guide: For the error "CARD SLOT X FILE SYSTEM IS FULL" it says "Delete files from the CompactFlash card and then try again. Use the Device Storage Manager in HP Web Jetadmin to download or delete files and fonts."

And in "Managing Storage on HP Devices Using HP Web Jetadmin - ENWW", http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02700121.pdf it gives details.

>I found teh Software Technican Guide with talks about managing fonts on page 142:

That's about using a font card; does not say how to put your own fonts on a CF.

Anyway, I found how to "initialize" the CF in the Service manual, holding buttons when booting the printer.

Now the card is listed as 245 MB in the config. Just have to work out how to do something with it.

I found an old version of JetAdmin, 7.5, that would install on my PC, but Firefox or Chrome won't let me see it because the https certificate is invalid. Still trying to find a workaround.

[dansdaduk]

This HP document describes "HP LaserJet printers—CompactFlash® replaces flash/ROM DIMMs in future HP LaserJet printers".

Note that the above link is to a Chinese website, not HP, although there is nothing to suggest that it is not a valid HP support document. 

I've no idea whether or not this document is relevant to your LaserJet 2420n model, or only to later models, sorry.

[AlanHK]

Thanks, that ref tells me

"First of all, CompactFlash needs to be formatted to the same File System as the Printer File System, currently this is based on LynxOS. Therefore, CompactFlash cards used on PC’s, using FAT (16/32) File System, and the files stored on CompactFlash from a PC, will not be recognized by the printer."

This LynxOS is proprietary and seems to use its own filesystem; thus canot put files on the card using a card reader; at least I don't know how.

I might be able to do that in the printer with PJL, but I still need to know the file format.

[dansdaduk]

i don't know for sure that the referenced document is relevant to your printer model (which is quite old), so it could be that the CF card does not use the Lynx OS.

As regards the format of font files, these would have to contain valid PCL-format soft font definitions; there are several different formats supported by most PCL5 printers:

• Format 0 (bitmap) - now deprecated; usually given .sfp extension by convention.
• Format 20 (resolution-specified bitmap); .sfp extension.
• Format 10 (Intellifont bound scalable); sometimes known as PCL Encapsulated Outline (PCLEO) fonts; .sfs extension.
• Format 11 (Intellifont unbound scalable); .sfs extension.
• Format 15 (TrueType scalable); sometimes known as PCL Encapsulated TrueType Outline (PCLETTO) fonts; .sft extension.
• Format 16 (large font variant of format 15); .sft extension.

The HP PCL5 Technical Reference Manual (bpl13210) provides basic details of these formats, but only sufficient detail to allow you to construct the bitmap fonts.

Very little documentation is now available for the Intellifont formats, and it is now little-used.

To understand the PCLETTO formats, you'd first need a good knowledge of the TrueType / OpenType display font format (see the specification on the Microsoft 'typography' web pages - not for the faint-hearted!).

The Soft Font Generate tool in the PCL Paraphernalia application (available via http://www.pclparaphernalia.eu) can generate PCLETTO fonts from 'well-behaved' TrueType donor fonts.

The companion HP PJL Technical Reference Manual (bpl13210) provides detail of the PJL 'language', including some details of the PJL FileSystem commands needed to upload files to printer file storage.

The Status Readback tool in the PCL Paraphernalia application provides a mechanism to make use of the PJL FS commands.

[AlanHK]

That doc was create 2004. my printer is 2007. So fairly contemprary. Anyway, whatever the  file system. Windows can't read the card once the printer has initialized it.

Also, I should have specifed that I want to install PostScript Type 1 fonts, not PCL.

I guess the required format is PFA, possibly with some prelude.

-- That "Status Readback" tool is very interesting, thanks. Am sending PJL queries and getting responses.

[dansdaduk]

I can't help you with PostScript fonts, sorry.

I don't know enough about this Page Description Language, to even begin to guess at (for example):

• The internal format of Type 1 or PFA or whatever, nor whether such fonts on the printer use exactly the same format as their workatation display equivalents, or (as with the PCL and PCL XL cases) the printer format fonts are modified & encapsulated variants of the display fonts.

• How you'd 'instruct' a typical PostScript print job to access fonts on the card (rather than those in NVRAM in the PostScript 'personality').

The PJL FileSystem commands to download binary data to a specified folder / path on a target printer-accessible device aree probably still valid though - the main folder would (I guess) be named 'postscript', with perhaps a 'fonts' sub-folder?

[AlanHK]

The printer can print a file directory, and  shows 3 directories:

0:\PermStore

0:\PostScript

0:\PJL

"0" being the CF drive. Also has a RAM disk with

1:\PostScript

1:\PJL

So I'll make some font files and see if I can transfer them, either to  PotScript or possibly PermStore.

[dansdaduk]

I've no idea whether or not this will help (with a bit more infomation) or not.

I used to have access to a LaserJet Enterprise M533x printer, which has an eMMC (embeded Multi-Media Card) as standard; I wrote some notes at the time, as follows:

The Configuration Page on the Embedded Web Server shows details of this storage:

But the File Directory Page report (one of the reports available from the printer) shows two "devices" (each with "Device Capacity = Free Space", and with a combined total capacity of 1063 MB😞

A PJL INFO FILESYS query generates the following response:

where the indicated capacity is (approximately) 614 MB;

This latter figure is the same as the capacity of the "User data" storage area in the File Directory Page report.

This seems to imply that PJL FileSystem area is within that storage area.

This appears to be confirmed if a PJL FSMKDIR NAME = "0:\pcl" command is issued to create a new folder at the root of volume 0:

The new folder appears as Directory \PDL\pcl (in a new  File Directory Page report), implying that the PJL FileSystem volume 0: is relative to the directory \PDL in the "User data" storage area.

EDIT: the new folder disappears after the printer is power-cycled; I think that this is because (I suspect) the "hard drive" is actually an embedded MultiMedia Card (eMMC) device, so (at least) the PJL FileSystem part is in volatile, rather than non-volatile storage.