   Third-party Printer? (Ricoh)    The Question is:    K First, I would like to say that I have read topic 1020 fully and it did not   resolve my problem.: The situation I am going to tell you did work in the past.G I have a ricoh 1045 copier/printer that I am using a serial to parallel O  converter. I am sending text to the queue with pcl commands in the form setup.    the PCL commands are as follow;P <ESC>%-12345X<ESC>P<ESC>E<ESC>&l450Z<ESC>&l26A<ESC>&l7H<ESC>&l0O<ESC>&a0L<ESC>&lP 0E<ESC>&l6D<ESC>&l66F<ESC>&a0R<ESC>&a0C<ESC>8U<ESC>s0p10h0s0b4099T<ESC>\<CR><LF>  (this is all one string) M This aligns the text up on the form perfectly, except it adds a form feed (or L  blank page, not sure) before every job. If I start the que and use this pclO  commands in the /setup it prints out a blank page before every job. If i start   the que and use this P N CL commands in the /page_setup it does not print a blank page, but prints slowN  (the next page will not print until the page before it is all the way out andO  the printer motor stops) then it prints the next page (very slow). I have read   topic 1020 and trieL d the pcl_reset that you mention, but all it does it actually print VMS;2 onI  another sheet of paper. At one time we had this working, then two things N  happened at once. The VAX went down, and so did the copier. The copier people  came in and did some work oJ n the machine and the VAX was rebooted. It has never worked since. I printO  about 1200-2000 individual jobs a day and can not waste that much paper. Also, M  note: if I send the same exact text and PCL commands to a HP 4000 printer, I   do not get any blank pag M es and it aligns perfectly. ?? please I am lost and I am killing these little 5  HP printers by using them so much as report printers      The Answer is :   H   You have apparently demonstrated that this particular printing problemD   is specific to the Ricoh 1045 series printer, to the Ricoh printerE   configuration, or to the rather involved and arcane connection into F   the Ricoh printer.  (This based on your statement that an HP printer9   functions correctly within an identical configuration.)    F   Parallel printing and printer adapters are often functional, but theG   configurations that result can be unstable or problematic -- either a G   parallel NIC or -- when available -- an integrated NIC is preferable. D   The OpenVMS Wizard prefers a simple and direct network connection.F   (Please also note that the serial port device driver can itself alsoE   inject formfeed characters, depending on the page-length setting of F   the serial line.  Serial lines also have limited capabilities aroundH   binary data transmissions, as some characters can mimic flow control.)   +   Again, please simplify the configuration.    F   The OpenVMS Wizard is completely unfamiliar with Ricoh printers, andI   with the associated configuration options and settings and PCL language H   requirements that might be present with these printers.  You will have0   to contact Ricoh support for this information.   G   That you see the VMS;2 character sequence on the printer implies that G   the contents of the setup file are incorrect, or that the path to the H   printer is incorrect.  The sequence itself is interpreted by the printB   symbiont on OpenVMS (and not by the printer), and is intended toD   control the print symbiont processing.  The sequence should not be-   passed along to the printer for processing.    H   Please realize that there is a mechanism for customizations applied toC   unrecognized (and unsupported) printers for operations within the F   DECprint Supervisor (DCPS) environment.  For related details on thisE   mechanism, please see topic (5104).  This mechanism might allow you 6   to customize the environment for your Ricoh printer.   E   You will want to consider replacing this current configuration with G   a supported (and supportable) configuration.  For a list of supported D   HP and third-party printers for DCPS, please see the DCPS SoftwareE   Product Description (SPD), SPD 44.15.xx.  For pointers to the SPDs, @   please see the OpenVMS FAQ.  (For purposes of printing, the HPE   LaserJet 4300 series provides an equivalently-rated printing speed; C   of 45 pages per minute.  DCPS V2.2 supports this printer, as well '   as various of its available options.)    /   And again, please simplify the configuration.    0  Answer written or last revised on  24-NOV-2003 