Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!ucsd!nprdc!malloy
From: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: HP Desk Jet - Opinions
Message-ID: <3630@skinner.nprdc.arpa>
Date: 12 Sep 89 13:56:23 GMT
References: <12416@athertn.Atherton.COM> <3080@cbnewsc.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
Lines: 49

In article <3080@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> tjr@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (thomas.j.roberts) writes:
>BEWARE: the DeskJet has problems with page-length, due to its inability
>to print on the last 1/2 inch of a page.
>If you simply cat (or type) a file to it (one that is merely a series
>of lines, no Form-Feeds). It will either:

	<description of the problem deleted>

>Why HP decided to print only 3 lines on every other page is beyond my
>comprehension - it's a lousy way to try to preserve page boundaries,
>especially since such programs usually don't care about page boundaries.

Okay -- first, it's not the _printer's_ fault that it's printing 3
lines on alternate pages, it's the fault of the software sending the
text to the printer. Here is what is happening:

	1. The program sends 63 lines of text to the printer.

	2. The printer, having received 63 lines of text, and being unable
	to put more lines of text on the page, performs a page feed.

	3. The program sends 3 more lines of text to the printer.

	4. The program, knowing that 66 lines of text is all that will fit
	on a page, tells the printer to perform a page feed.

	5. The printer performs a page feed, leaving three lines of text on
	the page just ejected.

>I have written a UNIX/MS-DOS filter to do the following:
>	On every page, preceed line 64 (if it exists) with a form-feed.
>	If lines 64,65,66 exist and are blank, delete them.
>	If lines 64,65,66 do not exist, they must have been deleted by
>		a form-feed on input, so there is no problem.
>	If there is a form-feed on line 1 (top of page), delete it.

I don't know if the DeskJet has this feature, but my DeskJet+ has a little
switch (or a send-once setup code, I don't recall which off the top of my
head) that you flip to tell the printer you want to compress the output a
little to make 66 lines fit in the printable area of the page -- which
eliminates the necessity for writing a filter as you describe. Read the
manual and find out.


 Sean Malloy					| "The proton absorbs a photon
 Navy Personnel Research & Development Center	| and emits two morons, a
 San Diego, CA 92152-6800			| lepton, a boson, and a
 malloy@nprdc.navy.mil				| boson's mate. Why did I ever
						| take high-energy physics?"