LEFT MARGIN 1

[Oberchefe]

I try to change the left margin:
ESC & a 15 L
(without spaces in between)
but what happen is:
the Top Margin changes.

Used settings:
Paper Size = 26 (A4)
Orientation = 0 (Portrait)
Papersource = 7 (Auto)

Printer: Epson Aculaser C1900 (HP LJ4 compatible)

What is going on wrong?

 

[DansDadUK]

Either the PCL interpreter in your printer has a fault (unlikely?), or there is something more in your print stream which is causing your symptoms.

Can you capture (i.e. 'print to file') a small sample print stream, and add the resultant file as an attachment to a reply; analysis may help to diagnose the problem.

 

[Oberchefe]

Thanks for your answer.
In the meantime I have added a line for the Top margin, and one for Unit of Measure, now it seems to work.
Print to file is not that easy, my code is running on a PLC.
But I'm still not happy about the print quality, the text looks grey instead of black. I have one PJL Code at the beginning:
@PJL SET PRINTQUALITY=high
and one PCL Code for Stroke weight (Bold) later.
Are there any other parameters that could resolve this issue?

Are there any sample files with the minimum required parameters for printing out Text (without graphic options)?

If I try to print a simple text in Notepad an my PC, the file doesn't contain any text, it looks like the printer driver converts the text to a picture.

 

[DansDadUK]

>> Print to file is not that easy, my code is running on a
>> PLC.

Don't know what a PLC is.


>> But I'm still not happy about the print quality, the
>> text looks grey instead of black.

Difficult to speculate as to causes without seeing a sample print stream.


>> I have one PJL Code at the beginning:
>> @PJL SET PRINTQUALITY=high

Not all printers will support this; what printer model are you using?


>> and one PCL Code for Stroke weight (Bold) later.

A full PCL5 font selection sequence includes up to 7 attributes, of which stroke weight is merely one.


>> Are there any other parameters that could resolve this
>> issue?
>> Are there any sample files with the minimum required
>> parameters for printing out Text (without graphic
>> options)?

Read up on PCL5 font selection (and other topics) in the "PCL5 Technical Reference Manual".
See the Tek-Tips PCL FAQ section for details of where to obtain a PDF copy of this manual.


>> If I try to print a simple text in Notepad an my PC, the
>> file doesn't contain any text, it looks like the printer
>> driver converts the text to a picture.

Some drivers will do this, especially if the driver believes that printer-resident equivalents of the font(s) used in the document is/are not present on the target printer model.

As an aside, you are presumably using the driver's 'print to file' option to see what is being generated.

 

[DansDadUK]

... sorry - I see that you mentioned the model (Epson Aculaser C1900) in your initial post.

Just for information, according to the specifications
this model supports the following printer command languages: ESC/PAGE-COLOUR, PCL5e, GL/2, FX, 1 Bin I339X, ESC/P2, ESC/PAGE (Monochrome Mode).

 

[Oberchefe]

>>Don't know what a PLC is.
Sorry, it's a programmable logic controller,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_logic_controller

>>A full PCL5 font selection sequence includes up to 7 >>attributes, of which stroke weight is merely one.

-Symbol Set: ISO 8859-15
-Spacing: proportional
-Pitch:10
-Height:10
-Style: Condensed
-Stroke Weight: Bold
-Typeface Selection: CG Times

>As an aside, you are presumably using the driver's 'print >to file' option to see what is being generated.

I've installed an HP LJ4 driver to check the commands that will be used for an HP printer. This driver sends PJL commands to the printer. In the Epson manual is written, that this printer is compatible with an HP LJ printer, so I conclude that the Epson should understand these commands?

Unfortunately there's nothing in the 1900 manuals about the PCL commands(with the exception of the codes for the built in Fonts) so I have to use the HP manuals.

For a different Epson printer I found this about PJL-Codes:

http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/page/epl_5800/REF_G/APCOM_4.HTM

But I don't know whether this is the same for the 1900 printer.

Now I've added some code in my PLC for saving the file to disk, attached you'll find one example. If I have a look at the file with PCL Reader (

http://www.pclreader.com/

), it looks like it should, but in real live it looks like the printer uses Toner Savings Mode.

 

[DansDadUK]

I've 'sent' your PCL file to my local HP LaserJet 1320n (the only printer available to me now that I'm retired), and the text appears to be a reasonable black - certainly not grey.

The start of your file contains the following PJL and PCL sequences:

<Esc>%-12345X     Universal Exit Language (UEL)
                  Switch language to PJL
                  @PJL COMMENT Wago 750-841[0a]
                  @PJL SET PAGEPROTECT=OFF[0a]
                  @PJL SET PAGEPROTECT=AUTO[0a]
                  @PJL SET RET=MEDIUM[0a]
                  @PJL SET RESOLUTION=600[0a]
                  @PJL SET PRINTQUALITY=high[0a]
                  @PJL SET DENSITY=4[0a]
                  @PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL[0a]
                  Switch language to PCL
[0d]
<Esc>E            Printer Reset
<Esc>&u240D       Unit-of-Measure (PCL units per inch)
<Esc>&l26A        Page Size: A4
<Esc>&l7H         Paper Source: Value is Printer Dependent
<Esc>&l0O         Orientation: Portrait
<Esc>&a5L         Left Margin (columns)
<Esc>&a1M         Right Margin (columns)
<Esc>&l3E         Top Margin (lines)
<Esc>(9N          Primary Font: Symbol Set
<Esc>(s1P         Primary Font: Spacing: Proportional
<Esc>(s10H        Primary Font: Pitch (characters per inch)
<Esc>(s18V        Primary Font: Height (points)
<Esc>(s4S         Primary Font: Style
<Esc>(s3B         Primary Font: Stroke Weight: Bold
<Esc>(s4101T      Primary Font: Typeface
<Esc>&d0D         Underline Enable
Wertetabelle WAGO 750-841[0d][0a]
[0a]
[0a]
<Esc>&d@          Underline Disable
<Esc>(s0B         Primary Font: Stroke Weight: Medium
<Esc>(s10V        Primary Font: Height (points)
<Esc>&a400H       Cursor Position (decipoints): Horizontal
MDA[0]=27[0d][0a]
<Esc>&a400H       Cursor Position (decipoints): Horizontal
MDA[1]=37[0d][0a]
<Esc>&a400H       Cursor Position (decipoints): Horizontal
MDA[2]=45[0d][0a]
...

I've no idea what effect the PJL SET commands for PRINTQUALITY and DENSITY will have (or not).
Other than that, there doesn't appear to be anything that would definitely cause text to be printed in a greyscale rather than black.

Your choice of 240 for the PCL 'unit of measure' is not one I've seen before; most print streams use a multiple of 300 for this value, as conversions to/from the printer's dot resolution (600 dpi?) won't have non-integer values.

Also don't know if your chosen font supports style value of '4' on your target device.

 

[Oberchefe]

Thanks for your help, the problem is solved now.
The printer was set up to "Economo Mode" (default).

Now I know a little bit more about PJL.
Sending "@PJL INFO VARIABLES" to a printer results in an answer about the supported parameters and the current default settings.

I've added @PJL SET ECONOMODE=OFF to my program and everything seems to be ok.

 

[Oberchefe]

and for all of the others with similar problems I've written a small tool(quick and dirty) to get this data from a network printer.

 

[DansDadUK]

>> Thanks for your help ...

You are being generous; you found the root cause.


>> I've written a small tool ...

It doesn't run on my Windows 7 64-bit system; error reported is:

Component 'MSWINSCK.OCX' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid

 

[Oberchefe]

I've created an installer package to solve this, but I'm afraid that the installer will be in german language. You could try to install it:

http://home.arcor.de/Oberchefe/readpjl.zip

 

[DansDadUK]

You are quite correct - the installer is in German.

I've tried to install the application, and (bearing in mind that I don't know German) think that I've clicked the right buttons - but I get an error:

Type mismatch
Unerwarteter Setup-Fehler aufgetreten!

which itself triggers other errors (presumably to do with abandoning the install).

I'm not sure that I've got the time or inclination to do many further tests with install routines that I can't understand (sorry).

 

[Oberchefe]

It seems to be not that easy to write a program with Visual Basic that could be distributed easy with the built in "Package und Deployment Kit". After a short search in the internet I decided to write the program without the need for mswinsck.ocx and now it should also run without installer.
You could download it here:

http://home.arcor.de/Oberchefe/readpjl.exe

I've tested it on W95, W98, ME, W2K, XP (German) and NT (english).