What exactly does PCL mean to me? 2

[mudskipper]

Pardon me, my ignorance is showing.... ;-)

I was reading through thread750-399518--and trying to help the person out a little, when a question popped up.

I don't know what PCL is. Okay, Okay, I know that it stands for Printer Control Language--but what does that mean to me? What does it actually accomplish?

Is the difference between PCL5e and PCL6 just a version number?

BTW--I did a little search, but did not find anything that really helped me. If it is easier, please feel free to just post links that I can read through.

Thanks in advance for satisfying my curiosity!

Mudskipper
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Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[JimInKS]

I'm not the expert but here is some basic info:

PCL5e or PCL6 is a standard for communicating with HP Laser printers, many other manufacturers also use this "language". PCL defines the command sequences (in ASCII) that can be transmitted to a printer to perform some printing task, like set a font or draw a rectangle.

To give you a flavor for what it looks like here is a link I found

http://support2.epson.net/manuals/english/page/epl_5800/REF_G/APCOM_2.HTM

Not the best info, but all I could find easily.

 

[mudskipper]

It is interesting to look at the link that you provided! So, I take it that PCL5e is just a different version (more or less).

Anyway, I was just curious. Thank you for the response! Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[JimInKS]

Yea, I'm not sure what the difference is.
One would assume that PCL6 has some enhancements over PCL5e.

When I install printer drivers I am in the habit of selecting PCL5e. My totally unsubstantiated reasoning is that the older version has had longer to have the bugs worked out.

 

[hpwizzard]

There is absolutely nothing wrong in installing the PCL5 driver instead of PCL 6, as it actually tends to be more compatible and stable, especially in a mixed OS environment. With the PCL6, issuees like tray selection of printers in a network has been a problem with some printers of HP, where the PCL5 did the job just fine.