PCL6: interpreted or not...

Guest_imported · Nov 4, 2002

Hi all,

I thought I'd start a new thread so as not to clutter up the other thread re the Samsung PCL6 printer.

My namesake- other Jim- said that PCL6 is not an interpreted language like its predecessors, so I've tried to verify that. I went to hp.com, searched for a pcl6 printer and found the 1220. I downloaded its driver, and did a print-to-file from MS-Word in WNT4.

The resulting file is full of pcl <esc> sequences when I look at it in hex. BUT the top of the file- about 1/2 page in Wordpad- is just nulls, x'00'. Other than that, the file looks like normal pcl.

The driver panel when you go file-print, has no options for say pcl5, so I'm assumimg this is a pcl6 file.

Anyone got any thoughts...... Jim Brown,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
My time is GMT+2

Guest_imported · Nov 4, 2002

BUT I've just noticed the file contains a line:

Code:

@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCL3GUI

... so it seems it's not pcl6. Am I wrong about the 1220 being pcl6 anyway? Jim Brown,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
My time is GMT+2

DansDadUK · Nov 4, 2002

PCL6 (more properly known as PCLXL) is nothing like PCL5.

PCLXL is more like PostScript, in that it is a 'language' which uses a Post-Fix notation, but it is unlike PostScript in that it uses a binary (rather than ASCII) encoding; the encoding of integer and real values within the 'stream' can be Big- or Little-Endian.

(If parts of your print-to-file output look like PCL5, then it almost certainly is not PCLXL).

A printer can only be switched to PCLXL by using the
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE=PCLXL
command.

HP provide documentation and 'source'<-->binary assembler/disassembler tools (JetASM, JetLIB) via the HPDeveloper association; you can join for free (as an associate) but the conditions include a standard non-disclosure agreement.

Guest_imported · Nov 4, 2002

I had a look in

http://www.filespecs.com

where one can usually find out about file internals, but nothing on pcl6; or pcl at all for that matter. Jim Brown,
Johannesburg,
South Africa.
My time is GMT+2

DansDadUK · Nov 4, 2002

I should have referred to Affiliate membership (free) rather than Associate membership ($495 p.a.) of the HP Developer Association.
Go to

http://www.hpdevelopersolutions.com

for details of the Solution Provider Program.

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PCL6: interpreted or not...

Guest_imported

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Guest_imported

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DansDadUK

Programmer

Guest_imported

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DansDadUK

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