Xeron Phaser 6100BD and linux

[Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer]

Hi all!
I bought a Xerox Phaser 6100 BD. I know, I know, stupid, stupid, because it has (AFAIK) some proprietary undocumented command language, no open-source drivers etc. But it looked otherwise so sweet for the price and I do have a boxes with Mickey Mouse "operating systems" (XP Pro) as well, so I can print with it and that suffices. I would just love to be able to print from my linux boxes too.

Im somewhat of a linux AND printer newbie. Has anyone managed to print with this printer on linux? I tried the linux driver from xerox.com, but could not get it to install on Fedora Core 2. The setup script exits with too many errors to post here.

I tried playing around with foomatic-rip and the ppd file from the Xerox package, but could not produce anything the printer would print. I thought it should go like this:
1. produce a postscript file with enscript, pdftops, whatever.
2. use foomatic-rip to prepend headers and convert ps to the format the printer understands.
3. send the result to the printer. I use smbprint here.

I can do 1 and 3 just fine, but dont know how to do 2. Did I have wrong options or can foomatic do this at all?

I tried the Fedora printer config with the two GDI drivers listed there, same result. There was no Xerox driver listed for the 6100 on the menu.

I looked at the data the Windows printer driver produces and it has a plain text header of a few lines and then something that looks like binary data:
-12345X@PJL SET COLORMODE = COLOR
@PJL SET PAPERTYPE = NORMAL
@PJL SET RET = OFF
@PJL SET JAMRECOVERY = OFF
@PJL SET DUPLEX=ON
@PJL SET BINDING=LONGEDGE
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = QPDL
<binary data here>

Can I produce the binary data with foomatic or with something that comes in the Xerox driver package? Is there any other driver I might try? Is there any documentation of this "QPDL" anywhere? Couldnt find anything on the web. Am I totally confused and more importantly am I SOL?

</rant on>BTW, could someone please explain the rational behind companies not giving out the details of their printers command languages and other specifications? Ive encountered the same thing with disk and RAID controllers, NICs, video cards, and other pieces of HW too. Is it like anything that hinders the competition is good, **** the customers (who are illiterate anyway). Just about the only HW things in the PC world that come with half-decent documentation are the CPUs of Intel and AMD and their chipsets. And people seem to be perfectly happy with this. E.g. some companies have the nerve to call "3-4-4-8-1" a memory data sheet. Go figure. </rant off>

Mike S.

 

[Grandes Oreilles]

Sir,

First of all, I do not know your model, that I don't own.

As I am running W2K(SP4), I installed the Phaser 6100 driver available at
Xerox.Com (no problem encountered). I just printed a test page to a file to
check what is really what you called "binary" : I got the same PJL lines as
yours, followed by binary data which is not PCL and indeed seems to be full
proprietary (as Canon and HP can do as well with the inkjet printers).

But on the drivers' page on the Xerox Website, I can see that they make
available PostScript drivers for old O.S.'s (such as W3.11 or NT4). That's
why I would first suggest you to install the most simple PostScript driver
you can on your "box" (even black-and-white only, even not Xerox obviously)
and try to print. It may work (as the printer may have an on-board
PostScript interpreter). Be carefull, if possible, to setup language level
to 2 (not to 3), as the drivers' page at Xerox.Com specifies W3.11 and NT4
drivers are "level 2" only.

If you manage it to work, then upgrade to a color-capable PostScript driver
(no matter the manufacturer).

If you have access to a 6100 PPD file (that would only allow you to
efficiently handle paper trays and color setup, but not "core printing" as
such), install it, but at the end of your test process only.

Regards,

GB

"Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer" <[email protected]> a
écrit dans le message de (e-mail address removed)...

Hi all!
I bought a Xerox Phaser 6100 BD. I know, I know, stupid, stupid, because

it has (AFAIK) some proprietary undocumented command language, no
open-source drivers etc. But it looked otherwise so sweet for the price and
I do have a boxes with Mickey Mouse "operating systems" (XP Pro) as well, so
I can print with it and that suffices. I would just love to be able to print
from my linux boxes too.

Im somewhat of a linux AND printer newbie. Has anyone managed to print

with this printer on linux? I tried the linux driver from xerox.com, but
could not get it to install on Fedora Core 2. The setup script exits with
too many errors to post here.

I tried playing around with foomatic-rip and the ppd file from the Xerox

package, but could not produce anything the printer would print. I thought
it should go like this:

1. produce a postscript file with enscript, pdftops, whatever.
2. use foomatic-rip to prepend headers and convert ps to the format the printer understands.
3. send the result to the printer. I use smbprint here.

I can do 1 and 3 just fine, but dont know how to do 2. Did I have wrong

options or can foomatic do this at all?

I tried the Fedora printer config with the two GDI drivers listed there,

same result. There was no Xerox driver listed for the 6100 on the menu.

I looked at the data the Windows printer driver produces and it has a

plain text header of a few lines and then something that looks like binary
data:

-12345X@PJL SET COLORMODE = COLOR
@PJL SET PAPERTYPE = NORMAL
@PJL SET RET = OFF
@PJL SET JAMRECOVERY = OFF
@PJL SET DUPLEX=ON
@PJL SET BINDING=LONGEDGE
@PJL ENTER LANGUAGE = QPDL
<binary data here>

Can I produce the binary data with foomatic or with something that comes

in the Xerox driver package? Is there any other driver I might try? Is there
any documentation of this "QPDL" anywhere? Couldnt find anything on the web.
Am I totally confused and more importantly am I SOL?

</rant on>BTW, could someone please explain the rational behind companies

not giving out the details of their printers command languages and other
specifications? Ive encountered the same thing with disk and RAID
controllers, NICs, video cards, and other pieces of HW too. Is it like
anything that hinders the competition is good, **** the customers (who are
illiterate anyway). Just about the only HW things in the PC world that come
with half-decent documentation are the CPUs of Intel and AMD and their
chipsets. And people seem to be perfectly happy with this. E.g. some
companies have the nerve to call "3-4-4-8-1" a memory data sheet. Go figure.

 

[Hueymungus]

Hello:

I am suspecting that you have tried both of these drivers listed below
and still you have no results?

ftp://ftp.tekcolor.com/ftp_dir/1080761492/OTHER/NA/6100Linux_PPC.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.tekcolor.com/ftp_dir/1080761492/OTHER/NA/6100Linux_i386.tar.gz

The BD model is a Paralle/USB connection only.
How are you connecting to your 6100? from the Linux box? from the XP box?

You should not need athe Foomatic software since the driver creates
postscript files from MSOffice, Acrobat, Quark, etc.

(PS I am not a Linux person, but worked where these units are produced)
WIth that side, it might be something up with the flavor of Linux you
are running. I know that Redhat is listed, but Fedora might be a tad
different on how it handles printing.

The windows driver test page is just telling you want is turned on/off
via PJL.

As for the printer command languages, Xerox/Tek uses HP's PCL/PGL code.
Also, they use Adobe PS3 code. (however in looking @
officeprinting.xerox.com website it says nothing about Adobe PS for this
unit.) Since Xerox basically uses the the normal Adobe PS and HP's
PCL/PGL code, then there are tons of books about those.

The only thing that I would think that Xerox and other companies do not
hand out code/info about their products is because the competitors will
download the same info and use it to create a better machine.

Since you just bought this unit, I would call 1-800-835-6100 and see if
1st level can get you going. If not, 2nd Level would be able too. It's
free since you just bought it.