Printing to HP LaserJet 4 from iPhone 5

[Ralf Koenig]

Hello,

how can I print from my iPhone to a good old trusted LaserJet 4+?

My LaserJet 4+ has a network interface, is reachable via its IP address
(port 9100) on the iPhone's WLAN interface on the local network. It
understands PCL5 as well as Postscript. From my point of view this
should be a setup that many systems are compatible with.

Any hints how to configure such a printer on an iPhone 5?

Best regards,
Ralf

[Zaidy036]

look at ActivePrint Pro

[Ralf Koenig]

To be quite honest: From the description on this website
http://www.activeprint.net/
I have no idea, how this should work technically.

Do I need another computer acting as a print server?
If so, why do I need it?

I am very familiar with Postscript rendering, PPDs, print queues,
printer configuration and stuff but I am much disappointed about the
non-technical description of this app.

Technically I assume the following: iOS 2D graphics is based on Quartz.
This will internally map to PDF structures. iOS should now include a
Postscript renderer for this for printing. And this Postscript result
can be rendered in conjunction with a PPD (for printer configuration
such as double-side, scaling, etc.) and sent to the printer TCP port 9100.

So again: Why do I need any app for printing from iOS to a Postscript
printer?

Ralf

[Ralf Koenig]

Am 30.01.2013 02:16, schrieb Lewis:
> In message <ke9cp8$s9$1...@speranza.aioe.org>

> Ralf Koenig <ralfk...@xmg.de> wrote:
>> Hello,
>
>> how can I print from my iPhone to a good old trusted LaserJet 4+?
>

> Handy Print.
>
> <http://netputing.com/handyprint/>

Same issue here. At least there is some very basic technical info on:
http://netputing.com/handyprint/

It wants to me to install some non-free software on a Mac which then
acts as a print server. It will obviously install a virtual Airprint
printer and internally route the results to a local printer.

Bad thing about it: I did not want to have another server run simply as
a print server. I had in mind a direct connection from the iPhone to the
printer.

Ralf

[David Empson]

Ralf Koenig <ralfk...@xmg.de> wrote:

> Am 29.01.2013 22:00, schrieb Zaidy036:
> > On 1/29/2013 3:52 PM, Ralf Koenig wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> how can I print from my iPhone to a good old trusted LaserJet 4+?
> >>
> >> My LaserJet 4+ has a network interface, is reachable via its IP address
> >> (port 9100) on the iPhone's WLAN interface on the local network. It
> >> understands PCL5 as well as Postscript. From my point of view this
> >> should be a setup that many systems are compatible with.
> >>
> >> Any hints how to configure such a printer on an iPhone 5?
> >>

> > look at ActivePrint Pro
>
> To be quite honest: From the description on this website
> http://www.activeprint.net/
> I have no idea, how this should work technically.
>
> Do I need another computer acting as a print server?

Yes.

> If so, why do I need it?
>
> I am very familiar with Postscript rendering, PPDs, print queues,
> printer configuration and stuff but I am much disappointed about the
> non-technical description of this app.
>
> Technically I assume the following: iOS 2D graphics is based on Quartz.
> This will internally map to PDF structures. iOS should now include a
> Postscript renderer for this for printing. And this Postscript result
> can be rendered in conjunction with a PPD (for printer configuration
> such as double-side, scaling, etc.) and sent to the printer TCP port 9100.
>
> So again: Why do I need any app for printing from iOS to a Postscript
> printer?

Because iOS does not have a built-in PDF-to-Postscript renderer.

Its built-in printing support is limited to AirPrint, which involves
sending a PDF to the printer (or to a computer running an AirPrint
server, which then renders the PDF to the native printer language).

If you want to print to a non-AirPrint networked printer directly from
an iPhone, you need a third-party app which directly supports your
printer's page description language, and some way to get the data you
want to print over to that app (most of them support the "Open in"
mechanism, and support common document formats).

Many printer manufacturers are supplying their own iOS printing apps for
their recent models, but I'd be surprised if HP was doing that for a
printer which was introduced about 16 years ago. (They have an HP ePrint
app, but that is only for recent models which support ePrint.)

There are some apps which claim to be able to print to a wide range of
WiFi printers, but I didn't spot any which listed the supported models
or protocols. One (Printer Pro) has a free "Lite" version which you
could use to test whether it supports the HP LaserJet 4+.

--
David Empson
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[Wayne C. Morris]

In article <kec7fb$tu5$1...@speranza.aioe.org>, Ralf Koenig <ralfk...@xmg.de>
wrote:

> Am 29.01.2013 22:00, schrieb Zaidy036:
> > On 1/29/2013 3:52 PM, Ralf Koenig wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >> how can I print from my iPhone to a good old trusted LaserJet 4+?
> >>
> >> My LaserJet 4+ has a network interface, is reachable via its IP address
> >> (port 9100) on the iPhone's WLAN interface on the local network. It
> >> understands PCL5 as well as Postscript. From my point of view this
> >> should be a setup that many systems are compatible with.
> >>
> >> Any hints how to configure such a printer on an iPhone 5?
> >>
> >> Best regards,
> >> Ralf
> > look at ActivePrint Pro
>
> To be quite honest: From the description on this website
> http://www.activeprint.net/
> I have no idea, how this should work technically.
>
> Do I need another computer acting as a print server?
> If so, why do I need it?

Did you bother to check out the iTunes Store link on that page?

<https://itunes.apple.com/app/activeprint/id347890411>

According to the description there, YES, you need a computer acting as a print
server. They provide a free app which must run on a Windows PC -- it's not
available for Mac, apparently.

[snip]

> So again: Why do I need any app for printing from iOS to a Postscript
> printer?

Because iOS doesn't include drivers for your printer.

Instead of trying to include drivers and/or printer description files for all
the legacy printers that people might still be using, and forcing people to tell
their iOS device what kind of printer they have, Apple chose to use a modern
technology called AirPrint.

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4356>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airprint>

For non-AirPrint printers, there are third-party apps you can run on a Mac or
Windows PC which allows the computer to act as an AirPrint server. MacUpdate
has listings for two such apps:

<http://www.macupdate.com/find/mac/airprint>