HP LaserJet 6L for OS X

[Lars D. Nooden]

I am looking for a way to connect a HP LaserJet 6L via a parallel-to-USB
adaptor to an iMac, but received the flippant answer below from HP.

What is a possible work-around?

HP Business Support wrote:
We received your inquiry regarding your LaserJet 6L printer.

The LaserJet 6L is not Macintosh compatible. Therefore, you will
see no Macintosh drivers posted on the web for this product.
Hewlett-Packard does not supply any Macintosh solution for this
product.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

I am looking for a way to connect a HP LaserJet 6L via a parallel-to-USB
adaptor to an iMac, but received the flippant answer below from HP.

What is a possible work-around?

Macintoshes are designed for either USB inkjet printers that are plugged
into an individual computer directly, or Postscript printers that are
plugged in via network.

The HP 6L is neither, and HP is right. It's not a flippant answer at
all. Why did you think it's flippant? They explained: it's not Mac
compatible, therefore you won't find drivers on their web site.
Further, there is no Macintosh solution for this product. You call that
straightforward answer "flippant"?

What did you want? A feel-good "Oh, golly-gee, we're so sorry, can I
get you an ice cream?" answer?

Try this: in Printer Setup Utility, hold down the option key while
clicking the Add button. When the Add Printer dialog box comes up, the
top of the box has a drop-down menu. Pull that down and choose Advanced.

The HP6 (non-Postscript) is in the list; your challenge will be getting
it to go out the USB port.

 

[Warren Block]

I am looking for a way to connect a HP LaserJet 6L via a parallel-to-USB
adaptor to an iMac, but received the flippant answer below from HP.

A few years back, there were PCL printer drivers for the Mac. A
30-second Google search yielded this:

http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/MacOSX.php3

A more in-depth search would probably find others.

 

[Alan]

I am looking for a way to connect a HP LaserJet 6L via a parallel-to-USB
adaptor to an iMac, but received the flippant answer below from HP.

What is a possible work-around?

HP Business Support wrote:
We received your inquiry regarding your LaserJet 6L printer.

The LaserJet 6L is not Macintosh compatible. Therefore, you will
see no Macintosh drivers posted on the web for this product.
Hewlett-Packard does not supply any Macintosh solution for this
product.

The 6L is a PCL5e printer.
Have you bought the pll/USB adapter -- if so it might come with some
drivers.
See <http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_6L>
for Linux support, which means it can also work in OSX, and
<http://www.linuxprinting.org/pipermail/macosx-list/2004q1/000998.html>

Otherwise, I've noticed that Brother laser printers have OS X drivers
for their PCL-compatibles. I think they're worth a try.
See <http://solutions.brother.com/hl1400/download/drivers.html>
You may need to rummage around that and related pages to find a
compatible model. Note that the 6L should work with a driver for PCL 5
or lower, but not PCL 6.

 

[Jan Gregor]

Solution is to transform Postscript to PCL language. This can be done by
ghostscript - so question is only hw. connection.

Jan