Print to HP Deskjet 5550/5650/5850 w/ single WinXP driver?

[Chris Spencer]

Can anyone suggest a method to print to any Deskjet model that might
be connected to my PC, without having to separately install every
single Deskjet model's drivers? IOW, is there a universal HP Deskjet
driver for Windows XP with good printing quality?

 

[Bob Headrick]

Can anyone suggest a method to print to any Deskjet model that might
be connected to my PC, without having to separately install every
single Deskjet model's drivers? IOW, is there a universal HP Deskjet
driver for Windows XP with good printing quality?

The 5650 and 5850 are the same printer but the 5850 includes the built-in
networking. The DeskJet 5550 driver should work for any of those you listed. If
you really want to print to any DeskJet the DeskJet 550 driver is a basic PCL
driver that would work for many of the PCL based printers, which includes
nearly all the DeskJet's EXCEPT the 810, 820, 7xx and DeskJet 32XX, 33XX, and
34XX printers. See
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd07333.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[chrisspencer02]

The 5650 and 5850 are the same printer but the 5850 includes the built-in
networking. The DeskJet 5550 driver should work for any of those you listed. If
you really want to print to any DeskJet the DeskJet 550 driver is a basic PCL
driver that would work for many of the PCL based printers, which includes
nearly all the DeskJet's EXCEPT the 810, 820, 7xx and DeskJet 32XX, 33XX, and
34XX printers. See

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd07333.

Thank you for the reply, but I have tried the 550 driver with my
5550/5650 printers and the color printing quality is dismal. I cannot
use this solution.

 

[chrisspencer02]

If anyone else is wondering: I tried the more recent Deskjet 990c
drivers, and they seem to work well.

 

[John]

Seems odd that it worked diff printer totally to 5xxx series

 

[Bob Headrick]

Thank you for the reply, but I have tried the 550 driver with my
5550/5650 printers and the color printing quality is dismal. I cannot
use this solution.

If you are going to print only to the DeskJet 5550, 56500 and 5850 the DeskJet
5550 driver would be the best choice. I thought you were asking what driver
you could use as a universal driver for any DeskJet; the 550 driver is a least
common denominator for the PCL based Deskjets.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Bob Headrick]

Seems odd that it worked diff printer totally to 5xxx series

They are not so different in internal architecture, even though the print
cartridges and electronics are entirely different - the DeskJet 990 and the
5550 are both PCL3-Enhanced printers. For both of these most of the image
processing is done in the printer, except in the highest resolution mode.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[John]

Just put the 990c corp driver on and YES IT prints to my 5652
WOW
I have at 7660/5550/5652/7350/930 ;-)

 

[John]

990c DRIVER will not support Ret4 OR borderless of course
text web pages will be fine

 

[John]

You don't get RET 4 support with 990c driver .

They are not so different in internal architecture, even though the print
cartridges and electronics are entirely different - the DeskJet 990 and
the 5550 are both PCL3-Enhanced printers. For both of these most of the
image processing is done in the printer, except in the highest resolution
mode.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP

 

[Bob Headrick]

You don't get RET 4 support with 990c driver .

Actually you do in a DeskJet 5550 if you install the #58 photo cartridge. The
driver sends graphics information and the printer does the rendering. It will
use the photo cartridge appropriately. You will not get the 4800 dpi modes
with the DeskJet 990 driver when using the DeskJet 5550.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, not speaking for my employer HP