HPLaserJet 3100 for Vista?

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Rich Early - 29 May 2007 04:22 GMT

Does anyone know if there's a driver for the HP LaserJet 3100 series for MS
Vista?

I had my 3100 working fine in win95 and 98, then pretty good with an XP
variant of the NT driver, but I get a message when I try to install it in
Vista that it is intended only for WinXP. Anyone think of a workaraound?
The message seems to be driven fron the install.ini file and it seems to be
checking the OS. I assume this driver might work with Vista if I could get
by this error.

But of course a Vista-specific driver would be nice too. I really like this
printer and don't want to junk it. I could maybe use it for a standalone
fax but the modem quit a while ago :-D

Thanks! Replies here or by email appreciated.

Rich (rme999@ntplx.net)

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Ben Myers - 29 May 2007 05:32 GMT

If HP does not supply a LaserJet 3100 driver for Vista, one workaround could be
to install another LaserJet PCL driver, but you would probably lose some of the
functions unique to the 3100, if any.

This is typical of what has happened with every new Windows release. Hardware
manufacturers, not just HP, do not provide driver support for the new version of
Windows, turning perfectly good hardware into an orphan. One reason why there
is not as much WOW! in Vista as Microsoft claims... Ben Myers

>Does anyone know if there's a driver for the HP LaserJet 3100 series for MS
>Vista?
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
>Rich (rme999@ntplx.net)

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Rich Early - 29 May 2007 12:21 GMT

Thanks, Ben. Im not sure if HP had any other printers with drivers as weird
as the HPLJ 3100. It is a parallel port printer, but it sets up sort of a
bogus serial port (com7) for printing. I doubt another HP driver would
work, but I might try it.

Anyone know of any other HP printers with com7 setups that might work with
Vista?

Rich
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp.hardware
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:32 AM
Subject: Re: HPLaserJet 3100 for Vista?

> If HP does not supply a LaserJet 3100 driver for Vista, one workaround
> could be
[quoted text clipped - 66 lines]
>>
>>Rich (rme999@ntplx.net)

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Ben Myers - 29 May 2007 13:37 GMT

If the LaserJet 3100 is a PCL printer (not one of those stinking cheap
WinPrinters), you might try the PCL driver from an older model such as the
LaserJet 4 (maybe LaserJet 3?). Do not autodetect the printer, select the
LaserJet 4 and parallel port, and see what happens. In any event, the HP web
site says that the printer uses PCL 4, which is pretty old.

The bogus COM7 is merely a bizarre software construct which only interacts with
the data flow, but the data still goes through the parallel port.

Scanning, copying, and faxing under program control are a whole different topic,
probably beyond the scope of Vista... Ben Myers

>Thanks, Ben. Im not sure if HP had any other printers with drivers as weird
>as the HPLJ 3100. It is a parallel port printer, but it sets up sort of a
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
>Rich

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Rich Early - 30 May 2007 02:54 GMT

Hi Ben. Nope, tried HPLJ II, III, and IV. Nada.

Do you know if i should have any trouble installing winxp pro on top of this
vista home premium as a dual boot so i can get this printer installed?

> If the LaserJet 3100 is a PCL printer (not one of those stinking cheap
> WinPrinters), you might try the PCL driver from an older model such as the
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
>>
>>Rich

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Ben Myers - 30 May 2007 02:58 GMT

Rich,

Sorry. I have no idea about Vista and XP dual boot.

Must be that the LJ3100 is really one of the WinPrinters which does not accept
PCL. Instead, its driver rasterizes an entire page image and feeds it to the
printer... Ben Myers

>Hi Ben. Nope, tried HPLJ II, III, and IV. Nada.
>
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>>>
>>>Rich

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Rich Early - 31 May 2007 02:41 GMT

Hi Ben and all.

OK. Some progress. I took the winxp version of the installer (jetsuite)
and copied all the files to my desktop. I then made a shortcut to the
install.exe file and changed its compatability mode to win xp sp2 to fool
the installer into running even though this isn't xp. I then ran the
install using the shortcut and it ran all the way thru and installed the
printer. It looks way different in VISTA than it did in XP. First, the
port it installed on is something vista called "hplj3100 port", rather than
com7 like in XP (and 95, and 98). Second, if i try to print a file, or a
test page, the printer turns on, makes the same sort of sounds it always
did, runs some paper thru, but the paper is blank. Sooooo, some of the
printer functions are working but not all, under vista.

I don't think using another HP printer's driver will work. There are no
driver files per se for the hplj 3100, just an install for jetsuite. No
.inf files that i can find, and no separate installs for PCL or PS or any of
that.

Any ideas where to go from here now that the printer is working mechanically
but apparently not getting data? I think it might be something to do with
the fact that the old installs used COM7 for something even though the
printer was cabled to LPT1. Maybe the printer expects a serial stream
instead of parallel data???

Any ideas, even farout ones, would be appreciated. I'm surp[rised i got
this far without breaking VISTA <VBG>.

Thanks!

Rich

> Rich,
>
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
>>>>
>>>>Rich

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Warren Block - 31 May 2007 03:51 GMT

> OK. Some progress. I took the winxp version of the installer (jetsuite)
> and copied all the files to my desktop. I then made a shortcut to the
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> .inf files that i can find, and no separate installs for PCL or PS or any of
> that.

No, it's a host-based printer:

http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=HP-LaserJet_3100

Note the "paperweight" description.

> Any ideas where to go from here now that the printer is working mechanically
> but apparently not getting data? I think it might be something to do with
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Any ideas, even farout ones, would be appreciated. I'm surp[rised i got
> this far without breaking VISTA <VBG>.

1. Switch from Vista to XP.

2. Sell the printer for whatever you can get and buy something else.

3. Beg HP to provide a Vista driver. Not likely:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00808536
#N10662

4. (optional, but recommended) Before buying any host-based or AIO
device, state out loud "Incompatibilities and inconveniences are
included free with this device."

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Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

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Rich Early - 31 May 2007 05:05 GMT

Thanks, Warren. yeah, i found the linux site too. I think that most of the
reason HP has dropped jetsuite stuff is that it relied heavily on win.ini
and system.ini and they're sorta pre-VISTA artifacts now. I need to decide
to get another printer or figure out how to dual boot this new PC between XP
and VISTA.

It's frustrating ... i hate to throw away perfectly good hardware....

Thanks again,

Rich

>> OK. Some progress. I took the winxp version of the installer
>> (jetsuite)
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
> device, state out loud "Incompatibilities and inconveniences are
> included free with this device."

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Ben Myers - 31 May 2007 05:24 GMT

#5. Next January 1, make a New Year's resolution to buy only printers which use
true and honest to gosh Adobe Postscript, well supported by just about any
operating system one will ever encounter... Ben Myers

>> OK. Some progress. I took the winxp version of the installer (jetsuite)
>> and copied all the files to my desktop. I then made a shortcut to the
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
> device, state out loud "Incompatibilities and inconveniences are
> included free with this device."

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Warren Block - 31 May 2007 16:36 GMT

> #5. Next January 1, make a New Year's resolution to buy only printers which use
> true and honest to gosh Adobe Postscript, well supported by just about any
> operating system one will ever encounter... Ben Myers

I really haven't had noticeable problems with HP's clone PostScript.
Have seen a few complaints about Brother's BRScript, though. Even just
PCL isn't that bad.

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Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

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Ben Myers - 31 May 2007 17:54 GMT

Or to state it differently, ANYTHING is better than host-based printing? Well,
not quite, but PCL support is pretty good in non-Windows operating systems.

... Ben Myers

>> #5. Next January 1, make a New Year's resolution to buy only printers which use
>> true and honest to gosh Adobe Postscript, well supported by just about any
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>Have seen a few complaints about Brother's BRScript, though. Even just
>PCL isn't that bad.

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Warren Block - 31 May 2007 18:38 GMT

> Or to state it differently, ANYTHING is better than host-based printing? Well,
> not quite, but PCL support is pretty good in non-Windows operating systems.

There are several ways to say it:

Host-based printers have been cost-reduced to the point that trying to
get them to do anything beyond the exact vendor specifications is
unlikely.

Or:

A printer that can't print plain ASCII text will be a pain. At best.

Or:

Devices that require proprietary drivers to operate suck.

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Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

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