HP laserjet 4L on OS 9.1 ?

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MacTrash_1's picture
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HP laserjet 4L on OS 9.1 ?

Has anybody had any luck finding a driver for the Laserjet 4L printer for OS 9.1 or any classic OS ?
I bought this printer cheap and it has a Parallel to serial cable. I was told it works but have not been able to get anything to print.
Any experiences with this printer ?

Thanks

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Joined: Dec 19 2003 - 17:34
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Try PowerPrint

I have the exact same printer on my ibook G4 with OS X. My parallel to USB adapter is a basic, no-name brand. Works pretty well most of the time.

For printing in OS 9, see if you can find Infowave Solutions' PowerPrint. My friend actually has the software, which is all you'd need, since you have an adapter cable already. Look around on eBay -- it should be fairly cheap.

The printer itself is quite flexible. It's basically the PC version of the Personal LaserWriter 300 series. As such, you can use the toners interchangably! This is great for me, because upstairs I have the 4L, and in the basement is my PLW 320.

Good luck! :macos:

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Maybe this'll help...

I have a Laserjet 4MV connected via Ethernet and it works under Classic OS (8.6) and OS X (10.2 and 10.3). I got the drivers and the printer wizard (good tool to test the printer etc.) from the HP-site, so maybe you'll find something there. Actually, OS X has it's own driver so there's no need to install one, under Classic OS the generic drivers in my system extensions do the job. I don't know if there's any difference between a serial and/or ethernet connection, but I thought it might be usefull... :mac:

MacTrash_1's picture
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HP Laserjet 4L update

I got the HP LaserJet 4L printer working in OS 9 with the PowerPrint 2.5 and 3.0 versions. Printing is good for a $10 printer from the thrift shop.

The PowerPrint software is prety cool and has tons of drivers for non-Apple compatible printers.

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LaserJet 4L

I recieved a HP LaserJet 4L for free, which was very good, because the day before I got it I was looking at buying a new HP laser printer for about 300 bucks. However the 4L has only a parallel port, and my new Powerbook, and Airport Express only have USB. So i purchased a Belklin USB to Parallel Printer Adapter from Office Depot for 40 bucks, which I could have gotten cheaper off the Internet. Anyways once I got home I connected the cable to the printer and then to my Powerbook. The second I opened Printer Setup Utility I saw the Laserjet, and my test print printed just fine. So then I pluged the printer into my AirPort Express, and from my powerbook I saw a shared Rendezvous printer, when I printed from it the print was great. I can say the HP laserjet, with Airport Express, and a USB to serial cable works great. As for Mac OS 9 support I have no Idea since my Powerbook will not even boot OS 9 now.

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PowerPrint software?

Does anybody by any chance know where I can find the PowerPrint software? I have the cable but the old Quadra we were using died, and we find we get a disk error from the install floppy trying to put it on the "new" PowerPC. I've got an email in to Strydent support but no response yet, and I bid on another PoerPrint cable on eBay, but we'd like to get this thing running soon! I don't know the PowerPrint version offhand but it's the serial-to-parallel version running on System 8.

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JetDirect

It would be easier (and probably cheaper too) just to buy a used JetDirect external box on eBay. They interface a parallel LaserJet to 10BaseT. Not only do they support IP printing, but also AppleTalk. I run a JetDirect EX Plus on my LJ 5MP and it works great.

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