The printer (LaserJet 6p) and the A500

[kronuz]

I recieved an old printer the other day, The HP LaserJet 6p.
I wanted to see what I could do with it:

Be warned...Spell check did not work on any of the word/text processors ...and I don't have one on my windoze.


The easy one:

Printing from the A1200 with EditPad and OS-included drivers

From past experience, I know the LJ6p works on a1200 from EditPad in AOS 3.5 / 3.9. Driver definitions from the installation ( HP LaserJet All models)

Tested and working : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vq0fc152017n12c/JGNfItpFCj

It is so easy, but it might not be what you, or your wallet is looking for.





The impossible ?:

Printing from the A500.

I first tried from MWB GAA (blue now with kick40.63 , with no luck :
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uqv3a9pkwsu2iuj/0HQAoPAwjZ

Quickly gave up on this one, but there are still many untested combinations.
Wasn't really interested in getting it set up on MBW GAA, because I think it's so slow, compared to a clean 3.1 on the A500.





The not so impossible:

Printing from the A500 with WordPerfect v4.1.12

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/top7hp0nw0t42xq/2VnPwEYdRS

Took a few hours to try out all the combinations of printer prefs and definitions, but I got there at last.
Setting up WP was fast, but it's slow, got no fancy features, would not let me install it to disk...said files were missing from floppy?, so I had to boot from WP floppy....moving on.






The one that migh be possible:

Printing from the A500 with WordWorth 7

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/stsz4byk5vcvaw2/YviqPLl2pM

WW7 was the easiest to set up, but when I printed, the printers led flashes once....then nothing. WW is smoother and has more functions than WP.





The one that drains you, then rewards you


Printing from the A500 with Mini Office

The mini office was a BLEEP to set up, as you can set up printing options in two places when booted, two places when run from WB and then WB printing prefs in addition to that.

However, the Mini Office is my favorite! It is smooth and very fast and has all the features and hot-keys from MS Word. It also has 3 other modules: Database, Spreadsheet and Graphical.

The following picture story says the rest of what you need to know.


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lhqnqfem42jj688/BMswN61O1Q

Cons are:
-I could not get it to accept any other printer than Epson when it's booted from floppy.
-Sometimes when you load a document from HDD, it says it does not excist and chrashes.
-Can not run from WB when DOPUS is launched and iconified. chrashes with "ran out of memory"...and I have 1.95mb +7.5 still available.





I know it's a long read, but if you want to use your amiga as a word proc, it is worth it.
I hope this is of use for the community.I have learned, struggled and printed a lot

Thanks for reading.

-Lars

[jvdbossc]

Mini office looks nice, I didn't know it, but it is typical interface you get on A500. ( a bit gamish)

Do you know how it is working? Is it really a driver for that printer or just a Postscript driver labeled hp laserjet 6?

[kronuz]

I' not really sure what's going on, since when Mini office is booted from floppy, I can't select printer...because Prefs can't be opened. Mini office can let you jump out to WB 1.3, but there is no icons...nothing. After that you need to reboot.

[SkydivinGirl]

Great stuff Lars! You've saved me a lot of trial and error when I have the time to get the 6p I have working on my Amiga! Very nice!

Heather

[kronuz]

No problem Heather

I wanted to see what came out of it, so might as well share the results...saving someone alot of trouble, possibly

I am wondering if the Mini Office, when booted, did not work with the "view workbench" function, because of 3.1kick in stead of 1.3...hmmh

[SkydivinGirl]

Isn't there a way to load 1.3 from a floppy? I believe the program was called Relokick or something like that. Might be worth a try.

Heather

[kronuz]

Relokick or rekick should work.

...or I can just repair one of my other 500's with 1.3, boot mini office and see if this changes anything. But this goes against what I wanit to achieve:

An A500 that does it all....but without further upgrade, that might be impossible.

[kronuz]

Just saw someone wondering about printing from the Amiga. Could not find back to the post, so just giving this one a nudge.....maybe he`ll spot it