The scope of this review is to evaluate how the LaserJet 5M printer performs with the VPS suite of products, distributed by Levi, Ray and Shoup, Inc. This product was configured and tested by the System Engineers in the Enterprise Document Engineering (EDE) department at LRS.
Company Profile
Hewlett-Packard Company designs, manufactures and services electronic products and systems for measurement, computing and communication used by people in industry, business, engineering, science, medicine and education. HP's basic business purpose is to accelerate the advancement of knowledge and improve the effectiveness of people and organizations. The company's more than 24,000 products include computers and peripheral products, electronic test and measurement instruments and systems, networking products, medical electronic equipment, instruments and systems for chemical analysis, handheld calculators and electronic components.
Testing Environment
The test subject for this review was a standard LaserJet 5M printer. The printer was connected to our LAN network using the internal JetDirect card for Ethernet 10Base-T, which was configured with support enabled for both Novell NetWare and TCP/IP. The TCP/IP protocol suite supports both the Line Printer Daemon (LPD) service and a direct TCP/IP port 9100 connection.
The VPS test system used during this review was VPS Release 6.2 at fix level 250, and was configured to include VPS/TCPIP, VPS/PCL, and VPS/PC for Windows support. VPS/PC for Windows was installed on a dedicated Pentium PC using the most current release of VPS/PC for Windows. The LaserJet 5M printer was configured in VPS as a TCP/IP printer using the LPR/LPD protocol, as a TCP/IP printer using the direct TCP/IP port 9100 connection, and also as a Novell network printer connected through VPS/PC for Windows.
Reports created on an MVS/ESA system for both line mode and page mode printers were routed directly to the LaserJet 5M printer on the LAN via TCP/IP. These same reports were routed through VPS/PC to a Novell print queue and printed on the LaserJet 5M printer using IPX. Standard line mode output was formatted using the VPS Dataset Add Exit (exit 14), while page mode output (AFP) was created by VPS/PCL prior to being sent to the printer.
Testing Results
The installation of the printer was simple and required minimal time, and the documentation was detailed and helpful. The internal JetDirect card automatically switched between the PCL and Postscript protocols based on the print datastream. The control panel menus were easy to follow. The LaserJet 5M printer was configured in VPS as a TCP/IP printer using the LPR/LPD protocol for the first test.
Job output was printed correctly in different formats using PCL or Postscript inserted by VPS exit 14. Reports formatted by VPS/PCL containing multiple fonts and overlays were also printed correctly on the LaserJet 5M printer. A printer queue name (TCPPRTR parameter) was not required in the VPS printer definition for LPR/LPD operation. A second test was conducted with the LaserJet 5M printer configured in VPS as a TCP/IP printer using the direct TCP/IP port 9100 connection. Output created by VPS/PCL and output containing PCL inserted by VPS exit 14 was again printed correctly. All reports containing Postscript inserted by VPS exit 14 printed correctly, but after certain reports the VPS printer would be error-drained (EDRAINED) with a "reset by peer" error.
Increasing the "idle timeout" on the JetDirect card from 90 seconds (the default) to 120 eliminated this problem. Support for Postscript and the direct port 9100 connection was added to VPS 6.2 by fix 165. The last test was using the LaserJet 5M printer as a Novell network printer connected through VPS/PC for Windows. All output containing PCL and Postscript was printed correctly.
Features & Options: Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5M
| Parameter | Description |
| Engine Speed | 12 ppm |
| Resident Memory | 6MB standard, expandable to 52MB |
| Resident Fonts | 45 scalable fonts (TrueType) |
| 35 Adobe Type 1 fonts |
| Resolution (quality) | 600 x 600 dpi |
| Paper Handling | Up to 4 input bins with a total capacity of 850 sheets and 75 envelopes |
| Standard 100-sheet/10-envelope tray #1 |
| Standard 250-sheet tray #2 |
| Standard output capacity of 250 sheets |
| NPAP Bi-directional Communications | Yes |
| Language(s) | Adobe PostScript Level 2 |
| HP PCL 6/PCL 5 |
| Printer Port(s) | High-speed bi-directional parallel port (IEEE 1284) |
| Serial RS-232C |
| LAN Connectivity | HP JetDirect card for Ethernet (10Base-T/BNC and LocalTalk) |
| Duty Cycle | Maximum of 35,000 pages per month |
| Warranty | One-year warranty |
Report Card
Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5M
| Installation |  + | | | Ratings: | | | = no problems | | - | = problems | | + | = above average | | N/A | = not applicable |
|
| VPS | |
| VPS/PCL | |
| VPS/IPDS | N/A |
| VPS/TCPIP | |
| VPS/PC | |
