Windows XP Drivers for current machines

[blackcat4866]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

10 years ago Universal Print Drivers were the stripped down version with very limited features. That's changed to the point where our installers use the Universal driver as first choice (naturally there are exceptions). I think the difference is that today's universal driver has a detailed library of machines and features going back many years. When the universal driver is installed correctly it's indistinguishable from the model specific version. =^..^=

[bsm2]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

10 years ago Universal Print Drivers were the stripped down version with very limited features. That's changed to the point where our installers use the Universal driver as first choice (naturally there are exceptions). I think the difference is that today's universal driver has a detailed library of machines and features going back many years. When the universal driver is installed correctly it's indistinguishable from the model specific version. =^..^=

CAN'T think of one major copier manufacturer that recommends installing a universal print driver in training class or video's or by tech support.
Konica Nope Canon Nope Kyocera Nope

Have a great day.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

CAN'T think of one major copier manufacturer that recommends installing a universal print driver in training class or video's or by tech support.
Konica Nope Canon Nope Kyocera Nope

Have a great day.

It's never a good idea to disagree with blackcat. I tried it once on fuser circuitry (zero cross) and got a good education on why I was wrong. And wrong I was.

[slimslob]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

10 years ago Universal Print Drivers were the stripped down version with very limited features. That's changed to the point where our installers use the Universal driver as first choice (naturally there are exceptions). I think the difference is that today's universal driver has a detailed library of machines and features going back many years. When the universal driver is installed correctly it's indistinguishable from the model specific version. =^..^=

That sounds more like the old PCL Mini Driver. I had a local construction company that had an old Aficio 270 in their warehouse when the owner decided he wanted to use it in his office on his new Win7 computer. The only driver I could find was the Mini driver. When I ran the install it had me select from a list that had every B/W PCL model that Ricoh made at the time.

I wonder if that might work for JayPaul? It is still available for Windows 7 on Ricoh-USA for the Aficio 1022. I just checked and it is also available on Ricoh support for the UK.

[slimslob]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

CAN'T think of one major copier manufacturer that recommends installing a universal print driver in training class or video's or by tech support.
Konica Nope Canon Nope Kyocera Nope

Have a great day.

Let's face the truth. You CAN"T think, period. There are a number of models that the only driver Ricoh has on their download page for Win10 is the PCL6 For Universal Print.

[bsm2]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Let's face the truth. You CAN"T think, period. There are a number of models that the only driver Ricoh has on their download page for Win10 is the PCL6 For Universal Print.

Sorry Dude PCL6 Driver for Universal Print is Not the same as a Universal print driver.

Have a great day.

[KenB]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

CAN'T think of one major copier manufacturer that recommends installing a universal print driver in training class or video's or by tech support.
Konica Nope Canon Nope Kyocera Nope

Have a great day.

I can.

Ricoh recommends it when using Streamline.

[copier tech]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines


6 pages of conflicting advice for you to go on but in short simply use the universal driver that comes with Windows XP, yes this is an unsupported OS but that's bot your problem.

Obviously using the correct driver is good practice however as this model is just a simple A4 mono desktop printer with one tray? you wont have any issues.

After it's installed run a few test prints in word & pdf check the both double side OK that you're good to go.

Or if you listed to the others here don't install the prints & tell the customer to upgrade to Windows 10, but then they'll pull out of the deal & call your competitor!

[copier tech]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Drivers are model specific only in that they include the features available for that device (e.g. an MP 2550 driver isn't going to offer you seven paper trays). The underlying printer languages (PCL, PostScript, etc) are identical so any PCL driver will work with any PCL device, you may just get a slightly different offset in terms of print space margins, slower output, or lower resolution, but the device will understand the actual print language submitted to it.

Our Ricoh trainer mistakenly downloaded & installed the MP C4500 driver on new IM C4500 & left site.

Not long after the customer called back in a rage after sending a ONE page print job the machine emptied all 4 paper trays of printed random characters! (machine was in a print room they didn't hear it running)

[JayPaul]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Also when Ricoh specialist teams have installed PaperCut for us, they always use universal PCL 6 drivers, probably as mentioned to cover the fact there may be different models having embedded software put on them. You don't really get higher tier people in Ricoh so if even they do it...
How did an mpc driver react so badly on imc machine?! Also surely before leaving any installation you ask the customers to all try and print something, I ask for them to print the most complicated thing they can, from their in house software, office applications, emails and so on. A problem I have started seeing this year is people printing from either chrome or edge, not because of the printer but because of the way print properties are setup as default within the web browser itself. Very easy to resolve once you see it for yourself and figure it out though.

As for my original post and my customer - They have used the HP laserjet 5 print driver, it worked ok and he is going to run it today and tomorrow. He did say it prints on labels as well so I am curious to see what happens there, I am assuming they never changed any paper settings because they have been using a little kyocera desktop printer for years... but we'll find out soon enough.
If it has a problem with labels i'll get them to move on to a ricoh based driver, within XP lists of drivers.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Just for the hell of it and because I've never done it before, I installed the HP PCL 6 universal print driver for a Kyocea TA3501 with 4 paper drawers and a 4000-sheet finisher w/staple & hole punch.

Here's what happened: The first thing I noticed after entering the IP address is that the driver automatically recognized that I had 4 paper drawers. It picked up the host name of the kyocera printer and I was able to duplex and select any of the 4 paper drawers. It printed perfectly.

However, it did not recognize the 4000-sheet finisher and I've found no way to do so.

[rthonpm]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Just for the hell of it and because I've never done it before, I installed the HP PCL 6 universal print driver for a Kyocea TA3501 with 4 paper drawers and a 4000-sheet finisher w/staple & hole punch.

Here's what happened: The first thing I noticed after entering the IP address is that the driver automatically recognized that I had 4 paper drawers. It picked up the host name of the kyocera printer and I was able to duplex and select any of the 4 paper drawers. It printed perfectly.

However, it did not recognize the 4000-sheet finisher and I've found no way to do so.

Generally, universal drivers just query the device via SNMP to pull the values for what it has attached. The problem with the finisher is that you won't find a value for it in the generic printer MIB, it's likely a private one that Kyocera builds out for its machines.

A MIB is a file that contains all of the keys for possible SNMP values. There are some very generic ones based off the printer MIB standards of RFC 1759 and 3805 (RFC 1759 - Printer MIB and RFC 3805 - Printer MIB v2) and manufacturers can also create private custom ones that are specific to their equipment.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Generally, universal drivers just query the device via SNMP to pull the values for what it has attached. The problem with the finisher is that you won't find a value for it in the generic printer MIB, it's likely a private one that Kyocera builds out for its machines.

A MIB is a file that contains all of the keys for possible SNMP values. There are some very generic ones based off the printer MIB standards of RFC 1759 and 3805 (RFC 1759 - Printer MIB and RFC 3805 - Printer MIB v2) and manufacturers can also create private custom ones that are specific to their equipment.

There's some REALLY knowledgeable people on this site. That makes perfect sense. I appreciate the information.

[copier tech]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Also when Ricoh specialist teams have installed PaperCut for us, they always use universal PCL 6 drivers, probably as mentioned to cover the fact there may be different models having embedded software put on them. You don't really get higher tier people in Ricoh so if even they do it...
How did an mpc driver react so badly on imc machine?! Also surely before leaving any installation you ask the customers to all try and print something, I ask for them to print the most complicated thing they can, from their in house software, office applications, emails and so on. A problem I have started seeing this year is people printing from either chrome or edge, not because of the printer but because of the way print properties are setup as default within the web browser itself. Very easy to resolve once you see it for yourself and figure it out though.

As for my original post and my customer - They have used the HP laserjet 5 print driver, it worked ok and he is going to run it today and tomorrow. He did say it prints on labels as well so I am curious to see what happens there, I am assuming they never changed any paper settings because they have been using a little kyocera desktop printer for years... but we'll find out soon enough.
If it has a problem with labels i'll get them to move on to a ricoh based driver, within XP lists of drivers.

Absolutely, I ALLWAYS get the client to run test prints, in fact most won't let me leave until they are happy!

No idea why the MPC & IMC drivers would be so different, but I guess totally different print controllers.

[KenB]

Re: Windows XP Drivers for current machines

Generally, universal drivers just query the device via SNMP to pull the values for what it has attached. The problem with the finisher is that you won't find a value for it in the generic printer MIB, it's likely a private one that Kyocera builds out for its machines.

A MIB is a file that contains all of the keys for possible SNMP values. There are some very generic ones based off the printer MIB standards of RFC 1759 and 3805 (RFC 1759 - Printer MIB and RFC 3805 - Printer MIB v2) and manufacturers can also create private custom ones that are specific to their equipment.

I don't know if Ricoh still offers it, but at one time it offered 2 different MIBs.

The public MIB, which you could download with a TSRC login (or earlier sites, before TSRC came around), or private MIB. which was not free.

Anyone ever use the utility called "Downloader 2006"? It had a MIB walker tool built into it (as well as lots of other fun stuff.). I once heard that the guy who wrote it (in Germany) was a Ricoh engineer.

We actually had a few customers buy the private one.