hi all,

i've been having a problem getting my ancient HP laserjet 2P to work properly on my slack 8.1 box. the printer _works_, the problem is the amount of time it takes to send the job to the printer, about 2 minutes per page. the odd thing is that when I hook up my HP deskjet 812, it receives the job right away and starts printing within seconds. also, when the laserjet is on a windows box it prints at a reasonable rate. whenever i send a job to the laser, i get a message in /var/log/messages:

kernel: lp0: compatibility mode

i'm using .ppd files from linuxprinting.org for both printers, here are the relevant parts of my printcap file. TIA if anyone knows how i can speed this beast up.

hplj2p|HP LaserJet IIp:\
:force_localhost:\
:lp=/dev/lp0:\
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/hp2p:\
:mx#0:sh:\
:if=/usr/local/bin/foomatic-rip:\
:filter_options= --lprng $Z /etc/HP-LaserJet_2P-gimp-print-ijs.ppd:

hpdj812c|cm=HP Deskjet 812c:\
:force_localhost:\
# :lp=/dev/usb/lp0: \
:lp=/dev/lp0:\
:if=/usr/local/bin/foomatic-rip: \
:filter_options= --lprng $Z /etc/HP-DeskJet_812C-hpijs.ppd: \
:sd=/var/spool/lpd/hpdj812c: \
:mx#0:sh:

Well, old printers used to take a huge amount of time to spool everything to memory. I got an original IBM 4019 laser printer, takes 3 minutes to warm up, then spits out pages like mad, then warms up again. It's probably just showing its age.

And linux isnt windows.. therefore, its probably using the oldest, most easily supported form of spooling it can.. and making everything show its age.
Its probably just because once something is working in linux, people move on to making something else work.

I just got an old 4019 from a thrift store for six bucks with a full toner cart. THe thing works great under windows but I'm having a hellofa time making it do anything but garbage with slack 9 any help?