A printer can be configured to print either on single-side or double-side of the paper. When the printer is configured to print both sides of a printer and if the requirement is to print only on one side of it, then we will need to customize the driver for that printer. It is a common knowledge that the printer configuration can be very messy, especially if it deals with tweaking the driver settings or the Initialization parameters. Let’s see how a printer which is configured to print both sides of a paper can be forced to print only on a single side of the paper by customizing the initializing parameters of that printer’s driver.
Supposing the printer that needs to be configured is called HP4300. We will need to find out the driver that is associated with this printer and then make the changes.
1) Find out the Type associated with the Printer
Navigate to ‘System Administrator‘ responsibility –> Install –> Printer –> Register
Query for the printer HP4300
The type associated with our printer is ‘—PASTA Universal Printer Type’
2) Query for the Style and Driver that needs to be changed
Upon clicking the button ‘Printer Types’ in the above screen, you will see a Printer Types form. Query for the ‘—PASTA Universal Printer Type’ and note the Style and Driver.
In my case the client used the custom Style LANDSCAPE-VSG and the Driver of the same name. This was the one I had to modify. You may query for the style and driver that is relevant in your case. Make a note of the Driver name to query in the next form.
3) Open the Driver form and take a backup
Upon clicking the ‘Driver’ button in the above form, we will see the below ‘Printer Drivers’ form. Query for the relevant driver that is picked from the previous screen. In my case the driver name is LANDSCAPE-VSG. This is a custom print driver specific to my client. You may want to look at the driver details pertinent to your requirement.
NOTE: Take a snapshot of the screen now to revert back the changes later in case you decide to back out. You may copy the Initialization string for that driver. This is the initialization parameter that we will be changing.
4) Make changes to the Initialization string
Change the initialization string from the above highlighted version to the one I show below:
Before:
/eE/e&l1o2a5.45C/e(s0p16.66H/e&k6.75H/e&k2G
After:
/eE/e&l0sl1o2a5.45C/e(s0p16.66H/e&k6.75H/e&k2G
Note the changes in the bold font. I have added l0s (el-zero-yes) to the initialization string. The rest of the string remains the same.
5) Bounce the Concurrent Managers to bring the changes into effect
6) Test the setup.
The printer should now print only on single side of the paper though it is configured to print both sides of it.
Explanation: The changes that we made in the Initialization string enables Simplex printing. Simplex printing means printing on one side of the paper, as opposed to Duplex printing that prints on both sides of the paper. The zero that was added in the above string denotes Simplex printing and one (if added) would have meant Duplex printing. The cryptic language of printers is called Printer Command Language (PCL).
I would love to hear your experiences with printers.
