Clarifications on the use of HP Laserjet for Barcode Printing

[Guest.Visitor]

Hi everyone.... I'm a programmer for a manufacturing Plant and we have this project wherein the Production Tickets will be printed with barcodes and encoded to our Production Inventory Control System through scanning. Anyway, we have been able to develop printing programs using RPG/400 and the programming language of the barcode printer (DATAMAX). However, THEY now want it printed on an HP laser jet printer! I was able to get hold of this forum and have seen a lot of topics pertaining to the barcode printing on a laser jet printer. Unfortunately, this is our first time to do this kind of project and I'm kinda confused since there are a lot of possibilities. I have gathered that I can use the available DDS keyword in the AS/400...the BARCODE to specify a barcode in my printer file. The printer file must be defined with a device type of *AFPDS/*IPDS. I should print this on an IPDS printer. Now, what licensed programs must our AS/400 have in order to define an *AFPDS/*IPDS printer file?...I now have THE PSF/400 and the AFP tools. As for our HP Laserjet 4050...what do i need(HARDWARE/SOFTWARE) to configure this as an IPDS LAN printer? Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance and God Bless! rica

[Guest.Visitor]

There are a few companies that produce an IPDS black box (for lack of a better term) that attach to HP Printers, but I'm unaware if these boxes also have a NIC. You may want to go to http://www.search400.com and look for IPDS. Dave

[Guest.Visitor]

If your AS/400 is connected to a tcp/ip network you CAN create a "remote" OUTQ specifying "TRANSFORM(*YES)". This will print just about anything you want, but you sacrifice some printer control, such as page range, copies, etc. There is a company called i-data (www.i-data.com) which sells several IPDS kits for HP 4050's. This allows you to create a printer device description for your HP, and gives you full printer control. Hope this helps. Brady

[Guest.Visitor]

thank you!

[Guest.Visitor]

Look at www.intermate.com and download the demo file called IPDS Client. To use it you will need to connect the HP printer to the pc (via it's parallel port) where IPDS Client is installed. Create an IPDS printer dev. on the as400 using the pc's ip address and port 5001. Have fun ! Regards.