 "Printer share over network with Windows Vista (64)" | 2009-09-21 |
| - Reviewed By kuhndawg |
These printers were (are) a dime-a-dozen and can be found on the cheap (~$40). I happened to come across a couple of these printers (still New-In-Box) and hung them off a couple computers. They are simple, no-frills, monochrome laser printers that I have found to do a decent job, although there is a reportedly a bug in the spooler when dealing with large PDF files. Read the other reviews and forums for the details. The purpose of this "review" is to possibly save others from the headache I first had with these printers when trying to access them across a LAN as a printer share under Windows Vista (64). I had the same headache that many others have faced (google reveals many forums on this subject, "Laserjet 1020 will only print test pages over a LAN") getting this printer to work by "connecting" to it as a printer share. However, I finally did get it to work wonderfully over a network. Install the printer on the host (local) machine and share as you normally would, however on the client (remote) machine(s):
- Do NOT install any drivers. Vista already has built-in HP drivers for this printer that will work fine.
- Do NOT "connect" to this printer as you normally would for a network printer share.
(I.e., navigating to \\HOSTNAME\PRINTERNAME, right-clicking, and selecting "connect".)
Instead:
- Go to Control Panel --> Printers (or Start --> Printers)
- Select "Add a Printer" in the top menu
- Select "Add a Local Printer"
(Bear with me, this will become network printer)
- Select "Create a New Port"
- Select "Local Port"
(Continue bearing with me, this will become a network printer)
- Select "Next"
- A dialogue box will appear for you to "Enter A Port Name"
- Enter the absolute network path to the printer, i.e., \\HOSTNAME\PRINTERNAME
- Select "OK"
- A dialogue box will appear having you select the printer from a list of pre-installed drivers in Vista, choose HP on left and Laserjet 1020 on right.
Don't worry, this will be a proprietary HP driver for the Laserjet 1020 under Vista and not just a Microsoft basic printer driver.
You will have full functionality and options.
- The printer should now be in your list of printers and working over the network.
(Test it out by printing a test page, printing from a web browser, word processor, etc.)
A nice advantage to installing the printer in this manner is that since the printer is "local" (although using remote port), you will have full control over all the print options in the driver. A printer icon will also appear in your system tray when you print as well. Double clicking it shows the printer que, just the same as if the printer truly was local.
Only small caveat with this method is that since the drivers are really "attached" to the port, the remote printer is always going to appear online and "Ready" even if it is turned off.
Works fine with Linux (all distros, all arch) as well. Download and build the drivers from source.
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 "I get a plenty of 'smooth use' out of this lit'l thing at my small business." | 2009-08-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2KFY6SU0445Z3 |
| I'll keep it simple...I get a lot of 'smooth use' out of this lit'l thing at my small business. Great, no me arrepiento (no regrets)! I wish I could find a laserjet 'all in one' in this 'price effectiveness' range as well. |
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 "Spool crashes when printing PDFs" | 2009-03-30 |
| - Reviewed By pwilliams@getty.edu |
| There is a known issue with this printer when printing PDFs. If you scan an image to a PDF and then attempt to print the PDF the printer spool crashes. Not only do you lose access to this printer but you also lose access to any other printer. The problem occurs with all Windows OSs but happens on a regular basis with Vista. Loaded several different print drivers recommended by HP but nothing worked. So proceed with caution. |
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| "Excellent, reliable printer" | 2009-02-05 |
| - Reviewed By xxtan |
| I work in a busy law office and use this printer all day long. It almost never jams, uses toner very slowly, and is just an all-around excellent printer. Great investment - don't hesitate for a moment if you are considering buying a fast, inexpensive laser printer. |
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| "Product so bad Amazon should give the option of negative 5 stars" | 2008-12-22 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2O49Q5XFXMU22 |
Buyer beware! I had purchased at least a dozen of these printers for our office, after nearly 1 1/2 years using these printers, we now only have 2 of these still working. This HP product is nothing more than an expensive paper weight. There is a confirmed, major flaw when you print PDF files to it and HP/Adobe don't seem to care about resolving the issue. If you check out the HP support forum on this product you will discover that when printing from Adobe Acrobat, it will crash the print spool service and keep crashing (if you try restarting the service). You have to jump through hoops deleting files from your Windows system directory and if you want to print a pdf file, you have to go to print... --> click Advanced button and place a check mark in "Print as image" for it to work, and it may not work in all situations. The forum members have discussed possible work arounds at length, but the problems still exist.
On top of that, I've had several of these things shedding off thin, plastic or mylar sheeting that must be part of the drum, ruining any chance of salvage. After several month of use, most of these printers in our office began squealing so bad, that I just had to trash them and replace them with something else.
HP is really starting to let me down with the quality of their products. We have an HP 4Plus that is at least 15 years old and it is still going strong. I've had nothing but trouble with HP over the past several years and have now opted to replace our office laser printers with Brother. |
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| "A Work Horse" | 2008-12-05 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2L6JE0YH158ZN |
| I bought this printer 1n 1/2006. I have used it in a tax business. This little printer just keeps on going. After 3 years I have printed more than 45,000 copies with cheap copy paper and compatible hp ink cartridges without any problems. |
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