HP Jetdirect is the name of a technology sold by Hewlett-Packard that allows

computer printers In computing, a printer is a peripheral machine which makes a persistent representation of graphics or text, usually on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers. Diffe ...

to be directly attached to a

Local Area Network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger ...

. The "Jetdirect" designation covers a range of models from the external 1 and 3 port parallel print servers known as the 300x and 500x, to the internal EIO print servers for use with HP printers. The Jetdirect series also includes wireless print server (

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

802.11b IEEE 802.11b-1999 or 802.11b is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking specification that extends throughput up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band. A related amendment was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard. ...

and g) models, as well as

gigabit Ethernet In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use ...

and

IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. IPv ...

-compliant internal cards.

History

HP Jetdirect was first introduced in March 1991 (code named QuickSilver) with the

LaserJet LaserJet as a brand name identifies the line of laser printers marketed by the American computer company Hewlett-Packard (HP). The HP LaserJet was the first popular desktop laser printer. Canon supplies both mechanisms and cartridges for most HP ...

IIIsi network printer (code named Eli). Jetdirect is based on HP's MIO (Modular Input/Output) interface, which was designed from the ground up with the IIIsi to create a mainstream full function high performance networked printer. The initial MIO interface card had

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...

and

Token Ring Token Ring network IBM hermaphroditic connector with locking clip. Screen contacts are prominently visible, gold-plated signal contacts less so. Token Ring is a computer networking technology used to build local area networks. It was introduc ...

physical layer variants and used various

networking protocols A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchron ...

over an AUI/ BNC connection. Initially, a printer needed a separate card for each protocol, such as

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

IPX/SPX IPX/SPX stands for Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange. IPX and SPX are networking protocol, networking protocols used initially on networks using the (since discontinued) Novell NetWare operating systems. They also became wid ...

, AppleTalk, or DLC/ LLC. The following year the team applied the technology to the legacy accessory slot on the LaserJetIIs and IIIs

XIO XIO is a packet-based, high-performance computer bus employed by the SGI Origin 2000, Octane, Altix, Fuel and Tezro machines. The XIO forms a bus between high-performance system devices and the memory controller. XIO is usually used in a sta ...

(Extended Input/Output). MIO type Jetdirect cards were also used for network connectivity on some HP/Agilent laboratory equipment such as the 6890A and 6890 Plus series of gas chromatographs. These included unusual network connection types such as HPs I-Net which was used as an interconnect between various pieces of hardware that controlled the 58xx and 68xx series gas chromatographs. Not until 1994 would MIO interface cards be released that could support more than one protocol per card. The next development releases added connection interfaces. In 1992, a card with both 8P8C modular telephone and BNC connectors for Ethernet was released, and in 1993, the first external Jetdirects were introduced with a

parallel interface In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers (personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (parallel c ...

. This enabled Jetdirect cards to connect to almost any printer, making that printer network-capable. In 1995, the Ex plus 3 was released, with 3 parallel ports on one network interface, allowing 3 printers to share 1 network address. 1997 saw the new numbering format for both internal and external Jetdirect servers. Internals began the 6xx series with the release of the 600n, multi-protocol card that supported TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, DLC/LLC, and AppleTalk over a Token Ring network; along with the 1760x series external

print server In computer networking, a print server, or printer server, is a type of server that connects printers to client computers over a network. It accepts print jobs from the computers and sends the jobs to the appropriate printers, queuing the jobs loc ...

- also multi-protocol. An Ethernet version of the 600n was released in 1998. In 1999, the Jetdirect autoswitch was introduced. 1998 also saw the release of 170x, the first value-line print server aimed at smaller companies that did not necessarily need full networking - only TCP/IP or IPX/SPX support. This was followed in 2000 by the Jetdirect 70x home print server.

Protocols

More advanced versions of JetDirect supported a number of network printing protocols. However, the protocol that ended up being associated with it, the ''JetDirect protocol'', is its raw TCP/IP protocol sometimes referred to as ''Socket API'' or ''RAW''. It is an extremely simple network printing protocol. Submitting a print job can be done by

netcat netcat (often abbreviated to nc) is a computer networking utility for reading from and writing to network connections using TCP or UDP. The command is designed to be a dependable back-end that can be used directly or easily driven by other p ...

ing a file containing the

page description language In digital printing, a page description language (PDL) is a computer language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap (or generally raster graphics). An overlapping term is printer control la ...

(e.g. PostScript, PCL) to the appropriate TCP port on the printer (default port is 9100). Information about the printer and job is simply sent to the client while the TCP connection is active. The port would reject connections if printer is busy. AppSocket is a very similar implementation by

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

for Phaser printers, later sold to

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

. This protocol adds support for querying for printer status by non-printing users via a separate UDP port. Most JetDirect devices also came with, ''JetDirect Interface'', a

telnet Telnet is an application protocol used on the Internet or local area network to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communication facility using a virtual terminal connection. User data is interspersed in-band with Telnet contr ...

interface for configuring the device or printer.

External print servers

Internal print servers

MIO

MIO (Modular Input/Output) was the first technology developed by HP for its laser printers to enable the addition of peripheral cards such as Jetdirect.

LIO

LIO (Low-end I/O) interfaces were developed by HP as a corporate response to the strictly internal MIO and EIO development path. The LIO interface differs from MIO/EIO in that the card is wrapped in an external plastic casing and is

hot-swappable Hot swapping is the replacement or addition of components to a Computer, computer system without stopping, shutdown (computing), shutting down, or Reboot, rebooting the system; hot plugging describes the addition of components only. Components ...

. The LIO backplane technology is based on a low power/low-voltage (< 1-volt) differential signaling technology. * 200N (C6502a) - Parallel with Centronics Interface * 200m (J6039C) – 10/100 BASE-T (Supports only Windows and Apple Mac, fixed firmware) * 250m (J6042B) – 10/100 BASE-T (Full support for Netware and Unix, firmware upgradeable) * 280m (J6044A) – 802.11b Wireless

EIO

EIO (Enhanced Input/Output) is a modular interface developed by HP for its printers to expand their capabilities. EIO does not just serve Jetdirect cards, but EIO hard drives and the EIO Connectivity card for adding communication ports to the printers as well. EIO utilizes the 3.3V signaling technology of the

Conventional PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) is a local computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer and is part of the PCI Local Bus standard. The PCI bus supports the functions found on a processor bus but in a standardized format ...

bus and is significantly more energy-efficient than MIO technology. EIO print servers will not work in LIO slots, nor will the LIO print servers work in EIO slots. * 1284B Parallel Card (J7972G) - Provides one Type C Mini-Centronics 36-pin parallel port. * 600n – 10/100BASE-TX/10BASE2/LocalTalk (J3110A, J3111A, J3112A, J3113A) ''(Discontinued)'' * 610n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/

802.5 Token Ring network IBM hermaphroditic connector with locking clip. Screen contacts are prominently visible, gold-plated signal contacts less so. Token Ring is a computer networking technology used to build local area networks. It was introdu ...

, DE9, RJ45 (J4169A, J4167A) ''(Discontinued)'' * 615n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet (10/100BASE-TX, 802.3) (J6057A) ''(Discontinued)'' * 620n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet (10/100BASE-TX, 802.3) (J7934A, J7934G) * 625n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit (10/100/1000BASE-TX, 802.3) (J7960A, J7960G) ''(Discontinued)'' * 630n – Ethernet/Fast Etnernet/Gigabit (10/100/1000BASE-Tx, 802.3)

(J7997G) ''replacement for 625n'' ''(Discontinued)'' * 635n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit (10/100/1000BASE-TX, 802.3)

IPsec In computing, Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is a secure network protocol suite that authenticates and encrypts packets of data to provide secure encrypted communication between two computers over an Internet Protocol network. It is used in ...

(J7961A, J7961G) ''(Discontinued)'' * 640n - Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit (10/100/1000BASE-TX, 802.3)

(J8025A) * 680n – 802.11b Wireless ''(Discontinued)'' * 690n – Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Wireless (10/100BASE-TX, 802.3, 802.11b/g)

(J8007G) ''(Discontinued)'' * 695nw - Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit/Wireless (10/100/1000BASE-TX, 802.3, 802.11b/g/n)

(J8024A)

615n series ASIC issue

In 2002 HP released the 615n series of Internal EIO print server. This model featured a new chipset manufactured in Singapore that had a problem related to either overheating or data overload. Otherwise known as the ASIC issue, this meant the 615n card could fail without warning, and when it failed, would completely shut down, appearing to vanish from the printer entirely. Soon afterwards, HP began to do a per-item replacement policy that has ended as of October 31, 2008, when all known 615n cards were at least 4 years old and at such time HP felt it had taken appropriate corporate responsibility for a defect in manufacturing. The 615n cards most often affected were the units installed in the Laserjet 2300, 4200 and Color 4600 series. Those cards appear to be most prone to failure. Any 615n series card can fail, but it is up to HP to determine if the failure is due to the chipset or some other factor. HP recommended to call them or contact them through the Web site and they will proceed to do some simple troubleshooting steps to determine if the failure is due to the chipset or some other cause. If it is proven to be the chipset, HP would be able to replace the card under warranty with an as-new card (nominally a 620n).

Other Jetdirect products

bt1300

The BT1300 is a

compliant network adapter for network-ready parallel or USB printers. ''(Discontinued)'' * 2MB flash memory for software and print server upgrades

Print Server Appliance 4250

The Print Server Appliance 4250 is perhaps the most ambitious of the Jetdirect products - being a complete printing facility in a box. The system comes ready to go with a pre-loaded and configured Print Server running on a

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

core with an Apache Web Server. Once connected to the network, the device is able to manage up to 50 print shares with any supported network-ready printer, not just HP products. ''(Discontinued)'' * 128MB onboard memory * 20GB onboard HDD with 7GB available for print spool operations * Supports up to 50 individual print queues or printer installs * Allows up to 350 simultaneous client connections for enterprise printing * Allows for updating and loading of print drivers from any source through an on-board web browser interface * Supports both

connections and LPD connections (LPD for printing only) for communication to virtually any network-compliant printer

EIO connectivity card

The Jetdirect EIO connectivity card allows for the expansion of any EIO printer to gain a USB 1.0, Serial, and Localtalk interface. This card has all three interface connectors and on-board electronics to give the printer the ability to use these interfaces. ''(Discontinued)''

References

{{Reflist

External links

List of current HP Jetdirect models

HP Jetdirect Print Servers - Firmware update information
* tp://ftp.hp.com/pub/networking/software/jetdirect/firmware HP Firmware collection for JetDirect models Computer printing Hewlett-Packard Printing protocols