Question Specifying paper type

[EdKEdK]

Specifying paper type.

I have Brother laserjet printer. Normally it is loaded with standard 8 1/2X11 white paper. From time to time, I need to change the paper color that is loaded in the printer. I seem to recall (many years ago using an HP laserjet printer), there was a way to display a message on the printers display to load a specific type of paper if the currently loaded paper didn't match what is currently being sent to the printer.

In other words, for example: I currently have blue paper loaded in the printer but the next print job I want to send to the printer needs to be printed on white paper. Is there a way for the print job to recognize that the currently loaded paper is not white? Or at the very least, display a message on the printers display that white paper needs to be loaded so it accidentally doesn't print on the blue paper? OR, for example, the printer currently has pre-printed paper loaded but the next print job needs to be printed on standard (blank) white stock.

Keep in mind, the printer is connected to the network and is shared by several network attached computers.

My background is with IBM mainframe computers. In its operating system, there was a way to specify a 'form number' to be used for a print job. If the printer did not have that 'form number' currently loaded in the printer, a message would be displayed informing the printer operator to change the paper. I'm wondering is there's a way to perform the same type of function on a Windows based computer with network attached printers.

I do not want to simply specify for the print job to use the 'manual feed' or different input tray. Printer only has one input tray and the manual feed does not have enough capacity for more than 10-20 pages.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

EdK

 

[USAFRet]

Which Brother printer?
Does it have more than one paper tray?

Mine does (MFC-L3770CDW), and you can specify which tray to use for a specific print job.
White paper in Tray 1, other paper in Tray 2.

 

[Paperdoc]

I know of NO printers for use with PC's that have ANY way to detect what type of paper is in its feed tray(s). Some printers MAY have menu options to specify what paper type you have just loaded into a tray, but that means YOU (and ALL your office-mates) MUST go through the menu system and enter the proper info EVERY TIME you place paper in the tray. Not very practical!

Unfortunately, the most reliable system is that every time anyone uses the printer, they all need to verify what paper is in it. PLUS anyone who CHANGES to a special paper ALSO MUST change it back to the "normal" default plain white EVERY time they finish their special job. This system put responsibility for getting the print job on the correct paper onto the user who needs that special paper.

Consider this possibility, First, check the details of your printer model. For SOME printers you can buy and install a second paper tray system as an extra option. Often these are higher-volume trays, like 250 or 500 sheets. If you install one of those and make it the general-use plain paper tray, then the original tray can become a flexible install-your-own special-paper tray while everyone can use the default white tray without worry.

 

[EdKEdK]

Thanks for the replies. The printer I'm referring to only has one paper tray (not counting the manual feed).

I should have rephrased part of my question. I know there are no printers that are able to detect what type of paper is currently in the printer (other than letter/legal/etc).

What I'm looking for is (I'm relating this to mainframe printers).........

In a mainframe operating system, in the job that is being sent to a printer, there is a "FORM=" parameter to indicate what type of paper stock is to be used. When that print job is received by the printer, the printer compares the value in "FORM=" with what was previously used by the printer. In other words, the printer remembers the form value that was last used. If the values match, printing occurs without interruption. However, if the values do not match, a message appears requiring manual intervention and the print job does not print until the message is replied to. (Similar to what occurs if needing to change from letter to legal, etc.). But in my described case, paper size is the same. Only the color of the paper stock is different. This allows multiple users on the network to share the same printer and a print job won't accidentally print on the wrong paper stock.
Is this possible in a Windows/IOS; network attached printer environment?

 

[Paperdoc]

I expect the real differences between mainframe and networks of individual computers is at the root of this.

In a mainframe system typically the printer being shared by many users is central and close to a person. That person's duties, among others, is to respond to alerts issued to their terminal by the mainframe OS regarding the use of system resources. This might include the need to mount a particular data storage medium, (tape, disk pack, etc) or activate a device required by a job waiting for resources. It is the OS (not the individual peripheral machine) that tracks the status of machines, issues alerts and receives replies from the operator about machine status. Now, I can imagine that many peripherals designed for such an environment may have facilities for input of device status parameters that can be communicated to the OS as part of this, but I doubt they have multiple sensor systems to detect all possible parameters for the unit (such as size, colour, basis weight, pre-printed for code, current sheet count of paper in each input bin, etc). For this to work ALL jobs are submitted to the mainframe system through a job scheduling system and all are required to list any special resource needs so that the alerts to the operator can be issued before the job is released for processing.

In a system of separate computer systems on a network that allows certain resources (like printers, scanners, data storage units, etc.) to be shared it is presumed that here is NOT any full-time person monitoring everything and prepared to respond instantly to a request for device preparation. So that system does NOT require every job directed to a shared device to be routed first through a central resource allocation system before it can be allowed to use that device. Preparation of devices for specific purposes is left to the USER who wants to use that device in a non-default manner. And of course that means also that said user, having competed his / her job, must go back to that device and return it to the default configuration that everyone else presumes is in place.

 

[EdKEdK]

Thanks. You described it nearly perfectly. In my experience, in some mainframe environments, you don't always have someone monitoring the printer(s) 100% of the time. Therefore, the printers simply wait for some sort of manual intervention to take place if paper size, type, color, etc do not match what was previously printed. Also, it is not uncommon to have more than one mainframe computer and/or multiple desktop computers sharing a mainframe or desktop/network attached printer.
In that case a centralized printer server is involved. (In my experience, the print server is mainframe based). I would have thought that even in a non-mainframe environment a network printer server would provide the features I'm describing. I gather that what I'm looking for is not possible.