Customers needing to configure a printer often open cases to ask, "What printer model do I select?" The reason for this is because the Manufacturer Type and Models (MFRTYPMDL) available primarily include older line printers, and very few modern printers are represented.
Only a small number of MFRTYPMDLs are available because instead of relying on individual printer drivers like those used for Windows, the IBM i converts spooled files into the standard Page Description Language (PDL) supported by the printer. (See note bottom.)
This conversion is guided by a Workstation Customizing Object (WSCST), which is what the MFRTYPMDL option links to under the covers. For example if you select *HP4 you are actually using the QWPHPLSR4 WSCST. Initially several MFRTYPMDLs were made for the most common printers, and manufacturers wanting a driver for a certain model would send IBM a printer for developers to test so that a customized driver was created. So MFRTYPMDLs currently exist for common line printers, classic laser printers from HP and the Lexmark Optra family and ... not much else. And once drivers were created for current laser printer PDLs like PCL 5e (released for the HP 4), most printers that supported PCL could use them, so printer manufacturers seldom requested new ones.
So...what printer model do I select?!
Start by looking at the specifications for your printer. These will list the printer languages that are supported. If your printer says that it supports PCL, or PCL 5e, and you can't find a matching MFRTYPMDL, choose *LEXOPTRAT. This MFRTYPMDL is designed to print spooled files with a font size that bests fit the page if it needs to rotate and a specific font was not requested in the spooled file attributes. And because PCL commands (for bolding, rotation, fonts, etc...) are standardized, even a 30 year old driver like *HP4 will work for most modern PCL printers. One major exception to this, however, is with drawers. Because printer manufacturers never standardized on what different drawer commands would be, choosing *LEXOPTRAT may cause the printer to ask you to load paper in a different drawer.
This is easily resolved by trying different DRAWER values in your spooled file attributes to find where the paper is pulled from, and then changing your printer application to specify that DRAWER value, or by creating a WSCST to account for the difference. A document and video are available on this topic here: https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/drawer-redirection-hp-pcl5-compatible-printers
On a recent call where a customer was needing to configure multiple new printers, none of which had a matching MFRTYPMDL, I suggested that they create multiple WSCSTs based on drawer values. For each new printer, the customer can test DRAWER values, and once they find the value that works, can use a new LEXOPTRATX WSCST for that printer.
Some notes on other types of printers
Customers printing to label printers from Eltron or Zebra likely need to use a WSCST like QWPDEFULT, which will strip out the standard formatting commands, and send the custom label code just as it is. This requires the printer and the label software to be compatible.
Currently there is no WSCST that exists for PCL 6, but if you have a new printer where the specifications only list PCL 6 (and not PCL5x), using *LEXOPTRAT may still work. If you are using a Printer Session, try and find a Universal Print Driver from your manufacturer, and use that for your Printer Session instead of the printer specific driver. At the end of the day, IBM does not currently support PCL 6, so we encourage customers to sign this development request to add it in future releases: https://ibm-power-systems.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/IBMI-I-2703
For customers with non PCL5x compatible printers which are PDF capable, it may be possible to use the *PDF WSCST, but I have honestly not done much testing with this myself, nor heard from customers who have used PDF transforms besides those saving spooled files directly to the IFS.
If you have questions on this topic, or suggestions for new print blog or video topics, please reach out to the author at kschroe@us.ibm.com.
Note: Early PDL's included Epson's ESC and IBM PPDS for line printers. Customers these days are more familiar with PDLs like HP PCL, Adobe PDF, and Zebra's ZPL.
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