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Laser Printer with Built-In Barcoding Fonts (1 Viewer)

Don Giro

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We have a HP LaserJet 3015n printer at my job that we use to print worksheets on standard 8 1/2 by 11" paper. The page contains a mix of text and a barcode, so a standalone barcode printer (i.e. Zebra) won't do the job. The barcoding software is a on a USB stick manufactured by HP called BarCodes & More. It has served us well for about five years, but as if today, we keep getting a warning message that the USB stick has pretty much crapped out and needs to be replaced.

The problem is that HP doesn't make this particular USB stick anymore. I have tacked one down on Amazon that cae to $300, including $30 for "expedited shipping" for delivery this coming Friday or next Tuesday. It's going to be a hellish few days without this thing. I figure that it's time to upgrade to a new printer that will be compatible with whatever USB barcode key HP is using these days, but better yet, I'd like to find a laser printer that has barcoding built in, rather relying on an easily damaged USB key.

Does anyone know of such a printer? I've Googled it a lot and can only come up with standalone barcode printers...
 

DaveF

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Don't printers just print whatever the computer sends to them? Printers don't have all possible fonts installed. So why do need pre-installed barcodes fonts? Can't you generate the barcodes in the document, by graphic or font, and have the printer print it as it prints anything else?

Obviously I'm not a barcode printer :) so their must be something I'm missing.
 

Clinton McClure

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Last year, I downloaded some free barcode fonts at work when I needed to print some code 39 and interleaved 2 of 5 stuff. If you need 2d data matrix or 128 (or whatever your application requires) you can probably find the fonts for a marginal cost or free if you look hard enough.
 

Stan

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Had to print "postal barcodes" years ago. Worked for a big mailing company. Huge laser printer maybe 30' x 4', enormous and we had to barcode the mail, presort it by zip-code, pre-stamp, etc.

Setup probably 25-30 handheld barcode readers, mega PITA. Pre-amble, post-amble, and all the stuff in between before it would finally talk to our system.

Not a lot of help, but as others have mentioned, it's just another font.
 

JohnRice

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I guess the OP never came back, but I deal with this stuff daily and typically, current software can generate a PDF that can be printed on absolutely anything. I suspect the real solution is to update some software. I don't understand the issue of software being only on a USB stick. Is that a flash drive? Something doesn't make sense.
 

Thomas Newton

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Don't printers just print whatever the computer sends to them? Printers don't have all possible fonts installed. So why do need pre-installed barcodes fonts? Can't you generate the barcodes in the document, by graphic or font, and have the printer print it as it prints anything else?

Good point. Inkjet and laser printers have been able to print arbitrary graphics for decades. When the Mac came out in 1984, it was common for computers to rely on text mode and built-in printer fonts, but with GUIs, all of that changed. Printing everything in bitmap mode became the new norm, and text mode was left as a largely unused backwards compatibility feature.

When I've bought airline tickets in the last 10 years or so, the confirmation pages and e-mails have included bar codes. I print out pages and scan them at the self-checkin station at the airport. Lots of other people do the same. Clearly the airlines are counting on people's ability to print graphical barcodes.

I can't imagine why this particular bar code printing software is tied to a particular USB stick, unless it's for DRM / copy perversion reasons. The solution to that would not be to throw away an expensive printer (or printer(s)), but to replace the software package with a less crippled one.
 

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