Back To Court Again and Adventures in Printing

 I was actually able to be in the shop yesterday, although I didn't know it until after the 11:30 am call-in to the Jury Duty room. I wasn't called in yesterday, but was instructed to phone again after 5:00 pm. At that time, I called in and the recording said that ALL jurors who were not assigned to a case must report today at 8:45 am. So, I'm off to the Courthouse once again. If I get selected for a jury today, I might be in court for most of next week. Not impossible, but not ideal either. 

My old JP LaserJet 5P is a workhorse, but it's slow in the 
realm of today's printers. It prints a whopping 6 pages per 
minute, and that's REALLY slow. I was afraid the printer 
cartridge might be too old, but the sample sheets I printed 
out yesterday were beautiful and detailed. So, it works well, 
it just doesn't communicate with my sales computer. Now 
to get the software loaded and see how it does. 

I took advantage of my day at the shop to investigate whether or not I can use my old HP LaserJet 5P with my store's computer system instead of the HP LaserJet 1100 that I've used for two decades. The 1100 is dying - heating components are refusing to heat enough to bond the toner to the paper. Also, it decided that it wasn't going to accept my slightly heavier-weight price tag sheets. It's only accepting standard paper now, and that's not going to work. 

The HP 5P printer actually should work fine with my 
Windows 98 sales system, it runs an older program than Win 98,
made to work with Win 3.1. The problem is 
getting the printer into the computer so that it's recognized 
as a legitimate printer. I have a couple of websites written 
down to help me download and copy the printer 
program to CD. Then, (since Dale made sure I had 
an operational CD Rom reader in the computer after 
the last crash), I can download the program and, 
ideally, Windows will recognize it as another 
valid printer. If so, I'm off and running. 

As a work-around, I've been printing the price tags out on standard paper and bringing them home, where I've used my Epson to copy them onto the price tag sheets. That has been working, but it's fussy. I have this lovely, old, and perfectly functional HP LaserJet 5P in my back room at the shop, and I thought I'd see if it was operational and if so, whether it would work with my current set-up. 

I came across this while looking through photos 
this morning. I had never heard of this before, 
although I'm sure my computer could use a 
good cleaning. But then again, so could my desk 
(which is currently a DISASTER). What 
about you. Is your desk clean and pristine or is 
it a mess of TBD and in-progress tasks? How 
about your computer? Have you cleaned out old 
files and streamlined things recently? I'm 
just curious because my desk is SO bad!!! 

So, yes. It is functional. It prints beautifully, in fact. BUT, (because there always seems to be a BUT), the sales software isn't automatically recognizing the new printer. That wasn't unexpected given the age of my system, but it does mean I'll need to go on-line this weekend and record a CD with the appropriate software (which I did locate on-line), then take that CD to the shop and download it onto the sales computer which runs Win98 (yes, it's a VERY old computer system). If I can get it downloaded properly and if it will recognize the software, then I can try the large printer once again and see if I can make it functional. It would resolve a lot of issues that we've had to work around over the past few months, so I'm crossing my fingers. 

The current courthouse that I've been in for the 
past week actually opened in 1932 and is a prime 
example of Art Deco style. This is the courthouse 
just prior to that, occupied from 1889-1932, and 
there was one even older used from 1851-1889. 
I'm a huge fan of Art Deco, so I'm totally in love 
with the courthouse. If you're at all interested 
in more particulars, there's a nice one-page 
synopsis of the building here. 
https://www.mnopedia.org/structure/st-paul-city-hall-and-ramsey-county-courthouse 

So today I'm heading back to the courthouse. If I don't get selected and impaneled onto a jury today, I'm done for a minimum of four years. If I get chosen for a jury, however, I'm probably stuck going to court for most of next week. I'm not sure what I'm hoping for - either way has positive and negative associations and scheduling. At least Monday is a Federal (and State) holiday, (Martin Luther King Day), so I won't have to be in court, I can actually work at the shop for a change - LOL. Have a great Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.