HP LaserJet 1020 USB printing for modern macOS

A small, driver-independent macOS app that prints PDF and PostScript files on an HP LaserJet 1020 connected directly over USB.

Tested on Apple Silicon with macOS 27. It does not use a legacy HP package, Gutenprint, a CUPS printer queue, or Rosetta.

Important

This project supports HP LaserJet 1020 (USB VID 03f0, PID 2b17). Despite similar names and partially compatible drivers, the 1020 and 1022 are different devices.

Why this exists

The LaserJet 1020 is a host-based printer with very little onboard storage. After every power cycle, the host must upload firmware before the printer can accept a print job. A printer without firmware still appears in the USB device list, which makes the failure look like an ordinary driver problem.

The old HP, Apple, and Gutenprint packages depend on printing components that are no longer reliable on current macOS releases. This project replaces that path with a small userspace pipeline:

flowchart TD
    A[PDF or PostScript] --> B[Ghostscript / ps2write]
    B --> C[foo2zjs<br/>-P -z1 -L0 · A4 · 600 dpi]
    C --> D[ZjStream + JBIG raster data]
    D --> E[libusb bulk OUT]
    E --> F[HP LaserJet 1020]

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Features

• Direct USB printing without a CUPS queue.
• Automatic firmware detection and upload after power-on.
• PDF and PostScript input.
• Configurable copy count from 1 to 99.
• Finder drag-and-drop application.
• Native Apple Silicon executables.
• Partial USB write handling: already-transferred bytes are not resent after a timeout.
• Statically linked libusb in the built application.

Current limitations

• Apple Silicon/macOS only. The USB code is portable, but Windows and Linux packaging has not been added.
• A4, monochrome, 600 dpi.
• The app does not register a system printer queue; see the legacy Apple driver alternative below if a normal Cmd+P destination is required.
• One print job at a time.
• Ghostscript is a runtime dependency.
• Only the LaserJet 1020 USB ID has been tested.

Quick start

Requirements

• Apple Silicon Mac.
• HP LaserJet 1020 connected over USB and powered on.
• Xcode Command Line Tools.
• Homebrew.
• Ghostscript and libusb:

brew install ghostscript libusb

libusb is needed when building the app and is then linked statically. Ghostscript remains a runtime dependency.

Build from source

Clone this repository together with its foo2zjs submodule:

git clone --recurse-submodules YOUR_REPOSITORY_URL
cd hp_printer

Prepare the HP firmware locally:

./prepare-firmware.sh

The script verifies the downloaded archive against a pinned SHA-256 checksum before extracting or converting it.

Build and ad-hoc sign the application:

./build-app.sh

Output:

HP 1020 Print.app

The build script compiles the required ARM64 binaries, copies the printing pipeline into the application bundle, validates Info.plist, and applies a local ad-hoc signature.

Usage

Drag a PDF or PostScript file onto HP 1020 Print.app, choose the number of copies, and click Print.

Alternatively, double-click the app and choose a file. A notification appears after the job has been sent to the printer. Errors are shown in a dialog.

Command-line printing is also available:

./print.sh document.pdf
./print.sh --copies 3 document.pdf

The app looks for Ghostscript in:

1. the process PATH;
2. /opt/homebrew/bin/gs;
3. /usr/local/bin/gs.

Alternative: system print queue (Cmd+P)

Apple's legacy HP 5.1.1 driver can provide a normal macOS print destination. This was tested with an HP LaserJet 1020 on Apple Silicon and macOS 27.0. Its filters are Intel-only, so Rosetta is required. The normal installer rejects macOS versions newer than 15.0; extract only the required runtime files instead of installing the full 933 MB package.

Install Rosetta if it is not already present:

softwareupdate --install-rosetta --agree-to-license

Download the official Apple HP 5.1.1 package, mount it, and extract it using built-in macOS tools:

work=$(mktemp -d -t hp1020-apple-driver)
pkgutil --expand-full \
    /Volumes/HP_PrinterSupportManual/HewlettPackardPrinterDrivers.pkg \
    "$work/package"

payload="$work/package/HewlettPackardPrinterDrivers.pkg/Payload/Library/Printers"
sudo mkdir -p /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet
sudo ditto \
    "$payload/hp/laserjet/hplaserjetzjs.bundle" \
    /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet/hplaserjetzjs.bundle
sudo install -m 644 \
    "$payload/PPDs/Contents/Resources/HP LaserJet 1022.gz" \
    "/Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/HP LaserJet 1022.gz"

Pacifist can install the same two paths if a graphical package browser is preferred. Do not select the entire package. See also ValdikSS's Sequoia guide.

Open System Settings → Printers & Scanners → Add Printer, select the LaserJet 1020, then choose Select Software… → HP LaserJet 1022, 1.6.1. The bundle contains the hp1020.acl firmware init file and the rasterToHPZJS CUPS filter. On the first print, macOS may require approval for the old HP bundle in Privacy & Security.

What happens during a print

1. hp1020_usb opens USB device 03f0:2b17.
2. It requests the IEEE 1284 Device ID from the printer.
3. If the ID lacks FWVER, it uploads sihp1020.dl and waits eight seconds for the printer to initialize.
4. Ghostscript normalizes the input into PostScript using ps2write.
5. foo2zjs-wrapper rasterizes it at 600 dpi and runs foo2zjs with the LaserJet 1020-specific flags -P -z1 -L0 and the selected copy count.
6. hp1020_usb --send writes the resulting ZjStream data to the bulk OUT USB endpoint.

A successfully initialized printer reports a Device ID containing:

FWVER:20050309

Firmware is stored in printer RAM. Turning the printer off removes it; this is normal, and the next print uploads it again automatically.

Repository layout

app/HP1020Print       Finder launcher, file picker, notifications
app/Info.plist        macOS application metadata and supported document types
hp1020_usb.c          firmware detection and direct USB transfer
print.sh              PDF/PS -> PostScript -> ZjStream -> USB pipeline
prepare-firmware.sh   local firmware download and conversion
build-app.sh          ARM64 build and .app assembly
upstream/             foo2zjs Git submodule (GPLv2)

Generated files are intentionally ignored by Git:

firmware/
HP 1020 Print.app/
hp1020_usb

Troubleshooting

Printer is not found

Confirm the USB identity:

ioreg -p IOUSB -l -w 0 | grep -A 25 "HP LaserJet 1020"

Expected values:

idVendor  = 1008   # 0x03f0
idProduct = 11031  # 0x2b17

Try a direct cable or a different powered USB adapter if the device is absent.

Ghostscript not found

Install it:

brew install ghostscript

Then verify:

/opt/homebrew/bin/gs --version

Firmware uploads, but nothing prints

Run the command-line path to see the complete log:

./print.sh document.pdf

The log should show FWVER:20050309 before Print data sent.

LIBUSB_ERROR_TIMEOUT

If a malformed or interrupted job leaves the printer endpoint stalled:

1. Turn the printer off.
2. Wait ten seconds.
3. Turn it on and wait for the green light.
4. Retry once.

The app handles partial writes, but it cannot recover printer firmware that has stopped parsing an already-corrupted job.

macOS blocks the app

Release builds are only ad-hoc signed unless the maintainer signs and notarizes them with an Apple Developer ID. Building from source is the safest option. For a downloaded build, use Finder's Open context-menu action only after verifying that it came from the expected repository/release.