Re: laser printers and linux
On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 08:29:22 PST, "G. Crimp" wrote:
>
> OK, so I'm going to take one more kick at this. I almost returned the printe
> the other day, but decided to check out this PCL thing. The manual says that
> the NEC SS 860 has PCL emulation. Can anyone tell me if "emulation" means
> more crap on the windoze end of the cable, or if it is internal to the
> printer and thus able to handle whatever it might get from a Linux
> programme ?
Maybe this is a little more clear:
(a link from the webpage: www.nec.com | products | printers | 860 )
http://www.pcweek.com/reviews/0520/20speed2.html
--------8<--------
Adobe Systems Inc.'s inexpensive PrintGear system speeds the printing
process by dovetailing a new printer driver with a new dedicated
image-processing chip, the 50MHz PrintGear Imaging Processor.
The driver sends page data as RISC-like image operators to the new
chip. In addition, the new technology dedicates a 16MHz 68EC000
coprocessor to managing I/O functions. This driver also manages the
printer's PCL 4 emulation mode.
-------8<--------
Now, you might note that this doesn't say GDI. In fact, I've read some
reviews that draw a distinction between PrintGear and GDI, although I
don't have enough knowledge to comment on this. I said GDI because
those were the words NEC used when they replied to me (I asked if the
860 was compatible with Linux, a Unix-like os, and noted the PCL
emulation mention). As you, NEC and I have each noted, PCL is emulated;
i.e.: you have to run the base driver first. In this case, that's
Adobe's PrintGear.
Adobe markets PrintGear to the low end: primarily toward windoze and
mac, with some mention of os/2, no unix. One might conjecture that
PrintGear competes against Adobe's own PostScript at the low end, that
PostScript is marketed more at the high end of the market, and that
traditionally unix users are at the high end, so there's probably not
much demand for a unix driver for PrintGear in Adobe's marketing
department. This doesn't mean a PrintGear driver cannot be written for
Linux, but PrintGear is relatively new, so I wouldn't expect to see one
anytime soon.
If you want to know the details on PrintGear, try this:
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/printgear/PDFS/observer.pdf
--
David Stern
kotsya@u.washington.edu
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~kotsya/
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