Difference in quality latex printer output

[Robert Ian Smit <robian@xs4all.nl>]

I have a HP Deskjet 600 connected to a Debian stable system running
CUPS. I am able to print to this system from other hosts.

My desktop runs unstable. When I take foo.tex and run latex, dvips
and lpr, the output quality varies greatly depending on which system
I ran these series of commands.

Although you can cleary see that the same formatting options are
used, the look of the printout is much better when done on the
unstable system. It's easier to look at, less "crowded". The stable
system produces output that looks like everything is bold.  Truely
bold lines are even bolder/blacker still.

What might be the reason for this difference? Is it possibly the
newer version of latex or something closer to the printer?

Printing is more or less a mystery to me. I'm glad it works, but I'd
like to "upgrade" the look of my stable system print output, without
dist-upgrading. Where do I start?

Thanks,
Bob