Low-level control on printers

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Hi everybody,

PCL, Postscript and other languages allow to describe documents sent to

printers. Is it possible to have a more low-level control on printers
(even if
it will certainly be different on each printer) ? For instance to load
paper or to move printing head.

I would like to print quickly a set of documents. Each document relies
on a
common format. I am looking for a solution to accelerate printing and
to have a
better control on it (for instance a best reaction time when a document
is sent
to a printer). I think it may be possible by taking into account
characteristics of my documents to control printing.

Thanks for any suggestions !

--
Pierre

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

<mes.newsgroups@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1116855792.884527.29480@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

> PCL, Postscript and other languages allow to describe documents sent to
> printers. Is it possible to have a more low-level control on printers
> (even if it will certainly be different on each printer) ? For instance to
load
> paper or to move printing head.

1. This would be straightforward in DOS, which
required that each app be configured for each printer.
2. but not in Windows, which offers one-step installation
of the printer to the PC (or network) which all apps may
then use uniformly. I.e. Windows does not expect
non-uniform printing instructions.
3. I don't know about printing under Linux.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

mes.newsgroups@gmail.com <mes.newsgroups@gmail.com> wrote:

> PCL, Postscript and other languages allow to describe documents sent to
> printers. Is it possible to have a more low-level control on printers
> (even if
> it will certainly be different on each printer) ? For instance to load
> paper or to move printing head.
>
> I would like to print quickly a set of documents. Each document relies
> on a common format. I am looking for a solution to accelerate printing
> and to have a better control on it (for instance a best reaction time
> when a document is sent to a printer). I think it may be possible by
> taking into account characteristics of my documents to control
> printing.

It sounds like a template system. If it's something like a large
background that your data "fills in", you should be able to do that with
either PCL or PostScript.

I did a system like this. I wrote a PostScript program to draw the
background form rather than generating it through a printer driver.
This code turned out to be so small (20K or so, AFAIR) that it was
easier to send it with each page than to make it persistent. And of
course it prints much faster than the huge mass generated by a printer
driver.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA

 

[pierre]

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Warren Block wrote:

>
> It sounds like a template system. If it's something like a large
> background that your data "fills in", you should be able to do that
with
> either PCL or PostScript.
>
> I did a system like this. I wrote a PostScript program to draw the
> background form rather than generating it through a printer driver.
> This code turned out to be so small (20K or so, AFAIR) that it was
> easier to send it with each page than to make it persistent. And of
> course it prints much faster than the huge mass generated by a
printer
> driver.
>

I thought about that but what can you do if you don't have a Postscript
printer ? Is it possible to introduce in a printer, or certain
printers, a specific "program" or set of commands to have a better
control ? I believe that the only interface with a printer is its
document language but maybe there are other accesses ?

--
Pierre

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.periphs.printers (More info?)

Pierre <mes.newsgroups@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Warren Block wrote:
>>
>> I did a system like this. I wrote a PostScript program to draw the
>> background form rather than generating it through a printer driver.
>> This code turned out to be so small (20K or so, AFAIR) that it was
>> easier to send it with each page than to make it persistent. And of
>> course it prints much faster than the huge mass generated by a
>> printer driver.
>
> I thought about that but what can you do if you don't have a Postscript
> printer ?

You could use a PostScript interpreter that runs on the host computer,
like Ghostscript.

> Is it possible to introduce in a printer, or certain printers, a
> specific "program" or set of commands to have a better control ? I
> believe that the only interface with a printer is its document
> language but maybe there are other accesses ?

I'm pretty sure later versions of PCL support some types of persistent
downloads. PJL may also give you some options, if the printer supports
it.

Without specifics on what you want to do, it's hard to give specific
answers.

--
Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota * USA