Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!mvb.saic.com!ncr-sd!sagpd1!monty
From: monty@sagpd1.UUCP (Monty Saine)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga Print Quality
Keywords: Desktop Publishing, Word Processing
Message-ID: <969@sagpd1.UUCP>
Date: 14 Dec 90 16:36:55 GMT
References: <47347@apple.Apple.COM>
Reply-To: monty@sagpd1.UUCP (Monty Saine)
Organization: Scientific Atlanta, Government Products Div, San Diego, CA
Lines: 30

In article <47347@apple.Apple.COM> farrier@Apple.COM (Cary Farrier) writes:
>I recently received an HP DeskJet 500 printer, but when I went to use
>it with my Amiga 500, I was very dissappointed.  Even though the printer
>can output up to 300x300 dpi (for $499!), the quality of the output from
>my word processor (ProWrite 3.1) is terrible (even though ProWrite is 
>excellent!).
>
>After a little reading on printer drivers, I found out that (I think) 
>that the printer drivers require the application to do all the imaging, 
>then pass a bitmap or rast port to the driver to dump.  Isn't this backwards?  

	You might read the 1.3 Dos update manual about the dithering and
	other adjustments in preferences. Also make sure you have preferences
	set for 300x300 resolution (on my vanilla DeskJet the setting is
	4). The drivers do more than you think. Also the shipped DeskJet
	driver is not perfect. There is another out there called some-
	thing like betterdj or something like that. (any help here net??)

>I mean, the application should tell the driver "Draw this text in this
>font at this location in this point size", and then the driver can 
>do the best that it can, and remove the burden of some quality optimizing
>techniques from the application (or even the user).  For example, if

	The Amiga does not yet do scalable fonts as the mac so the application
	must still handle the generation of the bit map. The drivers (I believe)
	handle some smoothing functions, etc.



	Monty Saine