Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!van-bc!jchin From: jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin) Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi Subject: Re: Why scsi printers? Info wanted. Summary: speed! Message-ID: <2022@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 15 Feb 91 17:58:51 GMT References: Distribution: comp.periphs.scsi,comp.periphs.printers Organization: USENET Public Access, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 43 In article andyc@bucky.intel.com (Andy Crump) writes: stuff deleted ... >used as a communication mechanism. I am not clear on what the >advantage is to a SCSI printer. It seems to me that the speed of the >print mechanism is by far the limiting factor to print speed, not the >I/O port. Unless the SCSI postscript printer has ALOT of local memory >to queue up jobs... >Most printers can't keep up at 9600 baud anyway. Why would >anyone want to use SCSI as their I/O channel to a printer? What > > -- Andy Crump > > ...!tektronix!reed!littlei!andyc | andyc@littlei.intel.com > ...!uunet!littlei!andyc | andyc@littlei.uu.net > >Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed here are my own and > not representive of Intel Corportation. Speaking purely from personal experience ... In newer high speed postscript printers, the print mechanism is no longer the limiting factor to print speed. Especially in the case of Postscript printers where most of the information that go over the link from computer to printer are Postscript codes. A high speed link is also extremely crucial when printing bitmapped images. Try printing a 300-dpi 256 grayscale scanned image (approx. 4"x6") ... it takes more than 25 minutes on a LaserWriter NTX hooked up to the serial port on my NeXT (9600 bps). High speed connection to the printer via SCSI is also helpful in a networked environment. The case is even more prevalent on a printer such as the NeXT 400-dpi laser printer where the host computer do the rasterizing and then bitmaps are "blasted" to the printer. :-) Joe jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca -- ************************************************************** * "Kill the body and the head will die" (Hunter S. Thompson) * * NeXT --> The ultimate electronic publishing platform! * ********** Joseph Chin --> jchin@van-bc.wimsey.bc.ca *********