Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!exodus!birdland!rberlin
From: rberlin@birdlandEng.Sun.COM (Rich Berlin)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Postscript to HPLJII under UNIX?
Message-ID: <10132@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 20 Mar 91 19:37:39 GMT
References: <91079.092124FZAAC02@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>
Sender: news@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM
Reply-To: rberlin@Eng.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Lines: 38

In article <91079.092124FZAAC02@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>, FZAAC02@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be (Igodt, Paul G.) writes:
|> What solution is one suggesting for transposing ps-files into HPLJ-code
|> e.g. on a SUN-4 machine?  We know of the GO-Script package on PC, but this
|> is performing very inefficiently (very slow).   Is something similar under
|> UNIX somewhere present, performing well?   Our laser-printers are KYOCERA
|> F-1000 (HPLJ compatibles, with an own PRESCRIBE language.  A ps-cartridge
|> is not available for these printers, at least, not yet.)
|> Thanks a lot.                                               --Paul Igodt--

If you want a PostScript rip that runs on your Sun, you could try
NeWSprint (a Sun product).  If your printer speaks "laerjet" it should
run right out of the box, but if PRESCRIBE is more efficient for your
printer, you might want to code your own handler (probably no more
than a few hours work).

First, though, you might want to try to determine what is causing it
to be slow.  (If it's the rasterizing, NeWSprint is pretty speedy and
will probably help.)  I suspect, however, that some of the problem is
data transmission time between the machine and the printer.  The base
output from GO-Script (like NeWSprint and most other PostScript rips)
is raster, so for an 8.25" x 10.5" mono image you have to push about a
megabyte of data down to the printer.  Across a centronics connection
you can push bits quite fast if both sides of the interface support
(and are configured for) high data rates, so if your connection is
centronics you might check it out.

If your connection is a 19.2KB/sec serial line, however, it's going to
take about a minute per page to transfer the data:

   (1000KB / (19.2KB/sec)) == 52 sec

at 9600 baud it will take 2 minutes, etc.


Hope that helps.


-- Rich