Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!osborn
From: osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Printer Drivers
Keywords: HP Deskjet, serial/parallel
Message-ID: <19343@cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 91 17:04:56 GMT
References: <9104140516.AA03455@epsoft> <1991Apr18.155842.16132@bernina.ethz.ch>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 46

In article <1991Apr18.155842.16132@bernina.ethz.ch> waldvoge@nessie.cs.id.ethz.ch (Marcel Waldvogel) writes:
>In article <9104140516.AA03455@epsoft> mark@epsoft.UUCP (Mark Chamberlain) writes:
>>office is 3 HP printers, LJ 3,  LJ 2, Deskjet Plus), and it would  
>>make sense to write a driver for them.. the NeXT is doing all the  
>>clever bits, a printer driver has (I guess) just got to throw a  
>>bitmap at the printer.. hey presto, a Postscript Deskjet.
>
>I calculated the time it takes to print out a 300 dpi graphics page (>
>1 MB of data) as a bitmap at 19200 baud (the max. baud rate the
>DeskJet+ knows about); this gives about 9-10 minutes, quite a lot. It
>would be nice if workstation would have a parallel port, too...

I've used Sun's NewsPrint with an HP Deskjet 500.  (NewsPrint does what
we're all wanting on our NeXTs...  it uses its display postscript engine
to build bitmaps for non-postscript printers, like the HP DeskJet or
the Sun SparcPrinter.  SparcPrinter is a 300/400 dpi non-smart print
engine that plugs into a special high-speed port on a sparcstation for
printing.  Does this sound familiar?)

Anyway, at 19.2K baud performance was quite acceptable for a $500 printer.
Simply calculating page size in dpi and using the serial line speed to
calculate a printing speed doesn't cut it because you can pull off all
sorts of tricks to make printing go faster, such as data compression.

I would say that 9-10 minutes per page would be an absolutely worst case
situation and most pages would print within a minute.

This is NOT a workgroup solution, folks.  If you have a couple of NeXTs
in a workgroup, it quickly becomes worthwhile to buy a NeXT laserprinter.
However, lots of people are like me.  My machine sits on my desk at home,
connected to no network, and I can't afford $1500 for a laser printer.
But I write lots and lots of papers, articles, and the occasional book, so
I have a need for high quality cheap output.

I'll make it plainer:  Despite what I've been told in the past, and what
I may have posted, NeXT isn't going to fix this problem.  It is up to
somebody who wants to make lots of money to write the damn driver, bundle
it with a cable, and sell it though NeXTconnection for $100.  That way,
I just phone up NeXTconnection, buy the driver, and buy a DeskJet 500
from my local CompuAdd.  The next morning, I'll be printing.  WHOEVER
DOES THIS WILL MAKE MONEY.  Students and poor NeXT owners everywhere
will thank you and throw money at you.

-
-John H. Osborn
-osborn@cs.utexas.edu