Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!decwrl!shelby!neon!kaufman
From: kaufman@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Marc T. Kaufman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Deskwriter usage
Message-ID: <1990Mar14.041825.18302@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 14 Mar 90 04:18:25 GMT
References: <256@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> <160700096@primerd> <16638@well.sf.ca.us>
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 41

Do you ever have a day where you are sure that someone is keeping secrets
from you, even though you ought to know them?  I write print drivers (among
other things) for a living.

In article <16638@well.sf.ca.us> svc@well.UUCP (Leonard Rosenthol) writes:
-In article <160700096@primerd> barry@primerd.prime.com writes:

-	I can not speak for other comm programs, but I can tell you that 
-MicroPhone and MicroPhone II (2.0 and 3.0) _DO_ use the printer driver for 
-all printing task.  For print logging (print streaming, etc.), we use the
-'low level interface' to the printer drivers - and this is what the HP Drivers
-_DO NOT_ support!  Most third  party (as well as the Apple Drivers) support
-this interface...Why can't HP!??!?!
-(Oh, I should also comment that when the announced new printing architecture
-that Apple has promised arrives that the approved method of doing 'print
-logging
-will be do 'Blast it out the serial port' (that's a quote from an Apple 
-Engineer)....

Unfortunately, no one has told me that -- so none of my drivers support low
level printing calls.  In fact, TN#192 (Suprises in LaserWriter 5.0 and Newer)
says: "No Mo' Low:  Because of the problems supporting both the high-level
interfaces in the background, the low-level interface is all but removed..."
In several Tech Notes (124, 192) Apple specifically recommends AGAINST using
the low level calls. The preview of System 7.x at last year's developer's
conference says "No pass-through (Draft) printing".

DTS provides a document called "The PrintShop Mystique" to print driver
writers that says: "Low-Level Calls.  Low level calls are a different breed
of call, currently being supported only for historical reasons. ...It is
recomended that all new development, both application and driver, avoid
low-level implementations if at all possible."

Given this, I really can't blame HP for not supporting low-level calls.  And
I would have to argue your statement that "most third party drivers support
this interface".

If low level calls are important, then Apple should have told us so.  Maybe
it is MicroPhone that is out of step.

Marc Kaufman (kaufman@Neon.stanford.edu)