On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 08:29:22 PST, "G. Crimp" wrote: > > OK, so I'm going to take one more kick at this. I almost returned the printe > the other day, but decided to check out this PCL thing. The manual says that > the NEC SS 860 has PCL emulation. Can anyone tell me if "emulation" means > more crap on the windoze end of the cable, or if it is internal to the > printer and thus able to handle whatever it might get from a Linux > programme ?
Maybe this is a little more clear: (a link from the webpage: www.nec.com | products | printers | 860 ) http://www.pcweek.com/reviews/0520/20speed2.html --------8<-------- Adobe Systems Inc.'s inexpensive PrintGear system speeds the printing process by dovetailing a new printer driver with a new dedicated image-processing chip, the 50MHz PrintGear Imaging Processor. The driver sends page data as RISC-like image operators to the new chip. In addition, the new technology dedicates a 16MHz 68EC000 coprocessor to managing I/O functions. This driver also manages the printer's PCL 4 emulation mode. -------8<-------- Now, you might note that this doesn't say GDI. In fact, I've read some reviews that draw a distinction between PrintGear and GDI, although I don't have enough knowledge to comment on this. I said GDI because those were the words NEC used when they replied to me (I asked if the 860 was compatible with Linux, a Unix-like os, and noted the PCL emulation mention). As you, NEC and I have each noted, PCL is emulated; i.e.: you have to run the base driver first. In this case, that's Adobe's PrintGear. Adobe markets PrintGear to the low end: primarily toward windoze and mac, with some mention of os/2, no unix. One might conjecture that PrintGear competes against Adobe's own PostScript at the low end, that PostScript is marketed more at the high end of the market, and that traditionally unix users are at the high end, so there's probably not much demand for a unix driver for PrintGear in Adobe's marketing department. This doesn't mean a PrintGear driver cannot be written for Linux, but PrintGear is relatively new, so I wouldn't expect to see one anytime soon. If you want to know the details on PrintGear, try this: http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/printgear/PDFS/observer.pdf -- David Stern [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://weber.u.washington.edu/~kotsya/ -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
