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  #16  
Old August 19th 15, 09:32 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Gernot Hassenpflug[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11
Default printer driver driver

micky writes:

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:26:22
+0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

In message , micky
writes:
[things that let old hardware run under new versions of Windows]
I've never seen what I'm talking about on the web. not even one, let
alone the "some" that you talk about below.

[]
I've seen one for scanners; unfortunately it isn't free, and costs about
the same as a cheap scanner. This is sad, as it's a good product; it's
just made by a small company (Australian, I think) who aren't big enough
to be able to offer it at a lower price. (There is a free "evaluation"
version, but that puts overprinting on the result - it's intended for
you to see if your scanner works with it.)


/../

Yeah, that's it. https://www.hamrick.com/reg.html

30 or 80 dollars. American dollars afaict. For the extra money you
get flim and slide scanning, OCR of text, and unnamed extra features.


/../
But still, they seem to have done it for scanners, which I was also
interested in. . There are a lot more printers and there's a a lot
more printing being done. Maybe greater volume would allow a lower
price, although I can see that printing is a lot more complicated than
scanning.


Hi Mick,
VueScan is good stuff, really! I can recommend it even though I don't
use it. Those people work hard to reverse-engineer the scanning
protocols and idiosyncracies of individual scanners.

Under linux and MacOSX we have the SANE project for scanning, and the
gutenprint project for printing. Both provide back-ends, that is,
drivers, for the hardware. Look them up online, both are free software,
and continuously improving and keeping up with the latest devices, while
adding older one as well, best of both worlds.

The SANE project to which I contributed in the past mostly for Canon
devices, has most of the capabilities of VueScan, but OCR is not part of
the project, and unfortunately also still lacking infra-red dust removal
capability for those devices that have it physically (the new PIE
backend has it, so in future other back-ends may be able to implement
such capability also).

The gutenprint project, to which I contribute as maintainer of the Canon
backend, offers varied support for a host of printers from many
different manufacturers, mostly inkjets, and dye-sublimation devices.

Since printers use different print languages and data formats, even a
back-end for one manufacturer has tons of variations to accommodate
differences. And then occasionally one needs to create a new back-end
entirely.

Gutenprint does well for standard text and graphics printing, but has no
calibration for photo printing for different media and resolutions, so
it is up to the user to adjust individual ink densities and so on for
best performance. This is an area where the project could improve, but
also impossible without access to the printer by developers, or some
automated way for users to do themselves.

Gutenprint tries to handle all linux and MacOSX versions as far back as
possible, but because of the idiosyncracies of MacOSX, support for 10.2,
then 10.3 and 10.4, and finally 10.5 had to be dropped, and the latest
version requires 10.6 or later.

Regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7
Ads
  #17  
Old August 19th 15, 02:17 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default printer driver driver

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:32:31
+0900, Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:

micky writes:

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:26:22
+0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

In message , micky
writes:
[things that let old hardware run under new versions of Windows]
I've never seen what I'm talking about on the web. not even one, let
alone the "some" that you talk about below.
[]
I've seen one for scanners; unfortunately it isn't free, and costs about
the same as a cheap scanner. This is sad, as it's a good product; it's
just made by a small company (Australian, I think) who aren't big enough
to be able to offer it at a lower price. (There is a free "evaluation"
version, but that puts overprinting on the result - it's intended for
you to see if your scanner works with it.)


/../

Yeah, that's it. https://www.hamrick.com/reg.html

30 or 80 dollars. American dollars afaict. For the extra money you
get flim and slide scanning, OCR of text, and unnamed extra features.


/../
But still, they seem to have done it for scanners, which I was also
interested in. . There are a lot more printers and there's a a lot
more printing being done. Maybe greater volume would allow a lower
price, although I can see that printing is a lot more complicated than
scanning.


Hi Mick,
VueScan is good stuff, really! I can recommend it even though I don't
use it. Those people work hard to reverse-engineer the scanning
protocols and idiosyncracies of individual scanners.

Under linux and MacOSX we have the SANE project for scanning, and the
gutenprint project for printing. Both provide back-ends, that is,
drivers, for the hardware. Look them up online, both are free software,
and continuously improving and keeping up with the latest devices, while
adding older one as well, best of both worlds.


Coincidentally -- well not really because I think my excess hardware
from win98 days is what made me think abou this in the first place --
but anyhow, yesterday I listed a flatbed scanner from win98 days on
Freecycle, and within an hour I got someone who said she's interested.

The "ad" said that it only works with a parallel port but I said some
(PCI) are as low as $5.25 and I offered to help install it, because this
scanner is new in the box and I really don't want to see it get scrapped
without ever being used.

Anyhow, though this one only has a parallel port, it does have drivers
for up to win7. Interesting, huh?

I willl tell her or whoever takes it about the software above, for when
they upgrade beyond 7.


The SANE project to which I contributed in the past mostly for Canon
devices, has most of the capabilities of VueScan, but OCR is not part of
the project,


Can't one use separate OCR software?

(I've always wanted to OCR something but in fact I never have a need for
it.)

and unfortunately also still lacking infra-red dust removal
capability for those devices that have it physically (the new PIE
backend has it, so in future other back-ends may be able to implement
such capability also).

The gutenprint project, to which I contribute as maintainer of the Canon
backend, offers varied support for a host of printers from many
different manufacturers, mostly inkjets, and dye-sublimation devices.

Since printers use different print languages and data formats, even a
back-end for one manufacturer has tons of variations to accommodate
differences. And then occasionally one needs to create a new back-end
entirely.

Gutenprint does well for standard text and graphics printing, but has no
calibration for photo printing for different media and resolutions, so
it is up to the user to adjust individual ink densities and so on for
best performance. This is an area where the project could improve, but
also impossible without access to the printer by developers, or some
automated way for users to do themselves.

Gutenprint tries to handle all linux and MacOSX versions as far back as
possible, but because of the idiosyncracies of MacOSX, support for 10.2,
then 10.3 and 10.4, and finally 10.5 had to be dropped, and the latest
version requires 10.6 or later.


Well I hope the old versions are still available, and even my friend has
upgraded to 10.6, for other reasons.

Regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug


  #18  
Old August 19th 15, 03:08 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Peter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default printer driver driver

On 18/08/2015 17:43, Good Guy wrote:
On 18/08/2015 13:06, micky wrote:
Seems to me, someone should be able to write a printer driver driver,
that will take the output from XP, 7, 8, or 10 and convert it to what
the output from win98 or XP would look like, to be used as input for old
printers. So that old printers -- and other accessories -- could be
used with new versions of windows.

So it woudln't have to be printer-specific,

If this won't work, how come?

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.


Of course there are people writing drivers for old printers for new OS.
The only problem is that they have over-advertised themselves and so
people are wary of them. They stick their Ad in almost anything, even
in articles when you focus on a particular word, something pops up.
People have said enough is enough and so they just ignore them.

Do a search and you will find lots of them but be careful about them.
Some are good and some are pure evil. they will take you and your bank
to cleaners.


Interesting thought, but I'm still using a printer that I bought in the
middle of Windows 98. Works fine in 8.1, and even behaved under 10,
though I upgraded back to 8.1 pretty quickly (another story). It's HP
Deskjet3845
  #19  
Old August 19th 15, 10:01 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default printer driver driver

In message , Gernot Hassenpflug
writes:
[]
VueScan is good stuff, really! I can recommend it even though I don't
use it. Those people work hard to reverse-engineer the scanning
protocols and idiosyncracies of individual scanners.

Under linux and MacOSX we have the SANE project for scanning, and the
gutenprint project for printing. Both provide back-ends, that is,
drivers, for the hardware. Look them up online, both are free software,
and continuously improving and keeping up with the latest devices, while
adding older one as well, best of both worlds.

[]
Regards,
Gernot Hassenpflug


So what chance (minimal I suspect since Windows and Linux folk on the
whole aren't too fond of each other) of someone writing a TWAIN-to-SANE,
er, driver (translator, whatever), and a Windows driver for *the*
gutenprint "printer" (not unlike the PDF "printer"s)?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Radio 4 is the civilising influence in this country ... I think it is the most
important institution in this country. - John Humphrys, Radio Times
7-13/06/2003
  #20  
Old August 19th 15, 10:06 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default printer driver driver

In message , micky
writes:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:32:31
+0900, Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:

[]
The SANE project to which I contributed in the past mostly for Canon
devices, has most of the capabilities of VueScan, but OCR is not part of
the project,


Can't one use separate OCR software?

[]
Yes; I get depressed (or used to) at how many people think OCR is a
function of the scanner. It isn't. Most OCR software (all that I've ever
seen) can take image files as input (albeit sometimes limited to only
the common-with-scanner formats, such as TIFF and PDF), as well as
directly "driving" a scanner. Certainly Omnipage, Abbyy (sp?), and
PagePlus (I think) can.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Radio 4 is the civilising influence in this country ... I think it is the most
important institution in this country. - John Humphrys, Radio Times
7-13/06/2003
  #21  
Old August 19th 15, 10:42 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default printer driver driver

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:06:15
+0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

In message , micky
writes:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:32:31
+0900, Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:

[]
The SANE project to which I contributed in the past mostly for Canon
devices, has most of the capabilities of VueScan, but OCR is not part of
the project,


Can't one use separate OCR software?

[]
Yes; I get depressed (or used to) at how many people think OCR is a


I'm glad you said "used to". Untreated OCR depression can be as great a
problem as OCD depression, or OCW**.

function of the scanner. It isn't. Most OCR software (all that I've ever
seen) can take image files as input (albeit sometimes limited to only
the common-with-scanner formats, such as TIFF and PDF), as well as
directly "driving" a scanner. Certainly Omnipage, Abbyy (sp?), and
PagePlus (I think) can.


**That's what Elmer Fudd has. Optical Character Wecognition.
  #22  
Old August 20th 15, 03:42 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Gernot Hassenpflug[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11
Default printer driver driver

micky writes:

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 17:32:31
+0900, Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:

micky writes:

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 23:26:22
+0100, "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote:

In message , micky
writes:
[things that let old hardware run under new versions of Windows]


/../

The SANE project to which I contributed in the past mostly for Canon
devices, has most of the capabilities of VueScan, but OCR is not part of
the project,


Can't one use separate OCR software?

(I've always wanted to OCR something but in fact I never have a need for
it.)


Of course, it is entirely a non-issue, I merely added that statement to
highlight a difference to (apparently) VueScan.

/../

Gutenprint tries to handle all linux and MacOSX versions as far back as
possible, but because of the idiosyncracies of MacOSX, support for 10.2,
then 10.3 and 10.4, and finally 10.5 had to be dropped, and the latest
version requires 10.6 or later.


Well I hope the old versions are still available, and even my friend has
upgraded to 10.6, for other reasons.


Sure, older versions (obviously with less printer support) of gutenprint
are available (and always will be, as long as the software continues to
have a place on the web). The trouble comes when people want to use a
new printer with their old MacOSX, this is simply not possible (a
backport for specific printers is possible in some cases, but ovbiously
not feasible to maintain).
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7
  #23  
Old August 21st 15, 01:40 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
micky[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 926
Default printer driver driver

In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Wed, 19 Aug 2015 15:08:06
+0100, Peter wrote:

On 18/08/2015 17:43, Good Guy wrote:
On 18/08/2015 13:06, micky wrote:
Seems to me, someone should be able to write a printer driver driver,
that will take the output from XP, 7, 8, or 10 and convert it to what
the output from win98 or XP would look like, to be used as input for old
printers. So that old printers -- and other accessories -- could be
used with new versions of windows.

So it woudln't have to be printer-specific,

If this won't work, how come?

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.


Of course there are people writing drivers for old printers for new OS.
The only problem is that they have over-advertised themselves and so
people are wary of them. They stick their Ad in almost anything, even
in articles when you focus on a particular word, something pops up.
People have said enough is enough and so they just ignore them.

Do a search and you will find lots of them but be careful about them.
Some are good and some are pure evil. they will take you and your bank
to cleaners.


Interesting thought, but I'm still using a printer that I bought in the
middle of Windows 98. Works fine in 8.1, and even behaved under 10,
though I upgraded back to 8.1 pretty quickly (another story). It's HP
Deskjet3845


You still have a parallel port, or was there USB already then?
  #24  
Old September 4th 15, 09:04 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Johann Klammer
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default printer driver driver

On 08/18/2015 02:06 PM, micky wrote:
Seems to me, someone should be able to write a printer driver driver,
that will take the output from XP, 7, 8, or 10 and convert it to what
the output from win98 or XP would look like, to be used as input for old
printers. So that old printers -- and other accessories -- could be
used with new versions of windows.

So it woudln't have to be printer-specific,

If this won't work, how come?

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.

From what I recall There was an `Adobe Post Script printer driver' that you
could install on any windows box for printing. It would output Postscript
that you could print from some application, or forward to CUPS or
somesuch other ipp printer/server. Don't those things work for recent windowses?




  #25  
Old January 8th 16, 12:13 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Micky
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,528
Default printer driver driver

On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.

Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.


Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.

That is not what happens at all.
Tony


When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.
  #26  
Old January 9th 16, 05:10 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Tony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default printer driver driver

Micky wrote:
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.

Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.

That is not what happens at all.
Tony


When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.

Fair enough.
Microsoft do not write the drivers for printers. The printer manufacturer has
to do that.
So there is customer and shareholder pressure to develop new operating systems
and the printer manufacturers have to decide whether they develop new printer
drivers for it.

Tony

  #27  
Old January 12th 16, 03:22 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Gernot Hassenpflug[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11
Default printer driver driver

Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net dot nz writes:

Micky wrote:
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.

Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.
That is not what happens at all.
Tony


When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.

Fair enough.
Microsoft do not write the drivers for printers. The printer manufacturer has
to do that.
So there is customer and shareholder pressure to develop new operating systems
and the printer manufacturers have to decide whether they develop new printer
drivers for it.


Actually, as far as I can see in Japan, the printer manufacturers
outsource the driver writing to a 3rd-party, they do not do it
themselves.
Hence there is yet another level of contracting and negotiations,
cost-benefit analysis and so on involved.
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7
  #28  
Old January 12th 16, 03:31 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Tony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default printer driver driver

Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:
Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net dot nz writes:

Micky wrote:
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.

Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.
That is not what happens at all.
Tony

When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.

Fair enough.
Microsoft do not write the drivers for printers. The printer manufacturer
has
to do that.
So there is customer and shareholder pressure to develop new operating
systems
and the printer manufacturers have to decide whether they develop new
printer
drivers for it.


Actually, as far as I can see in Japan, the printer manufacturers
outsource the driver writing to a 3rd-party, they do not do it
themselves.
Hence there is yet another level of contracting and negotiations,
cost-benefit analysis and so on involved.
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7

Ah, I am sure you are right. And it probably makes it more difficult to justify
new drivers.
I was making the point that it is the responsibility of the printer
manufacturer and not the responsibility of the OS developer.
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people blame Microsoft
for poorly written or non-existent hardware drivers.
But your point is well made.
Tony

  #29  
Old January 12th 16, 10:54 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default printer driver driver

Tony wrote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:
Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net dot nz writes:

Micky wrote:
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.
Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.
Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.
That is not what happens at all.
Tony
When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.
Fair enough.
Microsoft do not write the drivers for printers. The printer manufacturer
has
to do that.
So there is customer and shareholder pressure to develop new operating
systems
and the printer manufacturers have to decide whether they develop new
printer
drivers for it.

Actually, as far as I can see in Japan, the printer manufacturers
outsource the driver writing to a 3rd-party, they do not do it
themselves.
Hence there is yet another level of contracting and negotiations,
cost-benefit analysis and so on involved.
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7

Ah, I am sure you are right. And it probably makes it more difficult to justify
new drivers.
I was making the point that it is the responsibility of the printer
manufacturer and not the responsibility of the OS developer.
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people blame Microsoft
for poorly written or non-existent hardware drivers.
But your point is well made.
Tony


But there are attempts at "Universal Printer Drivers".

Microsoft makes unidrv, HP has something (which could
actually be from Microsoft for all I know). This
supports PCL5/PCL6/PostScript.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/solutions/b...tions/UPD.html

I'm interested in drivers like that, as a means to
"Print to file" in PostScript format. Then, pass the
PostScript to an old copy of Acrobat Distiller. Giving
me a Print To PDF capability. One benefit of my workflow
that way, is I can make huge pages if I want. Like make
a single page 108" inches in length. This sometimes
helps with bugs in Firefox, where "only page 1 prints"
and the other pages are invisible. If you make the
page size 108", you can then manage to capture the
entire web page in one image. It's absolutely useless
for printing when made that way, but provides nice
archival storage for viewing on screen later.

This works, until you hit the coordinate space limits
of PostScript/PDF, whatever they are.

This all started, when I had a 36" wide roll-fed inkjet at work.
The driver for that, made nice big pages in PostScript,
as the device had a PostScript interpreter in it. You
could send PCL or PostScript to it. And later, I continued
to use that print driver for home usage, making my "PDF
printer" based on the driver concept. When drivers for
that printer were no longer available, I switched
over to a Universal Printer Driver that has PostScript
support (the HP one). I think I may have used that in
a Windows 7 install. I don't know if there is a solution
for a later OS or not.

Paul
  #30  
Old January 12th 16, 09:02 PM posted to comp.periphs.printers,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general
Tony
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default printer driver driver

Paul wrote:
Tony wrote:
Gernot Hassenpflug wrote:
Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net dot nz writes:

Micky wrote:
On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:27:03 -0500, Tony lizandtony at orcon dot net
dot nz wrote:

micky wrote:
In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general, on Tue, 18 Aug 2015 18:00:55
+0100, Stuart wrote:

In article ,
micky wrote:

It annoys me that not only do they want us to buy a new version of
Windows, which often means a new computer, but then we have to buy new
printers, etc.
Beats me why Microsoft have to change things so that older printer
drivers
don't work any way. After all, a program sends the print request to
the OS
which then sends the information to the driver, why change stuff?

Well, actually Microsoft are in cahoots with hardware manufacturers to
make sure you have to keep buying new printers etc.
Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason. I wonder what MS gets out of it.
That is not what happens at all.
Tony
When I wrote my line above 5 months ago, I was sure it sounded
sarcastic, but reading it now, it didn't even sound sarcastic to me.
But that's how I meant it. Sorry I was misleading.
Fair enough.
Microsoft do not write the drivers for printers. The printer manufacturer
has
to do that.
So there is customer and shareholder pressure to develop new operating
systems
and the printer manufacturers have to decide whether they develop new
printer
drivers for it.
Actually, as far as I can see in Japan, the printer manufacturers
outsource the driver writing to a 3rd-party, they do not do it
themselves.
Hence there is yet another level of contracting and negotiations,
cost-benefit analysis and so on involved.
--
NNTP on Emacs 24.3 from Windows 7

Ah, I am sure you are right. And it probably makes it more difficult to
justify
new drivers.
I was making the point that it is the responsibility of the printer
manufacturer and not the responsibility of the OS developer.
I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people blame Microsoft
for poorly written or non-existent hardware drivers.
But your point is well made.
Tony


But there are attempts at "Universal Printer Drivers".

Microsoft makes unidrv, HP has something (which could
actually be from Microsoft for all I know). This
supports PCL5/PCL6/PostScript.

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/solutions/b...tions/UPD.html

I'm interested in drivers like that, as a means to
"Print to file" in PostScript format. Then, pass the
PostScript to an old copy of Acrobat Distiller. Giving
me a Print To PDF capability. One benefit of my workflow
that way, is I can make huge pages if I want. Like make
a single page 108" inches in length. This sometimes
helps with bugs in Firefox, where "only page 1 prints"
and the other pages are invisible. If you make the
page size 108", you can then manage to capture the
entire web page in one image. It's absolutely useless
for printing when made that way, but provides nice
archival storage for viewing on screen later.

This works, until you hit the coordinate space limits
of PostScript/PDF, whatever they are.

This all started, when I had a 36" wide roll-fed inkjet at work.
The driver for that, made nice big pages in PostScript,
as the device had a PostScript interpreter in it. You
could send PCL or PostScript to it. And later, I continued
to use that print driver for home usage, making my "PDF
printer" based on the driver concept. When drivers for
that printer were no longer available, I switched
over to a Universal Printer Driver that has PostScript
support (the HP one). I think I may have used that in
a Windows 7 install. I don't know if there is a solution
for a later OS or not.

Paul

It is a while since I worked with universal drivers but my recollection is that
the Microsoft one is a single common package that has to have mini drivers
interfaced to it specific to each printer,. The HP driver did indeed handle a
wide range of HP printers.
Tony

 




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