OT: printing PostSctipt files
William Sommerwerck
(schematics, manuals, etc).
I've always had PostScript printers. They're particularly useful when
producing documents that have to be sent to a service bureau for
printing/publishing, because most commercial photosetting systems are
PostScript-based. What I see at home is /exactly/ what the final document
will look like.
I've been printing out user manuals -- four sheets to a page -- for my
Olympus and Canon cameras. Canon will no longer sell user manuals, so having
a printout is handy -- you don't have to worry about damaging or destroying
the Canon original. And a binder with the pages in professional vinyl sheet
protectors makes a handy field reference. You can write on the sheets, or
stick PostIt notes on them, again without messing up the original.
Anyhow... I'd had no problems until I got to the EOS-1V manual. Some
pages -- mostly those with halftones -- simply would not print. The printer
(an HP 4M) would chug away "forever" to render the page, the Ready light
blinking. Then the Ready light would come on steady -- indicating that the
image was fully rendered -- but nothing would print.
To make a long story short, I read the PostScript Help, and (following its
subtle "do this if everything else fails" suggestion) selected the "Print as
bitmap" Advanced option. This sends the rendered bitmap -- not the
PostScript commands -- to the printer.
Not only did every page print, but it printed more quickly. Apparently, the
computer renders the image much more quickly than the processor in the
printer. And it can render things the printer gets stuck with.
So... if you're having problems, switch to "Print as bitmap".
--
"We already know the answers -- we just haven't asked the right
questions." -- Edwin Land
Tobiah
> pages -- mostly those with halftones -- simply would not print. The
> printer (an HP 4M) would chug away "forever" to render the page, the
> Ready light blinking. Then the Ready light would come on steady --
> indicating that the image was fully rendered -- but nothing would print.
It sounds like your printer ran out of memory.
> To make a long story short, I read the PostScript Help, and (following
> its subtle "do this if everything else fails" suggestion) selected the
> "Print as bitmap" Advanced option. This sends the rendered bitmap -- not
> the PostScript commands -- to the printer.
I remember using one of the first Mac Classics. We had a PostScript
printer attached to it. You could quickly send the job to the printer,
and then 20 minutes later a page would come out. It was great though,
that the feeble classic was free to do other things during that time.
Maybe it's time to start letting our Dual Core processors bear most of
the burden.
I think the cable was a bottleneck back then two, but now USBII makes the
transmission of a relatively large bitmap a non-issue.
Tobiah
William Sommerwerck
>> pages -- mostly those with halftones -- simply would not print. The
>> printer (an HP 4M) would chug away "forever" to render the page, the
>> Ready light blinking. Then the Ready light would come on steady --
>> indicating that the image was fully rendered -- but nothing would print.
> It sounds like your printer ran out of memory.
Almost certainly. But I've had no trouble with other manuals. Go figure.
Tom McCreadie
You could try serially dividing your print job into ever smaller morsels
until the printer memory can eventually swallow them, e.g. pages 1-72,
followed by 73-143. or if that fails, 1-35, 36-72...etc.
Could possibly be a font issue, for the manual's pdf Document Properties
reports it as having both Mac and Windows versions of Type 1 Helvetica &
Helvetica Bold ! Strangely there was another instance of Helvetica and
Helvetica Bold that was listed in the document as being unembedded, as
also was Univers Bold.
--
Tom McCreadie
Live at The London Palindrome - ABBA
William Sommerwerck
>>>> pages -- mostly those with halftones -- simply would not print. The
>>>> printer (an HP 4M) would chug away "forever" to render the page, the
>>>> Ready light blinking. Then the Ready light would come on steady --
>>>> indicating that the image was fully rendered -- but nothing would
print.
>>> It sounds like your printer ran out of memory.
>> Almost certainly. But I've had no trouble with other manuals. Go figure.
> You could try serially dividing your print job into ever smaller morsels
> until the printer memory can eventually swallow them, e.g. pages 1-72,
> followed by 73-143. or if that fails, 1-35, 36-72...etc.
Of course. But this occurred with single pages! (That is, four pages on a
sheet.)
The point of all this is that choosing "Print as image" immediately resolved
the problem. That's why I posted this posting.
> Could possibly be a font issue, for the manual's pdf Document Properties
> reports it as having both Mac and Windows versions of Type 1 Helvetica
> & Helvetica Bold ! Strangely there was another instance of Helvetica and
> Helvetica Bold that was listed in the document as being unembedded, as
> also was Univers Bold.
I don't know enough about the issues involved to judge. The driver is set up
to use the printer's PS fonts by default.
Besides, the problem most-often occurred when the page contained a
halftone -- even small ones.
Scott Dorsey
>I don't know enough about the issues involved to judge. The driver is set up
>to use the printer's PS fonts by default.
>
>Besides, the problem most-often occurred when the page contained a
>halftone -- even small ones.
Were you printing directly from the prompt or were you using something like
Acrobat Reader? There are some known issues with Acrobat Reader and some
HP printers; updated firmware kits for the printers fix the problem.
Also note that memory for the Laserjet 4 is usually available very cheaply
at feedroller.com (or is that feedrollers.com?). There's no reason not to
max it out. While you're at it, get a spare roller kit.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
William Sommerwerck
> something like Acrobat Reader? There are some known issues
> with Acrobat Reader and some HP printers; updated firmware
> kits for the printers fix the problem.
Ah... Thank you. However, the 4M is so old that it's unlikely the people now
working at HP remember it. ("Never heard of that model. We never made it,
you liar.") But they keep making toner cartridges for it. (Or should I say
Canon does?)
What do you mean by "printing directly from the prompt"? It's been a long
time since I've created a PRN file, then copied to LPT1: at the DOS prompt!
I was printing from Acrobat Reader. How else would you do it?
> Also note that memory for the Laserjet 4 is usually available very
> cheaply at feedroller.com (or is that feedrollers.com?). There's no
> reason not to max it out. While you're at it, get a spare roller kit.
Some months back the rubber things lost their grip on the paper. I bought a
nice repair kit -- and when I went to install it, the rollers started
working correctly again.
I sometimes think that malfunctioning equipment can be "coerced" into
working correctly by bringing service parts near it.
Scott Dorsey
>> Were you printing directly from the prompt or were you using
>> something like Acrobat Reader? There are some known issues
>> with Acrobat Reader and some HP printers; updated firmware
>> kits for the printers fix the problem.
>
>Ah... Thank you. However, the 4M is so old that it's unlikely the people now
>working at HP remember it. ("Never heard of that model. We never made it,
>you liar.") But they keep making toner cartridges for it. (Or should I say
>Canon does?)
Nope, but there are still lots of those things in service and the aftermarket
service guys still make parts for them. They just keep running and running.
>What do you mean by "printing directly from the prompt"? It's been a long
>time since I've created a PRN file, then copied to LPT1: at the DOS prompt!
That's the fastest and easiest way to print a postscript file... just send
it off to the printer and let the printer do all the rendering for you.
There are some freeware applications for the PC if you want to do that kind
of thing with a GUI.
>I was printing from Acrobat Reader. How else would you do it?
I dunno, I don't use windows and I very seldom use GUIs for stuff like that.
On a mac I'd use the "lp" command from the prompt.
Reportely, Windows 7 finally has a decent command line built into it. I have
not seen this personally, but it seems like a good thing.
>> Also note that memory for the Laserjet 4 is usually available very
>> cheaply at feedroller.com (or is that feedrollers.com?). There's no
>> reason not to max it out. While you're at it, get a spare roller kit.
>
>Some months back the rubber things lost their grip on the paper. I bought a
>nice repair kit -- and when I went to install it, the rollers started
>working correctly again.
Change the rollers, because sooner or later it will stop working and it will
do so at the most inopportune moment. Also put a drop of light machine oil
on the bearing of the fan, and vacuum out all the dust from the fan and from
the side. Remove the lefthand panel, open the metal door inside and vacuum
out the dust from the filter that allows air past the PC boards. Then remove
the power supply (it's located down at the bottom, below the metal box with
the card cage and is held in with a couple screws) and vacuum that out.
These printers fail because they get dirty and overheat, and because the
rubber parts fail. If you replace the rollers every few years and vacuum
it out annually, it will last a lifetime.
William Sommerwerck
>> It's been a long time since I've created a PRN file, then
>> copied to LPT1: at the DOS prompt!
> That's the fastest and easiest way to print a PostScript file...
> Just send it off to the printer and let the printer do all the
> rendering for you.
But that's what the driver does. And, as I've pointed out, the processor in
my computer renders the page faster -- so it's sometime better to mark the
"Print as image" box.
Tom McCreadie
>my computer renders the page faster -- so it's sometime better to mark the
>"Print as image" box.
"Print as image" is the standard recourse for many printer woes but
generally leads to slightly lower print quality, though that's pretty
immaterial for your intended use.
I wonder if your 4-up page imposition printing is bringing that extra
complexity to choke the printer. If curious, one could test by
'refrying' the pdf from Reader to a new 4-up pdf (need a 2nd pdf
creation app in pc); or else print-to-file, 4-up, from Reader then
'copy/b filename.ps LPT1' from command line.
I'm guessing that the normal printer workflow sequence is:
(a) exact downscaling of fonts and vector figs to fit 4-up
(b) imposition 4-up on page, (c) render entire page to bitmap
In this last step, fonts will be rendered with hinting appropriate for
their new smaller size.
Whereas the 'as image' workflow, may have the weaker steps:
(a) render single page to bitmap, with hinting at original font size,
(b) bitmap rescaling -> jaggies in figs and poor hinting, (c) 4-up..
Well the thread did say OT ;)
William Sommerwerck
> that extra complexity to choke the printer.
I suggested as much. The rendering engine has to render four pages, rather
than one.
However, as I said, the problem occurred with one manual. It has not
occurred with any of the other manuals.