PostScript vs PCL drivers

[Al]

Hi all,

We have a HP LaserJet 4050N. It comes with 3 drivers -- PS, PCL5 and PCL6.
Why don't I just use one of them, say, PS. Why would I need PCL???

Thanks. Al

[Bill Somerville]

In most cases, you can use just one of them, but I've found that each driver
has a different set of bugs, so if you have printing problems with, say,
PCL6, you might get PCL5 to work OK in a particular situation.

Also, some drivers know more (or less) about the features of your printer,
so that while PCL5 may work better, PCL6 knows more about your printer.

In the end, though, I've generally found that PS works best on my 8100DN.

-- Bill

"Al" <Remove...@home.com.Remove> wrote in message
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[eddie_b...@my-deja.com]

PCL ought to be faster (perhaps not always, but most of the time).

The PS driver will do certain things for you that the PCL driver won't.
Here are 3 examples. Pagemaker 5 with imported encapsulated postscript
illustrations with previews will print the preview, not the hi-res
illustration when not using the PS driver. CorelDRAW 5 has "postscript
fills". These don't print without a PS driver. (Later versions of Corel
DRAW print these fills with the PCL driver). Using the PS driver will
produce the same page layout on different PS printers / imagesetters
etc. The PCL driver won't. You will find other issues for yourself.

The speed issue is less significant with faster PCs, and faster printers
with plenty of RAM.

Sent via Deja.com
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[v2pa...@hotmail.com]

I have a Lexmark Optra R+ with 4 MB of RAM and Parallel Port connection to
my Windows 2000 Athlon 750. I was wondering if I should be using the PS
drivers or the PCL5 drivers?

--
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