On 21/08/2020 08:21, Mark Rogers wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 17:59, steve-ALUG@hst.me.uk wrote:
YMMV of course. It depends where your printer is and how it is connected to your network.
Fair point, i should have started with that!
All my printers (2 at work, 2 at home currently, but all the ones that have been in their places before them for as far back as I can remember) have been direct network (cabled), ie my PC/laptop is talking to the IP of the printer directly without an intermediate Linux or Windows box.
What is the best way to see "inside" the printing process and see what is taking the time?
Not sure. Is Cups installed? I would expect it is. Try web-browsing to 127.0.0.1:631. Check printers. See which printer driver you have installed. Click on one of the print queues, click "show all jobs" - if this shows print jobs it confirms that printing is going via cups. Click back on "Show Active Jobs" to switch back to normal view.
I'd suggest looking at cups configuration info (config files?), looking at printer settings in cups's web interface and looking at Linux's printer settings in whichever flavour of Linux you have
e.g. sudo system-config-printer on gnome based distros e.g. *buntu.
Based only on the times taken, it *feels* like Windows is sending printing commands (eg PCL or something bespoke to the printer via the Windows printer driver) whereas the Linux box is turning everything into a high DPI bitmap and then trying to manage that - ie one is sending vastly more "data" to the printer than the other for the same desired outcome.
Try a different printer driver too. Is there one on the manufacturer's website? Also, sometimes there is more than one printer driver that works with a specific printer.
I'm sure a bit of judicious googling with "Slow Printing Linux PRINTER NAME" or "Linux Printer Driver PRINTER NAME" I'm sure there's lots of info out there about fixing Linux printer problems.
That's about all I can suggest. Good luck.
Steve