On 16-Feb-06 Barry Samuels wrote:
I want to get a colour laser printer but find the offerings rather confusing. Can anyone recommend one to work with Linux from experience?
I want it to be capable of producing good prints from digital photographic images as well as general documents.
I know that any Postscript printer should work with Linux but I remember seeing someone on ALUG say don't get one which uses Postscript as a layer over the printer's native language because it makes printing slow.
A number of printers describe 'Postscript emulation' or 'Postscript simulation' - is there any difference? Are these the slow ones? Very often it is not clear whether a particular printer is true Postscript or not.
What would I have to spend to get a true Postscript printer? Which ones should I avoid?
Can't comment on possible recommendations, but regarding "PostScript emulation" etc., there is a possible issue with the fact that Adobe are the proprietors of PostScript (even though it is an open standard). There are two layers to any PostScript printer: the interpreter and the renderer. The interpreter does what it says: interprets the PostScript language. The renderer is the engine which converts the interpreted language into marks on the page. "PostScript emulation" means using an interpreter which was not supplied by Adobe. On the other hand, whether or not a printer uses its "native language" as a layer underneath PostScript is a matter of implementation of the renderer. Nothing stops a printer manufacturer writing their own interpreter and building a renderer underneath that which does not use the "native language", but writes directly to the laser drum.
Adobe are also proprietors of the "Standard Adobe PS fonts" which are assumed to be available in minimal PS output (Times, Bookman, Helvetica, Palatino families etc.), and printer manufacturers often embed their own fonts with "aliases" to the Adobe font names. This can lead to unwanted effects, depending in particular on whether the font metrics match Adobe's (ghostscript fonts don't quite ... ).
However, being a firm believer myself in "true PostScript" I'm prepared to pay that bit extra to get it!
Best wishes, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 16-Feb-06 Time: 12:25:43 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------