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PRINTING SPEED
Tips for increasing printing speed in New Deal
software
Graphics Printing
New Deal software normally prints in graphics mode. That is,
it sends all output to the printer in the form of ones and zeroes
(bits), each corresponding to a black or white dot on the page.
Laser printers generally print at 300 dots per inch (300 dpi),
so this is a lot of dots! A page may require 8 million bits of
data.
More conventional programs print in text mode. They send one number
to specify each character (65 for "A," 66 for "B,"
etc.). The printer then uses its built-in character set to
figure out how to paint the character on the page. So in text
mode, the computer sends just one number, taking up 8 bits of
data, which tells the printer to print dozens or even hundreds
of dots. A page sent this way typically requires transmitting
just 32,000 bits.
Therefore, New Deal's graphics-mode printing can
be considerably slower than more conventional text-mode printing.
A single NewWrite page printed in high quality mode, can take
from 2 to 30 minutes to print, depending on the speed of the printer
(8 MHz is a slow printer, 16 MHz is fast), the speed of the computer,
and other factors.
The advantage, of course, is that since New Deal software takes
complete charge of "painting" the whole page, you are
not limited to the printer's built-in fonts (or added font
cartridges). You can choose from all different sizes, orientations,
and patterns. You can combine text and graphics. You can get printouts
that look exactly like the screen.
Print Quality in New Deal software
In recent versions, New Deal has increased print resolutions for
most supported
printers, compared to older versions of the software. For many printers,
the High Quality resolution in earlier
versions was approxiimately 150 dpi (dots per inch), while in
New Deal Office, Schoolsuite and other products, the High Quality
resolution is closer to 300
dpi. Because you're getting better print quality, printing will take
longer because more information is being
sent to the printer. Try printing in Medium Quality mode -- it will
print faster, and the print quality may be adequate for you.
Text Mode
Sometimes you may just want a printout of your text, and may not
want to wait for something snazzier. To get a fast printout of
your document, use the "text mode only" option. This
simply dumps the characters in your document to the printer, more
like a conventional word processor. Choose "text mode only,"
in the Printer Control box that appears when you print a document.
Text mode is not an option in NewDraw.
Spacing may come out strangely on printouts using text-mode
only. If it does, change your document to the font URW Mono. This
is a non-proportionally spaced font (that is, small letters
like "i" take up the same amount of space as large letters
like "m") that is most similar to the Courier font that
is often the default built-in font on printers.
Laser Printers
The "HP PCL Download Font Driver" will actually try
to download accurate representations of your document's multi-size
fonts to the printer, using HP's "Printer Control Language"
(PCL), when you select text mode only. This gives you nice-looking
documents and fast printing from HP-compatible laser printers.
RAM on Laser Printers
In order to print the most complex document you can design in
New Deal software you will need 1.5 megabytes of RAM on the printer
itself. The amount of RAM on the printer will not affect the speed
of the print job -- it will only affect the
size and complexity of the document you can print. Keep in mind
that some models of laser printers, such as the HP LaserJet III,
come with one megabyte of RAM on the printer, but 300K of that one
megabyte is used by the printer itself for processing. Therefore,
only 700K is available for printing and
that may not be enough to print more complex documents.
Other Tips for Speeding Up Printing
- Always print from a parallel port. Printing on a parallel
(LPT) port is several times faster than printing over a serial
(COM) port.
- Have several megabytes of space free on your hard drive, if
possible. New Deal software spools everything to be printed onto
the hard drive, and hard disk access is considerably faster if
there are at least a few megabytes free.
- Don't work on other things while a document is printing. There
is a lot of background processing going on while your New Deal
software prints, and it can go much faster if you are not trying to
run some application in the foreground.
- Use interrupt-driven parallel port interface. Double
click on Preferences, click on Computer, and look at how the LPT
port you are using is set. For most efficient printing, LPT1:
should be set to 7. LPT2: works fastest set to 5. The BIOS setting
is about 8% slower than 5 or 7, and the DOS setting is slower
still. However, the BIOS setting may be needed to prevent spurious
"Printer off-line" errors, and DOS may be needed
on some networks. Choose the fastest setting that works.
- Avoid rotated or re-sized bitmaps in your documents.
If you've got a logo that you've scanned in and then re-sized,
for example, your document printing can slow down considerably.
The best solutions would be 1) try to re-create the logo
in NewDraw instead of scanning it in, 2) scan it in from an original
that is the correct size and orientation, or 3) print all but
the final copies of your document in text mode only.
Font Cartridges, Third-Party Download Fonts,
and Other Add-On Fonts
New Deal software does not support add-on font cartridges
or third-party download fonts. You may add fonts to your New Deal
software itself, however. New Deal has several font
packs available (call our sales lines), and several
other manufacturers (Zsoft, MicroLogic) sell fonts compatible
with New Deal software. At this time, the lowest-price fonts
we know of for New Deal software are those sold directly by New
Deal.
The Best Speed Solution: PostScript
PostScript printers have a computer on board the printer that
does the hard work of turning a page description into a pattern
of black and white dots. They will print from New Deal software up to five
or ten times faster than a standard laser printer.
Unfortunately, PostScript printers cost quite a bit more than
standard laser printers. Add-on PostScript cartridges are
available for many laser printers for several hundred dollars,
and as with most electronics, prices are coming down. If you are
doing a lot of printing, or are sharing a laser printer over a
network, we highly recommend adding PostScript capability.
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