At Cornell we have an exponentially increasing number of PDF documents being used in courses. Nationally, even the US government is using PDF. Whether or not you like the idea of the entire world becoming totally dependent on a proprietary document format, it's a done deal.
Although only a small percentage of PDF files cause printing problems (eg. "Offending command" errors, printer hangs, gibberish), this is out of an ever-increasing total, and it's starting to be a real problem. The list of steps in the process is instructive: The application which produces the original document Adobe distiller Adobe reader The print driver and operating system The language interpreter on the printer At any of these steps, problems can be introduced by incompatible software versions, selection of incompatible options, changes in standards, etc. Adobe, the Microsoft of the printing world, offers the following helpful information: http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/20aca.htm They have a point. They also have everyone over a barrel. That's why I'm going to be looking for manufacturers which offer licensed Adobe PostScript next time I buy printers. Meanwhile, I've been doing some experimentation and have discovered one possibly useful fact. Apparently, the Windows print driver API has a feature which, under certain circumstances, allows applications to pass PostScript through the driver. In the case of a Lexmark printer, for example, Acrobat Reader could pass whatever PostScript code fits today's Adobe standard through the Lexmark driver to the Lexmark printer's poor, unsuspecting "PostScript emulation" engine, thus causing it to hang, error, or hurl. However, hidden in the Lexmark driver's maze of "properties" (under the "PostScript" tab) is the "Disable PostScript Passthrough" option. Using this option, together with the "Send as ASCII85" (instead of "Send as Tagged Binary") option, causes all of the documents I have tested so far to print properly - and with better quality than when using the Acrobat Reader "Print as Image" option. Another alternative is to use Lexmark's PCL driver (no "PostScript Passthrough" possible), but I would really like to stick to PostScript. In fact, my application requires it. As for HP, it looks like their PostScript driver simply doesn't allow "PostScript Passthrough". This is actually more useful since the Lexmark "Disable" and "ASCII85" options are off by default. On a W2K machine, these options seem to be "per user" options, thus making coherent administration impossible. But that's Windows for you. Comments and suggestions welcome. -Rick -- |Rick Cochran phone: 607-255-7618| |Cornell CIT - Systems & Operations - Net-Print FAX: 607-255-8521| |730 Rhodes Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- YOU MUST BE A LIST MEMBER IN ORDER TO POST TO THE LPRNG MAILING LIST The address you post from MUST be your subscription address If you need help, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (or lprng-requests or lprng-digest-requests) with the word 'help' in the body. For the impatient, to subscribe to a list with name LIST, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with: | example: subscribe LIST <mailaddr> | subscribe lprng-digest [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe LIST <mailaddr> | unsubscribe lprng [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have major problems, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word LPRNGLIST in the SUBJECT line. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
