Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of  
the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also  
more generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and  
printer B, if A is described as having standard postscript support,  
while B, under printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's  
nothing about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer  
for the department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we  
ask for the more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Rich Shepard]

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006, Bruce Pourciau wrote:


This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer B,
if A is described as having standard postscript support, while B, under
printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's nothing about
postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the department of
mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive
printer A.


Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or whatever
other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from a host,
along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer produces
(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |The Environmental Permitting
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.(TM)|Accelerator
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Paul A. Rubin]

Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the 
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more 
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer 
B, if A is described as having standard postscript support, while B, 
under printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's nothing 
about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the 
department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the 
more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce



Printers that advertise standard Postscript support typically have a 
set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the printer driver 
to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer without resorting to 
bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts there are all told, but I'm 
sure I've seen printers that advertised 35 or more Type 1 fonts in 
firmware.  The extent to which you get mileage out of the built-in fonts 
is obviously proportional to the likelihood that users employ those 
fonts in their documents.  I think you get a bit of a speed boost using 
fonts the printer has in firmware; whether the output quality is better 
may depend on printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less 
sure there is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and are not 
MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any mileage out 
of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a few non-Adobe 
fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not have installed on 
my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type 1, 
the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the 
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to handle 
that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor recognized, I 
think the driver will use a map to substitute some font it (or the 
printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print them 
on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any Postscript font 
support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or lmodern fonts, even 
when generating PDFs (although occasionally I will use pslatex, which 
might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I had embedded Type 1 fonts, 
which I don't).


/Paul

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

Thanks, Paul and Rich.

Bruce
On Aug 29, 2006, at 1:21 PM, Paul A. Rubin wrote:


Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality  
of the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files,  
but also more generally -- what would be the difference between  
printer A and printer B, if A is described as having standard  
postscript support, while B, under printer fonts, says 26  
scalable fonts but there's nothing about postscript support. We  
will be getting a new printer for the department of mathematics,  
and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive  
printer A.

Any help would be appreciated.
Bruce


Printers that advertise standard Postscript support typically  
have a set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the  
printer driver to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer  
without resorting to bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts  
there are all told, but I'm sure I've seen printers that advertised  
35 or more Type 1 fonts in firmware.  The extent to which you get  
mileage out of the built-in fonts is obviously proportional to the  
likelihood that users employ those fonts in their documents.  I  
think you get a bit of a speed boost using fonts the printer has in  
firmware; whether the output quality is better may depend on  
printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less sure there  
is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and  
are not MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any  
mileage out of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a  
few non-Adobe fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not  
have installed on my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type  
1, the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the  
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to  
handle that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor  
recognized, I think the driver will use a map to substitute some  
font it (or the printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly  
output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print  
them on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any  
Postscript font support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or  
lmodern fonts, even when generating PDFs (although occasionally I  
will use pslatex, which might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I  
had embedded Type 1 fonts, which I don't).


/Paul




Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with  
built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer  
cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or  
whatever

other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from  
a host,

along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer  
produces

(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich

Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of  
the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also  
more generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and  
printer B, if A is described as having standard postscript support,  
while B, under printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's  
nothing about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer  
for the department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we  
ask for the more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Rich Shepard]

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006, Bruce Pourciau wrote:


This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer B,
if A is described as having standard postscript support, while B, under
printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's nothing about
postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the department of
mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive
printer A.


Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or whatever
other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from a host,
along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer produces
(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |The Environmental Permitting
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.(TM)|Accelerator
http://www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Paul A. Rubin]

Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the 
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more 
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer 
B, if A is described as having standard postscript support, while B, 
under printer fonts, says 26 scalable fonts but there's nothing 
about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the 
department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the 
more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce



Printers that advertise standard Postscript support typically have a 
set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the printer driver 
to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer without resorting to 
bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts there are all told, but I'm 
sure I've seen printers that advertised 35 or more Type 1 fonts in 
firmware.  The extent to which you get mileage out of the built-in fonts 
is obviously proportional to the likelihood that users employ those 
fonts in their documents.  I think you get a bit of a speed boost using 
fonts the printer has in firmware; whether the output quality is better 
may depend on printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less 
sure there is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and are not 
MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any mileage out 
of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a few non-Adobe 
fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not have installed on 
my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type 1, 
the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the 
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to handle 
that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor recognized, I 
think the driver will use a map to substitute some font it (or the 
printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print them 
on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any Postscript font 
support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or lmodern fonts, even 
when generating PDFs (although occasionally I will use pslatex, which 
might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I had embedded Type 1 fonts, 
which I don't).


/Paul

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

Thanks, Paul and Rich.

Bruce
On Aug 29, 2006, at 1:21 PM, Paul A. Rubin wrote:


Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality  
of the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files,  
but also more generally -- what would be the difference between  
printer A and printer B, if A is described as having standard  
postscript support, while B, under printer fonts, says 26  
scalable fonts but there's nothing about postscript support. We  
will be getting a new printer for the department of mathematics,  
and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive  
printer A.

Any help would be appreciated.
Bruce


Printers that advertise standard Postscript support typically  
have a set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the  
printer driver to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer  
without resorting to bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts  
there are all told, but I'm sure I've seen printers that advertised  
35 or more Type 1 fonts in firmware.  The extent to which you get  
mileage out of the built-in fonts is obviously proportional to the  
likelihood that users employ those fonts in their documents.  I  
think you get a bit of a speed boost using fonts the printer has in  
firmware; whether the output quality is better may depend on  
printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less sure there  
is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and  
are not MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any  
mileage out of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a  
few non-Adobe fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not  
have installed on my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type  
1, the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the  
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to  
handle that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor  
recognized, I think the driver will use a map to substitute some  
font it (or the printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly  
output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print  
them on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any  
Postscript font support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or  
lmodern fonts, even when generating PDFs (although occasionally I  
will use pslatex, which might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I  
had embedded Type 1 fonts, which I don't).


/Paul




Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with  
built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer  
cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or  
whatever

other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from  
a host,

along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer  
produces

(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich

Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of  
the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also  
more generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and  
printer B, if A is described as having "standard postscript support,"  
while B, under "printer fonts," says "26 scalable fonts" but there's  
nothing about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer  
for the department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we  
ask for the more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Rich Shepard]

On Tue, 29 Aug 2006, Bruce Pourciau wrote:


This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer B,
if A is described as having "standard postscript support," while B, under
"printer fonts," says "26 scalable fonts" but there's nothing about
postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the department of
mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive
printer A.


Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or whatever
other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from a host,
along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer produces
(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich

--
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.   |The Environmental Permitting
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.(TM)|Accelerator
 Voice: 503-667-4517  Fax: 503-667-8863

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Paul A. Rubin]

Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality of the 
output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files, but also more 
generally -- what would be the difference between printer A and printer 
B, if A is described as having "standard postscript support," while B, 
under "printer fonts," says "26 scalable fonts" but there's nothing 
about postscript support. We will be getting a new printer for the 
department of mathematics, and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the 
more expensive printer A.


Any help would be appreciated.

Bruce



Printers that advertise "standard Postscript support" typically have a 
set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the printer driver 
to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer without resorting to 
bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts there are all told, but I'm 
sure I've seen printers that advertised 35 or more Type 1 fonts in 
firmware.  The extent to which you get mileage out of the built-in fonts 
is obviously proportional to the likelihood that users employ those 
fonts in their documents.  I think you get a bit of a speed boost using 
fonts the printer has in firmware; whether the output quality is better 
may depend on printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less 
sure there is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and are not 
MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any mileage out 
of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a few non-Adobe 
fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not have installed on 
my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type 1, 
the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the 
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to handle 
that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor recognized, I 
think the driver will use a map to substitute some font it (or the 
printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print them 
on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any Postscript font 
support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or lmodern fonts, even 
when generating PDFs (although occasionally I will use pslatex, which 
might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I had embedded Type 1 fonts, 
which I don't).


/Paul

Re: Postscript Printer Question

[Bruce Pourciau]

Thanks, Paul and Rich.

Bruce
On Aug 29, 2006, at 1:21 PM, Paul A. Rubin wrote:


Bruce Pourciau wrote:
This is a LaTeX rather than LyX question. Concerning the quality  
of the output -- specifically for printing LaTeX and eps files,  
but also more generally -- what would be the difference between  
printer A and printer B, if A is described as having "standard  
postscript support," while B, under "printer fonts," says "26  
scalable fonts" but there's nothing about postscript support. We  
will be getting a new printer for the department of mathematics,  
and we'll need good reasons if we ask for the more expensive  
printer A.

Any help would be appreciated.
Bruce


Printers that advertise "standard Postscript support" typically  
have a set of Type 1 Adobe fonts in firmware.  That allows the  
printer driver to print glyphs from those fonts on the printer  
without resorting to bitmaps.  I'm not sure how many Type 1 fonts  
there are all told, but I'm sure I've seen printers that advertised  
35 or more Type 1 fonts in firmware.  The extent to which you get  
mileage out of the built-in fonts is obviously proportional to the  
likelihood that users employ those fonts in their documents.  I  
think you get a bit of a speed boost using fonts the printer has in  
firmware; whether the output quality is better may depend on  
printer resolution and some other factors, so I'm less sure there  
is an advantage there.


If printer B has 26 scalable fonts that are not Adobe fonts (and  
are not MS TrueType fonts), then my guess is that you won't get any  
mileage out of them.  I've seen printers once or twice that had a  
few non-Adobe fonts, but they were fonts I never used (and did not  
have installed on my PCs).


For either printer, if a font is encountered that is not Adobe Type  
1, the used glyphs from that font will probably be embedded in the  
document, and I think the driver for either should be able to  
handle that.  If a font is neither embedded in the document nor  
recognized, I think the driver will use a map to substitute some  
font it (or the printer) knows, and that can produce some butt-ugly  
output.


For what it's worth, I turn all my LyX output into PDFs and print  
them on an HP multifunction ink-jet that does not contain any  
Postscript font support whatsoever.  I also tend to use the ae or  
lmodern fonts, even when generating PDFs (although occasionally I  
will use pslatex, which might match the embedded Type 1 fonts if I  
had embedded Type 1 fonts, which I don't).


/Paul




Bruce,

  Probably no difference whatsoever. Most printers do not come with  
built-in
postscript engines because the licensing fee increases the printer  
cost and
most folks (i.e., Microserfs) couldn't care less. So, CUPS (or  
whatever

other printing system you're using nowadays) passes the test through
ghostscipt and sends the output to your printer.

  Fonts included with the printer do not need to be downloaded from  
a host,

along with the document. But, you can use whatever typefaces your
application supports and the output will be as high as the printer  
produces

(as long as you have it configured that way).

Rich