[Mac OS X TeX] TeXShop PDF Printing

[William Adams]

Zachary said:
>...I'm assuming you're talking
>about the memory of the printer itself, because it seems with 1.1GB of
>physical RAM that I have installed that a print driver (software)
should
>be able to utilize enough of that memory to print it correctly.

Sort of, it's the amount of memory the printer driver troubles to
access---when last I looked at HP inkjet drivers, they had to accept
Windows GDI calls from the printer subsystem of Windows, then convert
that into PCL(probably 3 here)---said conversion includes making PCL
bitmap fonts of all the fonts used, then the converted PCL commands
(which are native to the printer) are sent down to it. Not sure if the
driver is running out of memory making the fonts and sending incomplete
ones, or if the printer is running out of memory in storing
them---likely the former 'cause the latter usually causes an error
message on the printer.

TeX documents unfortunately use more fonts than is typical, so stress
this conversion.

>So,
>alternatively a new printer might be able to handle the output better?

Only if it has a better written printer driver, or is able to sidestep
the problem 'cause it uses the native (PostScript / PDF) datastream, or
rasterizes all the characters as bitmaps (I believe Epson printers do
this).

>I just don't see the point of using TeX only
>to have the printed output quality compromised.

Is the output off your desktop printer the final result or just for
proofing?

GhostScript is a good (and free) alternative here.

William

--
William Adams, publishing specialist
ATLIS Graphics & Design / 717-731-6707 voice / 717-731-6708 fax
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
http://www.atlis.com



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