Re: Epson 780 brutally slow

[Bob Meyer <bobm_epson@yahoo.com>]

--- Michael Greer <mgreer316@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> I've read many different opinions on what's wrong.
> Some seem plausible, others
> are flat wrong.  When a print job
> is initiated by a host application (i.e. Picture
> Window), the Epson driver 
> first renders (according to your driver settings)
> and spools the entire image
> to a default location on your hard drive. Once this
> spooling is done, the host
> application is out of the picture. 

Given your comments about wrong answers, this is
amusing.  Whether the driver completely spools the job
to disk first, or not, depends on the Windows spool
settings.  If the printer properties is set to "Print
directly to printer", no spooling takes place.  The
computer renders the image as it is sent to the
printer.  In this case a slow computer can make a huge
difference.

If spool setting is set to "Start Printing after first
page is spooled," the spool process and the transfer
of data to the printer occur simultaneously.  Again,
this will tax a slow computer.

Either of the above settings could be responsible for
making the printer wait for data from the computer.

Only if spooling is set to "Start Printing after last
page is spooled" is the CPU more or less out of the
picture during printing.  I say "more or less",
because the cpu still controls the transfer of data
from the hard disk to the parallel port, but I agree
that's not likely to be the problem.

> From your post,
> I'm assuming that this spool
> time is not the problem. The problem comes into play
> when the printer first
> starts printing. A "slow" computer is not going to
> make the kind of huge
> differences in print times that you are seeing in my
> opinion. The issue is
> whether the computer/connection can keep feeding the
> print image data at a rate
> that doesn't cause the printer to enter wait states
> (times when the printer is
> waiting for enough data to print a new line). 

Exactly.  And trying to print and spool at the same
time, or print without spooling, can be slow enough to
case these waits.

That's why I suggested he check his spool settings. 
And in none of his repsonses does he indicate he
checked them.

=====
Bob Meyer
Don't ask me why I sing this song, everything you think you know is wrong...

http://www.meyerweb.net/epson

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