Re: My Document is Too Big to Print! Need Suggestions for Printer,Please

Subject: Re: My Document is Too Big to Print! Need Suggestions for Printer,Please
From: Roger Mallett <roger -at- CSICAL -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1998 16:06:57 -0700

A 250 page document with 150 screen shots (total size approaching 6
meg), really isn't that bad.

With respect to the *Freezing* problem, sounds like your local system
may be acting as the print spooler. If the printer is connected
directly to your machine, get a spooler between you and the printer or
your machine will forever freeze on the doc. You may also want to
ensure the "Application Performance" setting on your machine is set for
"Maximum" for the foreground application, and switch to another app to
continue working (but this will have no effect if your machine is the
spooler).

As far as the long time that is takes to print, I have two questions:
1) how much memory does your printer have? (if you didn't upgrade you
may need to, as more printer memory, means faster spooling/printing),
and 2) are you using a postscript driver? (I realize you mentioned using
an HP 5M, but I ask this just in case that was shorthand for a 5MP
(which can use postscript, and postscript really slows down the print
process)).

Also, if your machine is acting as the spooler, and others are printing
to your printer through the network, you will get hopelessly bogged down
even when you aren't printing but somebody else is. (I know, my setup
is very similar to that you describe, and as long as my local machine
was the spooler, my machine was bogged down, so I sluffed off the
printer to some other unsuspecting joe.)

I hope these comments help.


---------------------
Roger Mallett
Control Systems International

>----------
>From: Linda Castellani[SMTP:linda -at- GRIC -dot- COM]
>Sent: Thursday, August 13, 1998 2:35 PM
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>Subject: My Document is Too Big to Print! Need Suggestions for
>Printer,Please
>
>
>I have a Word 97 document that is 250 pages long and growing daily. It
>has
>about 150 screen shots (optimized; each is about 110K), one gif, and
>about
>a dozen Visio graphics. It's 5.83MB today.
>
>I have a Pentium II machine with MMX technology, 6.1GB drive, 128 MB
>RAM.
>This is a high-end machine, fully upgraded.
>
>When I try to send my document to our LaserJet 5M, the Word dialog
>shows
>that it's sending pages to the printer; at about 81 pages everything
>freezes and I have to reboot. If I try it again, with only Word
>running,
>the same thing happens. I can only print if I send batches of 25 pages
>at
>a time to the printer.
>
>Since the document has lots of graphics, I get a lot of requests for
>color
>versions, but if I send it to the color printer, I have to send it in
>small
>batches, too, and it takes 5 hours to print if no one jumps in ahead of
>me,
>and the only way I can do it is to send my little batches just before I
>leave for the day and hope that nobody clears the printer queue before
>I
>come back again in the morning.
>
>Needless to say, neither of these scenarios is acceptable and I have
>more
>important things to do than tend a printer. So, we got a quote from
>the
>local Kinko's/Office Max which came back at $2700 for 20 copies. This
>is
>also unacceptable. I figure that, for $2700, we might as well invest
>in a
>high-speed color printer for ourselves.
>
>So, I'm wondering: does anybody have a high-speed color printer that
>they
>are happy with, that can handle paper docs as well as transparencies
>with
>good quality and fast?
>
>P.S. The first thing I explored was more memory for the printers, but
>found out that the color printer already has 32MB, which should be
>enough
>for a 6MB document, shouldn't it?!
>
>
>
>==========================
>Linda Castellani
>Technical Writer
>GRIC Communications, Inc.
>1421 McCarthy Blvd.
>Milpitas, CA 95035
>
>408.965.1169
>408.955.1968 - fax
>
>linda -at- gric -dot- com
><http://www.gric.com>
>
>
>========================================================================
>===
>
>
>


From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=



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