Star Micronics 4000 Printing with WinType, Windows Direct GDI mode, PostScript mode, PCL mode

Chapter 4 Printing with WinType 4000

The WinType 4000 printer driver has three print modes from which you can choose. They are the Windows Direct (GDI), PostScript and PCL modes. These three printing modes can be easily selected to meet your specific printing requirements. This chapter explains these different print modes and how you can select and use them.

Windows Direct (GDI) mode

The Windows Direct (GDI) mode uses the processing power of your computer to print in the Windows operating environment. It provides fast WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) printing output which is twice as fast as standard printers under most Windows applications.

Windows Direct (GDI) mode takes advantage of Windows own internal design to pro- duce documents faster than most conventional printers. Other printers require Windows to translate a document into a special printer language, such as PCL on LaserJet printers. Windows Direct (GDI) mode reduces printing time by eliminating this translation step before starting to print. This mode also includes some additional useful features, such as duplex printing.

Windows Direct (GDI) mode works well for most software packages. However, certain applications and certain graphics files will look more polished when printed using a more sophisticated printer language, like PostScript. Also, Windows Direct (GDI) mode uses Windows functionality which is not available when running non-Windows applica- tions. For these reasons, the WinType 4000 includes PostScript and PCL emulation modes. We'll explain how to select these modes later.

PostScript mode

PostScript mode printing gives you the ability to print high quality and sophisticated documents in Windows and DOS applications within the Windows environment.

PostScript mode is good for printing files with sophisticated embedded graphic images. Because Windows may not always display graphic intensive files accurately, try printing those files with the PostScript mode. The WinType software supports additional PostScript-compatible Type1 software fonts such as Adobe's Type Manager (ATM).

PCL mode

The printer duplicates the functionality of Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP with some mi- nor exceptions. PCL emulation gives you the ability to print from a DOS application running within Windows and from the MS-DOS command line within Windows.

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