dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (03/16/89)
A couple of weeks ago, I received notice of an updated version of
DataPak's software driver for the HP DeskJet. I ordered the upgrade
(roughly $25), and received it yesterday. After playing with the new
version for a couple of hours, I've decided that my $25 was well-spent.
The Good:
* The driver now supports landscape mode. It can print graphics and
Mac fonts, or Courier characters using the "Landscape K" cartridge,
but not both on the same page... this is apparently a limitation of
the printer, rather than of the driver. I reformatted a two-page
WriteNow document into a one-page, two-column landscape format with
very little difficulty; it looks quite good.
* The driver now supports several different HP character sets (e.g.
Legal, Roman, ASCII) when using the HP fonts; you can select the
character set to use in the Print... options dialog box. The driver
will now support the TmsRmn and Helv multi-point ASCII cartridges.
* Performance has definitely improved. A one-page test printout,
mixing graphics and Mac fonts in high-quality (300 DPI) mode, printed
in 5:14 with the new driver, and required 5:48 with the old version.
This works out to be about a 10% speedup, and brings the DataPak
driver's performance up to within about 5% of the Grappler LS [based
on this one sample].
* Compatibility has reportedly been improved; the driver now works
with Hypercard and with Microsoft products. It now provides a
PrGeneral trap interface, and supports low-level text streaming, for
those applications that use these interfaces.
* The Page Setup... and Print... dialog boxes have been completely
redesigned. They've been changed from the large, rectangular boxes
to flatter and wider boxes that closely match the ImageWriter and
LaserWriter dialogs; this increases compatibility with applications
such as WriteNow, which increase the height of these dialogs and add
some new buttons.
* A separate "Printer setup" application is no longer required. The
baud-rate and software/hardware handshaking configuration are now
specified in an options box accessible from the Print... dialog box.
* The old version of the driver had unequal top-of-page and
bottom-of-page placement (i.e., the page image wasn't centered
vertically). The new driver fixes this cosmetic glitch; output now
appears about 1/2" lower on the printed page.
* The manual is much improved!
The Bad:
* The new version of the driver bangs heads with GateKeeper. Whenever
the driver is closed, it installs the current versions of its page
setup and comm. configuration into the DRVR resource in the driver
file. This triggers a GateKeeper warning/veto, as it appears that
the application doing the printing is attempting to modify the DRVR.
I've spoken with the folks at DataPak about this, and have
recommended that they arrange to store the configuration information
in a private PREC resource (as Apple drivers do) rather than in the
DRVR itself. A workaround for the problem does exist... write me
email if you're affected.
The Ugly:
* Although variable-size page reduction is available via the Page
Setup... dialog, the driver does not "tweak" the page-size
correspondingly, as the LaserWriter driver does. This makes the
size-reduction feature less useful than it would otherwise be.
* DataPak does not include any fonts with the driver; you must
purchase or acquire large-point-size font bitmaps from other sources
in order to get high-quality output at 300 DPI. DataPak does not
include screen fonts that match the pitch and width of the built-in
or cartridge fonts for the printer (Courier, TmsRmn, and Helv); this
makes it difficult to use the HP fonts in a really accurate WYSIWYG
mode.
Most of the other vendors of DeskJet-compatible drivers (Orange
Micro, GDT SoftWorks) do provide outline fonts and/or screen fonts
that match the HP font metrics. DataPak's tech-support rep told me
that DataPak wishes their driver to be "transparent", in the sense
that it will work with any Mac screen font, and does not require the
installation of DataPak-supplied fonts to work properly. It's a nice
sentiment, but I feel that it really _is_ necessary to install
additional fonts (or font sizes) on the Mac in order to get the best
performance out of the DeskJet; it'd be nice if DataPak made this
process a trifle easier.
Summary:
I was reasonably happy with the DataPak driver in its original form, and
am quite happy with the new version (based on a couple of hours' work
with it). I do plan to do some font-hacking, and see if I can figure
out a way to create HP-flavored clones of the Courier and Times screen
fonts.
--
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