root@raider.raidernet.com (Bob Reineri) (11/06/90)
I sure hope someone out there can help. We are running and HP Vectra ES-12 (286/12) machine with 1 mb of memory using Windows 3.0 and WfW 1.1. The printer is a Hewlett Packard Paintjet. The problem is that printing is so slow as to be unbearable. It takes 20 minutes to print a two page document. This is completely unacceptable to our controller, whom I recommended this setup to (Of course, I can always use it to update my resume) :-) The problem as I perceive it is that the printer is in graphics mode all the time, using Windows generated fonts, ie, the printhead makes multiple passes to print a single line of text, like a bitmap or something would do. I can not get it to use the printers built in fonts, which are considerably faster - Microsoft Word for DOS runs just fine, and prints acceptably. It also prints a complete line of text at a time. So I guess what I'm saying is that I need Windows to use the printers built in fonts. BUT IT WON'T!! They don't even appear in the fonts box. Yet my Epson LQ2500's built in fonts work just fine. Why not the PaintJet's ? Other things I have tried: * Turning off print manager. Some help, but almost unnoticable. * Attached printer to a 386/25 with 4 mb of RAM. No big difference. I tried the Microsoft support line, but they were of little or no help. They told me to "add more memory" to my Paintjet. The Paintjet doesn't accept any memory - the poor silly fool was obviously confusing it with a LaserJet. (Sadly, this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened.) Sheez. How exasperating, after a 20 minute "hold". Fine product, lousy support. But I digress. At this point, I'm willing to try anything. In desperation, I ordered up a 256k print buffer for this setup. It may work, but I don't really think so. Management is at the point of considering other software. I'd prefer to build on a Windows base, but so far we haven't made much of a showing. Any help, suggestions, or tranquilizers appreciated. [Microsoft, are you listening ? Why not have some guru call me and let's get this thing fixed and move ahead...] Bob Daytime Phone (615) 849-4390 direct. -- * RaiderNet Public Access *Middle Tenn's Unix Gateway* Murfreesboro, TN * * Data:(615)896-8716 896-7905 Voice:(615)849-4390 Mail:PO Box 2371 Zip 37133 * * Domain: root@raider.RAIDERNET.COM UUCP: uunet!mjbtn!raider!root HAM: AB4SU * * Shell Accounts, Mail/USENET UUCP Links Available -- Send Mail for Details *
bmp@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Brian Perkin) (11/13/90)
Here's a couple of ideas. Don't take them as an official HP response... 1. Are you running in real mode? I found that using my PaintJet in real mode was slower than watching paint dry. It appears that the PaintJet 3.0 driver (written by a third party and supplied through HP to Microsoft) was written based on some bad assumptions about memory. Moving to Standard mode for you may help. I found a big difference when I moved out of real mode to enhanced on my 386. 2. PaintJets have only about 3 built in fonts, none really compatible with windows, forcing windows to do the best it can. PaintJet built-in fonts are fixed pitch only, not exactly the default for Windows 3.0 apps. PaintJet XL's are much more flexible in memory and font's but I don't have the space or money for one. I use HP PaintJet SoftFonts for Windows and configure them via the control panel. The PaintJet doesn't really have room for many, but the quality seems better than what Windows can do by itself. The softfonts package contains Tms Rmn and Helv, both proportional fonts designed to use the 180 dot per inch resolution of the PaintJet. Brian Perkin From the NewWave division, not the PaintJet division nor the Font division.