Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!pogo!richk
From: richk@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Richard G. Knowles)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Host software alternatives to PS engines?
Message-ID: <6016@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM>
Date: 22 Sep 88 21:21:25 GMT
References:  <599@sering.cwi.nl> <1687@osiris.UUCP>
Reply-To: richk@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Richard G. Knowles)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville,  OR.
Lines: 32

In article <1687@osiris.UUCP> phil@osiris.UUCP (Philip Kos) writes:
> ...
>I thought for awhile about the differences between doing the PostScript
>interpretation in the printer (as in an Apple LaserWriter) and doing it in
>your PC or whatever, and here are some observations I came up with.  I'm
>curious as to whether anyone at all will agree with me.  ;-)
> ...
>+ Putting the PS engine inside the host computer pretty much forces it (for
>  reasons of simplicity if nothing else) to get its input (small) from the
>  system bus (high-speed) and send its output (large) out a system I/O port
>  (low-speed).  Can you say "bottle-neck"?

Please note that the print engine itself is almost always the "bottle-neck"
and that the "low-speed" system I/O port will always have enough bandwidth to
stay up with or ahead of the print engine (else it would cause printing
artifacts due to the starting and stopping of the print engine).

Of the various PostScript(R) printers we have around here, most cannot even
keep up with the "small" input stream coming in at 9600 baud.

My observations are that the physical/logical separation of the interpreter
and the engine make little difference in the efficiency of the overall
printing operation, but make have an impact on maintainability and
reliability (with pluses and minuses both ways).

------------------------------------------------------------------
         Whatever I say is my fault and no one elses!

Richard G. Knowles                        tektronix!pogo!richk
Graphics Printing and Imaging                       or
Tektronix, Inc; D/S 63-356                richk@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM   
Wilsonville, Or 97070                        (503) 685-3860