Slow Printing

[GeckoNZ]

I have a PII 350, 196Mb Mem running Red Hat 7.2 with an HP LaserJet 6 connected to the Parallel port, and using standard LPD.

It runs horribly slow. Even the ASCII text test page takes around 30 seconds. The data light on the printer starts flashing soon after I send the print job but it takes forever to produce the printed page.

The same printer and cable, when connected to a Windows box runs perfectly. The linux hardware was also previously a windows box and worked perfectly. So I don't think I have any hardware issues.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks

 

[cyoung]

The problem is not the server, but actually the printer. Since all *nix variants use PostScript as the native language for printing, the time slowdown is in the HP printers PS RIP process.

Are you printing from an application in Linux, or using the printer for other workstations?

If you are using the printer for other workstations, make sure that you are not using any filtering on the Linux box.

 

[pcunix]

All Unixes do NOT use Postscript as their native language for printing.

That's completely wrong, although it may contain the germ of a clue.


A Laserjet 6 is not (afaik) a Postscript capable printer. If you are printing PS, you must be converting it with GS, and THAT could be a cause for slowness.

How about just cat sometextfile > /dev/lp0 ? Does that take a long time?

Regardless of your Windows printing, you may in fact have a hardware prblem just the same- the Linux may not be seeing interrupts, which may force it into a "I'll just wait a good long time to make sure my character printed mode". I;m not sure the RH pa driver does that, but that's certainly something that other Unix pa drivers do.

Tony Lawrence
SCO Unix/Linux Resources

http://pcunix.com

tony@pcunix.com

 

[mrregan]

Hi,
I think your printer is waiting to see if there is any more data for the page, then using a default time out to determine that the page must be done. If this is true, you can prove it by sending another page or multiple page documents. Only the last page will take longer.

 

[pcunix]

mrregan's point is valid with some printers, but I'm not sure it is with a Laserjet 6 (it certainly isn't with my 6L here).

*Some* printers will automatically print after a timeout, and with some you can control that timeout with a front panel setting etc.

Other printers will sit forever waiting for a CTRL-L or an ESC-E to tell it to print the page. Tony Lawrence
SCO Unix/Linux Resources

http://pcunix.com

tony@pcunix.com