[Info-vax] printing from VMS

[Jan-Erik Söderholm]

Den 2021-03-01 kl. 13:01, skrev Phillip Helbig (undress to reply):
> In the old days, I set up TCPIP print queues and could print text and
> PostScript files by just using the VMS PRINT command.  Of course, the
> printer had to be able to interpret PostScript.
> 
> But that was a quarter of a century ago.
> 
> These days, people print probably mostly PDF.  Presumably most printers
> will print a text file.  What about PDF?  Is that done by the printer or
> is there some sort of driver installed on the printing device?
> 
> My wife has a Canon Pixma printer.  Not a laser printer, I guess bubble
> jet or whatever.  However, it's not working at the moment and we'll
> probably buy a new printer if we can't get it fixed cheaply.  It's
> probably worth it to go for a laser printer---more expensive (but
> probably cheap enough by today's standards) but less cost per page, so
> we'll hit break-even in a reasonable time.
> 
> It would be nice to print to that from VMS.  What can I expect to work
> if I set up a queue pointing to the IP address?  Text?  PostScript?
> PDF?  Nothing?
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Ideally, such a printer would work well from VMS and various Apple
> deviceds (iPad, MacBook, iPhone).
> 
> I also have a black-and-white |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| laser printer from about
> 1990 or so.  I don't know if it is worth it to try to get it set up
> (I've never used it).
> 

Check the specifications for whatever printer you are looking at.
Most printouts today in general are done from a Windows PCs and the
driver installed takes care of everything relating to the printer.

I think some newer printers can interpret PDF directly. Some might
undersand "raw" PS, but it is very uncommon that a user has PS files.