View Single Post
  #14  
Old February 8th 16, 02:59 AM posted to comp.periphs.printers
David H. Lipman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 408
Default USB file formats for HP and Epson

From: "Dave Boland"

On 02/06/2016 05:55 PM, David H. Lipman wrote:
From: "Dave Boland"

As a follow-up to my problem testing printers, I tried things again.
The files were re-created and put on an msdos flash drive. When the
usb drive is placed in the slot of the 8610 (or Epson WE-3640), the
devices recognize the number of files on the drive, but claim they are
corrupt and won't print them. The sales person tried the drive on two
different computers, and the files were fine. Any ideas?

Dave,


There is no such thing as a "MS-DOS Flash Drive". In fact they did not
exist when MS-DOS ( Microsoft ). PC-DOS ( IBM ) or DR-DOS ( Digital
Research ) were the Disk Operating Systems. You mean FAT16 or FAT32
Formatted drives. That goes to what I wrote on 2/4/'16 that some
printers require a FAT formatted devices and won't accept a NTFS
formatted device.

You are going about the problem from the wrong angle.

While some printers can indeed print some graphic files off of USB
Read/Write Media, that not the best way to go and yo\u shouldn't even be
thinking about Document Files such as PDF. One should look at a printer
that has a flat bed and/or Automatic Document Feeder ( ADF ) scanner is
see if the software provided is capable of scanning into a PDF.

The best way to print any form of graphics or documents is with a
computer. The software on the computer can render the content properly
and can best format the print job as you need it.

"A little off topic, but when will printer manufacturers get a clue and
make all printers that accept jpg's, tiff, png, pdf, open document
(LibreOffice), and MS Office files natively? This would eliminate the
need for printer drivers. "

That NOT the way it works and especially for the retail market devices.
That's role of a computer, not the printer.

It is not the manufacturers that need to get a clue.
You need to understand these concepts.

What I understand is that printers used to have post script interpreters
in them, and pdf would be no harder. FWIW, I'm not looking for a cheap
printer, which you don't seem to grasp. This is a printer that will be
used by Linux, Win xx, and Apple computers. So, yes, I do expect better
than I have found.

As for testing printing, the use of a scanner is nuts. Duh!

Dave,


PostScript is indeed an interpreted language. Portable Document Format
includes consrtucts of PostScript but goes further and that's why Adobe
created this file structure with compressed data streams.

Printers still can receive PostScript. However it takes an application and
a Post Script print driver ( PPD ) to create the PostScript output for a
specific printer that accepts PostSript. Many printers accept different
formatted print jobs that include PostScript, PCL and Esc/P

You stated... "I'm not looking for a cheap printer"
Great. Stop looking in retail stores then. Contact Zerox, Ricoh or a
Kyocera and talk to a sales rep. However even businesses don't buy them.
They are leased because they are expensive.

You say it should support Linux, Windows and Apple computers. Just make
sure it is networked and has drivers for each OS you want to print from.
The fact that you indicate a desire for printing support from 3 different
computing platforms means the OS related application and associated Printer
Drivers are available for rendering Graphic Files and Document Files and
negates you aforementioned desires. The respective computers will do all
that's needed.

You need to look at your business model and how you use the computing
platforms and their associated data files, what you need printed and on what
printed media. Then "properly" assess your requirements. Susequently
research each company's offerings and perform a cost benefit analysis as to
what best suits your needs. Based upon now and your first post a week ago,
you are not doing that.

Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format

--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp