@anon50098793, if in fact the theory is true on the age of the printer, then would this be the solution? Is there such a package that allows such?
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@cesarvog yes, it is. I've been looking for this RAM (laptop sized) since but can't find it. Another 'age' problem perhaps? Oh dear! We seem to be ageing ourselves into obscurity.
In my experience, a printer can slow down over time due to changes in the drivers on the host OS. For example, on OS X, Airprint 2 caused an increase in the memory utilization for printing standard PDF files through some printers that were <10 years old. This would cause the printer to slow down considerably and in some cases report Out of Memory (OOM) errors. Reverting the print driver back to one that was non-airprint 2 resolved the issue immediately (but this took a lot of troubleshooting before we discovered the root-cause, including installing additional memory in the printer).
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@cesarvog , as @anon50098793 suggested, would a "server based spools" system come to the age problem? Assuming there's a package for such. It would be good to get more information on a "server based spools" system, however. It makes sense from the point of view of the age problem noted in much the same way driverless printing makes a lot of sense. And I'm happy to see so much development in that area.
@psherman sounds like the classic case of developing "new" software to make obsolete perfectly functioning hardware. I fear this is the fate of this printer. But perhaps a software solution is out there in the packages? Does not sound like it so far.
yeah... I think the point @psherman makes compounds and trumps any intermediate spooling...
kind of like how much food is on your fork vs how much food your stomach can hold... gotta solve part1 before part2...
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I don't believe that this was at all the intention. Apple doesn't have any reason to cause printers to become obsolete. My personal printer is a LaserJet 6MP which is like 30 years old -- it has 2 parallel ports, a serial port, and even an IRDA port! I have it connected to an Airport Express via a USB-Parallel cable and it works a treat.
Instead, I think the issue is that Airprint 2 probably added capabilities/features that are necessary/useful for new printers (which also have more powerful CPUs and more RAM) and had only limited testing (if any) on legacy printers. This is not likely anything nefarious, just the march of progress and a calculation about how much effort to put into actively testing/supporting old printers.
I just used the standard network PostScript driver for the printer in question (the one I was describing is my dad's), and resolved the issue.
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Yes, that's the main reason why I mentioned the installed amount of RAM. If it's only the standard 128MB, it will take longer to be able to process the incoming job into a format the printer can understand. Adding 256MB to get to the max. RAM the printer can take WILL help (been there, done that myself on a similar Brother color laser printer with the same standard amount of RAM and the same max amount), but can only go so far as the numbers shown in my previous post above. The first page also, will not print faster than about 17 seconds after you press the print button, as also shown above (Efficient time-sensitive printing - #18 by cesarvog)
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[quote="tmomas, post:13, topic:104414"]
- 00:00 Click "Print"[/quote]
@tmomas @frollic @psherman @krazeh @anon50098793
00:00 - 00:01 Computer displays "Printing..."
[quote} 00:01: [/quote]
- xx:xx Computer finished printing
[quote} 00:12: [/quote]
- xx:xx Printer displays "Receiving data/print job"
[quote} 00:12: [/quote]
- xx:xx Printer heats up the fuser drum (maybe /maybe not visible from the outside)
- xx:xx Printer starts to print
Many mainstream/common memory types follow a bathtub curve -- expensive when they are first introduced, drop rapidly and remain low for the duration of their widespread use, and then they become more expensive as the specific memory types become less common or obsolete. To a degree, printer memory will have similar curves... but, printer memory modules are often slightly different than your typical desktop/laptop memory, so they never achieve the economies of scale, so they will probably always be more expensive than you would expect.
On that note, evaluate the cost of upgrading your printer's memory vs a new printer (which will likely have more base memory, a faster processor, maybe a faster printing engine, newer technology, and also a new engine/mechanical system which would theoretically mean a longer life (measured from today) than your older printer. I'm not arguing to toss your old printer (for many reasons, upgrading the memory is a good plan), but consider the cost/benefits of each option.
30sec, 11 pages, double sided, but you are complaining that people are waiting minutes before the printer even starts to print. Did I miss something? I mean, I don't understand what you are complaining about.
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Yes the printer should have a DHCP reservation or a static IP so that once users find and configure the printer it is always at the same IP.
If you use your router as a print server, will it have more free memory (i.e., after subtracting what it needs to do its routing job) than your printer? If it will not, it may be better to explore different options than using your router as a print server.
I experimented with the p910nd package and can't recommend it. It works, but it is basically a direct data transfer if I understand how it works correctly - no buffering print jobs in memory. It was slow and scanning didn't work.
I do what mk24 suggested. I reserve a static IP on my router for our printer. The printer (Canon multi function inkjet) is configured to connect to our LAN by WiFi. This seems to work quite well - both printing and scanning, including from a linux desktop.
@tmomas A fair point. I'm sorry. I suggested earlier that there must have been a blip at some point. I also pointed out, clearly, that I will not have a problem with 30 seconds. There must have been some 'local' issue that has nothing to do with the router and printer. All is normal. But the discussion was fruitful, and may help someone with similar question. This is partly the secondary use of forums like this, me thinks. All good. And thanks to @anon50098793 @frollic @eginnc @psherman @krazeh for their contributions as well. Finally, I must note, I was not 'complaining', but merely and apparently asking the wrong questions and by doing so, have informed myself quite well from the contributions from those, including yourself, who responded. A pathway to learning, shall we say?
@eginnc thanks. I have already a reserved IP for the printer on the network in question. I'm curious on how I could, for me, hookup my standalone scanner with USB connection to the router. Seems like a neat thing than have it attached to a single machine. I've never seen a scanner with network ports, except attached to a printer, and from that have always thought it can be done with USB, just how, I'm not sure. Perhaps you know?
Thanks. This is already the case.
@psherman When I read here about people with very old printers that still do work, I run out of arguments, with myself, for buying a new one. Yet, the argument for newer technology as well has its merits. Thanks for noting that you're not telling me to get rid of my printer. I do take slight offence to those who think the such solutions should be to buy new. That goes against the ethos of Openwrt, for example, which even gives much more. For example, have any of you seen the thread on what else people use Openwrt for; amazing! Someone even hooked up some 20+ cameras to it. Trying getting that many cameras to run, and you'd soon run of out cash and imagination, lost to a sales person.
Yeah, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, my printer is ~30 years old! If I have to spend say $20 to fix a roller or something, I probably will. If I had to make other repairs/additions to the unit that started to approach $100, I'd probably think twice.
When it comes to routers and OpenWrt -- it is amazing how much extra life you can breath into older routers. My OpenWrt based VPN endpoint is is a Ubiquiti RouterStation Pro, approximately 12 years old! You can do a lot with OpenWrt, but there are some limits... some people want to push their 4/32 routers onto OpenWrt 18, 19, or 21 and those don't work well, especially when they are older 802.11g devices. So it ends up being a bit of a cost-benefit analysis not just with the hardware, but the experience/performance and also the time that an individual needs to invest to get things working on really old and barely supported hardware.