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printer driver
Actually, MS wrote drivers for some of the early color printers by Cannon
and HP. If you look at the driver package with hex/binary editors and so forth, it's obvious. The drivers tend to be written for MS "windows printing system", that was, as you mentioned, intended for early windows and possibly NT versions. Later versions of windows accepted the drivers, and if the install of the later windows version was an upgrade install, also "upgraded" the windows printing system. The main purpose seemed to be to add printer monitoring capability. Some of the features were later stripped out, due to high user problem rates. The HP 820 and the Canon 620 were examples of printer that originally used the win print system. Later Canon released a simplified and reliable printer driver for the 620. This driver worked well, was compatable with lan printing, and had minimal printer monitoring. It did not use the "windows printing system" driver structure. These days, the printers are quite stupid, and require extensive software support. The printer OEM usually is the only source for the drivers, since the details of how the printer works are not fully released to the outside developers. For instance, a new Epson model I just purchased has an advertized capability of printing at a very high dot density. Yet the information released to developers only defines the highest available documented density as 720. MS was also known for not fully documenting the application to printer driver software. That added to various changes and limited legacy support made printer driver development more complex than it really should be. Even today, some of the MS office applications are still not consistent in how an application uses the system software to print. Things have improved greatly, however many of the older printer driver packages get broken when a seemingly unrelated change is made to a windows module. One of many little oddities has to do with what happens in the spooling process. The output file from an application is not printer ready. The printer driver must convert the data to something that eventually is a combination of printer command data, corrected color data, and whatever else is needed. The data is stored in a series of files during the process, some of which are usually temporary files, and others are spooler files. Some applications seem to generate a complete graphics image of a page, and others generate some sort of compressed version. Three windows office apps, (word, excel, and publisher) seem to use different methods of interfacing with the printer drivers. MS did in fact "create a monster" "Noel Paton" wrote in message ... ...and as Cari said, they don't write drivers! - they test them, and if they pass the tests, then they get included in the OS, at RTM time, or in Windows Update (if required to fix a bug only). AFAIK, MS has not written (or perhaps that should be 'released their own') drivers for any printers since the days of Win3.x. MS writes the software that converts program output to a driver-readable form, and that's it! -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's or http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/f.../Mar27pmvp.asp "Chuck" wrote in message ... Actually, what I said was that they (MS) has written printer drivers in the past on a selective basis. "Noel Paton" wrote in message ... Chuck - I think you missed the operative phrase in Cari's post "Microsoft isn't responsible for writing drivers for other manufacturer's hardware products." i.e MS don't write drivers!! -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "Chuck" wrote in message ... The drivers MS wrote for the HP 820 and the Canon 620 (win print drivers) were not drivers that I would consider as among the best. (Gave the 820 back to the store and used an international version for the 620) In the past, drivers furnished on the windows CDs for various printers were very basic, and often had problems of one kind or another. I'd guess that there have been so many changes that it's hard to keep everything in sync. (Windows Version with updates, applications, video drivers and DX, etc.) (And to think that a dos printer driver could be written in a few days with an assembler and a bit of knowledge.) "Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote in message ... Microsoft isn't responsible for writing drivers for other manufacturer's hardware products. Cari www.coribright.com "Gaetan" wrote in message ... -----Original Message----- When I had Windows 98 I had no problem running my Canon BJC 4400 series inkjet printer. Since I had to switch to Windows ME I've had to go to an alternate printer driver to get the thing to work. Is there anyone out there who knows why and if microsoft has not the driver then who does? I'm not about to spend money on another printer when there is nothing wrong with the one I've already got, except the blasted driver! . I don't have a solution for you but I know what you feel like as I have the same dam problem with my printer. Cheers! |
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