Re: parallel card

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

<Use-Author-Address-Header@[127.1]> wrote:

>supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) writes:
>
><snip>
>> ...such a small difference does not matter for
>> text based programs.
>
>IIRC, and it's been a while since I've had a deskjet 500c,
>one can select "external rendering" from the Harmonie
>deskjet driver dialog. This causes Harmonie to send a
>text stream to the printer (similar to an 8 bit program)
>and the deskjet's internal font will be used. This is
>fast with a serial connection but "lightning" fast with
>a parallel card (I used the Q-Print II from Sequential
>when I had the deskjet 500c).
>
>Although you are limited to the fonts inside the deskjet
>when you use "external rendering", you used to be able
>to buy font cartridges for the printer.
>
>Since I had the 500c which had both the serial and parallel
>connection I tried both. The deskjet was about twice as fast
>with text "external rendering" from AWGS word processor
>using the parallel card, as I remember it.  For printing
>anything other than straight text "internal rendering" had
>to be used. The difference between serial and parallel
>really showed up here, about 4 times a speed difference,
>IIRC.

There was never a contention that parallel cards are
faster.  And there was never a contention that the
difference is significant in AWGS.  Rather, the point
being made was that in text based programs like
AppleWorks Classic or ProTERM, the difference is
INSIGNIFICANT.  Why?  Because text based
programs zap a page into the printer's buffer in less
than a second whether through serial OR parallel.
Oh, I'm sure it is more like 1/4th of a second on
parallel and 1 second on serial, but when zapping
something so small over (a non-graphical text based
page), there is really no APPARENT difference
(since the difference is so small).

By the way, even with "external rendering" the
printer is still in graphics mode and using PCL.
That slows it down.  When printing in pure text
mode like from AW Classic or ProTERM there
is NO slowing down at all.

If you do not believe it takes 1 second to zap a
page over with serial from a text based program,
download a freeware 8-bit text editor and try it
yourself.