IBM Laser Printer 4029 Print Accelerator Available

ID: Q87129

The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows versions 3.0, 3.0a, 3.1, 3.11
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0

SUMMARY

Lexmark International, the maker of IBM printers, is offering a Print Accelerator for the IBM Laser Printer 4029 and Microsoft Windows.

The accelerator software is reported to print text and graphics up to 10 times faster than the standard 4029 driver. It may also correct some reported problems with printing large graphic images.

To obtain the printer accelerator software, call Lexmark Technical Support.


MORE INFORMATION

The following information is reproduced from the README file that comes with the Print Accelerator.

Introduction

Printing from Microsoft* Windows applications is simple, fast, and versatile, thanks to the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator for Windows. The accelerator:
  • Provides fast printing from Microsoft Windows* applications


  • Prints graphics especially fast


  • Prints Type 1 and TrueType* fonts


*See below for more information.

It gives you control over options such as:
  • Paper size (Letter, Legal, #10 Envelope, other US and European sizes)


  • Source (Upper, Lower, Manual, Envelope)


  • Orientation (portrait or landscape)


  • Mirror or negative image


  • Number of copies


  • Tint processing (allows you to select options for tints, gradients, and halftone images)


In addition, the Type 1 Font Manager utility helps you manage fonts for the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator and Adobe Type Manager for Windows (ATM is a utility that renders Type 1 fonts on the screen, making separate screen fonts unnecessary). This is a tedious task when done manually. Font Manager automatically catalogs fonts so they are always available to the printer and ATM.

Setup Requirements

In order to setup the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator, you must have the following:
  • Windows 3.0, 3.0a, or 3.1.


  • 386SX processor or higher.


  • At least 4 MB of RAM installed on the PC.


  • Any model of the IBM 4029 Laser Printer.


  • TrueType (Windows 3.1 only) or Type 1 fonts installed on your PC.


  • Windows 3.0 (3.0a) users must have Type 1 fonts installed. Without them, printed output will be unsatisfactory. Several Type 1 fonts are supplied with ATM for Windows, which is provided with the IBM 4029 Laser Printer 6, 10, and 10L.


Printing from Applications

  • Aldus PageMaker -- When printing with the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator, be sure to compose (or recompose) the document for the driver. For best results, Auto Pattern Selection should be enabled.


  • CorelDRAW! -- You must select the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator as the default printer in the Windows Control Panel.


  • Microsoft PowerPoint -- Most of the fill patterns will look better with the Enlarge Patterns option checked (it is checked by default).


  • Microsoft Word -- If you are not getting any output, examine the Print dialog menu. Do not configure the Print Accelerator as a Draft Printer. Checking the Draft Printing option in the Print dialog, will result in no output.


  • WordPerfect for Windows -- If you have many fonts, it may take a while when you first select the driver for WordPerfect to configure the driver.


General Hints

  • Windows 3.1 -- Whenever possible, use TrueType fonts with the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator. In general, they will print faster than Type 1 fonts.


  • EPS (encapsulated PostScript graphics) -- EPS graphics contain both a bitmap image (for screen display) and PostScript language description software of the image. As do all printer drivers (except PostScript language printer drivers), the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator prints a scaled version of the bitmap image. This may yield unacceptable results. For best printing of EPS graphics, Lexmark recommends the conversion of the EPS to TIFF or some such bitmap format. Conversion of graphics formats can be done using many Windows applications. Another option is to use the IBM 4029 PostScript feature and associated driver.


  • PS/2 computers with DMA -- The IBM 4029 Print Accelerator does not use the DMA capabilities that are built into some IBM PS/2 computers (e.g., IBM PS/2 model 90, 95, and 57). The Print Accelerator temporarily disables the DMA.


  • Using other drivers with the same printer -- It is OK to use other printer drivers, such as the PostScript, PCL, or PPDS language drivers, with the same printer with which you are using the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator. However, you should not begin a direct print job using the print accelerator when another job is active on the same port. If you cannot tell whether the printer is active with another job, disable Direct To Printer (under Output Options in the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator setup dialog box) to avoid potential interference.

    Also, you might notice that when the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator installs on Windows 3.1, it automatically sets up for LPT1. At the same time, it temporarily connects any other printers presently connected to LPT1 to None. These other printers can be reconnected to LPT1 by clicking the Printers option of the Control Panel.


  • Memory -- The IBM 4029 Print Accelerator will work in some host systems with the minimum prerequisite of 4 MB of RAM memory. However, for more sophisticated setups (e.g., networks, multiple concurrent application sessions, etc.), increased memory may be required. If you are having strange problems, adding memory to your system may correct the problem.


Questions and Answers

Question: Can I use the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator with AES (Automatic Emulation Switching software)?

Answer: The IBM 4029 Print Accelerator automatically puts the printer into the proper emulation, so AES is not necessary when using this printer driver. You can have AES installed for other print drivers on your system, but (for locally attached printers) you should connect the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator directly to the port (e.g., LPT1, not LPT1.AES).

Question: Can I use the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator with my network attached printer? What should my expectations for performance be?

Answer: The IBM 4029 Print Accelerator can be used with network printers. To use a network printer, disable the option Direct To Printer in the Printer Setup dialog. This will cause print data to be sent to the Windows Print Manager. You should have your Windows Print Manager properly configured to direct print data to the network printer.

There are some special considerations when using the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator with a network printer. There are two primary factors that determine performance of the Print Accelerator:
  1. Rasterization of the page


  2. Transmission speed


The Print Accelerator has built-in features that optimize both of these operations for locally attached printers. When you use the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator with a network attached printer, you use the rasterization capabilities of the Print Accelerator, but you disable the built-in feature of the Print Accelerator that causes fast transmission of data across the parallel port and instead use the combined capabilities of the Windows Print Manager and your network's transmission capabilities. Whether this works is a function of your network bandwidth and network operating system capabilities.

There are some high-performance printing solutions for networks. If you are having difficulty, some things to consider trying include:
  • Make sure that your printer is attached in parallel to the server and that Fastbytes protocol is enabled.


  • Increase the memory in your IBM 4029 printer to 9 MB. This will give you a large 1 MB link buffer in the printer that will be used to quickly receive data from the network.


  • Connect your IBM 4029 printer to an IBM 4033 Network Printer Adapter. The 4033 has built-in hardware that is capable of driving the parallel port to the printer at high-speed transmission rates similar to a locally attached printer.


Question: Can I use the IBM 4029 Print Accelerator with my IBM 4019 printer?

Answer: The IBM 4029 Print Accelerator can be used with the IBM 4019 printer. However, you need to change the setting of the Enable Compression to off because the IBM 4019 printer does not support the compression algorithm being used. Performance of the IBM 4019 printer will be less than the 4029 because of the lack of compression and because the IBM 4019 printer does not support Fastbytes protocol.

Additional query words: 1.x 1.10a 2.00a 2.00a-CD 3.10 3.11 w4wprint printing laserprinter true type

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,1.1a,2.0,2.0a,2.0a-CD,3.0,3.0a,3.1,3.11,4.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :


Last Reviewed: December 2, 1999
© 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.