printer problem

[Duane Attaway]

On Mon, 18 Nov 2002, Dale wrote:

> I have a HP LaserJet 4n that is connected to a NT4 server which I
> connect to via SMB. I can print just fine with the printer (using either
> lrp <filename> or the printer feature in staroffice or whatever program)
> as long as it is just a few pages to print. Problem is that everytime I
> try to print a large document.  Say more than a dozen pages... the
> printer will choke on me with a memory error. Course if I try to print
> the same size document with a windows system I have no trouble.  
> Meaning that the windows boxes apparently handle their spool32 file
> locally and slowly feed the information to the printer. Is there a way
> to increase the spooling capability of the linux system so that it will
> not crash the printer?

Laserjets have large amounts of memory to store two things: the incoming
documents and the very large buffer space needed for a raster image of the
page for the scanning laser.  If I remember right your laserjet need
several hundred kilobytes of internal buffer memory to generate the most
complex 300x300dpi page.  This memory requirement increases exponentially
with resolution.

Are you using your printer's Postscript mode?  If I remember right, HP is 
the one who set this as a standard and it should work well.

You may get around the memory problems by decreasing the resolution.  How 
much memory does your printer have and what resolution are you printing 
at?