Hints: Managing memory
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Piintingfancystuffcanbequitecumbersomeforyourprinter.Youtrade
offfancinessagainstspeed:ifyouoptforfewerflourishes,yougiveyour
printerbreathingroom in memory.And that rewardsyou with faster
output.Anyof thefollowingwillslowdownyourlaserprinter:
- textover20points,
- lotsof linesor patterns,
- graphics,
- macros,
-justifiedtext.
YoumaychoosetoaddanoptionalRAMboardtoyourStarLaserPnnler
8 if youneedto downloadmanyfonts.
Altcmatively,considereither a softwareor hardwareprint
spooler if
printingholdsupyourcomputermorcthanyou’dlike.Aspoolerprovides
a separatetemporarymcmory space that holds the documents10bc
pnntcd,andis particularlyhandyin a multi-usersystem.
Some page makeup programs automaticallydownload each font as
needed,thenflushthatfontfromprintermemoryto makeroomfor the
next font.This approachcan makegood senseif you’resharingyour
printerwithotherpeoplein a computernetwork.It keepsthe pnntcr’s
RAMfrombecomingoverloaded.However,the downloadingtimecan
sigriificantlyslowdownyourprinter’sthroughput.
Moretypically,youwilldownloadafontinthemorning(perhapswiththe
MS-DOSCOPYcommand)beforeyou printyourfirstdocument,and
that font will then stay in the printer’smemory.If you use a single
downloadedfont(or macro)throughoutthe day, you will find it most
efficientto keepit in thelaserprinter’smemory.Youdefinitelyshould
downloadfontsthiswayifyouuseaprintspooler.Ifyou’reinanc[work,
however,makesureyoudon’tdownloadduplicatefonts.
Howmanydownloadablefontscanyouhaveinonedocument?That’snot
so easyto answer.Mostof yourlaserprinter’smemoryis not available
for storingfonts,becauseit hasto storeeachpagebeforeprintingit, as
WC1las anymacrosor overlaysyouareusing.
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