RAW and LPR protocols

[Blizzoo]

I had some issues printing on network, different machines and customers. Changing from LPR to RAW in Port menu solve these issues.

• Epson color printer: wireless connected. Issue: very slow printing, any document, changed form LPR to RAW ->Ok
• Bizhub 215: IP configured. Issue: won't print in duplex mode (document is printed ok but no in duplex) from one single PC,other will do Ok. Changed driver, test print duplex word/pdf-> NG, same document printed duplex on another machine with duplex capabilities -> OK...Last resort, I changed from LPR to RAW ->OK, duplex printing possible
• Canon MF 9280cdn: IP configured, won't print at all, all connection Ok, also RAW fixed this
• A friend calls me to help him in a situation which his "nail printer" print just a black square instead on a picture, like the above RAW solve that.

What is the explanation of these wired simptoms?
I read about differences between RAW and LPR, I understand it but I'm curious for this particular Bizhub 215 didn't print in duplex mode.

Have a nice weekend

[KenB]

Sometimes it goes the other way, where LPR works well and RAW does not. I have had that happen numerous times, just not recently.

In in a few cases, both worked, but LPR was much faster.

LPR is much older than RAW, and is normally the only protocol mainframe printing will support.

RAW is now much more commonly supported than it was in recent years, perhaps the engineers are leading toward RAW more these days? I don't know, it's just a guess.

Just good to know both are normally available, and that you may need to try both to see which one works better in each case.

[ApeosMan]

LPR/LPD is older and has more overheads. LPD server's often require an accurate byte, meaning the computer the job is being sent from needs to spool the print job twice to get the correct byte count before transmitting to the printer. Also with LPR/LPD you usually have to wait for the entire job to spool on the printer before printing, depending on the printers configuration.

Port 9100 or RAW sends the print data straight away to a printer in it's RAW format via a standard TCP/IP connection over port 9100, once the printer receives the data it's starts to print it, hence why it's quicker, though that being said I find port 9100 to be more unreliable in flaky network conditions due to less checks and balances.

[peter42]

In LPR mode have always the queue name filled with "print" and "IMPORTANT" LPD-Bytecount marked.

greetings peter

[ApeosMan]

In LPR mode have always the queue name filled with "print" and "IMPORTANT" LPD-Bytecount marked.

greetings peter

Many modern LPD services on printers these days don't require the accurate byte count or a queue name, though I always enable the byte counting anyway just in case.

If you need to use LPR when printing from Windows then I'd recommend creating a 'Standard TCP/IP' Port with LPR enabled over the traditional LPR Port Monitor for the reasons outlined below:

Network Printer Ports - Microsoft Technet