Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

[Guest]

Why would a user require the postscript 3 kit on their MX printer? We have been selling the postscript kit on MXes almost at cost for compatibility with places that use Adobe applications but aren't PhotoShop and inDesign playing well with PCL by now (it is 2011 so PCL isnt new)?

In fact, if you try to print PDF in acrobat it will only print a first few pages of it unless you UNcheck "PS-Pass Through" in the PS driver, but the PCL driver works fine. I was under the impression PCL acts as some kind of abstraction layer and PS is a more direct-to-printer option, but what is the point if even Adobe software can't use PS correctly?

I have read that you need a PS kit to print from USB, but not for scanning to USB. However we have a MX-C311 that says right in the product flyer that PS is only needed for printing actual *.PS files from the usb drive and that PDFs are supported out of the box. We have a direct line to sharp here and cannot get a straight answer. Nothing on IDNC even brings up pro/cons/etc.

If PS printing is default for adobe indesign/photoshop is there any way to make it play nice with PCL? Maybe a Virtual PS Printer that converts to PCL? I just started working with copiers about a month ago so if this is a stupid question just tell me and explain why. Thanks everyone.

[OMD-227]

You'll need the PS option installed if there will be Macs used. Macs require PS to be installed for all printing.
You'll need the PS option installed if you wish to print PDF's directly from the USB thumb drive. PDF scanning is default, but viewing & printing PDF's directly from the USB thumb drive requires PS kit. Printing JPEG, PCL files directly from USB is default.
You'll need the PS option installed if you want full compatibility & further color matching options when using any Adobe product. Adobe owns/produces PS, so its designed for their software. PCL will print pretty much all Adobe product software, but it will take longer to rip, often has image quality issues (such as pixelization) and will not be color matched (or close enough).
The PS option is just an emulation, its not a true PS.

Basically, having the PS option installed in an environment that doesnt have Macs (or Linux & Unix O/S) as their computers, only gives you the option of having both PS & PCL drivers installed, with the extra ability of further driver options for color matching & Adobe software product full compatibility. The same document printed in PCL & PS will rip differently, with slightly different colors.

[jcontractor]

Where we could find the PS3 pack?

[ZOOTECH]

You purchase it from your Sharp dealership.

[KenB]

Another consideration for Postscript is Oracle. While it theoretically can use PCL, Postscript is by FAR the better solution.

[blackcat4866]

At least on Kyocera products, PostScript is more of a hindrance than a benefit.

KPDL emulation (Kyocera's emulation of PostScript) is included on all machines at no additional cost. There have been individual cases where it does not play well with Microsoft Publisher, especially when using the more complex driver features like booklet, or overlay. PostScript print jobs often expand by a factor of 10 or more print queue, depending on if there are embedded images in a PDF document. Typically PCL print jobs will spool considerably faster than PostScript. If you've compared the print captures from KPDL and PCL you would see why. The PCL header is usually 25 lines or less. The PostScript header often exceeds 100 lines of code, even before getting into the page data.

As far as I know the only benefit to using KPDL print emulation is to allow custom designed applications, that use PostScript to be able to use the driver as a passthrough, printing directly. It's not very common.

I have not noticed any quality change between the two emulations. =^..^=

[OMD-227]

I have not noticed any quality change between the two emulations. =^..^=

There certainly is on the Sharp color machines! One client uses alot of Adobe InDesign and there is a huge difference in quality between the 2 emulations & drivers. They even have a preference of which drivers to use on certain documents, even though the docs were created the same...... the colors are so different. Nothing wrong with machine hardware, its just the output is so different.

The new series MX's have their own emulation like the Kyo's you mention (SAPL-C - Sharp Advanced Print Language - Color) on the machines that have PCL & PS as options. We'll see how these go. No doubt there's trouble on the horizon.

[NeoMatrix]

Adobe PDF Postscript uses embedded scalable fonts: Type 1, Truetype and Opentype . It is a vector based graphical glyph system which means single glyphs(characters) can scaled to any size without losing definition or subject to aliasing(jagged edges). A single glyph can be scaled down to a pin point or enlarged to the size of the screen. Glyphs are strung together to form font sets.
Only when you start scaling up to bigger size A0,A1 paper will you come to appreciate the affect of scalable fonts.

Before each single glyph is painted to the screen or printer, it is scaled through a transformation matrix. You require special software code to do this, as this can be a CPU intensive drain on system resources. Adobe as patented the process of doing this inside a document so that the glyphs become scalable font types and are written out and preserved to the screen or printer exactly how the Author of the document had intended; this is very critical in legal type documents.

Because Postscript itself does not have transparency ability, some non-Adobe readers have problems with decoding and rendering a transparency factor into the fonts.

[Dark Helmet]

I have not noticed any quality change between the two emulations. =^..^=

I had a MX3100 and customer was using Adobe publisher or something. Some parts of the text were in bold and other spots not. When we printed the job on a copier with post script it worked fine.

[sundakib]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

Hai Guys

I have a SHARP MX-2310U machine with MX-PB14 (printer Expansion Kit). Is there any possibilities to connect the machine in MAC with out PostScript Card.
Can i get the color printouts from a normal application.

[lky1978]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

Hai Guys

I have a SHARP MX-2310U machine with MX-PB14 (printer Expansion Kit). Is there any possibilities to connect the machine in MAC with out PostScript Card.
Can i get the color printouts from a normal application.

you cant print out from the mfp in macintosh os unless you purchased postscript kit from sharp.

[bilyahn]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

You will also need postscript for all of those Iphone users that now want to print to their copiers! Have done this on a couple of our machines!!

Enjoy that experience!

Bil

[mx270hb]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

Just duh up this old thread..

Apparently mac can print via the generic PCL driver.. So after all.. you may not need postscript if your printing from mac (OSX 10.5 and later)

[Simons]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

Postscript Drivers is Adobe Print Language like PCL. It is best with circles and color. There is a HUGE diff in all machines when using PS with any graphics and color. PDF creation and complex office files do better with PS. Period.

Rule of thumb. If one document has trouble printing in PCL try it with Postscript. PCL has some support for the PS language but not everything is cooked in PCL. They will NEVER fully blend. So if you want to sell luxury , sell both languages. If you dont offer it up front and inform them then your not doing your job either.

[tboatman]

Re: Why do customers need the PostScript Kit?

you also need the ps3 kit for full functionality of the usb port.