Universal Print Driver vs Mini Universal Print Driver

[Duplicator]

Konica Minolta offers 2 universal print drivers. One called the "KM UniversalDriver_PS_PCL_FAX" and one called " KM Universal_PCL_Mini". Does anyone know what the difference is between these two drivers? It appears the "mini" on is just the 64 bit PCL driver without all the others in the zip file. However, when installing it the INF is different with a different version number.

I tried reading all the documents I could find that are listed with the universal drivers on Konica's one stop shop but none of them seemed to explain the difference.

[PrintWhisperer]

This is a source of great confusion owing to the fact that when manufacturers came out with "Universal Drivers" they chose to call them by the term Microsoft has been using for years. This discussion will refer to the Microsoft V3 printer model. Here are some descriptions which may clear it up:

"Brand X" Universal Driver
It might be easier to think of any "Manufacturer Specific Universal Driver" as a "Multi-Model Driver"
These Manufacturer Specific Universal drivers were developed so that only one driver need be installed to support printing to many printers (of the same manufacture). Rather than a typical (and preferred) model-specific driver which is connected to a specific device via a dedicated port, the user of a Universal Driver can poll for other printers (discovery) and change the driver to send the job to alternate devices.
Seems like a good idea, but doesn't work reliably due to connectionless protocols used for discovery and communication. Relies on interactions of users with which they may not be familiar or desire to use.
Due to these and other problems, the use of Universal Drivers is discouraged in most cases by experienced installers.

Universal (Mini) Drivers

I would class these as 'compatibility mode' drivers: your brand mini-driver will work just like the other guy's brand mini-driver. Supported for network environments where full featured drivers will not work such as Terminal Services, Mainframe pass-throughs or where special driver features are not supported.

Microsoft created a standard driver for PCL printing, (I think as early as Windows 9x) which is the UniDrv.dll "The Universal Printer Driver (Unidrv) is the Microsoft Corporation's standard printer driver for non-PostScript printers."
Manufacturers then write installer packages which use the UniDrv.dll rendering engine but add device specific options by providing .gpd files for their devices.
This is what you are installing with a 'Mini-driver' or 'Uni-Driver'.
Introduction to the Universal Printer Driver - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn

A separate Postscript driver is also provided by Microsoft, which is PScript5.dll. Similar, but here the device specific information provided by the installer is in .ppd files. (You might have thought those were only for MAC or LINUX)
Microsoft PostScript Printer Driver - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn

Love the Ditto BTW, very clever

[Duplicator]

Thanks. I learned something new today. I knew there was a difference between the type 3 and the type 4 universal driver but never saw the "mini". I'll have to update our internal documentation.

I've noticed Konica doesn't have device specific drivers for the 850i and 950i on their one stop shop page. We have always used the device specific drivers. I've started to experiment with the type 3 universal print drivers in different situations to find all the nuances in case we get forced into using them over a device specific driver.

Microsoft created a standard driver for PCL printing, (I think as early as Windows 9x) which is the UniDrv.dll

It's funny you should mention that. I have vague memories of having to put in the Windows 98 CD so it could copy that file to System32.

[copier tech]

Thanks. I learned something new today. I knew there was a difference between the type 3 and the type 4 universal driver but never saw the "mini". I'll have to update our internal documentation.

I've noticed Konica doesn't have device specific drivers for the 850i and 950i on their one stop shop page. We have always used the device specific drivers. I've started to experiment with the type 3 universal print drivers in different situations to find all the nuances in case we get forced into using them over a device specific driver.



It's funny you should mention that. I have vague memories of having to put in the Windows 98 CD so it could copy that file to System32.

Oh yes I remember being prompted for the Win 95 / 98 install disk when installing printers, not much fun!

[kingarthur]

in their bulletins KM are now advising to use the universal drivers for printing, as opposed to model specific drivers. when using device specific drivers, we are finding that devices are often "offline" when people try to print - we haven't had any problems with universal drivers. if you're talking about "Universal v4" drivers, we advise customers to stay away from them, as they don't appear to offer the functionality of the other drivers, they are laid out differently when going into printing preferences.

[Duplicator]

in their bulletins KM are now advising to use the universal drivers for printing, as opposed to model specific drivers. when using device specific drivers, we are finding that devices are often "offline" when people try to print - we haven't had any problems with universal drivers. if you're talking about "Universal v4" drivers, we advise customers to stay away from them, as they don't appear to offer the functionality of the other drivers, they are laid out differently when going into printing preferences.

Really? I'll have to find those and let our installers know.

The only time we had issues with the device specific drivers showing as offline is when SNMP was on on the port and the copier had SNMP disabled, the SNMP password didn't match, or there was some kind of network problem. Except the 7 series machines.... Function version matters A LOT for the print drivers on those.

It's good to hear someone is using universal drivers successfully. We haven't had much luck with them in the past. Techs would set the wrong model, wrong options, ect. We are going to stay away from the V4 drivers unless we really have to for a single tray printer. They are generally considered "more secure" since they run in user space instead but this limits them on what they can load DLL wise. In the long run we will probably end up using Universal PCL V3 drivers for the newer Konica machines.

[kingarthur]

Really? I'll have to find those and let our installers know.

The only time we had issues with the device specific drivers showing as offline is when SNMP was on on the port and the copier had SNMP disabled, the SNMP password didn't match, or there was some kind of network problem. Except the 7 series machines.... Function version matters A LOT for the print drivers on those.

It's good to hear someone is using universal drivers successfully. We haven't had much luck with them in the past. Techs would set the wrong model, wrong options, ect. We are going to stay away from the V4 drivers unless we really have to for a single tray printer. They are generally considered "more secure" since they run in user space instead but this limits them on what they can load DLL wise. In the long run we will probably end up using Universal PCL V3 drivers for the newer Konica machines.

totally get where you're coming from - have always stayed away from universal drivers, could never seem to get account track/user authentication to work. Been getting customers complaining that they can't print/printer offline on the iSeries, but since I've been getting them to use universal drivers - all the problems seem to have been resolved. I insist that customers install the universal drivers now, previously I told them not to. I think the latest are 3.9.525.0 - this is from the "All Solutions" pdf for the C450i

Problem SolutionID: KBA00069547
Updated: 12/9/2021 12:09:00 PM
Related Products:bizhub 300i,bizhub 360i,bizhub 4050i,bizhub 450i,bizhub 4750i,bizhub 550i,bizhub
650i,bizhub 750i,bizhub C250i,bizhub C300i,bizhub C3300i,bizhub C3320i,bizhub C3350i,bizhub
C360i,bizhub C4000i,bizhub C4050i,bizhub C450i,bizhub C550i
Problem
When printing from some applications with specific native drivers of iSeries, the print jobs might not be
spooled in the print queue and printing might fail. The user needs to abort the application from the task
manager since the application freezes showing a "Not Responding" message.
Solution
CAUSE:At the start of printing, the printer driver connects to the MFP and confirms the device's
authentication setting and so on. After confirming the device's settings, the printer driver sends print
jobs to the MFP. The bidirectional module in the printer driver stops the communication with the MFP.
SOLUTION: It is confirmed that this issue does not occur by using the following printer drivers. The
latest version of firmware, system software or drivers is available via One Stop Product Support.
*KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL/PS Ver.3.9.0.0
*KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL/PS Ver.3.9.117.0
Please suggest to end users to use the above print drivers.

[Duplicator]

Problem SolutionID: KBA00069547
Updated: 12/9/2021 12:09:00 PM
Related Products:bizhub 300i,bizhub 360i,bizhub 4050i,bizhub 450i,bizhub 4750i,bizhub 550i,bizhub
650i,bizhub 750i,bizhub C250i,bizhub C300i,bizhub C3300i,bizhub C3320i,bizhub C3350i,bizhub
C360i,bizhub C4000i,bizhub C4050i,bizhub C450i,bizhub C550i
Problem
When printing from some applications with specific native drivers of iSeries, the print jobs might not be
spooled in the print queue and printing might fail. The user needs to abort the application from the task
manager since the application freezes showing a "Not Responding" message.
Solution
CAUSE:At the start of printing, the printer driver connects to the MFP and confirms the device's
authentication setting and so on. After confirming the device's settings, the printer driver sends print
jobs to the MFP. The bidirectional module in the printer driver stops the communication with the MFP.
SOLUTION: It is confirmed that this issue does not occur by using the following printer drivers. The
latest version of firmware, system software or drivers is available via One Stop Product Support.
*KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL/PS Ver.3.9.0.0
*KONICA MINOLTA Universal PCL/PS Ver.3.9.117.0
Please suggest to end users to use the above print drivers.

Interesting. We have not run into that at all. We do have quite a number of customers using that feature. Most of our machines are on G00-N4/N5 or later with function version 2.1. Running print driver version 3.1.12.0 of the device specific drivers. Maybe it was fixed and we never noticed? I'm just going to be glad that problem never turned up at the helpdesk and if it does in the future we'll know what to do.

[REGSIS]

totally get where you're coming from - have always stayed away from universal drivers, could never seem to get account track/user authentication to work. Been getting customers complaining that they can't print/printer offline on the iSeries, but since I've been getting them to use universal drivers - all the problems seem to have been resolved. I insist that customers install the umniversal drivers now, previously I told them not to. I think the latest are 3.9.525.0 - this is from the "All Solutions" pdf for the C450i

I came across this problem - native PCL driver for b/w i-series froze.
There's always problems with universal drivers, so I just installed 8 series native PCL instead.

[kingarthur]

I came across this problem - native PCL driver for b/w i-series froze.
There's always problems with universal drivers, so I just installed 8 series native PCL instead.

But if you use the 8 series native driver for the iseries, you can't use Account Track/User Authentication