12Oct Drivers Of Printer

Printers require device driver programs to oversee their operation. Although most printers use the same codes for alphanumeric data, they may use widely different control codes, and special feature codes to produce special text, and to govern the printer’s operation. Therefore, software producers often develop the Core Hardware of a program, and then offer a disk full of printer drivers to translate between the software package and different standard printers. The user normally selects the driver program needed to operate the system through a configuration program that comes with the software. This function is usually performed the first time the software is loaded into the system.

 Driver programs may be supplied by the software developer as part of the package, or by the hardware developer. It is often in the best interests of a hardware developer to offer drivers that make the hardware compatible with popular pieces of application software. If a software developer is introducing a new piece of software, they often offer drivers that make the software compatible with as many hardware variants as possible.

 Obtain a printer cable, plug it into the appropriate LPT port on the back of the computer, connect the compatible end to the printer, plug the power cord into the printer, load a device driver to configure the software for the correct printer, and print. Some failures will produce error messages, such as “Printer Not Ready”, while others will simply leave the data in the computer’s print spooler. The symptom normally associated with this condition is that the parallel device simply refuses to operate. If an ECP or EPP device successfully runs a self test, but will not communicate with the host system, check the advanced BIOS setup screens to make certain that bi-directional printing has been enabled for the parallel port. If so, check the printer cable by substituting a known, 1284-compliant cable for it.

 The IEEE has established specifications for bi-directional parallel printer cables (IEEE 1284). These cables affect the operation of EPP and ECP parallel devices. Testing an older, non compliant unidirectional cable with a bi-directional parallel device will prevent the device from communicating properly with the system and may prevent it from operating.