# Printing Standard: PostScript and PCL?



## Roy Ng (Nov 24, 2005)

Dear all guys,

I would like to know more information for Printer driver. 

I have one printer that provide two type of drivers to choose: PostScript or PCL. 

Which driver is better and more efficient running in Windows XP??

And what are the difference with PCL5 and PCL6??

Thanks.


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

I copied the text below from About.com. The page had much more than this on it.


When do I use a PS driver? When do I use a PCL driver? 
Both Adobe's PS and HP's PCL drivers are page desciption languages. This means they are both languages that describe how to print a page. Each has its own positive and negative qualities, and they are good for different things.

PCL drivers do most of the rendering on the local workstation and the information is sent in essentially binary form to printer. Postscript drivers essentially send a page description to the printers where it is rendered. Since local workstations are generally MUCH faster than the printers, PCL printing is much faster than postscript and because it requires less printer memory some jobs may only print if sent using PCL drivers. However, PCL is also a simpler language than Postscript so it lacks many of the complex drawing and scaling functions that are available in Postscript. Therefore, if you are using a package which takes advantage of postscript's capabilities (e.g. most Adobe products and some others), you may get better quality output using postscript drivers and your complex print job may not print properly or at all using the PCL driver.

If your file is not printing correctly using one driver, go ahead and try the other. That's one of the first things we'll try when we visit your station. 

Some Printers in the COF have both PCL and PS drivers available. A Postscript print queue, usually has a "-ps" appended at the end of the queue name. Choose your driver based on the guidelines above or call the helpdesk for a recommendation


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## Terrister (Apr 18, 2005)

Here is part 2. PCL5 & PCL6 FAQ. this is from Bravenet.com


First of all, PCL stands for Page Control Language. It existed before laser printers, and so the version numbers are a bit misleading. PCL5 has been used throughout most of the lifetime of HP LaserJet printers, and is generally the language referred to as 'HP compatible' The 5e version extends the control codes and came out around the time the color commands were needed. Meanwhile, POSTSCRIPT, more "object oriented" language is the main competitor. Used in everything from laser printers to typesetting equipment, written by adobe and standard in Mac OS machines from Apple. PCL6 is a whole new language that is more like Postscript, and easier for programmers to adapt to. However, at the same time, HP started putting both PCL and PostScript into it LaserJet business printers.. so there's not been any real advantage. Today, with modern software operating systems, you can get WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) screen to printer transfers in PCL5, PCL6 or Postcript modes. However, there are still lots of older computers and software applications that work best with PCL5. Our advice, use PCL6 in a totally new setup.. PCL5 if you have "legacy" software.. or install all three and see if you can tell the difference. (Yes, you can run multiple drivers.. just install each as if they were seperate printers.


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