Your NetWinder includes a printer-compatible parallel port connector, which accepts virtually all parallel printers.
Other computers on your network can then print to the NetWinder's printer using either the UNIX lpr protocol, Windows Network Neighborhood or Macintosh AppleTalk.
Workstations encode data for the printer using one of two techniques:
Direct mode. This is the most common mode for Windows workstations. In direct mode, you install a driver on your PC that exactly matches your printer (e.g. an HP Deskjet 680C) and attach it to the network print queue called direct on your NetWinder. The NetWinder will pass the printer data along unchanged.
PostScript mode. Alternatively, your NetWinder can accept data in the industry-standard PostScript format, and automatically convert it to match your printer. This method is almost always used on UNIX systems and often used on Macintosh computers.
If you plan to only use Direct mode, you do not need to configure the NetWinder's print server; it will work automatically. If, however, you want to use PostScript mode, you will need to tell the NetWinder which kind of printer you have so that it can convert the data into the right format automatically. From the Services page, click the word Configure on the Print Server line. You'll see a page like this:
It has the following options:
Driver. This is the NetWinder printer driver you want to use to convert PostScript data into your printer's native format. If the driver is set to None, your NetWinder's PostScript mode will not work correctly.
Resolution. Non-PostScript printers normally need the NetWinder to feed them bitmapped graphics. From the list box, choose the highest resolution that your printer can support.
Paper size. Fill in the paper size you will use with this printer. This is either Letter, Legal or A4. If you set this option to None, the size can be specified manually in the Extra GS options field.
Extra GS options. Your NetWinder uses a program called Ghostscript (GS) to convert PostScript data into data for your printer. If you are already familiar with Ghostscript, you can set some advanced options here.
NOTE: The resolution settings should be adequate for most printers. However, some older printers need unusual resolution settings. In that case, you should set Resolution to None and add something like -r144x144 to the Extra GS options.
Click the Save button when you have entered all the information. This will create a network print queue called postscript on your NetWinder. When you send PostScript data to that queue, it will be automatically converted to a format compatible with your printer.
Regardless of whether you enable PostScript mode, the network queue called direct will always be available to send data directly to your printer without any conversion.