Printer driver,Printer drivers in different operating systems

In computers, a printer driver is a piece of software that converts the data to be printed to the form specific to a printers. The purpose of printer drivers is to allow applications to do printing without being aware of the technical details of each printer model.
Printer drivers in different operating systems
Unix
On UNIX systems and other systems which use the Common Unix Printing System, such as Mac OS X, printer drivers are typically implemented as filters. They are usually named the front end of the printing system, while the printer spoolers constitute the back end.
Backends are also used to determinate the available devices. On startup, each backend is asked for a list of devices it supports, and any information that is available.

DOS
On MS-DOS, there have been no system-wide printer drivers; each application was shipped with its own printer drivers, which were essentially descriptions of printer commands. Printers, too, have been supplied with drivers for the most popular applications. In addition, applications included tools for editing printer description, in case there was no ready driver. In the days when DOS was widely used, many printers had emulation modes for Epson FX80 and IBM Proprinter commands. It appears that these also worked with Windows 3.0[2].

Windows
On Microsoft Windows systems, printer drivers make use of GDI (Unidrv or PScript-based) or XPS (XPSDrv). Programs then use the same standard APIs to draw text and pictures both on screen and on paper. Printers which use GDI natively are commonly referred to as Winprinters and are considered incompatible with other operating systems.
Win32 APIs also allow applications to send data directly to the spooler, bypassing the printer driver; however, few applications actually use this option.

Amiga
The original AmigaOS up to 1.3 supported printers through a standard series of drivers stored at the required path "Sys:Devs/Printers". All printer drivers were stored in that directory, and covered the standard printers in 1985-1989 circa, included EpsonFX standard driver, XEROX 4020, HP, etcetera.
Any Amiga printer driver had to communicate though the standard Amiga Printer. Device (the default standard hardware device of Amiga dealing with printers), and the standard Parallel. Device (which controlled parallel port) and the driver would then control the printer on its own.
Amiga printers were an innovation for their time. The had the ability to print up to 4096 colors.
Through the use of the Printer Preferences program printers could be connected to the serial port as well.
Amiga also had support for a virtual device "PTR:" to refer to printer.device so, for example the command "COPY file TO PRT:" caused the file to be printed directly bypassing Parallel. Device and the default Printer Driver. Amiga used a standard ANSI "Esc sequences" list of ESC (Escape) Commands, not the special ones defined by the various printer manufacturers. This way every application on the Amiga could use the same standard set of control sequences and wouldn't need to know which printer is actually connected. The printer driver then translated these standard sequences into the special sequences a certain printer understands.
Amiga internal function "PWrite" of Printer. Device writes 'length' bytes directly to the printer. This function is generally called on by printer drivers to send their buffer(s) to the printer. Number of buffers are decided by the persons who created the driver. Amiga lacked a standard Printer Spooler.
Since AmigaOS 2.0 a standard Printer. Device was changed to control various printers at same time. The Printer preferences were divided in three main panels: Prefs:Printer which selects main printer and other basic elements such as "Print Spacing" and "Paper Size". PrinterGFX controlled features like Dithering and Scaling. PrinterPS controlled Postscript Printers. The printer drivers surprisingly remained almost same of Workbench 1.3, with 4096 limits.
This fact led Amiga users to prefer third party Printer Systems with their own drivers, like TurboPrint and PrintStudio, which introduced not only recent drivers, but also featured a functioning Printer Spooler into Amiga, and featured 16 millions colors printing. MorphOS Amiga clone Operating System uses a special version of TurboPrint to pilot recent printers.
Many Amiga programs like DTP programs as PageStream featured in the past its own printer drivers.
USB printers are automatically recognized by the Amiga USB Stack, which is called Poseidon. This stack is capable of detecting any USB device by its class, but printers still require a driver to be controlled.

PostScript printer description
Usually the operating system needs to know the characteristics of a printer. The PPD files are the normal way to supply this information. They have the advantage of being system independent, and there is a freely available large database of them, Foomatic.

Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_driver

Configure and troubleshoot Print Spooler service

Print Spooler service is required to print documents or to install printers. If the service is not started, then it will instead give an error message (The usual solution is to start the service or clear the spool directory or reinstall printer drivers):
Printer operation cannot continue due to lack of resources. The print subsystem is unavailable

The RPC Server Is Unavailable

Operation cannot be completed.

To configure the priority of the print spooler threads use these DWORD registry values:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Control \Print]
SpoolerPriority = 1 (0 = Normal, 1 = Higher, 0xFFFFFFFF = Lower)
SchedulerThreadPriority = 1 (0 = Normal, 1 = Higher, 0xFFFFFFFF = Lower)
PortThreadPriority = 1 (0 = Normal, 1 = Higher, 0xFFFFFFFF = Lower)

To configure the output to the EventLog:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Control \Print \Providers]
EventLog = 0 (0 = Disabled, 1 = Errors, 2 = Warnings, 4 = Informative, 7 = All)

To configure whether to make a notify popup when print job finished. Open Control Panel -> Printers -> File-menu -> Server-Properties -> Advanced-Tab -> Untick "Notify when remote documents are printed". (This should be reflected with this registry key)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Control \Print \Providers]
NetPopup = 0 (0 = Disabled, 1 = Enabled)

To configure whether shared printers should use bandwidth to announce themselves to the entire network (Internet included):

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM \CurrentControlSet \Control \Print]
DisableServerThread = 1 (1 = Hidden, 0 = Visible in Network Neighborhood)

HP Support ( HP Printer support,hp technical support,hp computer support )

HP is one of the world's largest computer and electronics companies. William Hewlett and David Packard was the foundered of that Company that why we call him as Hewlett Packard ( HP ) .Mainly HP is the best known for printers ( Laser printers and Deskjet Printers ).HP produce A laser printers for PC's amd software products which include drivers for HP printers.The specialization Of HP is developing and manufacturing computing, storage, and networking hardware, softwares and services.

HP also is the largest worldwide seller of personal computers , Servers in compare if DELL and IBM Companies. Hp has successful lines of printers , scanners , digital cameras, servers, workstations computer for home and small business use computer.Today, Hp is not suppling hardware ans software itself, but also support IT infrastructures.HP have their own Websites in each country all over the world.by the help of him website we get the help regarding any issue related hardware and software.HP provide or offer a wide range of purchase options, including HP Care Pack for extended warranty hardware support packages.

To increase their availability and productivity by giving online and remote support for HP branded hardware.HP also support Onsite which covers Desktops , servers , workstations , laptops , storage sytems etc.By the help of onsite hardware support they improve hardware performance.Hp computer support connected remotely to isolate the problems.For issue which cannot resolved remotely, they send their own Experinced technician to cover hardware issues. which they repair or repalce the faulty components.The Onsite response time is very good. They deliver their representive at owner site the next working day after customer call logged.if customer call in morning they send their technician with in maximum 4 hour.For failed hardware components they provide the Repair or replacement solution.The normal repairing and repalcement time is 3 HP working days,which return ship the repalced product time is not included.

HP standard business timing is for remote telephone support is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm monday through friday excluding holidays.HP Customer Care available 24x7 for online supports.Extended telephone support may be for selected Products.To call on HP toll free number we get HP support techinican within not more than 20 min.

Printer Support,The Following Printers are recommended for University Purhase

Printer service and advice on printer purchasing is provided by Appalachian computer support. To obtain service for a university printer, please contact support.

The following printers are recommended for University purchase:
­
­Low Volume Black & White Laser 10 to 24 pages per minute

­ * HP 1020 15 pages per minute
* HP 1022 (Mac users) 19 pages per minute
* HP 1500 24 pages per minute


Mid Volume Black & White Laser 24 to 40 pages per minute

* HP 2015 27 pages per minute
* HP 3005 35 pages per minute
* Lexmark T-640 35 pages per minute


High Speed Black & White Laser 40 to 55 pages per minute

* Lexmark T-642 45 pages per minute
* Lexmark T-644 50 pages per minute
* HP 4350 55 pages per minute


Heavy Use/High Speed Black & White Laser

* HP 9040 40 pages per minute
* HP 9050 50 pages per minute


Low Volume Color Lasers 8 to 12 pages per minute

* HP 1600 8 pages per minute

* HP 2600n 8 pages per minute
* HP 2605 12 pages per minute


Mid Volume (high speed) Color Lasers 12 to 31 pages per minute

* Printer 2HP 3700 17 pages per minute

* HP 3505 22 pages per minute
* HP 3000 30 pages per minute
* HP CP4005 30 pages per minute
* HP 4700 31 pages per minute


Heavy use Color Lasers

* HP 9500 24 pages per minute
* HP 5550 27 pages per minute


Low Volume (personal desktop) Inkjets

* Printer 1Canon iP 3500

* Canon iP 4200
* HP Deskjet 6980dt


All in One’s (Printer/Copier)_Inkjet

* Canon MP610

* Canon MP830
* HP Officejet Pro L7680