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akhilbaai 10-19-2015 09:52 AM

Can I use a single cups PPD file for printing in multiple languages
 
I want to use a 9 pin dotmatrix printer to print in multiple languages. I got a PPD file which need to be used for the printer from manufacture's website (OKIdata). I would like to know whether I'll be able to print in languages other than English with this PPD, if not is there any way I can edit and make it print any required language ?

Below is the configuration inside the PPD..

*FormatVersion: "4.3"
*FileVersion: "2.0"
*LanguageVersion: English
*LanguageEncoding: ISOLatin1
*PCFileName: "OKDOTMA9.PPD"
*Manufacturer: "OKI"
*Product: "(9 PIN SIDM)"
*cupsVersion: 1.1
*cupsManualCopies: False
*cupsModelNumber: 2
*cupsFilter: "application/vnd.cups-postscript 0 rastertookidotmatrix"
*ModelName: "OKI 9 Pin"
*ShortNickName: "OKI 9 Pin"
*NickName: "OKI 9 Pin Dot Matrix"
*PSVersion: "(3010.000) 550"
*LanguageLevel: "2"
*ColorDevice: False
*DefaultColorSpace: Gray
*FileSystem: False
*Throughput: "1"
*LandscapeOrientation: Plus90
*VariablePaperSize: True
*TTRasterizer: Type42

DavidMcCann 10-19-2015 11:12 AM

Linux printing typically works like this:
Program outputs Postscript or PDF version of the document
Ghostscript converts that to a bit-map using the specification in the PPD file
CUPS passes that to the printer
Printer prints the bitmap in graphics mode.

In other words, the printer will be running in graphics mode and the language of the original document will be irrelevant. The clue is the word "raster" in the PPD file.

The catch is that a 9-pin printer in graphics mode will look even worse than when it prints using its resident fonts; I remember what my Citizen used to look like. As far as I know, the only way to use the resident font is to send a plain text file directly to the printer using the command
lp filename

akhilbaai 10-19-2015 12:06 PM

Thanks David for the reply,,

I'm a newbie in this field, please bare with me..

I'll be getting UTF-8 data stream.. so will there be any program that converts utf-8 to postscript?

As you said,
" Ghostscript converts that to a bit-map using the specification in the PPD file "
Will ghostscript be able to generate bit-map of any language character ? could you pls clarify which specification in PPD, ghostscript makes use for this ?

DavidMcCann 10-20-2015 12:08 PM

A Postscript file is just a description of the appearance of a page, whether that page has words or pictures, like a PDF file. The expensive printers used by businesses can all print a Postscript file, so Linux programs generally produce one when asked to print. If you have a document in UTF-8 or any other coding, and you ask a program to print it, that program converts each page to a Postscript file.

Ghostscript started as a tool to let people see what's inside a Postscript file, by converting it into a bitmap to display on the screen. When they started making cheap printers that worked in graphics mode instead of having fonts, it was obvious that you could use Ghostscript to produce a bitmap to send to the printer as well as one to send to a screen. The PPD file just has information about the printer so that Ghostscript knows what to do.

The important thing is that none of these programs deal with characters or languages. The characters are in the word-processor document, not in the files used by the printing system: they just contain graphical images, like the one you see on your screen. Remember, when you see an "a" on the screen you are actually looking at a pattern of pixels, and that's what the printer gets as well. Only the word-processor needs to know what alphabet you're using.


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