Re: not-even-newbie printer question

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Peter" == Peter Evans <peter@example.com> writes:

    Peter> (Sorry not to have been clearer in my earlier posting, but
    Peter> I didn't want to risk boring anyone to tears.)

Be boring.  Some FAQ writer will love you for it someday.

    Peter> believe, in my mis/underinformed way, that TrueType (or the
    Peter> faking thereof) is a lot dodgier in Linux than is
    Peter> PostScript. If I didn't have TrueType, I'd want PostScript
    Peter> (wouldn't I?).  So do I need PostScript?  You tell me!

No, you don't need Postscript in the printer, and in fact Ghostscript
handles resident TrueType fonts flawlessly if set up for "TrueType
platform fonts".  I don't think any Linux distros do that, though.

    Peter> I might well buy the Brother HL-1240,

You'll have to get in touch with them about drivers or hunt around on
the net.  It doesn't say what they emulate; they probably accept HPGL
or ESC/P or ..., but if it doesn't say, you don't know.  I don't have
a recent enough Ghostscript source around to say whether it's supported.

    Peter> http://www.brother.co.jp/direct/hl1240/frhl1240.html . This
    Peter> is a laser printer with "true 600dpi", "12PPM" -- I'm
    Peter> dubious about such figures,

I think they're probably pretty accurate (at least for comparison
purposes).

    Peter> see that the pages don't (and therefore dust won't) simply
    Peter> drop into it, which I hope would mean it would be a lot
    Peter> less troublesome than my HPLJ 5L.

Good idea.  But my experience suggests that humidity is at least as
much a problem as dust.

    Peter> DOSもしくはWindows経由でのDOSアプリケーションの印刷はできま
    Peter> せん。which I imagine means: This printer works as a
    Peter> hardware accessory to Windows.

No.  It implies there is no DOS printer driver, since it says DOS
apps can't use it, even in a Windows environment.  Bad news for Linux
support, since it implies the Brother protocol is nonstandard and it
doesn't support any of the standards.

    Peter> Surely I could use the 1270N (couldn't I?), but is there a
    Peter> cheaper alternative?

No.  "Network printer" doesn't mean an ISO standard printing protocol,
it means that you can send a properly formatted file over the network
and the printer will then obey the network stream.  You still need a
Ghostscript printer driver.

Now you see why in fact you _do_ need a Postscript printer.  It
guarantees no problems with driver availability.  ;-)

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