[NBLUG/talk] Printing PDF files - slow...

Phillip Fynan pfynan at gmail.com
Mon Apr 21 17:16:21 PDT 2008


On Monday April 21 2008 17:06:47 Dave Sisley wrote:
> Ken McGlothlen wrote:
> > Dave Sisley <dsisley at sonic.net> writes:
> > | I've run into a problem at work where there's a need to print PDFs, and
> > | I never noticed how slow that can be for certain files.  [...]
> > |
> > | I'm sure a big part of this is the size of the file.  A small test file
> > | printed fairly quickly, but I tried [...] Test file #1 was a 40-page
> > | document, 418.5 kb and took a half hour to print.  A few pages would
> > | print at a time, then a long pause, then more pages, etc.  Test file #2
> > | was a 1-page document, 1.5 mb in size (graphics intensive) that took
> > | about 10-15 minutes to print.
> > |
> > | The printer is an HP 1320 connected to the network [...] it has 16mb
> > | total memory, with 5.58 available.
> >
> > Hi, Dave.
> >
> > I assume we're talking about a LaserJet 1320, in which case it has the
> > standard amount of memory, and understand HP PCL 5 and 5e, and PostScript
> > Level 2.
> >
> > Off-hand, I don't think it's the printer.
> >
> > I also suspect it isn't the files per se; after all, you're able to open
> > them efficiently, I assume.  Without knowing what's actually in the
> > files, it's hard to say, but the size of the files tells me that there's
> > nothing particularly aggressive about the contents.
> >
> > This leads me to wonder about your print spooling.  It could be that the
> > print spooler is configured to send the PDFs to the printer as PCL files,
> > and that the PDFs are sufficiently complex to rasterize that it's bogging
> > down the spooler.  Are you using CUPS?  lpr?  And what is (if anything)
> > doing the rasterization?  GhostScript?
> >
> > Do you have a way to export PostScript and send that directly to the
> > printer? That might be a useful test.
> >
> > ---Ken
>
> Thanks, Ken.  In testing on my own machine, I'm just using cups.  I
> tried to export the file to a .ps file, but it didn't seem to speed up
> things:  kpdf created a 39mb postscript file from the 1.5mb .pdf.  This
> file is, as I said, graphics intensive.  I believe (not certain, though)
> it was made with either Photoshop or InDesign.  It may be that I need
> the person who generates these files to send something else, but they
> seem to print fairly quickly from a Mac.  It sounds like you're on to
> something - is there some tweaking to the print options I can do?
>
> Thanks for the tips!
>
> -dave.

Something you could try is printing from Adobe Reader. Adobe Reader has an 
option labeled "Save Printer Memory" when you print that seems to help in 
these situations.

Hope this helps.



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