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If you were to ask a RISC OS user what the holy grail of printing was, the chances are he'd say "to be able to print at a decent quality to any kind of printer". This would probably be followed by references to flying pigs. Well, those pigs just grew wings! We are pleased to announce the release of the universal printer driver. No, this isn't April Fool's Day! Let's be a little more specific, it's a universal *network* printer driver, so won't be applicable to everyone. However, it does indeed allow you to print to any kind of printer, and with networking becoming fairly commonplace, it's something that should attract your attention! How does it work? Well, the system relies on a printer being connected to a WindowsPC on your network (Win 95 - XP supported). The PC must have a working driver for the printer installed, but since every printer ships with a Windows driver, this isn't a problem. The RISC OS machine then prints to the PC, which prints out the job natively, using the quality settings available through the Windows driver. So, does it actually work? To test it all out, we purchased a cheap 50ukp inkjet, and hooked it up to a laptop via a USB cable. No RISC OS driver existed for the printer. We installed the PC driver, and checked the printer worked, then, on a Risc PC, clicked Print in Techwriter. Out popped a colour printed document from the printer, first time! We have subsequently used the system to proof adverts for magazines, print family trees and more. Which RISC OS applications does it work with? Since the system integrates with !Printers, it should work with anything. We've tested with Impression, Artworks, Ovation Pro, Techwriter, Paint, Photodesk etc... What printers does it work with? Anything that Windows supports. You've read above about our tests with a cheap inkjet, but you could also print to a high quality Photo printer using Photo Paper (and get the calibre of photo printing offered by the Windows driver!). Greyscale/mono printers are also supported. You could also print to the cheaper "Windows-only" lasers, which require special Windows software to work. This opens up the cheaper colour laser printers such as the QMS "Desklaser" range or HP's new entry level models. What is the quality like? The RISC OS software offers various resolutions, but because the Windows end does the printing, even low resolutions give excellent results. We have been very satisfied with the results from proof-printing adverts this week. Indeed, we'll be bringing them to the Show this weekend to demonstrate the kind of results that even low res printouts can achieve, let alone pushing the quality all the way up! We've set a price of 40ukp for the software - this includes both the RISC OS and Windows end software - and of course VAT and UK delivery. We've chosen this price because software involving printing/networking/windows etc. is likely to require reasonable levels of support! Additionally, you no longer need to buy drivers for individual printers, so this is a "one off" purchase. If you have any questions, please phone us on 01925 755043 or ask via email.
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