Printers and MFDs Lesson 003: Printer Drivers and Firmware Part 2

What does PDL stand for?

Page Description Language.

Page Description Language

Used to create a master file from the print commands that are sent by a software application.

What do printer drivers use?

PDL.

What do PDL commands do?

Convert the information into a dot-by-dot representation of what should appear on the printed page.

What features will most PDLs support?

Scalable fonts, vector graphics, and color printing.

Scalable Fonts

Allow texts to be resized from very small to very large and is supported by most operating systems.

Vector Graphics

Can be resized without losing any kind of clarity.

What does CMYK stand for?

Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

What does PCL stand for?

Printer Control Language.

What are the two types of PDLs?

PCL and PostScript.

Printer Control Language

Developed by HP and is closely tied to the features of different printer models.

Which type of PDL offers the most capability?

PCL.

What printer models can use PCL?

Only HP printers.

PostScript

Created by Adobe and is designed to be a device-independent PDL.

What does PostScript ensure?

What you see on the screen matches the printed output regardless of which printer is being used, making it very popular for publishers.

Are PostScript and PCL both supported by most printers?

Yes.