Re: IPDS Printing

[PaulMmn <paulmmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The biggest drawback with using Host Print Transform (HPT) is that 
you're using iSeries resources to build the bit map (or PCL data 
stream), plus network resources to download this information across 
your network to the printer.  Because EACH PAGE needs to be 
transformed and sent, the volume per print job is a lot larger than 
IPDS.

If the page count is low or it's a local connection you won't notice 
the extra traffic.  If the volume increases, you can clog your 
network.

The advantage of IPDS is that the variable data is kept separate from 
the overlay.  The overlay is sent to the printer once and is cached 
at the printer; the variable data is all that has to be sent for each 
page.  As I understand it, the printer should be able to cache 
several overlays (depending on available memory).  This allows 
subsequent print jobs to re-use the overlay and avoid the extra time 
to download it.

--Paul E Musselman
paulmmn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx