What is a post script printer, and how do you identify if a printer is Post Script? -

What are the other things that a printer can be besides post script? Pre Script? are there other options ?

Adobe Postscript is a page description language. This is basically the format of commands sent to your printer to control font selection, page layout, and give details of diagrams or images on the page. The other major standard page description language is the PCL series - for lasers, usually either PCL5 or PCL6. Compared to PCL Postscript is more expressive and also has a guarantee that the same Postscript code will print identically on any Postscript printer. Sure, there may be differences in the printer s resolution, or whether it is in black and white or colour, but the fundamental layout of the page is guaranteed to be identical from any Postscript printer. This is different to PCL where different printers will produce slightly different pages as the result of the same code - if the printers are different resolutions the page may be scaled incorrectly. This standardisation and predictability in Postscript makes it the preferred choice in desktop publishing since the results will be the same on your personal laser printer at home as they will be on that hundred thousand pound professional printer at the print shop. The downside is that Postscript is expensive - it is an Adobe product and a royalty needs to be paid for any printer that uses it. As such is is frequently lacking on low-end printers, although it may be available as a relatively pricey upgrade module.