[Misc] Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

[aviso66]

Hi,

Have you guys kinda look into what kind of driver to use before installing it for the customer to use? As i look at the printer model it has so many kinds of driver. As we usually just use the universal print driver. Does the universal print driver covers all the features of what other drives have?

PCL 6 Driver.
- for B/W printing and Colour printing in Windows. It supports HP PCL XL commands and is optimized for the windows GDI, High performance printing can be expected.
PCL 5c Driver.
Driver for color printing in windows. It supports HP PCL 5c commands. Basically, this is the same driver as PCL5e with color printing functionality added.

PCL6 V4 Driver for Universal Printing.
For a list of supported model and more, please see: here.

This PCL6 driver supports the V4 architecture, which Microsoft introduced as its next-generation driver architecture, and offers universal printing. In addition, by installing the complementary V4 Driver Utility from the Windows Store, this driver provides an enhanced printing experience for Windows Store apps.

PCL6 Driver for Universal Print.
PCL 6 driver to offer full functions for Universal Printing.
This driver enables users to use various printing devices.
The availability of functions will vary by connected printer model.
PostScript 3 Driver.
By interacting with the PostScript 3 controller in the device, this driver is able to produce an accurate representation of the screen image.

PS V4 Driver for Universal Print.
For a list of supported model and more, please see: here.

This PS driver supports the V4 architecture, which Microsoft introduced as its next-generation driver architecture, and offers universal printing. In addition, by installing the complementary V4 Driver Utility from the Windows Store, this driver provides an enhanced printing experience for Windows Store apps.

PS Driver for Universal Print.
This PS universal print driver provides significant compatibility with various printing devices,
users can enjoy the simple management and easy operation with a single driver.
The availability of functions varies by connected printer model.

Driver for XPS
This driver enables to print XPS format file.
The XML Paper Specification (XPS) is Microsoft's portable document architecture and forms an integral part of the Windows Vista operating system.

[Gift]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

Does the universal print driver covers all the features of what other drives have?

I'd say yes for most scenarios but still prefer the dedicated PCL6 driver in expectation to get the best print results/performance/driver functions.
From an admin perspective the universal driver is probably more suitable if you have to handle many different Ricoh MFPs.

[Mark Bbb]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

For Android we always use PCL6, never universal.

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

The only time you should use a Microsoft V4 driver is if you have an application that requires you to use it.

As for drivers for universal print, what universal print actually means is for pooling printers of different makes and models. Universal print makes them all look the same and support the same features. Any feature not available on just one of the pooled printers will not be available on any of them.

[GIUBOSS]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

I also recommend PCL6 as the main driver but I have found defects with an mpc3003 for example in the printing of logos, small images, brands etc. they were often printed with black rectangles on the back, printed correctly with PCL6 V4 UNIVERSAL

[rthonpm]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

My order has always been:

PostScript (if the option is there)

PCL 5/5c

PCL 6

In the old days, the RPCS driver would be second behind PostScript. Still features that driver had that are missing from other ones.

PCL XL (6) has gotten better but I still seem to see more errors with it than any other driver type. Font rendering is still flaky with them.

If using PostScript, always remember to turn on error reports in User Tools under Printer settings.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

My order has always been:

PostScript (if the option is there)

PCL 5/5c

PCL 6

In the old days, the RPCS driver would be second behind PostScript. Still features that driver had that are missing from other ones.

PCL XL (6) has gotten better but I still seem to see more errors with it than any other driver type. Font rendering is still flaky with them.

If using PostScript, always remember to turn on error reports in User Tools under Printer settings.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

And I thought that I was the only one who liked PCL5. In the early days of PCL6 there were a lot of applications that did not render colors properly with PCL6 so I got in the habit of installing both.

[anothertech]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

And I thought that I was the only one who liked PCL5. In the early days of PCL6 there were a lot of applications that did not render colors properly with PCL6 so I got in the habit of installing both.

Yeah, I stuck with PCL5 for years, old reliable. I just started going with PCL6 the last couple of years.

[rthonpm]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

The main reason I used PCL 5 is that I had customers who would print scanned documents that would spool forever. With PCL 5 you could drop the resolution down to 300x300 and get a much faster output, even if it was just black and white.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

The main reason I used PCL 5 is that I had customers who would print scanned documents that would spool forever. With PCL 5 you could drop the resolution down to 300x300 and get a much faster output, even if it was just black and white.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

Many years ago I had a church with an new Aficio 3228C and they were trying to print their bulletin for Sunday and it had been over 15 minutes and nothing had printed yet. By the time I got there the first sheet had printed, 11X17 duplex 4 page fold over. It turned out to be the graphics setting. I can't remember what it was set for, vector or raster, but I change to the other and it took only 30 seconds to print the first sheet.

[JayPaul]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

I always go PCL 6 and make a point to any IT guy that I speak to, to get that driver and absolutely avoid Ricoh class drivers and wsd ports (the bane of my life).
I very rarely had problems with it... before that years ago when they used to do it was the RPCS driver, I loved that one it had some good features that PCL 6 doesn't have.
For me personally I only go to PS when it is mac environment.
On the rare occasion I have had PCL 6 problems, they can be fixed with firmware if they have updated it since install, making sure it is the correct model and if still no, try PCL 5 or universal, but then you have to make sure all other applications still print ok.
You would be surprised at the architecture, how similar most drivers are. For example I have a customer that last year we put in a load of Ricoh P502 printers, they told me that they have huge machines that are connected to these printers and the OS was something before Windows Vista, I couldn't find any drivers that would remotely go that far back and found out they can use the HP 5 driver that is built into this dinosaur aged OS and it works perfectly. Same language and everything. It is the same reason you may see people upgrade say MPC 3003 to 3004 and leave the driver on 3003 and it still works exactly the same. I'm not suggesting do that just pointing it out.

[rthonpm]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

You would be surprised at the architecture, how similar most drivers are.

As long as a device understands PCL you can use any driver you want: the language and commands are the same. The only difference in drivers is the extended capabilities of a device, so in the example of using the old LaserJet 5 driver, as long as you don't need any kind of advanced features that the old dinosaur didn't have, any printer will just spit out the jobs using its built in defaults.

The issues with having the wrong driver seem to come when trying to do finishing options like stapling or sorting, and colour.

All most universal drivers do is add every possible option for a manufacturer in the driver table, as opposed to the model specific ones which only give you the options available to that specfic device.

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[DRichard]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

And I thought that I was the only one who liked PCL5. In the early days of PCL6 there were a lot of applications that did not render colors properly with PCL6 so I got in the habit of installing both.

+1

[slimslob]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

For example I have a customer that last year we put in a load of Ricoh P502 printers, they told me that they have huge machines that are connected to these printers and the OS was something before Windows Vista, I couldn't find any drivers that would remotely go that far back

Prior to Ricoh discontinuing support for all Windows OS prior to Windows 7, the driver for most Ricoh models were exactly the same for any Windows OS after XP, only different drivers for 32 bit and 64 bit. So when I had customers still using XP I would install the Win 7 driver.

[UNICORNico]

Re: Ricoh Different types of printer driver.

I also recommend using the specific PCL6.
To add a curiosity, if someone must install drivers of a device prior to the MPxxx2 or MPCxxx3 series, universals can give problems and generate prints with "symbols" (as I call them), when the printer does not understand what is being sent. And he starts printing sheets, and sheets, until he spends them all.