Installing a PostScript Printer Driver
Really, you don't need to buy another printer. What you are doing here is installing the software that Windows uses to talk to a printer (that's what a "printer driver" is.) Instead of sending the printer instructions (put a blob of black here, there, and there) to a physical printer attached to your machine, the instructions are saved to a file. So now you have a file that says "put a blob of black here...". That file can be opened and read by lots of different programs which can convert printer instructions into "screen instructions" ("put a 10 pixels of black in the upper left corner...").
Note: The details of installing a printer vary slightly from one version of Windows to another. The instructions below are general. For more detail, read the Windows help files.
- Click on the Start Button
- Go to "Settings"
- If "Printers" doesn't appear in the Settings sub-menu, click on "Control Panel", and "Printers" should appear within the Control Panel
- Look for the icon labelled "Add Printer"
- Double click on the "Add Printer" icon
- You will be asked a bunch of questions about the new printer you're installing. We won't try to answer them all here, but we'll cover the important ones:
- This should be a "local," not "network printer
- The printer we recommend choosing is the "Apple LaserWriter Pro 600"
Note:There are several other printer drivers that are worth experimenting with if your .ps/.prn files don't look correct when you open them in GhostView:
- Adobe Generic PostScript Printer Driver for Windows and for Mac
- If you have color images, you may want to try the "Apple Color LW 12/660 PS" or some other PS printer driver with the word "color" in its name (e.g., some of the HP printers).
- When you are asked what port this printer will connect to, tell it to use "FILE" (i.e., it will print to a file rather than an actual printer)
- Do not set this as the default printer for your system
