Microsoft KB Archive/188902

PPT98: How to Speed Up Your DeskWriter or StyleWriter Printer

PSS ID Number: Q188902 Article last modified on 07-06-1998

MACINTOSH:98

MACINTOSH

=
=========================================================

= SYMPTOMS =

Printing a slide or presentation to a Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskWriter or Apple StyleWriter printer may be very slow.

= CAUSE =

These printers have very little memory. When printing, they use the system memory allocated to PowerPoint.

= RESOLUTION =

To speed up printing to these printers, use one of the following methods.

NOTE: You can also be use these methods to troubleshoot errors you may receive when printing.

Method 1: Install the Latest Version of the Printer Driver
Install the latest version of the printer driver for your particular printer. In many cases the latest printer drivers are better able to handle low memory situations. For example, you can print much faster to the Color StyleWriter 2400 by using version 2.1.1 of the printer driver than you can by using version 1.6.1 of the printer driver. To obtain the updated printer driver contact the manufacturer of your printer.

Method 2: Allocate More Memory to the PowerPoint
Allocate more memory to PowerPoint before you print your file.

NOTE: Do not allocate too much memory to PowerPoint. If you do, you may not have enough free memory for the system software to work properly, resulting in low memory errors or your program may unexpectedly quit.

Method 3: Turn off Ram Doubler or Virtual Memory
Turn off Ram Doubler or Virtual Memory. While these simulate more memory, in some cases they may slow down printing.

NOTE: If you have a Power Macintosh, Apple recommends that you keep virtual memory turned on and set to 1 megabyte above the amount of built-in memory.

Method 4: Turn off Background Printing
Turn off Backgroung Printing.

Method 5: Disable Extensions and Control Panels
Use the Extensions Manager to turn all extensions off except for the ones needed to print from PowerPoint. Extensions reduce system memory usage.

  Open the Extensions Manager Control Panel.   In the Extensions Manager, turn off all extensions, libraries and control panels except your printer driver and the following: Microsoft Component Library Microsoft Structured Storage Microsoft OLE Automation Microsoft OLE Library NOTE: Additional libraries may need to be enabled for your computer to boot if you are using an operating system other than the Macintosh OS 8.0 software. 

Additional query words: 8.0 macppt m_powerpt macsys ppt98 printing prints too slow slug clean boot ====================================================================== Keywords : kbprint Version : MACINTOSH:98 Platform : MACINTOSH Hardware : MAC Issue type : kbprb ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1998.