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I've always wondered why I need a 500+ MB printer driver installed on my computer every time I set up a new printer. Why can't computers simply send the file that needs to be printed to a printer and have the printer do all the necessary processing?
Admittedly, I know nothing about printers. I am assuming that the printer driver is unique to each printer which converts some standard format file into specific instructions sent to the printer. Rather than forcing each computer to download this specific driver, does it not make more sense for this driver to reside solely on the printer itself and have the printer take in a standard file format?
Even in Apple's new patent application, they still talk about having the printer driver either in the cloud or on the device itself. Understandably, if the printer driver is in the cloud, the local PC would need to download it in order to use it. However, in the second case when the driver is stored on the device itself, why would the computer need to transfer the printer driver to the local PC and only then send the print job? Why can't it just send the file to print and have the printer take that file and use the printer driver (which is already installed on the printer itself) to print the document without any processing needed to be done on the PC?
Is it because printers don't have any processing capability? I find this one hard to believe because today's printers seem to be getting more and more sophisticated with things such as mini displays on them and they have the wifi built in and the ability to insert a memory card and print directly from it without a computer.
15Applications are bloated these days, but 500+ MB for a printer driver is way exaggerated I think. Sounds more like (optional) software packages. – schnaader – 2011-08-16T00:59:25.093
4And wow does reading this make me thankful I use CUPS and linux. Hell, even when I ran a print server for windows clients I ran CUPS. Since CUPS takes care of the actual printer drivers, all the windows clients just used the same generic post-script driver, no matter which printer they printed to. It was nice. – Kyle__ – 2011-08-16T01:28:19.310
3the 500MB is definitely exaggerated. . – surfasb – 2011-08-16T01:29:27.903
Printer drivers may be a thing of the past in near future...http://www.conceivablytech.com/8817/products/apple-to-eliminate-printer-drivers
– Moab – 2011-08-16T02:49:58.643@Moab: That's still a driver. It just precludes you from having to install 10 different drivers for 10 different printers. I have a hard time seeing this happen though. Considering how diverse the feature set on printers are. Would be nice though. . . – surfasb – 2011-08-16T06:57:12.833
8500MB is not exaggerated. HP drivers have been that large and larger (for their consumer products) for several years now. You're right in that the package includes vast amounts of bloatware and unnecessary apps. But HP doesn't offer a "just driver" package for many of these printers, so it's all you can get. – music2myear – 2011-08-16T17:48:11.627
Looks like Steve Jobs has asked that question recently and not gotten a good answer.
– Rich Homolka – 2011-08-16T17:07:16.573