Posted: January 26, 2001
Written by: Dustin "TimmyC" Jones

Printer Ports

There are three different types of printer ports used by PCs: Standard, EPP, and ECP.

There are some differences between using EPP and ECP. For one, ECP is faster than EPP. A standard parallel port is the oldest printer port type and is also slower. EPP (Enhanced Printer Port) is the second oldest type, and while faster than a standard port, is still not the best. ECP, (Enhanced Centronics Port -or- Extended Capability Port) is the much wiser choice out of the three, as it's much faster and allows for DMA. (Direct Memory Access).

If you go to Control Panel, System, Device Manager, and ports; you should be able to find out what port type you are using. If it says ECP, you're good to go. If it says EPP, you'll need to change it.

Printer ports are set via the BIOS and can be changed pretty easily. If you don't want to venture into the colorful realms of the BIOS, then don't change this setting. You will be missing out on a great tweak though. These tweaks do not apply to USB printers.

Memory

Just like in your system, adding printer memory is a great way to improve its response time in printing and increase efficiency. Keep in mind that very few printers have this great ability, and they are usually meant for network/business laser printers where lots of memory is a must. That sucks, I want 128MB of memory on my Canon printer!

Conclusion

Hopefully this guide helped you soup up that printer of yours and you can print out those evil ideas you have in your head much faster and easier. :)

Click here for a printer friendly version.

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