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Date:      Tue, 30 Jan 2001 02:41:55 -0600 (CST)
From:      Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
To:        Odhiambo Washington <wash@iconnect.co.ke>
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Paper version of the handbook
Message-ID:  <14966.32339.69484.579686@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <20010130110219.C564@poeza.iconnect.co.ke>
References:  <99557382@toto.iv> <14966.15175.648493.198122@guru.mired.org> <20010130110219.C564@poeza.iconnect.co.ke>

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Odhiambo Washington <wash@iconnect.co.ke> types:
> * Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> [20010130 06:57]: writing on the subject 'Re: Paper version of the handbook'
> 
> Mike> Which is why I just bought a duplexer for my printer. Not that I want
> Mike> to print the handbook, but so blasted much software and hardware is
> Mike> coming with documentation as PDF on CD-ROM that I want printed copies
> Mike> of. Thousands of pages over the last year.
> You just mentioned something new to me and I was wondering if you could
> enlighten me on what this 'duplexer' does for a printer - how is it used?

A printer that has "duplex" capabilities can print on both sides of
the paper. The "duplexer" proper is extra paper-handling mechanism
that will take a page just printed on, turn it over, and send it back
through the print mechanism to get the next page printed on the back
side. High-dollar business printers are liable to have that capability
built in; mid-level office printers - like my LaserJet 5m - have an
optional external module that does this. It sits in one of the paper
exit paths to turn the paper around. It's kind of cute watching the
page pop up in the back and then go back down for the second pass.

Obviously, you use a duplexer to make two-sided printouts. This cuts
down on paper use - sufficiently so that when I was at DEC's WSE
group, we configured all the printers to duplex by default - and means
those thick documents I mentioned go into much binders of half the
width. You enable duplexing by settings on the front panel - duplex on
or off, and if on, whether you flip along the long edge, like a book,
or short edge, like a clipboard - or in software. CUPS has options in
the printer config for laserjets for this. Enscript has an option to
do this. ApplixWords (part of Applixware Office) will print duplex
once you've told it that a particular print queue is a printer with a
duplexer.

Personally, I'm going to set it on the front panel to duplex by
default, and then override it from the software for those cases where
I have to have single-sided copy.

	<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.


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