How The Colorpass Works; About Printer Drivers And Ppds - Canon ColorPASS-Z5000 Printing Manual

xiii How the ColorPASS works

How the ColorPASS works

The ColorPASS receives files from computers on the network, processes (RIPs) those
files, and then sends them to the copier's print engine for printing. Even with the
ColorPASS installed, you can still use the copier to make copies.
Windows and Mac OS computers communicate with the ColorPASS by means of a
PostScript printer driver and PostScript printer description (PPD) files. The driver
enables you to use special features of the ColorPASS from the Print dialog box.

About printer drivers and PPDs

A printer driver manages printing communication between your application software
and the printer. It interprets the instructions generated by the application software,
merges those instructions with printer-specific PPD options you specify, and translates
all that information into PostScript, a language the printer understands. In other
words, the printer driver writes a PostScript file based on your original file and the
options you set from the Print dialog box.
A PPD file contains information about a particular device's features and capabilities
(for example, what paper sizes and media types are supported). The printer driver reads
the information in the PPD file and presents that information to you in the form of
options you can choose from the Print dialog box. The PPD for the ColorPASS
includes information about the features of both the copier and the ColorPASS.
For information on the PPD options, see Appendix A, "Print Options."