LaserWriter II: "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts" Slowdown


I have an Excel 3.0 document that uses the Zapf Dingbats fonts. The
document takes 30 seconds to print on my Personal LaserWriter NT. The same
document takes 10 minutes to print on the LaserWriter IIf. I'm using
System 7 with the Zapf Dingbats PostScript in the System Folder (it is
named "ZapfDin"). Other documents in Word, FileMaker, and so on, print
fine on the LaserWriter IIf.

We looked at the "Page Setup..." options for the document you sent. The
"Unlimited Downloadable Fonts in a Document" option was turned on. With
this option enabled, any font that the driver downloads is purged as soon
as another font is used, even if this other font is in the printer's ROM.
The document has Zapf Dingbats characters interspersed throughout. Zapf
Dingbats is downloaded the first time the font is used. As soon as another
font is used, Zapf Dingbats is purged from memory. When it's used again,
the LaserWriter driver has to download the font again. Because of the
layout of the document, the Zapf Dingbats PostScript is downloaded dozens
of times.

If you disable the "Unlimited Downloadable Fonts in a Document" option, the
document takes 30 seconds to print on the LaserWriter IIf.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012