Adjusting PRINTSTA Parameters to Enhance Printer Speed (97749)

SUMMARY

You can set several parameters from the command line to speed up network printing on MS-DOS workstations when using PRINTSTA.EXE. Type PRINTSTA at the command line to see which parameters it is currently using, or PRINTSTA /? for a brief description of each parameter.

MORE INFORMATION

Some parameters that are most useful for enhancing printing speed are are:

/T:1 Timer Priority   This sets the priority for PRINTSTA as to how
                      often it can use the system's processor. Setting
                      this to 1 gives PRINTSTA its highest priority.

/B:20                 Number of network buffers for use with PRINTSTA.
                      20 is the maximum. Each buffer uses 128 bytes.

/I:50 Timer Loop      This sets the number of processing cycles PRINTSTA
Iterations            uses before relinquishing control. You can assign
            whatever value you want to this, but setting it too
            high can cause problems. If you change it and
            problems develop, look to it first as a probable
            cause.

/O:1024 Number of     This should be matched to the value set for the /M
Characters to Print   parameter.
in Each Pass

/M:1024        The amount of cache memory to be reserved for
                      each permitted spool file.

Giving your protocol stack more NCBs seems to help. You need at least 8 for the stack to function properly, 12 is better, and if a lot of people are trying to connect at the same time you may want even more.