new konica-minolta printer magicolor 4650, with lots of printerdrivers (win 7)

[c++ newbie!]

Hello,

I bought a new konica-minolta printer: Magicolor 4650 DN. It comes
with lots of printer drivers. I use Windows 7 64 bit. I think the
printer installed itself when I plugged it into the network router
(linksys). Windows 7 found the printer and I added the printer and it
seem to work, including settings / properties for duplex / grayscale /
color / page layout / number of pages per sheet etc.

Question: This printer should support a lot of things and when I want
to download software from the Konica minolta driver webpage, there are
lots of things to download. Some of these have something to do with
"ppd, pcl, xps" etc... I don't know what these things mean.

Here are some of the directory names I downloaded:

KMPPD64PSMINIwin…
MC4650MONOwinx64
MC4650PCL6Winx64
MC4650PPDWin
MC4650PSWinx64
MC4650XPSMINIVista
MC4650XPSVistax64
UPDPCL6Winx64
UPDPSWinx64

Should I install all of these ? Why ? What extra will they give me ? I
assume Vista-drivers are the same as Windows 7-drivers, right?

Please clarify. I guess the printer would be capable of doing
something more if I install these things - why else are they possible
to download?

Please help a newbie - full instructions/explanations would be nice...

 

[c++ newbie!]

Oops, found a Minolta-support group too, which I think should have a
copy and I hope the answer is on-topic in both groups?

If not, please tell me and I'll go the right place for help...

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello,

I bought a new konica-minolta printer: Magicolor 4650 DN. It comes
with lots of printer drivers. I use Windows 7 64 bit. I think the
printer installed itself when I plugged it into the network router
(linksys). Windows 7 found the printer and I added the printer and it
seem to work, including settings / properties for duplex / grayscale /
color / page layout / number of pages per sheet etc.

Question: This printer should support a lot of things and when I want
to download software from the Konica minolta driver webpage, there are
lots of things to download. Some of these have something to do with
"ppd, pcl, xps" etc... I don't know what these things mean.

Here are some of the directory names I downloaded:

KMPPD64PSMINIwin…
MC4650MONOwinx64
MC4650PCL6Winx64
MC4650PPDWin
MC4650PSWinx64
MC4650XPSMINIVista
MC4650XPSVistax64
UPDPCL6Winx64
UPDPSWinx64

Should I install all of these ?

No. You should install only the drivers for the version of Windows you
run--Windows 7 64 bit.

Why ? What extra will they give me ? I
assume Vista-drivers are the same as Windows 7-drivers, right?

No, wrong. In some cases, when Windows 7 drivers don't exist, you
*can* use the Windows Vista drivers, but in other cases you can not.

Please clarify. I guess the printer would be capable of doing
something more if I install these things - why else are they possible
to download?

They are possible to download because different people need different
drivers.

 

[c++ newbie!]

No. You should install only the drivers for the version of Windows you
run--Windows 7 64 bit.

FYI: They're all for Windows 7 64 bit, that's why I downloaded them.

No, wrong. In some cases, when Windows 7 drivers don't exist, you
*can* use the Windows Vista drivers, but in other cases you can not.

But the drivers (directories) I mentioned are all supposed to work on
my system so you haven't really anwered anything at all.

They are possible to download because different people need different
drivers.

What an answer!

Let me guess: You don't happen to know anything about ppd, pcl, xps
etc, like I asked about?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

FYI: They're all for Windows 7 64 bit, that's why I downloaded them.


But the drivers (directories) I mentioned are all supposed to work on
my system so you haven't really anwered anything at all.


What an answer!

Let me guess: You don't happen to know anything about ppd, pcl, xps
etc, like I asked about?

I was going to reply to you with more info until I read that line.
Have it your way. You're not interested in what I have to say, and
you've convinced me that I'm not interested in trying to help you

Good luck!

 

[c++ newbie!]

I was going to reply to you with more info until I read that line.
Have it your way. You're not interested in what I have to say, and
you've convinced me that I'm not interested in trying to help you

Good luck!

If you don't have anything to say, then I'm definitely not interested
in hearing what you "have to say". At least nothing you wrote helped
me anything.

 

[Chuck]

ppd, pcl, xps
PCL stands for "Printer Control Language"
You can easily search the internet for the other two.
Basically, You only install drivers appropriate to your OPS system. Others
can be present, and indeed, if you are going to share a printer with other
P/C's running a different version of the ops system, perhaps they should be
available for download to those other systems.

Since you signed in using C++newbie, and then went off in a tizzy, it's
doubtful that you will get much further help here. Don't irritate the grey
beards, or they will just ignore you. Life is too short.

 

[c++ newbie!]

ppd, pcl, xps
PCL stands for "Printer Control Language"
You can easily search the internet for the other two.

Yes, I did a bit of that before asking the question. I'm astonished
the accompanying documentation included in the driver directories is
so poor, that it at least doesn't help a newbie like me. On the other
hand, it's not critical that I ever understand these files.

Basically, You only install drivers appropriate to your OPS system. Others

I don't know what an OPS system is.

can be present, and indeed, if you are going to share a printer with other
P/C's running a different version of the ops system, perhaps they should be
available for download to those other systems.

I'll share the printer with 2 pc's. Nothing big. Home-network.

Since you signed in using C++newbie, and then went off in a tizzy, it's
doubtful that you will get much further help here.  Don't irritate the grey
beards, or they will just ignore you. Life is too short.

What has anything to do with "signing in as C++newvie" and also "went
off in a tizzy" is a bit over-exaggerated in my opinion.

 

[NewIT]

Hello C++

Just to give you an idea ...

UPD might be short for Universal Printer Driver
PCL - faster and used basically for printing from MS application
PS - this is better especially for Printers with true postscript, used
basically for printing from Adobe application
PPD - for MAC printing
XPS - uses smaller spool file sizes and can reduce network traffic and
improve print performance.

However, you can search on internet for further INFO.

Cheers,