Printing fast on Windows 2000, slow on Windows XP

[chainsman]

Printing is slow when printing to an ethernet print server but fast when
printing to a Windows 2000 server connected to those same ethernet print
servers.
One of them is a Netgear PS121 via USB, the other is a Dlink 301p+ using
parallel.
What I don't get is, what special feature of Windows 2000 is making these
printer servers fast on Windows 2000 but very slow when the machines connect
directly to the printer servers?

I have also tried Red Hat Enterprise and it is exactly as slow as printing
directly to the ethernet print servers.

What is the special thing about Windows 2000 that makes the printing so much
faster than Windows XP or Linux printing to the same devices?

 

[Chuck]

If I were to hazard a guess, the spooling system is involved, as well as
other things, including
differences in network and user configurations between versions.
For some reason, each newer version of windows seems to print slower than
the previous one.
Win 3.1 Very Fast
Win.3.11 about the same, perhaps very slightly slower.
Win 95 slower than 3.11
Win 98 slower than 95
Win ME slower or the same as 98
Win XP slower than ME in most cases
Win 2000 generally quite fast, seems to be about the same as 95 in speed.
Very dependent on network configuration.

Hardware Print servers started out as hardware buffers, more or less with
DOS, and were usually operable with win 3.11.
After 3.11, controlling them became an issue, and they fell into common
disuse.
Later, they were revised to be seen as a network device, and windows
software support developed.
One of the things that has a big impact on speed seems to be the network
protocols used to communicate with the print server and printer.