simple TCPIP printerport vs. LPR printer port

[Sean]

What are the differences between these 2 printer port
settings. Generally they do the same thing, but I seem to
have better performance when using LPR. Someone asked why
I use only LPR and I did not have a good answer.

 

[Bruce Sanderson]

With Windows 2000 and XP, there are two varieties of "LPR" ports.

1. "Standard TCP/IP" port type configured for LPR
2. the LPR Port type that is installed with the Print Services for UNIX

The default for the "Standard TCP/IP" port type is "RAW" which is actually
the "Port 9100" protocol that HP first built into its Jet Direct devices.
Early versions of the Jet Direct device did not support the lpr/lpd
protocol, so the "Port 9100" protocol was all that could be used.

LPR/LPD gives additional flexibility in that not all printers (or print
servers) will necessarily support the "Port 9100" protocol.

Why any of the three options:
1. Standard TCP/IP Port configured for "RAW"
2. Standard TCP/IP Port configured for LPR
3. (Print Services for UNIX) LPR Port

would give "better performance" is not clear to me. I would expect that the
Port 9100 protocol would cause the least network traffic, but the
differences are probably pretty small. What does "better performance" mean
in this context (e.g. faster print of first page, least CPU on the Print
Server computer, least network traffic)?