Printer or Logical Printer - the software
interface between the operating system and the print device. The printer
determines how the document gets to the printing devices, and other parameters
of the printing process. A single printer can send jobs to a single print
device (most common), or several print devices (like the Levitt Laserwriters
pool, or the Crane Pool).
NOTE: This is the equivalent to what Netware calls a queue.
Queue - group of documents waiting to be printed.
Print jobs - source code that contains both
data and commands for
print processing
Spooler - a set of libraries that receive, process, schedule, and distribute print jobs.
Spooling - process of writing the contents of a print job to disk. This file is called a spool file, and in the event of a power failure, the spool file will prevent data loss, and the print job can be resumed once power is restored. "Despooling" is the process if reading the spool file, and sending it to the print device.
Rendering - creating a print job. When you click the "Print" button, you are causing your computer to render the print job based on what type of printer you have selected. The NT spooler can also render or re-render printjobs as necessary.
Print server - the computer that connects one or more print devices to the network.
Downlevel box or Downlevel server- A computer running any version of Windows that is NOT Windows NT 4.
Creating a printer - the process of connecting
to a print device, naming the printer, and installing the print driver.
NOTE: This might seem silly now, but over the next week or so,
you'll understand.
Connecting to a printer - the process of connecting to a share on the computer that created the printer. Only Windows95/NT4 can connect to a printer. **NOTE**: This might seem silly now, but over the next week or so, you'll understand.
Print client - computer that sends print jobs over the network (also called client computers).
Client application - program that creates a print job. This could be the rendering software on the print server, or an application on the client (eg. Microsoft Word).
Network-interface printers - printers that can exist on the network by themselves... IOW: Have thier own NIC.