Xerox Document Workstation with PlotWorks Support & Software User Guide

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PlotWorks User Guide • Memory Requirements • A-3
The Printer and The Scanner Interfaces
The Printer Interface uses only a minimal amount of memory when not actively 
printing. When a print job starts, the Printer Interface will image (rasterize) as 
many drawings as it can into physical memory while sending them to the printer. 
This continues until it reaches the limit you set with Maximum Imaging Memory, 
or your operating system tells it that there is insufficient physical memory 
available.
You can set the Maximum Imaging Memory as high as 1 MB less than your 
physical memory, but keep in mind that the operating system will not allow the 
Printer Interface(s) and Scanner Interface to have all of that memory. The actual 
physical memory available on your system will depend on the applications, device 
drivers, services, etc. using the memory and the operating system on your 
computer.
Keep in mind, too, that the more memory the Printer Interface gets from the 
operating system, the less memory is available to other applications running on the 
system, such as the Job Editor, Network Polling, the Job Queue, and any other 
applications you are using. When your computer reaches the limits of physical 
memory, the operating system will start moving some or all of the Printer Interface 
and other applications out to the hard drive. Since the hard drive is much slower 
than physical memory, you might start noticing that these applications become 
less responsive and slower, and you might encounter problems using them. 
Therefore, it makes sense to limit the amount of memory that the Printer Interface 
is set to request.
For optimum PlotWorks performance, do not allocate more than is necessary for 
general day-to-day use. Increase the Maximum Imaging Memory (Printer 
Interface) and Data Buffer Size (Scanner Interface) only when needed for specific 
long print or long scan jobs.
Imaging Memory Setting Guidelines for the Printer Interface
Maximum print lengths are approximate and are dependent on the other 
applications in use at the time of printing. The above calculations were made 
without nonprinting or nonscanning applications running.
Note: Long prints can affect processing and printing speeds. Output speed will 
degrade with longer prints.