Title Configuration
To choose an Amiga print mode in Amiga Forever 7 and higher right-click a title,
select Edit, go to the Configuration tab and select the desired parallel port
device option. This includes a native (passthrough) mode and emulated EpsonQ
and PostScript modes.
Native vs. EpsonQ and PostScript
Emulation
If the Amiga title has a driver for the
device that is attached to the PC, select
Native (passthrough) mode. This includes
printing in PostScript to a modern
PostScript printer that is directly
supported by the Amiga side.
Since the Amiga does generally not have
drivers for modern printers, two
emulated printers (EpsonQ and PostScript) can help process the Amiga
output into a format that can be printed
with modern devices and drivers (which do
not need to be either EpsonQ or PostScript).
The emulated EpsonQ
printer is built-in, whereas the PostScript
one requires the Ghostscript package to be
installed on the Windows side.
Select EpsonQ emulation to use a
built-in, emulated 48-pin "EpsonQ" printer.
All Amiga OS versions have an EpsonQ printer
driver, which is preset in the Printer
Preferences of most Amiga Forever systems.
Some Amiga programs (e.g. SBase) output
directly via their own drivers (rather than
the Amiga Prefs printer driver. In that
case, select a driver that most closely
resembles an EpsonQ dot-matrix printer (up
to 48 pins, ESC/P2-compatible). If adjusting
these settings manually, also remember to
set the output to the Amiga parallel port.
Select PostScript emulation to use an
optional emulated PostScript printer.
Consider this high-quality option if the
Amiga application can generate PostScript
output, but the PC does not have a
PostScript printer attached.
General Options
For the Windows-side printer selection,
and for additional settings and information
on the printer emulation, see Windows
Printer under Tools/Options/Emulation.
The final print output of all titles is
sent to the Windows printer set here.
PostScript as a Universal Bridge
Newer versions of the Amiga operating system, as well as Amiga graphics, word processing, DTP
and other applications, also support the PostScript page
definition language, which allows for higher-quality output
compared to the EpsonQ dot-matrix mode. Once you are able to produce PostScript
output from the Amiga, this can be rendered on any printer on
the Windows side. To allow for this, in the Amiga Forever title
configuration set the Parallel port device to one of:
- Native (if printing to a
PostScript printer)
- PostScript emulation (to print to
file, PDF or any non-PostScript printer)
PostScript emulation requires the Ghostscript
package to be installed on Windows.
You also need to configure the Amiga to produce
PostScript printer output. The Amiga Printer Preferences include a
relatively simple PostScript printer driver, so if your
application offers built-in support for PostScript, we recommend,
as a general rule, that you choose the latter print option instead
of the Amiga driver.
On the PC side, PostScript is directly supported by
higher-end laser printers. Additionally, if you install the Ghostscript
package, the Amiga PostScript output can be converted by the
emulation layer into a format that can be processed by the (non-PostScript)
Windows printer driver.
Amiga Printer Drivers
It may not always be easy to find an up-to-date Amiga printer
driver for your PC printer. Third-party Amiga packages like Studio
Professional and TurboPrint include a wider choice of high-quality
Amiga printer drivers than the Amiga operating system, and they also support
redirection to a file, which may be useful when it is not possible
to directly send the printer output to a local port.
If you do not have an Amiga driver for
the PC printer, leave the Amiga
configuration set to EpsonQ to use the
emulated EpsonQ printer.
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