Printer Drivers - HP Jetdirect 250M User Manual

NETWORK PRINTING

Printer drivers

The printer driver is the last major component
to consider in network printing. This driver is
system software that converts a document in
your computer to a form that makes sense for
the printer.
When you print from an application on your
computer, it is the printer driver that converts
the layout on your screen to the ones and zeros
that the printer takes as input. When the printer
receives this information, it converts the ones
and zeros into a correctly printed page.
The installer program for network printing
needs to have the printer driver to complete the
installation. It usually turns out that the trickiest
thing about the installation is knowing where to
find the driver. You may be able to find the
driver on the CD that came with your printer, on
the Web, or on your operating system CD. If you
previously had the same printer connected
directly to your computer, the right driver may
already be on your system. (We will provide
more information on finding and using printer
drivers in the next section, "Installing a Network
Printer".)