ExcelliPrint 4.0 vs. 5.0
ExcelliPrint® 5.0 isn’t an update of 4.0: it’s a new program, rebuilt for today’s Windows with security, reliability and output quality first. To your IBM i or z/OS host it’s the same dependable IPDS printer, supporting all the IPDS towers and running as a Windows service. Everything around that is new.
Secure by design
- Nothing to attack from the network but the queues. 5.0 has no web server, browser login or administration port. Each queue accepts jobs only from the host addresses you list; any other connection is refused and logged.
- Windows decides who’s in charge. Only Windows administrators can change settings; other users can look but not touch. There are no separate ExcelliPrint accounts or passwords to manage.
- Least privilege. The service runs under its own Windows service account, not as an administrator or a shared user.
- Passwords stay protected. Credentials for shares, printers and mail servers are encrypted with Windows data protection and can’t be read from a copy of the database or on another computer. Email goes over TLS by default.
Every job accounted for
- Done or failed, never half-done. Each job ends completed or failed. A partial file is never delivered, a partly sent print job is cancelled, and the log says exactly why a job failed: a refused password, an unreachable folder, a mail server’s reply.
- Self-healing. Each queue runs in its own process; if one stops, the service restarts it and the other queues carry on. A job cut off by a dropped connection or a restart is marked so, and the host resends it.
- Nothing lost in between. The next job can arrive while the last is still being drawn and delivered, and jobs are delivered in the order they arrived.
- Easy to look after. Back up and restore the whole configuration and job history while ExcelliPrint runs, and switch on diagnostic logging without a restart.
Our best rendering yet
- One engine, every format. PDF, PDF/A, TIFF, PostScript, PCL6 and printed output are drawn by the same engine, so text, images, bar codes and overlays land in exactly the same place in all of them. Save a job as PDF and you’ve seen what the printer will print.
- Real, searchable text. Text in PDF is real text, placed at the host’s positions, and fonts are embedded where needed. PCL6 prints the same text with the printer’s own fonts.
- Fonts you choose. Map each IBM typeface to the TrueType font you want. OCR-A, OCR-B and Letter Gothic are included, and OCR text is kept at its standard size so scanners can read it.
- Your printer, the host’s choices. Trays, output bins, duplex and copies requested by the host are followed, through PCL6, PostScript or any printer’s own Windows driver.
Side by side
| 4.0 | 5.0 | |
|---|---|---|
| Editions | Premium and Standard. Standard printed PCL only | One edition, with every feature |
| Administration | Browser-based, through ExcelliPrint’s own web server, with login accounts and roles | A Windows program on the ExcelliPrint computer. Windows administrators change settings; other users can view them. No web server or administration port |
| Setup | Printers, each with ports and output devices | Queues: one port, one output and its settings. See queue settings |
| Searchable, with passwords (Premium) | Searchable, with passwords and permissions, and PDF/A-2b for archiving. See PDF conversion | |
| Other files | TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF and plain text (Premium) | TIFF (resolution and color, or black and white), PostScript level 2 or 3, PCL6 |
| Printing | PCL5 to PCL printers; Windows printing (Premium) | PCL6 or PostScript straight to the printer, or Windows Driver through any printer’s own driver |
| Trays and bins | PCL tray mapping | Tray and output-bin mapping for PCL6, PostScript and Windows Driver; duplex and copies followed. See printing to a specific tray |
| The job as an attachment (Premium) | The job as an attachment in any file format, over TLS | |
| Drawing | Separate code for each kind of output | One engine draws every format, so a job looks the same in all of them. See towers and color |
| Job separation | At the host’s acknowledgment frequency (ACKFRQ, CKPTPAGE) | At the group boundaries PSF sends for each spooled file. See job separation |
| Shared folders and printers | Reached as the service’s run-as user | Reached as a Windows user stored with the queue; passwords protected by Windows |
| Jobs and log | A log | A Jobs list with the host’s details for each job, and a log that says why any job failed. See jobs and log |
| Backup | Export and import of the configuration | Backup and restore of the configuration and job history while ExcelliPrint runs |
Also in 5.0:
- Accept jobs from. Each queue accepts jobs only from the hosts you list. See security.
- Font mapping. Choose the TrueType font for each IPDS typeface; OCR-A, OCR-B and Letter Gothic fonts are included.
- 64-bit Windows 10, 11 and Server 2016 or later. See requirements.
Not in 5.0
- iSeries device and spooled-file management. 5.0 is set up from the host’s side; see Setting up IBM i. Spooled files are managed with the host’s own tools.
- PC graphical overlays, watermarks and margins. The host’s own overlays and page segments print as they always have.
- JPEG, PNG, GIF and plain text output. Use PDF or TIFF.
- PCL5. Use PCL6, which most office laser printers understand, or Windows Driver.
Moving to 5.0
5.0 doesn’t read 4.0’s configuration, so set up your queues again. 4.0 and 5.0 can be installed on the same computer but can’t listen on the same ports. See upgrading from 4.0 and what’s new in 5.0.