Why do many pages of meaningless characters come out of the printer when I print certain things?
The printer prints these characters when it receives a file it does not understand how to print. Instead of simply ignoring the file, the printer attempts to print what it can. These files contain a seemingly random mix of viewable letters, numbers, and symbols, as well as other characters that cannot be viewed. The printer is capable of printing the letters, numbers, and symbols, but the other characters often signal a page break. Since these other characters show up just as often as the letters, numbers, and symbols, you will see strings of only a few letters, numbers, and symbols before the printer switches to a new page. Most programs know how to translate your print job into printer language, such as PostScript. If such a file is sent to a printer without being translated into printer language, e.g. PostScript, the printer tries to print it “as is”, and you receive pages of meaningless characters.
