IBM System/34 - How Spooling Works

How Spooling Works

To allow the system to manage the problem, system components called "writers" and "spool files" were developed. A writer is a small system program that reads the spool file, matches a particular printer with a ready-to-print spool object, and begins sending instructions to the printer. It is a two-way process; the printer sends a signal back to the system when it is ready for more work. In order to avoid mixing up data from two spool files, the first report to finish and close is traditionally printed first.

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