Device Type (Short Description) 
A device type in the SAP System is the category of printer to be addressed. When you define an output device, choose the name of the device type that was defined in the SAP System for your printer model, such as Post2 for a PostScript printer. The device type is the total of all properties of an output device that the SAP System requires to control the output device correctly, such as control commands for font selection, page size, character set selection, and so on.
In most cases, the SAP System already provides the appropriate device type for the printer type for the printer model that you want to use. For a current list of the supported device types, see SAP Note 8928 in the SAP Service Marketplace. The attachment for the note contains most device types and can be downloaded. For information about very specific device types, see the attachments of the relevant SAP Notes.
Most printers can also be controlled using a generic format, that is, a device-independent format, such as PostScript. They can be switched to a mode that is compatible with one of the standard printers for which an SAP device type is available. In this case, a supported model is emulated. Almost all printers are delivered with Microsoft Windows printer drivers. The system can control these printers with the generic (device-independent) device type SWIN using SAPlpd. The Microsoft Windows spool system then performs the processing of the print data.
Only if the specified device types are not available, and generic device types cannot be used, must you create your own device type or edit a copy of an existing device type. We recommend that only those with specialist knowledge of the SAP Spool System and printer driver code do this.
For detailed information about device types, see Device Types for SAP Output Devices (Detailed Information) and its subsections.
See also:
Output Devices in the SAP Spool System
Generic Device Type SWIN for Microsoft Windows Printing
