EOL Universal Printer Driver Choosing-Driver

AMT Software provides several "builds" of our drivers, for a perfect fit into your IT Infrastructure and setup of CITRIX or Terminal Services.

Below you find a Technical Introduction to the different types of Drivers.

ICA32.EXE is the full Program Neighborhood client. It incorporates all the features that you can expect to have in a Citrix environment, i.e., client drive and printer mapping, RC5 Encryption, Seamless Windows, Speedscreen 3, Compression, Bitmap Caching, and many, many others. Basically, every feature that is made available on a Citrix server is supported by this client.

Most people don't know that this client is also suitable for Application Launching and Embedding (ALE). If you look in the Citrix client directory, you will find WFICA.OCX, the ActiveX control that allows you to access an embedded Citrix session using IE, and NPICAN.DLL the Netscape plug-in that allows you to do the same thing with a Netscape browser.

Therefore, the full client is good for everything from custom ICA connections and application set access (farm-based apps), to Application Launching and Embedding and NFuse.

Note: NFuse is a combination of ALE + Application Set access. Clients who have the full Program Neighborhood do not need to download a Web plug-in to do ALE or NFuse.

ICA32T.EXE is the PRIMARY Web client. It has absolutely all the features of the full ICA32.EXE Program Neighborhood client, except that it doesn't come with a user interface (PN.EXE) to allow the user to create ad-hoc connections to servers, published apps, and application sets. In other words, once installed, the client does not create a shortcut on the desktop that the user can launch.

Again, ICA32T.EXE = ICA32T.EXE minus User Interface.

What is the purpose of this client?
Well, it allows users to launch NFuse-based and ALE-based connections in the same exact manner that ICA32.EXE does. It supports ABSOLUTELY all the features of the MetaFrame software; that's why it is called the 'PRIMARY' client. It also has the advantage of a small footprint (1.5MB) as opposed to ICA32.EXE (3.5MB).

The other Web clients are '"Lesser" clients because although they have an even smaller footprint (i.e., right around 300KB), they aren't nearly as powerful and feature-packed as ICA32T.EXE. For example, the ALE client sUniversal Printer Driverports the legacy ALE method of accessing webified Citrix sessions (launched or embedded) as well as NFuse. But it cannot do Seamless Windows or other possibly desirable things. In short, we are trading features for footprint.

When faced between ICA32.EXE and ICA32T.EXE, you should take a few things into consideration:

• Is the client footprint an issue?
  If so, ICA32T.EXE is the answer.


• Is it strictly an ALE or NFuse scenario?
  If so, ICA32T.EXE is the answer.


• Does the customer want the ability to create ad-hoc connections to servers and published apps?
  If so, ICA32.EXE is the answer.


• Is Citrix already part of the customer's environment?
  Do they already have a Citrix ICA client loaded on their machines for purpose of accessing servers other than the ones you're implementing? If so, you want to hit two birds with one stone: you want to Universal Printer Drivergrade them to ICA32.EXE which will preserve their existing settings, while at the same time giving them access to the server farm that you're building.


• Rarely should you consider the use of the thinner ALE clients. By thinner I mean size and features.

ICA32A.EXE is called the Program Neighborhood Agent.

It is a client that can be used in conjunction with MF XP FR1 and NFuse 1.6 to deliver NFuse capabilities to the user WITHOUT a web browser. This client sits in the system tray of the client PC and communicates with the NFuse server. When it receives the application set from NFuse, it then populates your desktop and Start Menu with these applications.

The location of these shortcuts on the user's desktop is pre-determined at the time the apps are published in the server farm. It's neat, but the user looses track of which apps are local and which apps are remote (unlike AppPortal). This client is great for NT-embedded terminals where you know there are no apps on the local device.

Because EOL Universal Printer opens a virtual channel inside the ICA pipe to transfer the print job, the ICA client in use must support virtual channels.

One indication that a client supports virtual channels is the presence of MODULE.INI. If this file isn't part of the ICA client, then no virtual channels can be initiated upon launching an ICA connection.

EOL developed this virtual channel driver by following Microsoft- and Citrix-published SDK guidelines.

As such, because the only clients that feature a MODULE.INI file are ICA32.EXE, ICA32T.EXE, and ICA32A.EXE. They are all 'FULL' clients delivering the application set to you in different ways, but the characteristics of the ICA pipe and the virtual channel specification do not change.

These are the only 3 clients that we support. BTW, we also support the 4.x version of the full Program Neighborhood. There are no 4.x versions of ICA32T.EXE and ICA32A.EXE.

When using NFuse, you need to remember that client auto-detection prompts the user to install ICA32T.EXE to the local machine if it doesn't already exist. You will need to replace whatever the NFuse site is pointing to with one of our Universal Printer Driver-enhanced clients. This has the benefit of installing not only the ICA client, but also the Universal Printer Driver client and Adobe Acrobat all at once.

Again, in light of the questions that you have to pose to yourself and answer (see ICA32T.EXE), it is Universal Printer Driver to you to decide which flavor of our downloads is suitable for the situation on hand.

We currently offer our Universal Printer client in several bundles to include the Acrobat Reader and the 3 flavors of the ICA client. That's why there are Several distinct downloads. It is Universal Printer Driver to you to choose which one is more suitable for a particular customer.