laser-lovers@uw-beaver (05/21/85)
From: kevin@harvard.arpa (Kevin Crowston) We are looking for an inexpensive (i.e. $4 to 8K) laser printer to connect to an IBM PC. The printer will be used mainly for letter quality output, to replace a daisy wheel printer we currently have. (Eventually we hope to develop some sort of print server software so we can use the printer across the network.) We are also interested in packages such as micro-TEX, micro-Scribe, if such a thing exists, troff, etc., so the laser printer should be able to handle these (or vica versa). I hesitate to ask, given the recent controversy, but what printer would people recommend, given the above requirements? What text formatting package (along the lines mentioned above) are people using on micros? Kevin Crowston MIT Sloan School of Management
laser-lovers@uw-beaver (05/22/85)
From: cornell!vax135!houxm!ho95b!wcs@uw-beaver.arpa kevin@harvard.arpa (Kevin Crowston) is looking for > ... an inexpensive (i.e. $4 to 8K) laser printer to > connect to an IBM PC. ... replace a daisy wheel printer > ... [ TeX? troff? Scribe? ] Until recently, I would have recommended the HP LaserJet, for about $4K. However, they're about to come out with a new LaserJet model, with a decent amount of memory and downloadable fonts. My HP sales rep didn't have a price when I last talked with him. The original LaserJet does bitmap graphics (but doesn't have enough memory), does a good daisy-wheel emulation, has plug-in font cartridges, and can do troff if you buy software (from Textware International or Elan Computers.) I don't know about TeX support. It's based on the Canon printing engine, also used by the Apple LaserWriter and Imagen 8/300. Therefore, it produces very good print and has a hopelessly small paper tray. If you want to spend $8-$10K, you can get the Apple or the Imagen, which have been discussed a lot on this mailing list, and will do good troff, TeX, and graphics. If the new LaserJet is priced low, it should be a very good product. Also Canon is coming out with a printer under their own label; may be interesting. Bill Stewart