hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (12/12/84)
This is a followup on a query and exchange of several weeks ago. At that
time, I requested information about DAK, Inc. and what experiences people
had had with them. I then ordered an Olivetti Praxis 39 typewriter and its
computer interface from DAK. This is, I hope, the conclusion of that
adventure. Things went something like this:
The Olivetti arrived but without the computer interface which had been
back-ordered. Oh, well. I set it up anyway to try it out as a typewriter.
Discovery #1: The user's manual incorrectly described the ribbon
installation procedure. Took me an hour to get it so it stopped chewing up
the ribbon.
Discovery #2: I can type faster than the Olivetti can, so it buffers
characters while it trys to catch up. Very distracting. It's also very
noisy and takes about 2 seconds to do a full carriage return. I am not
impressed, but figure the computer won't mind such things.
Two weeks later, the computer interface arrived. Aha! Unpack, read
directions (so I'm not a hacker (-: ), plug in, and away we go... Well,
not really. Took me about an hour to get WordStar configured for it.
Discovery #3: The escape sequence to disable automatic linefeeds doesn't
work.
Finally got everything set up and decided to run off a simple business
letter.
Discovery #4: Not only is the Olivetti a slower typist than I am, it's
less accurate as well!
This is the one that broke the camel's back. I was grudgingly willing to
put up with noise and slow output and configuration problems for the sake
of a cheap letter quality printer cum typewriter, but when it started
making typographical errors that was the end of my tolerance. Of course I
checked the file it was printing (clean), tried it again (different errors
this time), and ran off a copy on my dot-matrix printer (no errors in
1/10th the time). I also note that both DAK and Olivetti claimed 12 cps
output, while Consumer Reports said the best they could get out of it was 7
cps. I think CR was being optimistic. I'd estimate it was doing < 5 cps
at best. That's under 60 wpm. VERY slow.
Upshot was I returned the Olivetti and interface to DAK today. They were
reasonably courteous about it, made no fuss about taking it back, and said
I could expect a notice of the MasterCard charge being cancelled in about
1.5 weeks.
At this point I have no complaints about DAK, except possibly about the
quality of their merchandise. You buy cheap, you get cheap. (I suspected I
was in trouble when the Olivetti's box had "Made in Singapore" on it.)
Caveat emptor.
--
The Polymath
(Jerry Hollombe) Opinions expressed here are my own
Transaction Technology, Inc. and unrelated to anyone else's.
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
United States
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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