info-mac@uw-beaver (02/04/85)
From: Harry Saal <hjs@Lindy> there are a number of not so wonderful items re the LaserWriter. The samples I saw of output text that was underlined have the underlining split the descenders. Look at your Macwrite screen, which does it correctly. I am sure there are a few (!!) other bugs in the printer. What is Apple's policy going to be on supplying fixed ROMs? 512KB worth? How often and at what price? As well, the performance on printing fonts which are not present in the ROM cartridge is atrocious (as is the case for bitmaps in general). Much worse in fact than could possibly be accounted for by the xmission speed of 0.023 Enet-equivalents via AppleTalk. Again, what is the policy on performance upgrades and fixes? Misleading impressions: the current issue of MacWorld shows off some of the great fonts, etc. available from Mergenthaler, ITC, etc. But it isnt' stated that the fonts shown that will be available "real soon now" were the phototypesetter versions in the Mag., and not their 300 dpi approximation. There is a page of actual output copy shown, for true evaluation. Also: be careful of comparisions with other laser printers, esp. in the area of ruggedness. This engine was not designed to be the laser equivalent of a Teletype KSR28,, 24 hour non-stop service. All the same, it IS a wonderful step forward.....
info-mac@uw-beaver (02/06/85)
From: Brian Reid <reid@Glacier> There has been a huge amount of traffic in "Laser-lovers@Washington" (fa.laser-lovers to you usenet folks) on the Apple LaserWriter. It would be a shame to have to repeat it here. The observations by Harry Saal are not really true about the LaserWriter. * There is nothing at all in the LaserWriter ROM that decides how to do underlining. Don't be silly. All decisions about where underlines go, and where everything else goes, are made by the application program. This is a bug in MacWrite, not in the LaserWriter. [As an aside, the printer is remarkably bug-free. I have been using one for 6 or 7 months now; it is more free of bugs than any software you have seen in a long time] * The LaserWriter is not optimized for printing bitmap fonts. It is optimized for printing outline fonts. On the other hand, it can print bitmaps as fast as they can be shipped to it; if there are unseemly delays they must also be caused by MacWrite. (I have never used the LaserWriter with MacWrite; I use Scribe or TRoff and also create files for it by hand with Emacs). * The LaserWriter comes with Times Roman, Helvetica and Courier built in, plus a symbol font. These are built in as outlines, not rasters; they work at any size or resolution. * Although the LaserWriter was not engineered to be used 24 hours a day, I know people who have been using them extremely heavily for 6 months now, and they seem to be able to take it very well. At $7K apiece they are practically disposable by comparison with the 30 page/minute heavy-duty printers that cost $50K. But they don't need to be disposed. They really do last.