oj@apollo.UUCP.UUCP (04/02/87)
Pat Wood wrote " The 9600 has been out for some time now; however, it hasn't been generally available due to bugs in the system." The first shipments of 9600 typesetters were in December. Friends and neighbors who work at Compugraphic are generally proud of the fact that it shipped on schedule. It is, in fact, generally available. The Agfa-Gevaert 400PS laser printer is truly a different beast from the 9600. It's a 400 dot per inch PostScript laser printer. The 9600 is a high resolution laser typesetter. ------------------------------ (The usual disclaimers apply.) E.O.Jones / Apollo Computer / 270 Billerica / Chelmsford MA 01824
patwood@unirot.UUCP.UUCP (04/04/87)
Perhaps Compugraphic is proud of their 9600 typesetter, but the folks I've talked to that have tried to use them are less than thrilled. At one trade show, Compugraphic had a 9600 there, but it wasn't running. They had a person running a composition system, but the only thing you could see was the output they had brought with them. I have yet to talk to someone who has used the 9600 and been totally pleased. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the product. Most new machines have some problems associated with them when they first come out. These same people were just as lukewarm on the Lino 100/300 when they first came out with the PostScript RIP. PostScript on these machines is much slower than the rated print speed of the engine (about a factor of 2-4, depending on what your doing). As for the 9600 being available "on time", it seems to me that it was announced only a little after the Lino Imagesetters came out, in late 85. That's quite a lot of lead time. As for PostScript and/or Interpress on the 9600, I'll wait until it's available before I express any opinions on what the output looks like. Still, it seems that unless the 9600 can produce graphics at better than 1200 DPI, it won't be able to match the L300 in halftones and color separations. Pat Wood