[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Seeking recommendations - PostScript printer

englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) (11/04/88)

Thanks to all who responded to my query.  We still have not decided yet,
but your responses help to narrow down the choices a little further.  Here is a
summary of what you all had to say:
===============================================================================
From: englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander)
Subject: Seeking recommendations for PostScript printer
Date: 26 Oct 88 17:31:05 GMT
Organization: Princeton University, NJ

Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15
IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network.  We have narrowed
the list down to the following:

Apple LaserWriter IINTX
NEC SilentWriter LC 890
QMS PS-800II
QMS PS-810
Qume CrystalPrint / Jasmine DirectPrint

Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: kweeder@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
To: englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU

Scott,

In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> you write:

>Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15
>IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network.  We have narrowed
>the list down to the following:
>
>Apple LaserWriter IINTX
>NEC SilentWriter LC 890
>QMS PS-800II
>QMS PS-810
>Qume CrystalPrint / Jasmine DirectPrint

We have the PS-810 and use it much the same way (Laserwriter support for
our Macintosh and HP-laserjet and HPGL emulation for our PC).  We've
found the machine trouble free and very satisfactory.  QMS even sent us
a software pack with utilities (like for downloading files to the printer
from the Mac which lacks handy type and copy commands) to make life easier.

The only thing I'd suggest is that you make sure you get the newer Cannon
engine in your printer (the one that comes in the PS-810).  It prints
better and last longer than the older Cannon engine.

Good Luck,

Jim Kweeder
kweeder@sun.soe.clarkson.edu
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From: xdaa374@ut-emx.UUCP (William T. Douglass)
Organization: UTexas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Posted: Wed Oct 26 20:24:56 1988

In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes:
>Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15
>IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network.  We have narrowed
>the list down to the following:
>
>NEC SilentWriter LC 890
>Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies?
>
I strongly advise against the NEC printer.  We have been using one for a
little over a year, & the quality & speed for graphics output is very poor
(text-only is ok.)  The real bug-a-boo, though, is@service for the damn
thing.  NEC seems to have a dearth of qualified dealers & a lack of parts.
We were told that the torer discharge unit is backordered, and may take up
to SIX months to arrive!  Screw that, I say.

Also, we cannot find a dealer in central Txas who will take out a maintenance
contract on the printer. Nobody, even the company who sold it, wants to be
saddled with obligatory repair service for the 890.

Bottom line - too many problems, imcompetent service, and only so-so
capabilities.  Stay away.


-- 
Bill Douglass, TCADA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 88 14:26:53 PDT
From: radek@pyrps5.pyramid.com (Radek Aster)

Of course Apple's LaserWriter is the 'original' it is certainly not the
cheapest nor is the performance that great.

My recommendation would go for the QUME Crystalprint. It's performance 
rivals all others primarily because it is not another "me too" clone made by 
ADOBE but is powered by a "cutting edge" RISC processor. The processor is made 
by WEITEK and boasts 4 MIPS. This gives the QUME Crystalprint a 10 times greater
performance than the Apple Laserwriter when printing graphics and 4 times
greater performance when printing text.

Also, unlike other Postscript clones, the QUME Crystalprint comes with an
Appletalk port, so it can plug directly into a MAC Appletalk network. i.e.
plug and play.

The only potential drawback is that since it is not an ADOBE clone, it is not
exactly like an Apple LASERWRITER, namely the shadeing algorithms are different
as are some of the font names. However, unless you care about what I consider
moot considerations, the QUME Crystalprint is THE way to go.

Furthermore don't be put off by the fact that the Crystalprint is ONLY a 
six page per minute printer. When printing graphics most postscript printers
never even reach the speed at which their engines are spec'd.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 88 09:28:46 edt
From: Paul M. Hudy <egapmh@uncecs.edu>

Hello,
    NTX all the way.  Why go away from the the standard? There may
be reasons, but if it is on your considered list why ask for trouble
by choosing one of the others.  There are some differences in 
printer drivers, but *everyone* writes for Apple - its kind of like
the IBM graphics printer.  (That is if they write for postscript at
all - a problem with some MSDOS software)  We have the NTX hooked
to 5 MACs and 3 PCs via phonenet Aand TOPS - it works great.  The 
NTX is very fast and very sturdy.  PC Appletalk comes with some
nice utilities for printing PC files to the Laserwriter, also.
    Good luck,
    Paul <egapmh@ecsvax.UUCP>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell)
Date: 27 Oct 88 16:49:37 GMT
Organization: Chinet - Public Access Unix

In article <7336@ut-emx.UUCP> xdaa374@emx.UUCP (Bill Douglass) writes:

>thing.  NEC seems to have a dearth of qualified dealers & a lack of parts.

This is a local situation.  I can get a repairman in a few hours (in a
suburb of Chicago) and parts have not been a problem.

>Also, we cannot find a dealer in central Txas who will take out a maintenance
>contract on the printer. Nobody, even the company who sold it, wants to be
>saddled with obligatory repair service for the 890.

Again - no problem here although the economics of services contracts leaves
me inclined to take my chances.  I suspect the problem is travel time from
the service center to your site.

Actually, we have had no problems with the 890 anyway.  Our service calls
have mostly been for ROM upgrades to 860's to fix the HP emulation with
downloaded fonts (which was done free under warantee).

  Les Mikesell

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mark@drd.UUCP (Mark Lawrence)
Date: 27 Oct 88 22:22:08 GMT
Organization: in *this* company!?

%% In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes:
%% >Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer 
%% >[we are considering the] NEC SilentWriter LC 890
%% >
xdaa374@emx.UUCP (Bill Douglass) wrote:
%% [reasons deleted]I strongly advise against the NEC printer.  

Hmmmm, we have had exactly the opposite experience.  The graphics have
been excellant (after we had the service organization look into a
problem with thick vertical bars that tended to fade towards the top).
We bought it at Entre' and they have retained an excellant service
organization for the Oklahoma green-country area.  Getting the thing to
talk serial to the Sun was a problem but easily remedied once we
understood what was going on (the printer only drives the return signal
to +4 volts or so.  Our Unix box wants +12).

We are very happy with it.

	Mark
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen)
Date: 28 Oct 88 13:04:38 GMT
Organization: Institute of Applied Cosmology, Austin TX

englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander) writes:

> NEC SilentWriter LC 890

Some friends of mine who own a local software store use one of these
and have had very good luck with it.  I've used it as both a
Postscript printer and HP laserjet.  I've also used both the parrellel
port and AppleTalk, and everything works like advertised.  Very good
print quality.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 88 09:02:26 EDT
From: "D.J. Murdoch - Statistics" <dmurdoch@watdcsu.waterloo.edu>
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario

In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> you write:
>IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network.  We have narrowed
>the list down to the following:
>
>Apple LaserWriter IINTX
>NEC SilentWriter LC 890
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>QMS PS-800II
>QMS PS-810
>Qume CrystalPrint / Jasmine DirectPrint
>
>Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies?
>
At my last job with the federal government, we did a lot of mathematical
writing.  We had an HP Laserjet with the Math font cartridge, and it worked
reasonably well.  When buying a second printer, I believed the ads for the
NEC LC 890 that said it was HP compatible, and called NEC and was told
that HP font cartridges wouldn't work, but NEC had an equivalent to the 
Math (and most of the others).  When the printer arrived, I was surprised
to find that it didn't have any place to put a cartridge at all - only
their non-Postscript printers accept cartridges.  While postscript is much
more capable than the HP language, it did leave us without any drivers
for a few months.  (I left the government then, so I can't say how well
it's working now.)

Duncan Murdoch

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Oct  09:17:31 1988
From: jvd@houxs (John A Van Dyk +1 201 949 0224)

Scott,

     I saw your message in comp.sys.ibm.pc asking information about 
PostScript laser printers.

     At work, my department owns a QMS-PS800 II laser printer.  It has a 
dual-tray feed, and it supports the following interfaces (taken from the
manual).

     #     Interface     Mode   

     0     RS232/422     Batch            1200 Baud, Parity Ignored
     1     RS232/422     Batch            9600 Baud, Parity None, DTR
     2     RS232         Diablo           9600 Baud, Parity None, DTR
     3     Appletalk     Batch            Appletalk
     4     Centronics    Batch            Parallel
     5     Centronics    Diablo           Parallel
     6     Centronics    HP LaserJet+     Parallel
     7     Centronics    HPGL Plotter     Parallel
     8     RS232         HP LaserJet+     9600 Baud, Parity None, DTR
     9     RS232         HPGL Plotter     9600 Baud, Parity None, DTR


     It is currently hooked up to a 9600 baud datakit (ISDN) port, and is
used in conjunction with a system running unix and using the Unison print
spooling software.

     The two disadvantages to the printer are:

       1)  It is noisy
       2)  It 'forgets' that it has two trays when the lid is opened
            (i.e., paper jam, replace toner cartridge), or it is turned off.
           The printer must then be reconfigured via IBM-PC formatted software
           that comes on 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" disks.  The process takes about
           one minute, maximum.


     I have heard from former co-workers that the newer model, or the single
tray model, I'm not sure which, is quieter.  The phone number for the QMS
company is 1 (205) 633-4300.  You should be able to acquire more information
from them.

     I haven't seen the Apple LaserWriter IINTX, but there is a good review of
it in the May, 1988 issue of BYTE magazine (Vol 13, No. 5).  I hope this helps
you.

John Van Dyk
AT&T Technologies

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 88 14:00:11 PDT
From: Anant Kartik Mithal <akm@drizzle.cs.uoregon.edu>
Organization: University of Oregon, Computer Science, Eugene OR

In article <4129@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> you write:
>[I tried to post this before to the above groups and comp.laser-printers,
>but it didn't work, perhaps because the latter is moderated and that
>held up posting to all groups.]
>
>Our department is planning to purchase a PostScript printer to serve ~15
>IBM PCs and 3 Macs on an AppleTalk/Phonenet network.  We have narrowed
>the list down to the following:
>
>Apple LaserWriter IINTX
>NEC SilentWriter LC 890
>QMS PS-800II
>QMS PS-810
>Qume CrystalPrint / Jasmine DirectPrint
>
>Has anyone had experience with these printers or these companies?
>
>Responses by e-mail will be summarized and posted.
>

The September 88 issue of Byte reviews a number of these printers.

        Kartik
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 88 10:21:45 PDT
From: optilink!cramer@kontron (Clayton Cramer)

I have experience with the Apple LaserWriter IIntx, and it seems to work
quite well.  The print isn't quite as dark as it was on the original
LaserWriter Plus, but it does OK.  Keep in mind that if you will printing
any significant amount of graphics that cover a lot of area, the write
white engine of the LaserWriter IIntx won't do a great job -- the blacks
won't be black.  Some of the other PostScript printers out there have
write black engines, and do a much better job for this sort of thing --
the AST TurboLaser/PS for example -- but a good many of the ASTs have
a problem with "bearding" characters, perhaps because of an adjustment
problem.

Since you intend to use your PostScript printer with PCs, I have taken
the liberty of including a commercial blurb.
======================================================================
Niche Marketing has been publishing an Epson MX-80 to PostScript translation
filter for PC-DOS for some time now, called EPSONSIM.  (Epson America has
taken offense to our use of the word "Epson", so the product is now
ESIM.  We are most embarrassed at the unthinking use of someone else's
trademark).  Unfortunately, being a filter, it was a little clumsy to use.

We now have a TSR version that intercepts outgoing printer commands and
transparently translates Epson MX-80 control codes to PostScript.  This is
useful for products like Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE III, and DOS that do not
support PostScript.

Other changes we've made over previous releases include: faster and much
more readable graphic modes; corrections to some tab expansion bugs; 
corrections to some of the more esoteric line feed control sequences.

The filter version has all these bug fixes as well, and includes both
DTR and XON/XOFF serial I/O support.

The TSR version also provides printer redirection capabilities so you can,
for example, attach your PostScript printer to LPT1, and continue to use
LPT1 for those applications that know PostScript, and redirect output
sent to LPT2 through the Epson translator before sending it to LPT1.  This
makes it possible to have applications that only know the Epson MX-80
print to LPT2, while retaining normal PostScript operation on LPT1.

ESIM, including the TSR version, can be purchased for $75 from:

    Niche Marketing
    7198 Camino Colegio
    Rohnert Park, CA 94928
    (707) 795-7342

California residents please include 6% sales tax.  Shipments outside of
the USA add $5 for customs declarations.  Shipments within the USA are
sent first class mail at no extra charge.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 27 Oct 88 17:14:40 CDT
From: Mark Lawrence <uunet.uu.net!apctrc!drd!mark>

We have the NEC LC-890.  We are very happy with it AFTER we
got it hooked up to our Unix box (a major hassle).  We had no 
problem getting it to work with our PCs either using the serial 
hookup or the parallel hookup.  NEC has been very good to respond
promptly to our requests and dissatisfaction (this might be better
attributed to the quality of the local service organization they've
retained to represent them, though).

	Mark
-- 

                                               - Scott