johnl@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (John Lindwall) (07/31/89)
I am planning to buy an HP DeskJet Plus printer. My university bookstore has it for $617, including the free Times-Roman font cartridge if you buy it before Sept 30. I would like some info from people using a DeskJet or DeskJet Plus with an Amiga. I plan to do Word Processing and some graphics. I may someday use DTP but currently do not. ------ Q U E S T I O N S ----- Do Amiga fonts look any good on the DeskJet? IE If I use PenPal, or Prowrite to write a document will it look blocky when printed? Do WP programs use the internal fonts of the DeskJet (EG Times-Roman)? Do graphics print OK on the DeskJet? Can I do printouts of Dpaint graphics without any problems? Is the Better_DJ printer driver really an improvement over the C= driver? Also, please give me any comments, pro or con, to help me decide whether to get this printer. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Above opinions are my own, not my employer's" John Lindwall johnl@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM
ml@eceris.ncsu.edu (08/02/89)
In a previous article, johnl@tw-rnd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (John Lindwall) wrote:
]I am planning to buy an HP DeskJet Plus printer. My university bookstore
]has it for $617, including the free Times-Roman font cartridge if you buy it
]before Sept 30.
... or Prestige Elite if you prefer (I do) ...
]I would like some info from people using a DeskJet or DeskJet Plus with an
]Amiga. I plan to do Word Processing and some graphics. I may someday use
]DTP but currently do not.
]
]------ Q U E S T I O N S -----
]
]Do Amiga fonts look any good on the DeskJet? IE If I use PenPal, or Prowrite
]to write a document will it look blocky when printed? Do WP programs use
]the internal fonts of the DeskJet (EG Times-Roman)?
Look good: NO. Blocky: YES.
ProWrite has options to print using "NLQ" or "DRAFT" mode, which uses
the printer character set, instead of the Amiga fonts (that is, it sends text
instead of graphics). You just need to
find a font whose spacing (within ProWrite) matches the printer's font, so
what you see on the screen will match what gets printed. I have no idea
what other WP programs use.
If you want high quality output which makes the printer shine, use TeX.
Please note that TeX is a typesetter, not a word processor (it processes
an input file containing embedded commands to produce an output file;
no WYSIWYG or anything like that).
]Do graphics print OK on the DeskJet? Can I do printouts of Dpaint graphics
]without any problems?
Absolutely superb. Like a laser printer. To be more precise, the printer
is capable of laser quality graphics. What your software does with it
is another matter. Remember that if you use a paint program (like DPaint)
that you are generating images on the screen which are of much lower
spatial resolution (dot density) than the printer is capable of. If you
make a black & white picture in DPaint, it will look crude when printed
because a single pixel in your image will turn into many pixels on the
printer (if printed 1:1, the printer image would only be a couple of inches
square!). This may be ameliorated somewhat if you are using color images
because of dithering; but I haven't been printing color images so I
cannot attest to this.
]Is the Better_DJ printer driver really an improvement over the C= driver?
??? Never heard of it. Since I normally use TeX, I don't really fool that
much with the Amiga drivers.
]Also, please give me any comments, pro or con, to help me decide whether to get
]this printer. Thank you.
I'd say the DeskJet+ was an excellent printer. I'm very happy with mine.
There are a couple of problems, IMHO:
* Ink is water soluble. I've heard (but have no proof) that HP is working
on this.
* Feature selection (bold, italic, font, etc) is different when printing
in portrait and landscape mode. Apparently, landscape stuff is actually
a separate set of fonts. I believe the printer should have the smarts
to rotate the font definitions 90 degrees, so that if you have any font
or style, it works for both print modes.
Other than that, I have no complaints. Laser quality output without laser
printer prices; quiet, reasonably fast. I wouldn't mind having a way to add
Postscript capability though.ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) (08/02/89)
[I've received LOTS of requests for more DeskJet experiences/info;
after mailing many and bouncing several, here's my (updated)
generic DJ thoughts as a customer:]
How do I love my DeskJet? Let me count the ways...
1. Absolutely no horizontal streaks in your graphics printouts
(or your Amiga bitmap fonts!)
2. It takes copy paper (or any cut sheet paper, though it looks better
with good quality stuff) in its intake tray, and turns it over into its
output tray. Both trays are easy to get at, and you get a smaller
footprint.
3. It's got 300 dpi, just like a Laserwriter. It's slightly "fuzzy"
compared to laser printers, because of the ink vs. toner. But, it's
lots sharper than any dot matrix output I've seen (that includes several
of the Panasonics, a NEC or two, some Toshibas, Stars, Epsons ...)
4. The new Plus (_do_ make sure you get a Plus, for $750 or less mail order;)
is 5 times faster than the previous model, and has lots more built-in fonts.
As (my older model) is, straight text is _fast_, and draft mode (even
faster) is fine for most informal purposes (not an eyestrain problem,
equivalent to what you get with a fabric ribbon on a typewriter.)
5. Although they recommend against getting junk down in the mechanisms,
I've lifted up the lid and "peeked" lots, without harm. And my 8 lb.
cat likes to stand on top of the lid and supervise (especially during
the wake-up test, when the paper feeders wiggle.)
6. Envelopes are spiff. You pull off the output tray cover (on top,)
stuff in an envelope, press two buttons, and send your text through.
(I successfully eyeballed margins for output using memacs, and
cat'ing it straight, the other day.)
7. The PostScript interpreter (newly renamed PixelScript) from Pixelations
is specially optimized for the DeskJet. (They say that their tests haven't
indicated that the Plus is much faster for their product.) There is also
an AmigaTeX driver for it, if you're that type (though I'm not sure about
the Plus.)
8. All normal buttons are in easy reach.
Things I wish I had, or need to look out for ...
1. A line feed button would be nice. There's a form feed button, but
line feeds are in software only. (I didn't notice; maybe they put one
on the Plus? Something to check.)
2. The ink cartridges. No muss no fuss. Supposedly they can do 2.5
million characters draft mode, or .8 million characters letterQ. Ours just
ran out. On the one hand, we've done LOTS of DPaint and Postscript
graphics. On the other hand, we haven't used a ream yet. In any case,
when the cartridges do run out, it's $15-$18 bucks a pop, and there
apparently aren't any generics (there's a circuit layout on the darn thing,
evidently to electrostatically control the ink spray.)
3. The ink is water soluble. So make a copy if it goes in the rain/mail.
4. Russell Williamson (nearby here) was having
troubles with his DeskJet. It turns out that there's a minor flaw in the
1.3 C-A driver that causes (some programs) to have one extra line feed at
the top of the first page of a document. (It really drove him to tear his
hair out, too! ;^)) Allen Norskog worked up a fix using NewZap (or your
preferred editor of that sort;) I can find it if necessary.
In addition, WordPerfect is still working on their Plus driver. You
_may_ need one of WP's recent Print disks (with either model) for
satisfactory margins and whatnot.
The HP Customer Info number in my manual is 800-752-0900.
Last week's (?) _InfoWorld_ had a review of the DeskJet Plus (and refs to
its previous review of the original DeskJet.)
Good luck!
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Robin LaPasha |Deep-Six your
ruslan@ecsvax.uncecs.edu |files with VI! ;^) ;^) ;^)stephen@hpdml93.HP.COM (Stephen Holmstead) (08/02/89)
ml@eceris.ncsu.edu writes: > [lots deleted] > >Other than that, I have no complaints. Laser quality output without laser >printer prices; quiet, reasonably fast. I wouldn't mind having a way to add >Postscript capability though. You might want to try the PD program GhostScript. It's a PostScript clone and will process postscript files either to the display or a printer. The only problem is that it requires 1 Mb MINIMUM (and often wants more!). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stephen Holmstead ...!hplabs!hpdmlge!stephen // Hewlett Packard Disk Memory Division \X/ Amiga Forever! "I remind you that humans are only a tiny minority in this galaxy." -- Spock, "The Apple," stardate 3715.6.
ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) (08/03/89)
In article <380033@hpdml93.HP.COM>, stephen@hpdml93.HP.COM (Stephen Holmstead) writes: > ml@eceris.ncsu.edu writes: > > [lots deleted] > > > >Other than that, I have no complaints. Laser quality output without laser > >printer prices; quiet, reasonably fast. I wouldn't mind having a way to add > >Postscript capability though. > > You might want to try the PD program GhostScript. It's a PostScript > clone and will process postscript files either to the display or a > printer. The only problem is that it requires 1 Mb MINIMUM (and often > wants more!). > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Stephen Holmstead > ...!hplabs!hpdmlge!stephen // > Hewlett Packard Disk Memory Division \X/ Amiga Forever! I own PixelScript (nee PrintScript) from Pixelations. It's been useful to me (the snooty Grad School here will accept its DeskJet output for my thesis manuscript.) I've tried Ghostscript as well, and compared them for my own purposes: - For clarification (well, I was confused for a while on this): Both take a PostScript file and squirt it out to a printer as a (raster? bitmap?) image. They don't _make_ files into Postscript, you use other products for that. They just send them to your non-PostScript printer. - Both are for pretty much any Preferences printers; PixelScript is optimized for the DeskJet (and maybe the LaserJet, I forget.) Ghostscript has some sort of previewer built in; you can use Allen Norskog's dps previewer on Fish 209 for PixelScript. - As best as I was able to determine, Ghostscript will NOT handle bitmap images. No IFF2PS, no Amiga bitmap fonts, nothing. With PixelScript, I use a monster big size of my own (Slavic) fonts, scaled down to ~25% original (via some ProScript tricks,) next to Times, and it looks good. And EPS stuff comes out fine as long as you don't run out of memory. - PixelScript has Times and Helvetica clones, they say they're working on getting more. (If it wasn't clear above, I meant that my font was a _bitmap_ font stuck in among the PostScript ones.) - I printed the recently posted space station logo (oh, I don't know, maybe in sci.space or sci.astro) with both products. The Ghostscript version chopped the bottom arc entirely, and had a truly nasty serif font substituting for "Narrow Helvetica." The PixelScript version had the middle piece slightly off center... - So I wrote Pixelations, and said "Here, this broke." And they said, "Aha! We've been trying to catch that bug, thanks! We'll fix it for the next rev, and here's a fix now." They've been helpful all along, and the product has been steadily improving. Thinner, more graceful fonts (the early versions were a bit "bold"-looking,) faster printing (definitely faster than Ghostscript,) and bug fixes. Since I _need_ to do things with the product, I appreciate the quick and competent fixes. A few disclaimers, though: - I bought it awhile ago at $80 or $90. The ads for the new rev advertise it at $149. Since the new rev is due out any day now, I don't know what the price is. - After I had trouble with my fonts and screamed at them, they decided I was more useful with them than against them, and have sent me some beta copies with the fixes I requested. There's always the chance that the improvements I mentioned won't be out until 1.1, but that's going to be darn soon. Otherwise, the marketing folks are going to hang the programmer, he says ;^) Happy PostScripting. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=- Robin LaPasha |Deep-Six your ruslan@ecsvax.uncecs.edu |files with VI! ;^) ;^) ;^)
paleo@ecsvax.UUCP (Constantine A. LaPasha) (08/03/89)
In article <7427@ecsvax.UUCP>, ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) writes: [...lots deleted..] > Both take a PostScript file and squirt it out to a printer as a (raster? > bitmap?) image. They don't _make_ files into Postscript, you use other > products for that. They just send them to your non-PostScript printer. [..more deleted..] if memory serves me, Pixelscript, when used with an HPdeskJet, takes a postscript file as input and sends a run length encoded image out to the DeskJet printer. Output from the latest beta rev I've seen looks real nice. -- ===================================================================== Kostya LaPasha paleo@uncecs.edu or paleo@ecsvax.uncecs.edu == computers get the munchies too - memory hungry, want chips... === ==========NCSU is not responsible...=================================