hedger@inmet (10/13/89)
Can someone out there give me the rundown on printers ? I have ordered a Mega2 and will be using it to program some MIDI applications and to do some word processing. Does the ST use a standard printer interface ? What brands/models of printers should I look at. What about the Atari laser printer ? Any good ? Price ? Also, if anyone has suggestions on good word processing software I would appreciate it. Thanks a lot, ===================================================================== | | | Keith Hedger : {...!}uunet!inmet!hedger hedger@inmet.inmet.com | | 'It is a sad, but beautiful world..........' | =====================================================================
wallace@oldtmr.dec.com (Ray Wallace) (10/17/89)
In article <30200003@inmet>, hedger@inmet writes... >Does the ST use a standard printer interface ? Yes. It uses the standard "Centronics Parallel Printer Interface". --- Ray Wallace (INTERNET,UUCP) wallace@oldtmr.enet.dec.com (UUCP) ...!decwrl!oldtmr.enet!wallace (INTERNET) wallace%oldtmr.enet@decwrl.dec.com ---
andyc@hplsla.HP.COM (Andy Cassino) (10/17/89)
|Does the ST use a standard printer interface ? Yes! (But I don't recall which one at the moment...) |What brands/models |of printers should I look at. What about the Atari laser printer ? |Any good ? Price ? I don't know about the Atari laser printer... I have been using a Panasonic KXP1124 24-pin dot matrix printer and it is a tremendous printer for the price (ca. $300)... it has a ton of built-in fonts and excellent print quality. However... I will ultimately upgrade to an HP DeskJet when $$$ are available! |Also, if anyone has suggestions on good word processing software I would |appreciate it. I use FirstWord Plus. The main reason I use it is because it will use the built fonts of my printer. There are (much) neater WP's available but they use GDOS (or other) fonts, not the printer's built-in fonts. Thus, every page is printed as a bitmap. This is just too slow for words on a dot matrix printer. (IMHO - My opinion!). A laser printer (or the afore-mentioned DeskJet) is very desirable if you want to use a GDOS-based WP. Actually, First Word Plus isn't so bad, it's just not very whizzy. But it is easy and intuitive to use. Fine for letters, which is my big use. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those solely of the author, who has no pecuniary interest in the companies mentioned, except for HP... Copyright (c) 1989 by Andrew Cassino. All rights reserved. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % Andy Cassino % % uucp: hplabs!hplsla!andyc domain: andyc%hplsla@hplabs.hp.com % % Hewlett-Packard Lake Stevens Instrument Division % % 8600 Soper Hill Road Everett, WA 98205-1298 % % (206) 335-2211 % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) (10/17/89)
In article <1312@engage.enet.dec.com> wallace@oldtmr.dec.com (Ray Wallace) writes: >In article <30200003@inmet>, hedger@inmet writes... >>Does the ST use a standard printer interface ? > >Yes. It uses the standard "Centronics Parallel Printer Interface". If the question referred to the software end of things, the "print screen" desktop function (ALT-HELP, isn't it?) assumes an Epson-compatible. Does anyone know if there's a "sanctioned" way to make the ST assume otherwise? Did the foolish Atari printer-control accessory (which didn't stay on my boot-disk long) allow this? I seem to recall it had options for something along those lines... (I have an Epson-compatible; I'm just curious...) >>> "Aaiiyeeeee! Death from above!" <<< | Steve Rehrauer Fone: (508)256-6600 x6168 | Apollo Computer, a ARPA: rehrauer@apollo.hp.com | division of Hewlett-Packard "Look, Max: 'Pressurized cheese in a can'. Even _WE_ wouldn't eat that!"
pegram@uvm-gen.UUCP (pegram r) (10/25/89)
From article <46482ed3.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>, by rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer): > In article <1312@engage.enet.dec.com> wallace@oldtmr.dec.com (Ray Wallace) writes: >>In article <30200003@inmet>, hedger@inmet writes... >>>Does the ST use a standard printer interface ? >> >>Yes. It uses the standard "Centronics Parallel Printer Interface". > > If the question referred to the software end of things, the "print screen" > desktop function (ALT-HELP, isn't it?) assumes an Epson-compatible. Does > anyone know if there's a "sanctioned" way to make the ST assume otherwise? > Did the foolish Atari printer-control accessory (which didn't stay on my > boot-disk long) allow this? I seem to recall it had options for something > along those lines... > > (I have an Epson-compatible; I'm just curious...) Excuse all the garbage, but this is the first time that I've contributed to this net. The answer to your question is yes, one can substitute another driver for the default called up by Alt-Help. In fact Tom Hudson published his program to do just that in the first issue of Start. It steals the Alt-Help vector and allows the use of a DEGAS printer driver (resident) instead. In Start magazine #3 Hudson also published a DEGAS printer driver creation program that allows for the creation of a lot of drivers. It might be tricky to use on laser printers and almost certainly wouldn't work with the Atari laser. Bob Pegram @uvm.edu PS Anybody ever figure out why Atari said the printer should be Epson compatible, but it can only dump properly (correct linefeed size) when in IBM graphics printer mode? (or do I have really strange early ROMs?) RBPIII