toml@xrxns.UUCP (Tom Love) (05/03/88)
i am thinking seriously about investing in a laser printer, both for personal and
professional use. applications include text and graphics, desktop publishing,
software development, and anything else i can think of which is fun and/or
profitable.
i am interested in hearing of the experience of others in coaxing laser-quality
output out of their atari st's. naturally one of the biggest decisions i have to
make is whether to opt for a postscript printer or not. money is definitely an
issue, but a useful future may prevail over a short life and saved money.
key questions i have are: what packages support postscript output? and the followup,
what packages can drive non-postscript lasers, e.g. hp laserjet, and cheaper lasers
like the kyocera, okidata, etc. what about interfacing - any problems with any
particular machines?
i'm interested in (but don't yet own) wordperfect, softlogik's desktop publishing
package (can't recall the name), cyber-stuff, easy-draw, and any of a variety of
databases/spreadsheets/etc.
i guess the two machines at the top of my list are the apple laserwriter plus, which
seems to be available used for around $2500, and the hp laserjet 2 which is available
new for around 1700 or so. i view postscript as an attractive selling point for the
apple printer. other postscript printers don't seem to be available used, and all the
postscript printers cost too much new for me to consider.
anyone have any experience with hp's deskjet yet?
just a cry in the wilderness for some advice. please mail me or respond here -
my mail path is a bit convoluted. thanks.
tom love Xerox Engineering Design and Documentation Systems
leesburg, va 22075 (703)729-8000 GEnie: TOMLOVE
{cornell, kodak, ritcv, rutgers, cmcl2, llxn}!rochester!rocksanne!xrxns!toml
{rocksvax, sunybcs}!rocksanne!xrxns!toml
...!sundc!xrxedds!toml
--
tom love Xerox Engineering Design and Documentation Systems
leesburg, va 22075 (703)729-8000 GEnie: TOMLOVE
{cornell, kodak, ritcv, rutgers, cmcl2, llxn}!rochester!rocksanne!xrxns!toml
{rocksvax, sunybcs}/roydant@hpgrla.HP.COM (Roydan Tomlinson) (05/04/88)
I have just recently purchased a HP DeskJet and like it alot. I have responded
to another note in this group about a connection problem. I personally have
had no problem using it at all. We have Laserjet's (all variations) at work
here and the only difference's I have seen is the speed that it takes to get
the output. Another rumour about DeskJet is that it won't print text and
graphics on the same line, however I have not tried yet. My present system
is a 1040 with Magic Sac, Translator , both types of Atari monitors, Supra
ACSI to SCSI interface card, two HP 97054B SCSI interface cards, four HP 97501
20 megabyte hard disks, 2400 Baud US robotics modem and the DeskJet on the
parallel interface. I have printed from the desktop as well as from WordPerfect
Version 4.1 . The printer driver I use for WordPerfect is the LaserJet driver.
I plan on contacting WordPerfect corp. for a Deskjet driver or asking Vancouver
division here at HP to get one for the ST.
If you have your heart set on a postscript printer you can convert a Laserjet
to a postscript printer with a card QMS makes, however QMS also makes the
companion card that plugs into a IBM pc backplane so how complete this
conversion I am not sure. If you are interested alot drop me a line and I will
send out the info.
As stated before in previous note I will be testing out this printer more as
time goes along and will post any problems along with solutions (if I have any
). If you are having problems you can try me but since I don't work at the
Division that makes DeskJet I can't resolve all issues concerning the DeskJet.
Addressing an earlier comment on the interfaces available on the printer, it
does have both serial and Centronics parallel built in. By the way you can't
use both at the same time though.
Roydan Tomlinsonbrinsmead@calgary.UUCP (Mark Brinsmead) (05/05/88)
In article <282@xrxns.UUCP>, toml@xrxns.UUCP (Tom Love) writes:> ... > i guess the two machines at the top of my list are the apple laserwriter plus, which > seems to be available used for around $2500, and the hp laserjet 2 which is available > new for around 1700 or so. i view postscript as an attractive selling point for the > apple printer. other postscript printers don't seem to be available used, and all the > postscript printers cost too much new for me to consider. > > anyone have any experience with hp's deskjet yet? I recall reading recently (perhaps in this newsgroup) that Atari will be providing a RAM-resident postscript interpreter for their own laser printer. While I've heard no claims about performance (anybody out there care to comment?) this may give you the desired combination of low cost and high utility. Apparently, the argument was that Postscript in ROM costs an arm and a leg to license from ADOBE, but ram-based licenses are quite reasonable. Sound fishy? Maybe I read an April Fool's joke and didn't notice the date?
Robert_Lisowski@rubbs1.UUCP (Robert Lisowski) (05/06/88)
I can highly recommend the HP Desk Jet. Although it will take a few months for more software support, the printer is useable for text dumps and word processors that have user-configureable printer control codes. Soft Logik will be supporting it in their new Publishing Partner Pro package (which I am getting--when they get around to shipping it). HP says that it can be used with some Laser Jet compatible programs.
The print quality, on good tight paper, is exactly the same as a laser (and I'm quite picky about such things). The speed of printing is about 1/2 to 1/4 of the speed of most lasers, depending on if you use draft or letter quality (draft saves ink and looks almost as good, except a bit lighter).
Any questions--leave me a not here or on echomail atari st.
Robwes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) (05/06/88)
In article <282@xrxns.UUCP>, toml@xrxns.UUCP (Tom Love) writes: > i am thinking seriously about investing in a laser printer, both for > personal and professional use. applications include text and graphics, > desktop publishing, software development, and anything else i can think > of which is fun and/or profitable. > > i am interested in hearing of the experience of others in coaxing > laser-quality output out of their atari st's. naturally one of the > biggest decisions i have to make is whether to opt for a postscript > printer or not. money is definitely an issue, but a useful future > may prevail over a short life and saved money. > > key questions i have are: what packages support postscript output? I can't think of any EXCEPT Word Perfect right off the bat. Too bad, since postscript is usually quite a bit faster than creating a bit map, as you must do with the HP LJ. > and the followup, what packages can drive non-postscript lasers, e.g. > hp laserjet, and cheaper lasers like the kyocera, okidata, etc. what > about interfacing - any problems with any particular machines? Here's my setup: at home, I own an ancient (8/85) 520ST, upgraded to 1 meg. I also have an Oki Laserline 6, which is an HP LJ compatible, with 512K memory. At work, I have several Mega-2s (belong to my employer, that is), and the use of an HP LJ II with 4.5 meg of RAM. I use/have used WordPerfect with the HP, using WPs driver - it works pretty well. I use First Word Plus, using a driver I wrote in about an hour one afternoon for my Oki. It works great, if you have enough fonts to be interesting. The LJ II does not come with an Italics font in it (but the Oki does). I also use the WordUp word processor and EasyDraw. I have Migraph's HP300.SYS GDOS device driver for the LaserJet. It works well with both EasyDraw and WordUp, but IT IS SLOW AS MOLASSES IN JANUARY!! The driver has to create the entire page in memory, as a bitmap, and then send it out to the printer a byte at a time. The average time for a page full of text, with 1/2" margins all around, is about 12 mins on the Mega-2. The Migraph driver has an option for printing on an HP (or clone) with limited memory. I haven't tried this yet, but the docs say it slows it down by a factor or 3 or so. This will make for 35-40 minutes per page. I haven't seen a GDOS device driver for postscript printers, does anybody know of one yet? Does anybody want to write one? > i'm interested in (but don't yet own) wordperfect, softlogik's desktop > publishing package (can't recall the name), cyber-stuff, easy-draw, and > any of a variety of databases/spreadsheets/etc. See above. > i guess the two machines at the top of my list are the apple laserwriter > plus, which seems to be available used for around $2500, and the hp > laserjet 2 which is available new for around 1700 or so. i view > postscript as an attractive selling point for the apple printer. other > postscript printers don't seem to be available used, and all the > postscript printers cost too much new for me to consider. If you can get the driver(s) for the LaserWriter, buy it. Postscript is the way to go, for speed if nothing else. > anyone have any experience with hp's deskjet yet? Not me. See other postings (lamentations) here. -- /\ - "Against Stupidity, - {backbones}! /\/\ . /\ - The Gods Themselves - utah-cs!uplherc! / \/ \/\/ \ - Contend in Vain." - sp7040!obie! / U i n T e c h \ - Schiller - wes