rwn@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Bob Neumann) (04/26/88)
I am planning on purchasing Hybrid Arts E-Z Score plus within the next couple of months. E-Z Score plus is a program that runs on an ATARI ST that converts midi sequencer files to music notation suitable for printing. Since purchasing my ATARI 1040 ST last summer, I've delayed getting a printer. Any suggestions for a printer that compliments that music notation capabilities of E-Z score plus? I'll probably use it for the usual stuff like letters, band songlists, etc. so letter-quality is important too. Any experienced users of E-Z score plus? What printer do you use? Any suggestions for discount mail order sources for the printers? I don't want to spend more than $200.00 so I guess I'm out of the league for laser printers. Thanks for the help. Bob Neumann
jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) (04/26/88)
Definately get an Epson. Epson printers are the most supported printers in the world (they also happen to be relatively cheap and have excellent quality). By the way, congrats on the purchase of the ST! I've had a 520ST for two years and I'm very happy with it! |\ |\ |\ |\ .--------------------. J.A.Cisek | \ | \ |\ |\ | \ | \ |\ \/ | Spectral Fantasies | jac423@leah.albany.edu | \| \|-\|_|| \| \|-\/\ `--------------------' jac423@uacsc1.albany.edu
manis@faculty.cs.ubc.ca (Vince Manis) (04/27/88)
In article <712@leah.Albany.Edu> jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) writes: >Definately get an Epson. Epson printers are the most supported printers >in the world (they also happen to be relatively cheap and have excellent >quality). Well, er, that may not be the best advice. One should definitely buy an Epson *compatible*; but that could be anything from a bottom-of-the line Panasonic (that's what I have, and I'm quite happy with it) to a laser printer. Generally, when one compares on prices, Epson (the company) does not come out as the leader. When I bought mine (2 years ago), Panasonic/Roland (the same printer under different labels) was far ahead on price; two Epson dealers *told* me to buy Panasonic instead. If you're printing music scores, you should probably look at a 24-pin printer. ALPS (I believe) recently announced one for US$449. The increased resolution may well be worth it to you. BTW, although just about all Epson compatibles have a graphics mode, most of them are slow in graphics mode: whether I'm using First Cadd in ST mode, or MS Word in Mac mode, throughput can be measered as around 10 pages per *hour* (no, I'm using the parallel interface, not the serial one!). If you're really serious about doing a lot of graphics printing, look for the fastest printer you can afford. Best bet: generate a file full of stuff typical of what you're planning to print. Put it on a disk formatted on an IBM PS/2 (your ST can read or write such disks). Then take it into various stores and ask to print it on various printers. Look at the quality of the print, and the time taken to print it. List the printers which do an acceptable job on that test, and then think about price, support, etc. If a dealer won't let you do that, then find another dealer. Vincent Manis | manis@cs.ubc.ca The Invisible City of Kitezh | manis@cs.ubc.cdn Department of Computer Science | manis@ubc.csnet University of British Columbia | {ihnp4!alberta,uw-beaver,uunet}! <<NOTE NEW ADDRESS>> | ubc-cs!manis
jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) (04/28/88)
In article <2208@ubc-cs.UUCP>, manis@faculty.cs.ubc.ca (Vince Manis) writes: > If you're printing music scores, you should probably look at a 24-pin > printer. ALPS (I believe) recently announced one for US$449. The increased > resolution may well be worth it to you. Sure! But keep in mind that the person who originally asked about this was not willing to spend more than $200! Also, the REAL Epsons have better quality print than any other printer. And most importantly (for music prints) it doesn't have those ugly blank lines in the graphix mode. |\ |\ |\ |\ .--------------------. J.A.Cisek | \ | \ |\ |\ | \ | \ |\ \/ | Spectral Fantasies | jac423@leah.albany.edu | \| \|-\|_|| \| \|-\/\ `--------------------' jac423@uacsc1.albany.edu
wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) (04/28/88)
In article <712@leah.Albany.Edu>, jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) writes: > Definately get an Epson. Epson printers are the most supported printers > in the world (they also happen to be relatively cheap and have excellent > quality). In my experience, Epsons cost too much, break too much, and jam too much. I used to sell both Epson and Oki printers; I'd much rather sell the Okis because they generate fewer service calls. I own an old SG-10 from Star (almost as old as my ST, bought in 8/85). I like it so much I specified a bunch of Star NX-10s and NX-15s when buying for my office at work (which is equipped with 5 Mega 2s). I also have an Oki laser printer (HP LJ clone). Shop around and look for features and price. Good brands (among others) include Star, Okidata, Citizen, Panasonic, and Toshiba. A good place to look for price is Midwest Micro Periperhals - they usually have 25 pages of ads in each Computer Shopper. -- /\ - "Against Stupidity, - {backbones}! /\/\ . /\ - The Gods Themselves - utah-cs!uplherc! / \/ \/\/ \ - Contend in Vain." - sp7040!obie! / U i n T e c h \ - Schiller - wes
Thomas_E_Zerucha@cup.portal.com (04/30/88)
I haven't used it too much, but I have EZ Score +. I use my Panasonic 1080 and it makes very nice printouts. They are improving the drivers (and upping the price) for 1.1 which should be available in may - they use GDOS fonts, but not GDOS itself, and support most common printers - it comes with many config files, but I suspect that any inexpensive but good Epson compatible will work well with it.
wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) (04/30/88)
In article <720@leah.Albany.Edu>, jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) babbles: > Sure! But keep in mind that the person who originally asked about this > was not willing to spend more than $200! Also, the REAL Epsons have > better quality print than any other printer. And most importantly (for > music prints) it doesn't have those ugly blank lines in the graphix > mode. If this is so, why did Migraph do all of their original demo printouts on a Star SG-10? Because, in their humble opinions (as the producers of one of the best ST applications to date, EasyDraw), the SG-10 produced better output than the Espon FX-80. And cost less, too. Now you can buy the NX-10 from Midwest Micro for about $165. I think this printer would fit the original posters' bill pretty well. If you can afford it, the ND-15 (24-pin) is even better. Epson printers are rather like IBM computers - they think they're the best, so they make their prices higher, even when many other companies offer more REAL performance at a significantly lower price. You do own an Atari ST, don't you Mr. Cisek? -- /\ - "Against Stupidity, - {backbones}! /\/\ . /\ - The Gods Themselves - utah-cs!uplherc! / \/ \/\/ \ - Contend in Vain." - sp7040!obie! / U i n T e c h \ - Schiller - wes
jac423@leah.Albany.Edu (Julius A Cisek) (05/03/88)
In article <195@obie.UUCP>, wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes) writes: > Epson printers are rather like IBM computers - they think they're the > best, so they make their prices higher, even when many other companies > offer more REAL performance at a significantly lower price. You do > own an Atari ST, don't you Mr. Cisek? Quite... I've probably owned it a lot longer then you have. And in support of Epson, all the printers you spoke of are incomplete Epson compatibles. Just as I would buy the real IBM over an Epson Equity, I would get the real Epson over any of the others. This is just my personal opinion, nothing to flame about... |\ |\ |\ |\ .--------------------. J.A.Cisek | \ | \ |\ |\ | \ | \ |\ \/ | Spectral Fantasies | jac423@leah.albany.edu | \| \|-\|_|| \| \|-\/\ `--------------------' jac423@uacsc1.albany.edu