braner@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (braner) (12/10/86)
[] Apple Corp. practically forced Mac users to buy the (overpriced) Imagewriter (A NEC 8023 in wolf's clothing). Of course, as long as all users use the same printer there are no software problems... (Advice to give to your Mac-trapped friends: Epson now makes an Imagewriter clone, for much cheaper! - alas I don't remember the model number.) But look what trouble Atari are getting for trying to let us use the printer of our choice! First: Thank you, Atari, for giving us an (almost) standard printer port. Now: A good use for the net would be for everybody to tell us which printer they're using and how it works out. Also, post any printer drivers you had to come up with! I'll start: I HAD a NEC 8023, works fine but needs a driver for graphics. I wrote one, in AL, that installs as resident in RAM and activated by Alt-Help or by the XBIOS call Scrndmp. I currently have an ancient IDS 440 "Paper Tiger" on loan. Works, needs a different graphics driver, and is way too primitive... (only 496 dots across!). (I am looking for a better printer, perhaps used, Epson-compatible preferred. Anybody got a used HP Thinkjet?) A word to application writers: PLEASE make the connection of a custom printer driver easy, and document the way! Also, especially in word processors: please allow "printing to the disk", INCLUDING the printer control chars (that's NOT the same as "ASCII save"!). That allows the use of a post-processing printer driver, and also printing at a later time or location (e.g. after transfer through a modem). A request to Atari: In the new ROMS: Please route the printer output through a RAM vector. - Moshe Braner