stevej@studsys.mu.edu (jovanovic) (08/03/89)
I would like to buy a DeskWriter for my Mac II, and I'm hoping not to spend too much more than $700. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any decent deals yet. Someone posted that they bought one for $729, I think. Through an educational discount program?? I'm a student at MU, but MU doesn't have any program going with HP to provide student discounts. Please HELP!!! Also, I've read in MacUser that a company called Free Press, I think, is supposed to release a software-only Postscript interpreter for the Mac II sometime this month. The interpreter converts to QuickDraw for imaging, which means the you can use the DeskWriter as a Postscript laser printer, in effect, although imaging might take a while...but I don't mind waiting a few extra minutes to save a few "extra" thousand dollars! Has anyone else heard anything about this? Finally, is there any way to buy ink and somehow refill the ink cartridges? I've been told that you can squeeze 200 full pages of text out of one cartridge, but at $20 each that can get expensive. Thanks for your help, Steve Jovanovic PS How do digitized photos (300dpi) look on a DeskWriter vs. LaserWriter? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ reply to: stevej@studsys.mu.edu I want a NeXT machine! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) (08/03/89)
In article <575@studsys.mu.edu> stevej@studsys.mu.edu (jovanovic) writes: |I would like to buy a DeskWriter for my Mac II, and I'm hoping not to spend |too much more than $700. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any decent deals yet. |Someone posted that they bought one for $729, I think. Through an educational |discount program?? I'm a student at MU, but MU doesn't have any program going |with HP to provide student discounts. Please HELP!!! I've seen dealers' ads, I think in the local (Boston) paper, for DeskWriters in the $800-$825 range. For non-students or those without access to corporate or other kinds of discounts, a decent price should still be obtainable. = UUCP: levin@bbn.com (new) or {backbone}!bbn!levin (old) INTERNET: levin@bbn.com POTS: (617) 873-3463 "The night was"
davew@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Dave_Waller) (08/04/89)
Well, I don't work for the division that makes the inkjet printers, but I am somewhat familiar with the technology that is used. Essentially the cartridge has a printhead built directly into it, and the actual print "head" is analogous to the column of pins in a dot matrix printer. The difference is that the electronic print head can become dirty, and cause certain positions in the column to become non-functional. In this case cleaning the printhead as described in the owner's manual will usually fix the problem, and eliminate the horizontal lines. If, after cleaning a cartridge, the horizontal non-printing zones still appear, the DeskWriter needs a new ink-cartridge/printhead. If the head is new, I'd take it back to the dealer and get him/her to replace it. Dave Waller Hewlett-Packard Co. Workstation Group Pacific Technology Park 1266 Kifer Rd. Sunnyvale, CA (408) 746-5324 [ucbvax!]hplabs!hpdstma!dave | dave@hpdstma.ptp.hp.com +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+ | Standard disclaimer: | "I refuse to put anything in quotes | | The opinions expressed above are | in this space" | | solely my own, and in no way reflect| | | those of my employer. | | +-------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
goedhart@neabbs.UUCP (ROB GOEDHART) (11/13/89)
=== == ========== The HP DeskWriter === == ========== Prints only +- 300-400 pages / cartridge (so stock some) Rotates text multiples of 90 degrees only Doesn't have many fonts available Doesn't feature waterproof ink Can't be connected to a PC Prints only 1 page per minute Doesn't feature Postscript Is incompatible with some programs (Illustrator '88, MicrophoneII) Costs +- $ 1450,- in Holland!!! BUT Is quiet Offers (almost) Laserprinter quality Works fine with PageMaker 3.0, Word 4.0, MacdrawII, Excel Works GREAT with WingZ (3D graphs!) Costs $ 800,- in the US Promises color (Pagemaker 3.0) (only black ink now available) Offers a change to see what non-Postscript printers are going to do under System 7.0 (smart companies build a Quickdraw typesetter!) Prints enveloppes Occupies little desk-space Is very easy to install and operate Seems very reliable AND I recomend it! -=[ Rob ]=- (missed the discussion on ATM! How about it?)
torch@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Jay Finger) (12/22/89)
Here's the responses to a group of questions that I asked about the HP
DeskWriter about three weeks ago. Thanks to those who responded:
truesdel@ICS.UCI.EDU (Scott Truesdell)
robertt@hpvcfs1.hp.com (Bob Taylor)
ngo%tammy@harvard.harvard.edu (Tom Ngo)
>With Draw type packages (esp Canvas 2.0) does the DeskWriter offer any
>advantages, or do I still get 72 dpi?
The output will be at 300 DPI, and if the software can produce hairlines
the the printer should be able to handle it. In general, the DeskWriter
should work well with anything that works with the ImageWriter or the
LaserWriter IISC.
>What kind of incompatibilities are there when using the DeskWriter
>(e.g. applications that only support ImageWriters and LaserWriters)?
"The DeskWriter does not support PostScript. Therefor, any program
that produces pure PostScript output (Adobe Illustrator comes to mind)
will yield unsatisfactory results. Other than that, the DeskWriter
behaves as if it had the Apple logo." See below for other programs
that don't work.
>Does ATM work well with the DeskWriter, or is it merely superfluous?
>I'm not too interested in ATM's screen font's, just on getting
>PostScript fonts onto paper.
ATM works (Adobe used the DeskWriter for ATM demos at MacWorld-Boston).
The performance is about the same as what you would get with HP's fonts.
One person commented that he thinks ATM is superfluous because HP's
fonts look better than Adobe's. I think I've heard that elsewhere on
this board, too, so if you don't care about the screen fonts and don't
explicitly need the Adobe fonts, you may be able to skip ATM altogether.
>How well do MS Word 4.0 and Excel 2.2 work with:
> a: The DeskWriter by itself?
> b: The DeskWriter and ATM together?
Great. Word's problems with ATM arise when you're using an ImageWriter.
It explicitly checks for an ImageWriter, and if it finds one it
decides that you can't do fractional spacing.
Other programs that work:
PageMaker 3.0, MacDraw II, SuperPaint 1.1, Microsoft Works 2.x,
Silicon Press
Programs that won't work with the DeskWriter or have problems:
Don't Print: FullPaint (v1.0), MacPaint (v1.4 and earlier),
Red Ryder (v10.3), Microphone II (v2.0)
Print only at 72DPI: Hypercard's card prints (reports are OK),
Illustrator, Freehand (some things work, some don't),
ImageStudio (v1.5), Digital Darkroom (v1.0 @ 72DPI,
v1.1 works great)
Negatives about the DeskWriter:
The ink is water soluble: The ink is still water soluble after it
dries. This is great if you manage to make a mess while installing
an ink cartridge, but lousy if you're carrying a report unprotected
on a rainy day or if you spill coffee onto a printout.
The driver is a memory hog. If you're using ATM it won't help
your memory situation either. Recomendations were to expand to
atleast 2 Meg of RAM. One person commented, however, that even
if you add the extra memory onto the cost of the printer, you
still can't get a 300DPI printer for less money.
I hope this help those of you considering DeskWriters. I appologize
for taking so long for posting this, as I'm sure three days before
Christmas ruins its usefulness for many people.
Jay Finger,
{ames,mit-eddie}!attctc!torch
ames!torch@attctcgillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu (12/24/89)
Here's a question about the water-soluble ink in the deskwriter.
Has anyone tried spraying pages with that stuff artists use to make
watercolor pictures permanent? Does this act as a peramenent fixer
for the deskwriter's ink?
Just a thought....
Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu UUCP: {uunet,harvard}!uiucdcs!gilliesscott@spectra.COM (Tim Scott) (01/05/90)
1. Re the guy's suggestion to use a fixative on DeskWriter output:
great idea! I'll try it and report if no one else has by the time I
can get arond to it.
2. On another tack...I also love (froth, rant, foam) the DW. HOWEVER
I have quasi serious objections to the way it behaves with Word 3.01.
It seems to do wierd stuff with spacing, particularly if bold style is
selected.
The behavior is like this:
Here's a bold line
that is, the letter spacing is way too wide.
But worse than that, I get very inconsistent word spacing even with regular
text: It seems to only happen with the Times font:
A line of text in, say, 10 pt Times
A line of text in, say, 10 pt Times
Courier doesn't seem to be a problem, that is, it is always monospaced.
I never have these problems in PageMaker 3.0; in fact, I have to
import Word files into pagemaker to get clean output.
Why is this happening? Help!!
P.S.: Mac SE/1 MB/6.0.2
--
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Tim P Scott . . sending from: Spectragraphics Corp.
9707 Waples St., San Diego CA 92121 [USA]+619-587-6834
Try: scott@spectra.com or ...{ucsd!}nosc!spectra!scottstevem@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Steve Miller) (01/19/90)
>I have quasi serious objections to the way it behaves with Word 3.01. >It seems to do wierd stuff with spacing, particularly if bold style is >selected. I've used the DeskWriter alot with Word 4.0 and 3.02 and have never had any problems with the spacing of text. The only time I've seen spacing that I didn't like was when I used New York, or Geneva, and then used font substitution to get Times and Helvetica. Since New York and Geneva are spaced more widely than the corresponding Times and Helvetica, I tend to get output that is a little more spaced out. BTW: wasn't Word 3.01 the version that had soooo many problems that MicroSoft quickly rushed 3.02 out to their customers? Steven Miller Vancouver Division Hewlett Packard
heather@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu (03/01/90)
Does anyone out there know if it is possible to use the Hewlett Packard Deskwriter that works with the MAC with an Apple GS? Thanks, heather@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu
heather@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu (03/01/90)
Does anyone out there know if the Hewlett packard Deskwriter that works with the MAC can be hooked up to work with the AppleGS? Thanks heather@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu
gchow@undergrad.cs.ubc.ca (george kai yee chow) (03/01/90)
In article <237@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> heather@merlin.bcm.tmc.edu () writes: >Does anyone out there know if the Hewlett packard Deskwriter that >works with the MAC can be hooked up to work with the AppleGS? Probably not. The DeskWriter relies upon the Mac to do the processing. Unless you can get the IIgs to output raster data in the same form as the HP-provided driver, it's probably not possible.