long@rainbo.enet.dec.com (Richard C. Long) (11/19/89)
I'm having trouble with my Imagewriter II: It frequently scrunches up
lines during a printout. 12 point comes out looking like 4 point! :-(.
Sometimes it happens at the beginning of a page, sometimes at the end,
sometimes in the middle, sometimes not at all; there seems to be no
consistency to it. It's happened to some degree ever since the printer was
new, but lately has been getting worse. In addition to this, since the
printer is glacially slow on best quality, I'm now thinking about a
replacement. So, the questions:
1. Is this problem perhaps something I can fix myself, by cleaning, or
adjusting? Maybe by adjusting the paper path? The paper sits under the
Imagewriter now (which is on top of a Kensington stand). Please don't tell
me a dealer has to make the fix (if there is one), I have ZERO faith in
their abilities.
2. If this is just an annoying characteristic of the Imagewriter, is
there a functionally equivalent replacement? I've seen ads for a Seikosha,
does this work well? Dot matrix quality is fine, I'm just looking for
something that is a functional clone of the IW, without the above problems.
Speed is a factor.
Thank you very much,
Rich
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>| mcntsh::long [RAINBO works as well] | A day for firm
/~~) /~~ / | long@mcntsh.enet.dec.com | decisions!!!!!
/~~\ /__ /__ | ...!decwrl!mcntsh.enet.dec.com!long | Or is it??
Richard C. Long | long%mcntsh.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com |========================jb@aries5.uucp (11/21/89)
In article <6234@shlump.nac.dec.com> long@rainbo.enet.dec.com (Richard C. Long) writes: > >I'm having trouble with my Imagewriter II: It frequently scrunches up >lines during a printout. 12 point comes out looking like 4 point! :-(. >Sometimes it happens at the beginning of a page, sometimes at the end, >sometimes in the middle, sometimes not at all; there seems to be no >consistency to it. It's happened to some degree ever since the printer was >new, but lately has been getting worse. In addition to this, since the >printer is glacially slow on best quality, I'm now thinking about a >replacement. So, the questions: > If you think that is bad, imagine a 3 hour lab with 50 Mac II's used by first year computer science students, With 9 ImageWriter II's. Each student prints at least 5 pages per hour. Every second page gets jammed in the sprocket feed, or lines become scrunched up or ... Then imagine 50 students getting mad, and reprinting their job 3 times, trying to adjust the printer ... Does anyone know of a decent solution to this problem with ImageWriter II's. Or better yet an alternative printer that can be used in a network environment under heavy load. Jim Bruyn University of Waterloo
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (11/22/89)
In article <869@maytag.waterloo.edu> jb@aries5.uucp writes: > ...imagine a 3 hour lab with 50 Mac II's used by > first year computer science students, With 9 ImageWriter II's. [tale of > woe deleted] > > Does anyone know of a decent solution to this problem with ImageWriter II's. > > Or better yet an alternative printer that can be used in a network > environment under heavy load. In my humble and personal opinion, an ImageWriter on a network is the punchline of a Polish joke. For the price of 9 ImageWriters or their replacements, you can get a Postscript laser printer or maybe two of them, and be happy. David Casseres Exclaimer: Hey!
CXT105@PSUVM.BITNET (Christopher Tate) (11/22/89)
In article <5330@internal.Apple.COM>, casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) says: >In my humble and personal opinion, an ImageWriter on a network is the >punchline of a Polish joke. For the price of 9 ImageWriters or their >replacements, you can get a Postscript laser printer or maybe two of them, >and be happy. This brings up a big question that's been stewing around in my head for a while now: How much use/abuse are LaserWriters supposed to be able to take? For example, the public Mac labs here have about 3 ImageWriter II's for unrestricted printing from the network, and one or two LaserWriter II's at 20 cents per page, handled by VendaCard machines. The LaserWriters are actually printing something over 50% of the time, in some cases this is 24 hours a day. Also, depending on the demand at that time during the semester, they may be operating nearly 80% of the time. (These are rough estimates.) Is the LaserWriter IINTX built to take this kind of use? ------- Christopher Tate | cxt105@psuvm.psu.edu | You can lead a horse to water, ..!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!cxt105 | but a vest has no sleeves. cxt105@psuvm.bitnet |
tonyrich@titanic.cs.wisc.edu (Anthony Rich) (11/23/89)
In article <869@maytag.waterloo.edu> jb@aries5.UUCP (Jim Bryun) writes: [Woes about jammed Imagewriters in a heavy student-use environment.] >Every second page gets jammed in the sprocket feed, or lines become >scrunched up or ... > >Does anyone know of a decent solution to this problem with ImageWriter II's. > I was a consultant in one of the Mac labs here at UW-Madison; the Imagewriters were by far the biggest headache because of their "push the paper into the platen" design. [Second biggest headache: student-mangled System Folders]. I don't have any "decent" solutions, but a couple of stopgap measures we used helped in the heat of battle. Putting additional pressure on the paper bail (and therefore on the paper at the front of the platen) seems to help. The quick-and-dirty way we did it in the lab was to wedge a folded-up wad of paper between a flat part of the printer and a flat plastic tab on each end of the paper bail underneath the cover (sorry to be so vague, but I don't have an Imagewriter nearby. Take a look and I think you'll find the places). The wad of paper forces the paper bail down harder, helping to "pull" the paper. If you wedge too big a wad in there, though, the paper bail pops out of its detents, so a it's trial-and-error kind of thing. Also, if the paper wad is too big, the cover doesn't close all the way. We used a folded-up length of the torn-off sprocket-hole part of the printout paper itself to do it. An only-slightly-less-ridiculous way is to beef up the springs that hold the paper bail down by looping a rubber band around their anchor points a couple of times. (Heavier springs might do it, too.) Neither suggestion is a real solution, but will help in a jam (pun intended). -- Tony
truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (11/24/89)
>>I'm having trouble with my Imagewriter II: It frequently scrunches up >>lines during a printout. 12 point comes out looking like 4 point! :-(. >> >If you think that is bad, imagine a 3 hour lab with 50 Mac II's used by >first year computer science students, With 9 ImageWriter II's. Each >Does anyone know of a decent solution to this problem with ImageWriter II's. I have a similar situation (13 hours per day, 60 Mac Pluses, 8 ImageWriter IIs). I have thought about this problem (sort of) a lot and don't have any long term solutions but do have some observations. First: I resent being held hostage by Apple with substandard printers. As much as I prefer the Mac over other personal computers, the absence of decent low-cost printers is really bad. The WAY overpriced Image- Writer II is an embarrasment. It should cost around $275-300 and it should have a decent paper transport mechanism. IBM's low cost printers are vastly superior to Apple's offering(s). Second: the "push" tractor feed is always going to be a problem on any printer. It sort of works on the ImageWriter pretty much based on luck. If one has the friction roller on there will be a mismatch of feed rates eventually resulting in torn or crumpled paper. If one has the friction roller off, as it should be, it is still dependant on friction to move the paper along the path. This "sort-of" friction is nearly impossible to maintain correctly. Third: Any contamination of the platen causes the "sort-of" friction paper feed scheme to fall on its face even worse than when the scheme it operating as well as possible (which is none too). Contamination is usually from (a) accumulated small amounts of ink bleed-through, which, over time, saturates the platen and slickens the "sort-of" friction. This can take years. And (b) paper coatings, usually in the form of manufacturing artifacts, also slicken the platen. Fourth: Older ImageWriter IIs with the mechanical paper-out detectors (a black prism about 1cm by 4cm at the left edge of the platen) are more prone the "sort-of" friction failure than ImageWriters with the newer optical paper-out sensors. This could be meerly a symtom of age and contaminant build-up. Fifth: The cleaner the platen, the better the performance. One poster mentioned sandpaper. If done sensibly and uniformly, this is probably a great idea. I haven't tried it and don't recommend it. It COULD work well if done sensibly. Xylol works very well to clean the platens. This used to be marketed under the name of Fedrol. It is carcinogenic, toxic, and a heavy environmental polutant. It is also currently illegal (thank goodness). One of the reasons Xylol works so well is that it is a VERY effective solvant for the ink contaminants on the platen. It's even a good solvent for the platen itself, which, in small doses, is just what the, er, doctor ordered. However, we shouldn't use this substance, I suppose :^) Sixth: Alcohol will work in a manner of speaking. Its chief benefit is its low toxicity. I have found that even a dozen cleanings with alcohol within a 30 minute period barely begins to start the cleaning process thoroughly enough to be beneficial. The first several cleanings show almost no ink on the cleaning cloth. Eventually the cloth starts to blacken and, verily, it seems that once started, the cleaning process could continue almost indefinitely, each time removing a bit more ink. It is tedious, no doubt, but it does help. Conclusions: 1) Shame on Apple. It's been how many years? 2) The cleaner the platen, the better. 3) A slight roughness, or tooth, to the platen seems like a good idea. However, too much roughness will definitely adversly effect print quality (don't laugh, it's relative). 4) We need ongoing research into better safe solvents for the contaminant build-up. I think that this is the key. --scott -- Scott Truesdell
truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell) (11/24/89)
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: >In my humble and personal opinion, an ImageWriter on a network is the >punchline of a Polish joke. For the price of 9 ImageWriters or their >replacements, you can get a Postscript laser printer or maybe two of them, >and be happy. You are absolutely right EXCEPT: 1. They are vastly cheaper PER PAGE to operate. 2. They don't encourage none-computer work (resumes, papers for other classes, etc.) 3. One can start with a few and incrementally build up to more as requirements dictate and funds allow. 4. 8 ImageWriters provide more throughput than 1 LaserWriter. Still, even considering the above 4 points, I agree with you, David. --scott -- Scott Truesdell
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (11/28/89)
Just a couple more observations about the ImageWriter. First, in spite of
all the flaming going on here ("substandard printer" etc.) there are a
hell of a lot of people out there who say they LOVE their ImageWriters.
They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be used: as
strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there on your desk and
running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no remote or unattended
operation.
Second, the cure for the ImageWriter II's paper-feed problems (for those
who encounter them) is the sheet-feeder accessory. It works very nicely
(though again, not unattended because of its small capacity).
Obviously my opinions are not necessarily Apple's...
David Casseres
Exclaimer: Hey!bukys@cs.rochester.edu (Liudvikas Bukys) (11/28/89)
OK, so buy a Seikosha SP-1000AP from MidWest Micro-Peripherals ay 800-423-8215, for $207 (Mac+ to IW 1 cable not included).
long@rainbo.enet.dec.com (Richard C. Long) (11/28/89)
In article <1989Nov27.195051.20662@cs.rochester.edu>, bukys@cs.rochester.edu (Liudvikas Bukys) writes... >OK, so buy a Seikosha SP-1000AP from MidWest Micro-Peripherals ay 800-423-8215, [deleted] Fine. Is this an equivalent to the Imagewriter II? Any potential problems? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>| mcntsh::long | A day for firm /"") /"' / | long@mcntsh.enet.dec.com | decisions!!!!! /~~\ /__ /__ | ...!decwrl!mcntsh.enet.dec.com!long | Or is it?? Richard C. Long | long%mcntsh.dec@decwrl.enet.dec.com |========================
kdaugher@oracle.oracle.com (Kathryn Daugherty) (11/30/89)
In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: |Just a couple more observations about the ImageWriter. First, in spite of |all the flaming going on here ("substandard printer" etc.) there are a |hell of a lot of people out there who say they LOVE their ImageWriters. Who are they? Where are they? |They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be used: as |strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there on your desk and |running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no remote or unattended |operation. And I STRONGLY beg to differ. My husband uses the printer, when it is not in the shop, for less than 10 pages per day. It RARELY can print an entire page without jamming, scrunching print, or corkscrewing. I dislike it so much I only use the LaserWriter at work. We will fork over large sums of money for a home LaserWriter, BUT monthly we need to print 60 - 80 pages of 4-part NCR forms, so we CAN'T give up our impact printer. | |Second, the cure for the ImageWriter II's paper-feed problems (for those |who encounter them) is the sheet-feeder accessory. It works very nicely |(though again, not unattended because of its small capacity). Believe me, the #&^* printer is never unattended. It's latest trick is to print a line, then turn itself off. KD
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (11/30/89)
In article <1989Nov29.231627.21009@oracle.com> kdaugher@oracle.oracle.com (Kathryn Daugherty) writes: > In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: > |...there are a hell of a lot of people out there who say they > |LOVE their ImageWriters. > |They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be > |used: as strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there > |on your desk and running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no > |remote or unattended operation. > And I STRONGLY beg to differ. My husband uses the printer, when it is > not in the shop, for less than 10 pages per day. It RARELY can print an > entire page without jamming, scrunching print, or corkscrewing. Well, the statements I made happen to be true nonetheless. Not everyone who has an ImageWriter II has had your experience, although some have. An ImageWriter that can only rarely get through a page without screwing up is not properly adjusted, and the dealer should not be charging you for adjustment if it cannot be adjusted. You might try a different dealer. Ask whether your printer has all the upgrades that have been issued -- there are several, and they make a great deal of difference. > Believe me, the #&^* printer is never unattended. It's latest trick is > to print a line, then turn itself off. OK, your particular printer is busted. Your dealer is failing to fix it. But please, don't assume that all ImageWriters are like the one you got. David Casseres Exclaimer: Hey!
jcocon%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (James C. O'Connor III, 2846) (11/30/89)
From article <5502@internal.Apple.COM>, by casseres@apple.com (David Casseres): > In article <1989Nov29.231627.21009@oracle.com> kdaugher@oracle.oracle.com > (Kathryn Daugherty) writes: >> In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) > writes: >> |...there are a hell of a lot of people out there who say they >> |LOVE their ImageWriters. >> |They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be >> |used: as strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there >> |on your desk and running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no >> |remote or unattended operation. > >> And I STRONGLY beg to differ. My husband uses the printer, when it is >> not in the shop, for less than 10 pages per day. It RARELY can print an >> entire page without jamming, scrunching print, or corkscrewing. I've had an ImageWriter and an ImageWriter II and I was very happy with them. They performed reliably, and could run fifty pages unattended. I never had very long documents to print, but I didn't adjust any between uses. The only problem I EVER had was when the paper would become warped and would wrap around the platten, but that was easily avoided. I really appreciated my printer when I had to work in an IBM PC lab and the I spent most of my time fixing jammed IBM Printers. I am sorry you are having such troubles, but my experiences have been nothing but good with the ImageWriters. Jim
geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) (11/30/89)
Add me to the list of people who like their Imagewriters. My
Imagewriter II has worked wonderfully for me in the two years that I've
owned it. (But then, the Apple Hard Disk in my SE has never given me
any troubles, either -- maybe I'm just lucky! :-) )
My only complaints are the occaisonal scrunched line at the top of the
page. But this seems to be occurring less lately.
My Father-in-law has an Imagewriter I that he bought with his 128K Mac.
It has served him reliably since 1985.
DISCLAIMER: I like my Imagewriter, but I *want* a DeskWriter.
--
Geoff Allen \ WINCO doesn't believe in Macs,
{uunet|bigtex}!pmafire!geoff \ so of course these are my views.
ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff \jh0576@leah.Albany.Edu (Joe Houghtaling) (12/01/89)
Regarding the IW II: The biggest problem *I* have with the Image Writer II is the *&^&** driver that causes the IW to shuffle back a tad at the start of a print job. I presume the reason is to tighten the paper in the feeder. Regardless of the reason for it, I've found that little shuffle-dance to be the cause of more trashed printouts than any other. Will Apple ever re-write the driver so it doesn't cause the paper to shuffle back? I hope so. Anyone else have this experience with the IW II? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe Houghtaling jh0576@leah.albany.edu
jb@aries5.uucp (12/01/89)
In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: |Just a couple more observations about the ImageWriter. First, in spite of |all the flaming going on here ("substandard printer" etc.) there are a |hell of a lot of people out there who say they LOVE their ImageWriters. Who are they? Where are they? |They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be used: as |strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there on your desk and |running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no remote or unattended |operation. |Second, the cure for the ImageWriter II's paper-feed problems (for those |who encounter them) is the sheet-feeder accessory. It works very nicely |(though again, not unattended because of its small capacity). Is this an official opinion from Apple? Are you saying that we should not be using the ImageWriter as a printer in an educational classroom environment, where all the students must print their assignments and hand them in? Or does Apple have a high-load printer designed for remote or unattended operation, that they haven't told anybody about? (low operation cost is important, buying LaserWriter toner cartridges for class assignments seems wasteful). Jim Bruyn
jb@aries5.uucp (12/01/89)
In article <5502@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: > >An ImageWriter that can only rarely get through a page without screwing up >is not properly adjusted, and the dealer should not be charging you for >adjustment if it cannot be adjusted. You might try a different dealer. >Ask whether your printer has all the upgrades that have been issued -- >there are several, and they make a great deal of difference. Well even though there is now free trade between Canada and the United States none of the repair people here at the University of Waterloo know anything about upgrades. (nor do other people in Canada that I have talked to.) So could you please provide me with the numbers and descriptions of all upgrades available for the ImageWriter II. Thanks in advance. > >But please, don't assume that all ImageWriters are like the one you got. > >David Casseres Alright, but 600 students a term and the 10 ImageWriters that they use for their introductory Computer Science courses (now 1200 students, and 20 ImageWriters) are making assumptions about ImageWriters. Jim Bruyn University of Waterloo AppleLink D0365
joseph@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Seymour Joseph) (12/02/89)
I supervise a facility that uses lots of ImageWriter IIs in public labs and I would have to agree that they are far from ideal for this purpose. We had much better luck with the ImageWriter Is and would still be using them if there were an AppleTalk option for them. At home, I use an Imagewriter II networked via Localtalk to both a Mac and my Apple IIGS. I find that for my use there, it is not a bad printer. It has some paper path problems, and we have had to learn to adjust to it, but if you treat it right, it can bang out draft copy VERY fast or produce really decent looking text and graphics in a reasonable amount of time. One trick I learned is to never tear off the page that just printed. Pulling on the paper tends to pre-skew it on the tractors and cause a jam on the next page. If the paper is torn at or before the paper bail, it will also tend to curl too far and jam (especially if it was left curled around the platen for a few days). I find the best thing to do is when something finishes printing, take the printer offline, eject a blank page and put the printer back online. Rip your work off, by pulling putting one hand on the blank page and pulling against it, and not the tractors. Leave the extra page on to help guide the paper for the next printout. This wastes paper, but saves lots of jams. Seymour
jh0576@leah.Albany.Edu (Joe Houghtaling) (12/02/89)
Just wanted to add to my prior posting that I really like my IW II! I
just got a little hot about the paper getting occasionally scrunched up.
Otherwise my IW II has given me excellent service for the two years + that
I've owned it. (And since I had the print head cleaned, it works even better!
Yet another point in favor of regular servicing!)
Just wanted to make that clear. And thanks to Tom Dowdy @ Apple for
responding so quickly to explain why the IW II driver does that shuffle.
I hope he doesn't mind if I reprint his explanation, since some other folks
on the net might be interested.
Regarding my theory that the IWII driver does the shuffle to tighten the paper:
No, that is not the reason. Gear-lash takeup is handled by the firmware,
if at all. Additional dancing is not done by the driver for gear-lash
purposes. The reason is so that paper margins and sizes are the same on
both IW printers. The IW 1 has a smaller paper margin with "no waste tear
off". As a result, on the IW II, the paper must be moved backwards to
preserve the margin. If you wish to avoid problems, leave the additional
sheet in the printer and don't tear off towards the top.
The new print drivers may have an option to "avoid the little dance."
However, there will be different drivers for each of the IW models, and
there can be special paper sizes for the IW II that will NEVER require the
little dance. In any case, as the person making the drivers, I'm trying
to stamp out the little dance in all cases where it isn't needed. Just be
aware that if you are printing a document that was formatted for IW 1 top
margins, there will ALWAYS be the little dance if you want to be able to
tear off paper right at the top.
Tom Dowdy Internet: dowdy@apple.COM
Apple Computer MS:81EQ UUCP: {sun,voder,amdahl,decwrl}!apple!dowdy
20525 Mariani Ave AppleLink: DOWDY1
Cupertino, CA 95014
"The 'Ooh-Ah' Bird is so called because it lays square eggs."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
joe houghtaling
jh0576@leah.albany.educasseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (12/05/89)
In article <937@maytag.waterloo.edu> jb@aries5.uucp writes: > In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: > |Just a couple more observations about the ImageWriter. First, in > |spite of all the flaming going on here ("substandard printer" > |etc.) there are a hell of a lot of people out there who say they > |LOVE their ImageWriters. > > Who are they? Where are they? A couple of them have spoken up in this newsgroup. A lot of them send in the customer survey forms that come with Apple products. Some of them are my friends. I didn't invent them out of thin air. > |They are mostly using their IW's the way they were designed to be > |used: as strictly personal, low-load printers, sitting right there > |on your desk and running while you are sitting there -- i.e. no > |remote or unattended operation. > > Is this an official opinion from Apple? No. However, it's a historically correct observation about the design of the ImageWriter. > Are you saying that we should > not be using the ImageWriter as a printer in an educational classroom > environment, where all the students must print their assignments and hand > them in? You apparently missed my first posting in this thread, where I said that it was my _personal_ opinion that an ImageWriter on a network is the punch-line of a joke. Having said that, I'll also say that a hell of a lot of classrooms have exactly that, because it's very cheap, and they have not been so unhappy as to force Apple to create a new product for that environment. > Or does Apple have a high-load printer designed for > remote or unattended operation, that they haven't told anybody about? > (low operation cost is important, buying LaserWriter toner cartridges for > class assignments seems wasteful). The cost of buying reconditioned toner cartridges for a classroom (or multi-classroom) LaserWriter strikes me as a poor reason for dealing with overloaded ImageWriters. I'm no expert on this, but it seems to me the cost of cartridges would be a pretty small item in a school's computer budget. David Casseres Exclaimer: Hey!
871323o@aucs.uucp (Oliver Oey) (12/08/89)
In article <Dec.1.18.53.54.1989.6034@elbereth.rutgers.edu> joseph@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Seymour Joseph) writes: >and my Apple IIGS. I find that for my use there, it is not a bad >One trick I learned is to never tear off the page that just printed. >Pulling on the paper tends to pre-skew it on the tractors and cause a >jam on the next page. If the paper is torn at or before the paper >bail, it will also tend to curl too far and jam (especially if it was >left curled around the platen for a few days). I find the best thing >to do is when something finishes printing, take the printer offline, >eject a blank page and put the printer back online. Rip your work >off, by pulling putting one hand on the blank page and pulling against >it, and not the tractors. Leave the extra page on to help guide the >paper for the next printout. > I have been using the exact same technique for three years with my Imagewriter II, it works perfectly.
pcolby@kitten.prime.com (Peter Colby) (12/12/89)
In article <5571@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes: >In article <937@maytag.waterloo.edu> jb@aries5.uucp writes: >> In article <5403@internal.Apple.COM> casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) >writes: >> |Just a couple more observations about the ImageWriter. First, in >> |spite of all the flaming going on here ("substandard printer" >> |etc.) there are a hell of a lot of people out there who say they >> |LOVE their ImageWriters. >> >> Who are they? Where are they? (sigh) I guess I must classify myself as another of those Imagewriter lovers. I have had an IW-I since spring of '84, which is also how long I have had my Mac. 5 1/2 years and 2 upgrades (128K Mac => Fat Mac => Mac+) later, both my Mac & my Imagewriter I are chugging away happily. If I'm not careful I get that squunched first line on the IW but other than that it's doing a fine job thank you. I've cleaned the printhead once, and oiled the bar the head runs on once and that's it. Oh, and by the way, my mac has had ONE repair since I bought it - the keyboard died and I had to get a replacement. My kid's broke the internal floppy (which I haven't needed since I built my own hard disk) and my screen has had the wobblies for the past year or so but I still am happy with it, too. In fact, if I could afford a Mac II I'd get one of those and keep the old machine for backup. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = UUCP: {sun,decvax,linus}!cvbnet!pcolby ||| "We has met the enemy and he is us." UUCP: pcolby@robbie.prime.com ||| Pogo CSNET: pcolby@robbie.prime.com |||