bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Brian Martin) (11/09/89)
In article <4179@helios.ee.lbl.gov> wbrown@beva.bev.lbl.gov (Bill Brown) writes: >I'm trying to do an application in 4th Dimension that really does call >for a fast dot matrix printer. (LaserWriter too expensive to buy and >operate, ImageWriter too slow). > >The system is a 1Mb SE/30, 40 Mb HD, system 6.0.3. Printer is an Epson >EX-1000 with a Grappler serial/parallel interface running in "straight-thru" >mode; i.e. not doing any data manipulation or conversion. > >Installed (non-Apple) inits: Super Clock 3.3, Blackout 1.1 >Installed (non-Apple) cdevs: Init cdev 1.0 > >The printer driver is Phoenix Softstyle Printworks, dot matrix version, >V mx3.5 About a year ago, I used Printworks Laser for the mac with a Mac II and LaserImage 2000 printer. At that time, I discovered only two applications that wouldn't work with the print driver--Hypercard and 4D. The workaround for 4D was to print something out from a different application, using the print settings you wanted to use in 4D, then switch to 4D to do the actual printing. Also, the print preview mode for the print driver didn't work with 4D. BTW--SoftStyle doesn't open much before 9AM Hawaii time, so if you're calling from the East Coast, you'd have to wait until 2pm your time to call. -- Brian ==== Brian K. Martin, M.D. ARPA: uhccux!bmartin@nosc.MIL UUCP: {uunet,dcdwest,ucbvax}!ucsd!nosc!uhccux!bmartin INTERNET: bmartin@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu
bmug@garnet.berkeley.edu (BMUG) (11/09/89)
In article <4179@helios.ee.lbl.gov> wbrown@beva.bev.lbl.gov (Bill Brown) writes: >I'm trying to do an application in 4th Dimension that really does call >for a fast dot matrix printer. (LaserWriter too expensive to buy and >operate, ImageWriter too slow). > >The system is a 1Mb SE/30, 40 Mb HD, system 6.0.3. Printer is an Epson >EX-1000 with a Grappler serial/parallel interface running in "straight-thru" >mode; i.e. not doing any data manipulation or conversion. > The printing problems are indeed probably related to the printer driver. In addition to running output through the various printer drivers (Imagewriter, Laserwriter, whatever 3rd party driver you've selected in the Chooser), both 4D 1.x and 2.x (the current shipping version is 2.08) allow a direct data feed through the serial port of your choice. In general, this is MUCH faster than operating through a print driver, and 4D 2.x does this much more elegantly than 1.x did. Unfortunately I don't have my 2.0 docs handy just now, or I could refer you to the chapter and verse where this is covered. In my experience, though, a direct serial feed often eliminates some of the problems associated with printing to dot-matrix machines. You do lose the ability to have fancy fonts and such, I should add. John Heckendorn /\ BMUG ARPA: bmug@garnet.berkeley.EDU A__A 1442A Walnut St., #62 BITNET: bmug@ucbgarne |()| Berkeley, CA 94709 Phone: (415) 549-2684 | |