horan@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Frederick Horan) (09/04/89)
Several people in the department I work for are interested in the HP Deskwriter (also the GCC Personal Laser Printer). The printer produces great text and graphics at slow but acceptable speeds. Also, the printer is cheap ($730 with discount) and the operating cost is roughly equivalent to that of a laserprinter (less then a $.05/page). I am concerned that this and other Quickdraw based printers may be (at least initially) incompatable with the Outline fonts used with System-7. The HP Deskwriter comes with screen and printer (AGFA Compugraphic) fonts. These screen and printer fonts are similar to each other (WYSI almost WYG). What happens when the underlying software used to produced the screen fonts is changed to support outline fonts instead? Will the old (bitmapped) screen fonts continue to be supported? Will we require drivers for bitmapped printers that are different from what we now get from HP (or GCC or other companies)? I may be worrying needlessly but I do not want to throw thousands of dollars away on 'good' printers only to be stuck in the ugly amorphous muck of incompatablity down the road. WSYI Fuzzy. Thanks in advance Fred (horan@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu)
stevem@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Steve Miller) (09/05/89)
Fred writes: >I am concerned that this and other Quickdraw based printers may be (at least >initially) incompatable with the Outline fonts used with System-7. How DeskWriter will operate with Apple's outline fonts will be similar to how it works with Adobe's outline fonts. A DeskWriter user already has the option of turning off the CompuGraphic outline fonts and using whatever Apple's Font Manager gives it. In Adobe's case (and I assume Apple will have a similar implementation) the Font Manager is modified to handle the outline fonts, so using whatever the Font Manager gives it will result in high quality output. In creating System 7.0, if Apple decides to change the printing architecture like they promised, it is possible that all printers will have to have their drivers updated regardless of Apple's outline fonts and regardless of whether the printer is a QuickDraw or a PostScript printer. HP is already promising to support System 7.0 in any case. My opinions are biased since I worked on the DeskWriter printer driver and printer firmware. Steven Miller Vancouver Division Hewlett Packard
neg@NRC.COM (Neal Goldsmith) (09/07/89)
In article <8768@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> horan@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Frederick Horan) writes: > >I am concerned that this and other Quickdraw based printers may be (at least >initially) incompatable with the Outline fonts used with System-7. >The HP Deskwriter comes with screen and printer (AGFA Compugraphic) fonts. >These screen and printer fonts are similar to each other (WYSI almost WYG). >What happens when the underlying software used to produced the screen fonts is >changed to support outline fonts instead? Will the old (bitmapped) screen >fonts continue to be supported? Will we require drivers for bitmapped printers >that are different from what we now get from HP (or GCC or other companies)? I took delivery of my Deskwriter today and enclosed with the manual was a thick paper card from which you could remove a 3.5" floppy sized corner. The corner said "Store with System Software" and went on the explain the when upgrading your system software you should contact your dealer to determine if a new version of the HP software is required. If so, then you are supposed to take the original disk to you dealer to copy the new version onto it (sound familiar?). I can only assume that HP is very committed to supporting the printer into the future. You do bring up an interesting question about font support. It appears that the fonts are stored on the Macintosh, and not in a cartridge on the Deskwriter as with the Deskjet. HP is actually asking $398 for the extra font library. Based on current font library prices from third partys for postscript printers this seems pretty out of line. I have called a couple of font makers and they are still trying to determine if it will be worth it to produce Deskwriter fonts. One suggested buying their oversized bitmap fonts. (the Deskwriter does 4x reduction in the same way the LQ does 2x) providing reasonable but not great quality. I would think that it will be in HPs best interest to support system 7 outline fonts, however it does not say anywhere in the documentation that they will and I imagine they will lose money on font sales. If indeed they are actually selling many at that price. --- Neal