leo@athena.mit.edu (John Leo) (08/01/89)
[The following article is by Sugiarno Leo, whose machine cannot post
messages. Please reply to him as I don't read this group. --John]
I've used both MacPrint v.1.1 and Grappler LS in conjunction with a HPDJ, and
have formed some conslusions of my own. H/W, I'm very much more interested in
hearing what others have to say abouth this two PDs.
I will, of course give some opinions of mine too. One drawback of LS is tt it
does not allow the full 300dpi and prints at a reduced size somehow. Another
annoying factor is tt it seems to be incompatible with MacWrite. I tried
printing a 2 page MacWrite v5.0 doc., but my 4Mb SE bombed at me with ID28 and
DJ won't print the second page. I've not read anywhere tt LS isn't compatible
with MacWrite though. Is this an error in my MacWrite's part? Nah!
One redeeming feature of LS which I found ( your mileage may vary ), is tt it's
faster than MacPrint. I clocked LS at 3 min 46s/ page, and Mac Print at
5 min 5 s/ page. The full page of Write Now G-Dutch 12 pt. was printed at best
quality. Then again, Mac Print allows screen-dumps, and LS doesn't. LS must
gobble up 1 Mb of my RAM, but MacPrint need not.
So? What are your opinions? I'd really like to hear other's opinions on these
two PDs. Mail or post, and I'll read.
Disclaimer: Opinions come from an individual, but they don't make up
an individual.
Sugiarno Leo
sleo2@rodan.acs.syr.edumjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (08/01/89)
In article <13164@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> sleo2@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Sugiarno Leo) writes: >[The following article is by Sugiarno Leo, whose machine cannot post >messages. Please reply to him as I don't read this group. --John] [...] >One redeeming feature of LS which I found (your mileage may vary), is tt it's >faster than MacPrint. I clocked LS at 3 min 46s/ page, and Mac Print at >5 min 5 s/ page. The full page of Write Now G-Dutch 12 pt. was printed at best >quality. Then again, Mac Print allows screen-dumps, and LS doesn't. LS must >gobble up 1 Mb of my RAM, but MacPrint need not. A couple of questions: are you using a spooler (doesn't the LS include one?)? The spooling would account for the relative slowness of the printer, since the Mac is working on it intermittently. If you're not, and you can stand even slower printing, then you might try SuperLaserSpool, which was recommended by someone for use with MacPrint. Then, at least you'd be able to use the Mac while the DeskJet is creeping along. Are you using a DeskJet or a DeskJet Plus? The Plus is supposedly about twice as fast with text, and five times faster with graphics (read: Mac text). --Mike Standard Disclaimer...
parent@apple.com (Sean Parent) (08/01/89)
In article <13164@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> leo@athena.mit.edu (John Leo) writes: > does not allow the full 300dpi and prints at a reduced size somehow. Another > annoying factor is tt it seems to be incompatible with MacWrite. I tried > printing a 2 page MacWrite v5.0 doc., but my 4Mb SE bombed at me with ID28 I believe that there is a vertion 1.2 of the Grappler LS that addresses both of these problems. No more bombs in MacWrite and if you toggle the precision scalling flag in the cdev you should get full 300dpi (it defaults to 4% reduction (288dpi) for better looking output, most people don't notice 4%). > One redeeming feature of LS which I found ( your mileage may vary ), is tt it's > faster than MacPrint. I clocked LS at 3 min 46s/ page, and Mac Print at > 5 min 5 s/ page. The full page of Write Now G-Dutch 12 pt. was printed at best > quality. One for the LS. Also, does MacPrint come with a spooler so you can work in the background. (Tip. The current version of the Grappler LS uses LESS memory when the spooler is on). > Then again, Mac Print allows screen-dumps, and LS doesn't. LS must > gobble up 1 Mb of my RAM, but MacPrint need not. No screen-dumps are not supported (they don't work with the LaserWriter either!). The memory required by the LS is more like 1/4 Meg. Other questions: How does MacPrint handle text line layout. (If you print text that is fully justified does it line up correctly? And does a line of text that contains SOME boldfaced words print correctly.) The LS handles these cases very well. How does MacPrint handle pattern stretching. (If you draw a rectangle in MacDraw and fill it with wavy lines do they print as wavy lines or as a shade of gray.) The LS stretches pattern by 3x not 4x as they should be but still better then not stretching them are stretching them by 2x as most drivers I've seen do. How does draft mode work on MacPrint? On the LS it uses the built in courier font that in 10pt matches the supplied courier very well. You get very fast nice looking output. The LS also has a faster quality for 72 dpi fans. Sean Parent I used to work for Orange Micro, Inc. (Click on the Grappler LS logo in the CDEV to see my name) so my opinions are biased.
mec@mtfmi.att.com (M.CONNICK) (08/01/89)
In article <3255@internal.Apple.COM> parent@apple.com (Sean Parent) writes: >One for the LS. Also, does MacPrint come with a spooler so you can work in >the background. (Tip. The current version of the Grappler LS uses LESS >memory when the spooler is on). No, MacPrint does not have any spooler included with it. >No screen-dumps are not supported (they don't work with the LaserWriter >either!). The memory required by the LS is more like 1/4 Meg. Screen dumps most certainly do work with MacPrint, and with the PD DeskJet driver as well. >How does MacPrint handle text line layout. (If you print text that is >fully justified does it line up correctly? And does a line of text that >contains SOME boldfaced words print correctly.) The LS handles these cases >very well. MacPrint handles these cases just fine. >How does MacPrint handle pattern stretching. (If you draw a rectangle in >MacDraw and fill it with wavy lines do they print as wavy lines or as a >shade of gray.) The LS stretches pattern by 3x not 4x as they should be >but still better then not stretching them are stretching them by 2x as >most drivers I've seen do. I don't know about MacDraw, but using the Draw layer of SuperPaint 2.0, fill patterns print out correctly with MacPrint, even at 300 dpi. >How does draft mode work on MacPrint? On the LS it uses the built in >courier font that in 10pt matches the supplied courier very well. You get >very fast nice looking output. The LS also has a faster quality for 72 dpi >fans. Not only does MacPrint have on screen fonts for the built-in HP fonts, but it also supports all the cartridge fonts as well. You can select the built-in or cartridge fonts in your Mac program, see what they look like on your screen, and print them out at very high speed. You can even mix HP fonts and QuickDraw fonts on the same line! The HP fonts are not handled as "draft" fonts, rather as normally selectable fonts that happen to print out very quickly. There is no draft mode in MacPrint. ----------------------------------------------------- Michael Connick att!mtfmi!mec 201-957-3057 AT&T Bell Labs MT 3F-113 (Dept. 79153)