ls1i+@andrew.cmu.edu (Leonard John Schultz) (03/21/89)
Does anyone out in netland have the HP PaintJet? I am interested in this printer and would like to hear some experiences. How accurate are the colors compared with the screen colors? How crisp is the text? You can't beat the price on this thing. $1400 plus $150 for the MacII connection ($1000 plus $50 here at CMU). Now I can finally make use of my 256 colors. I love it. -Len Schultz
binder@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Tim Binder) (03/22/89)
I'm also interested in this (and any inexpensive) COLOR printer. Please post
or e-mail replies to me too.
Thanks, Tim
__ ____________
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Disclaimer: All opinions contained herein are fictional. Any resemblance to
real opinions is purely coincidental.burns@hsi.UUCP (Jeff Burns) (03/24/89)
I have an PaintJet I run from my MacII. A color laser printer it's not, but it's about the best you'll find in it's price range. It is well designed and capable of crisp (180 dpi) output. A word of caution is that you need the right printer driver for it. Don't bother with the Printworks driver. I found the font resolution totally inadequate for my purposes (color overheads). I gave up totally on Printworks because of all the system crashes it created. I recently installed the Cricket Expression driver which is very slick. It uses Cricket's own "CHQ" Helvetica, Times, and Courier fonts. These are outline fonts that take full advantage of the PaintJet's resolution. A temporary drawback to Expression is that it only works w/ Cricket s/w. A more generic version is said to be forthcoming. BTW, I recently noticed that HP is marketing (perhaps even bundling) their own version of Expression. You can easily access 8 colors on the PaintJet and I've been able to do my own blending by creating 2 or 3 color patterns (in MacDrawII) to get other colors (this was with Printworks -- I haven't had a chance to do much w/Expression yet). The Expression documentation says "color output is limited to the eight standard QuickDraw colors," so blending may be tough. Printing is not particulary fast when you have a relatively complex drawing with several colors. It can take several minutes for one page. The printed colors are brilliant and the font quality is very good with Expression. I have a large project coming up where I'll be printing over a hundred graphics on the PaintJet using Cricket Presents and Expression s/w. If there's interest I'll report further on the quality of the PaintJet. I bought my PaintJet from Arch Northeast Service (PO Box 373, Wallingford, CT 06492) for $935 a year ago. Arch does mailorder and their price is right. Cricket Expression was $100 at Computer Factory and it comes with an RS-232 cable for Mac-PaintJet hookup. Good Luck. Jeff Burns Marketing Communications Health Systems International
palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu (David Palmer) (07/25/89)
In the August Byte there is an advert for the HP Paintjet, a color version of the Deskjet, apparently. It mentions that a Mac interface is an extra $125 (base price without Mac interface is $1395). The question is, is this a plug-and-play system where you just hook it up, install the drivers, and use any color-quickdraw prgram to print color pictures, or does it only work with certain programs? Also, does it have the full 300DPI resolution of the deskjet? Thanks in advance. David Palmer palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu ...rutgers!cit-vax!tybalt.caltech.edu!palmer "Only 10% of the 4000 mile long coastline was affected." -Exxon's version of the oil spill as reported to stockholders
makmur@hardees.rutgers.edu (Hanz Makmur) (07/28/89)
> The question is, is this a plug-and-play >system where you just hook it up, install the drivers, and use any >color-quickdraw prgram to print color pictures, or does it only work >with certain programs? The answer is YES. I have install and use the HP Paint Jet for about 4 months now. Installation is easy. " plug-and-play " "install the drivers, and use anycolor-quickdraw prgram to print color picture" > does it only work with certain programs? Basically, the printer is a quick draw type printer. So it does not work with program that output postscript code. Also, does it have the full 300DPI resolution of the deskjet? Resolution seems to be OK. I am not so sure what the resolution is. But I think it supports at least 150 DPI. Over all, it is a good alternative to expensive color laser or thermal postscript printers. With about 5% the price of the Laser, I think it s worth the $$$. The only problem with it is the INK ad the paper. You are recommended to use specific paper for the color shake and the Ink most of the time ran out partially. (ex. When yellow is gone, the cartridge that contains Blue, Red and Yellow is unusable because you are running out of yellow. ) Hope this help. Hanz Makmur Rutgers University ***** I speak for my self. *****
halh@hpgrla.HP.COM (Hal Hanson) (07/28/89)
> >In the August Byte there is an advert for the HP Paintjet, a color version >of the Deskjet, apparently. > >It mentions that a Mac interface is an extra $125 (base price without >Mac interface is $1395). The question is, is this a plug-and-play >system where you just hook it up, install the drivers, and use any >color-quickdraw prgram to print color pictures, or does it only work >with certain programs? Yes it is a plug and play solution for the most part. You will need to install some additional fonts to get nice looking text. The PaintJet does work with most applications that use color. There are some guidelines that come with the PaintJet on how to get it to work with some applications. It seems everyone has a different idea how to print and use color. I think it works very well for my needs. >Also, does it have the full 300DPI resolution of the deskjet? No the PaintJet is 180 dpi, not 300 dpi like the DeskJet. Hal Hansen Hewlett-Packard, Greeley These opinions are mine and HP isn't aware that I have opinions. I work for HP but not for the division that developed the PaintJet so use this advise at your own risk. I can't think of any more caveats. But if I am wrong they should be here.
stevem@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Steve Miller) (07/29/89)
The PaintJet is a 180 dots per inch special paper color printer whereas the DeskJet is a 300 dots per inch plain paper black and white printer. The PaintJet driver for the Mac is a generic Chooser level driver that is compatible with the vast majority of applications. The driver comes with 2.5X fonts since 180 DPI is exactly 2.5 times the 72 DPI screen. The printer has 4 ink colors (black, magenta, cyan, and yellow) and is able to printer 7 (plus white) different colors for each pixel by using drop on drop printing. The driver uses a 2x2 dither matrix to generate hundreds of colors. The mapping of screen colors to printer is always a difficult job and the PaintJet drivers does an decent job of it but I think this could be improved a bit. Hope this answers some of your questions. Steven Miller stevem@hpvcfs1 Vancouver Division Hewlett Packard
joe@gistdev.UUCP (Joe Brownlee) (07/29/89)
In article <11362@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> palmer@tybalt.caltech.edu.UUCP (David Palmer) writes: > >In the August Byte there is an advert for the HP Paintjet, a color version >of the Deskjet, apparently. > >Also, does it have the full 300DPI resolution of the deskjet? I saw a PaintJet connected to a Mac II at the Spring COMDEX in Chicago, and I have the printout it produced on my bulletin board. It prints in 256 colors, and appears to have full 300-dpi resolution. The quality of the print is not spectacular, but it _is_ quite respectable, and IMHO worth the price quoted, especially when you consider that those prices are list. BTW, the demo picture the guy printed came from Aldus PageMaker 2.0. Joe Brownlee | Captain, please -- not in front of the Klingons. GIST, Inc. | -- Mr. Spock, Star Trek V 1800 Woodfield Dr. | Pay attention to what I say, and you might start a trend. Savoy, IL 61874 | ARPANET: joe%gistdev@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu (217) 352-1165 | UUCP : {uunet,pur-ee,convex}!uiucuxc!gistdev!joe