thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu (05/02/89)
I wonder. I haven't seen this posted all that frequently on the net, and
I am now in a position of curiousity.
My sister has a 512KE and is looking for a cheap printer. She currently
has an Epson LX-80 left over from when she had her Apple ][.
1. I know that a "Grappler" exists for such a beast... but which one?
LQ? C/Mac?
2. Does this Grappler thing give her full Imagewriter capability? If
not, what is it missing?
3. Maybe it would just be cheaper to sell the Epson and buy a printer
with full Imagewriter capability. I have seen ads for the "Seikosha
SP 1000" for around $235, certainly reasonable. Has anyone used this
brand or model? Is it really "Imagewriter I compatible"? Is
it any good? Will it last? Will it work?
4. Maybe we should just try to buy a used Imagewriter?
Thanks in Advance,
"Curious George"
- Mark Thompson "The University Neither Knows Nor
"Life in the Fast Lane -- Cares What I Am Saying -- Lucky
mows you down before your prime." Them."
University of Illinois at U-C
ARPANET: thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu
USMAILNET: 202 E Springfield #3B, Champaign IL 61820barry@primerd.prime.com (05/07/89)
thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu inquires: >I wonder. I haven't seen this posted all that frequently on the net, and > I am now in a position of curiousity. >My sister has a 512KE and is looking for a cheap printer. She currently > has an Epson LX-80 left over from when she had her Apple ][. >1. I know that a "Grappler" exists for such a beast... but which one? > LQ? C/Mac? You need the C/Mac version, which converts Imagewriter control codes and provides the serial to parallel conversion. If you're mainly interested in bit-mapped output (no draft mode), the Grappler work. It's slow, but did the job when I tried on with my FX-80 a few months ago. Draft output was slower than Best output! >2. Does this Grappler thing give her full Imagewriter capability? If > not, what is it missing? I don't think she'll be able to use desk accessories like MockPrinter and miniWriter than write directly to the printer w/o going thru printer driver. For example, MockPrinter uses the character set download feature of the Imagewriter. I don't believe this will work with Grappler (I forgot to check when I did my tests). Make sure the LX80 can do reverse line feeds - If it can't some graphical output may not be right. >3. Maybe it would just be cheaper to sell the Epson and buy a printer > with full Imagewriter capability. I have seen ads for the "Seikosha > SP 1000" for around $235, certainly reasonable. Has anyone used this > brand or model? Is it really "Imagewriter I compatible"? Is > it any good? Will it last? Will it work? My brother-in-law has a Seikosha. It is 99.9999+ compatible with the Imagewriter I. I checked the command set supported by the Seikosha - the only difference I found had to do with the Danish language option. I tried it with a variety programs without encoutenring any problems. MockPrinter, miniWriter and programs like that work fine with the Seikosha. It is a fine, but slow printer (1/3 speed of an Imagweriter II). $235 is slightly more than my BIL paid. He's only had it about three months, so I can't say how long it will last. It does not appear to be as rugged as the IW-II. The warantee is at least a year. You can buy two or three Seikoshas for what one IW-II costs. >4. Maybe we should just try to buy a used Imagewriter? Thanks in Advance, "Curious George" - Mark Thompson "The University Neither Knows Nor "Life in the Fast Lane -- Cares What I Am Saying -- Lucky mows you down before your prime." Them." University of Illinois at U-C ARPANET: thompson@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu USMAILNET: 202 E Springfield #3B, Champaign IL 61820 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barry Wolman | barry@s66.prime.com Principal Technical Consultant | 492 Old Connecticut Path Prime Computer | Framingham, MA 01701 | 508/626-1700, ext. 4187 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nothing in this posting reflects an official position of Prime Computer.
tjs@dadent.wustl.edu (tom sullivan) (05/08/89)
In article <160700032@primerd> barry@primerd.prime.com writes: >>1. I know that a "Grappler" exists for such a beast... but which one? >> LQ? C/Mac? > >You need the C/Mac version, which converts Imagewriter control codes >and provides the serial to parallel conversion. If you're mainly >interested in bit-mapped output (no draft mode), the Grappler work. >It's slow, but did the job when I tried on with my FX-80 a few months ago. >Draft output was slower than Best output! I've tried the same product with my VERY old EPSON MX-80 with Graftrax-80 upgrade. It failed miserably, just as Epstart from Softstyles did. I think the Grappler's problem was the age of my printer. I believe that Espon changed things from my old model and the commands are slightly different. As for Epstart. It doesn't even pay attention to hardware handshaking. It claims to but only checks after dumping several thousand characters. tom
bobd@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula) (05/11/89)
BTW, I fiddled around with a Grappler LQ for an evening (I picked it up in the local computer store's "bargain bin" for cheap). I tested it on two different Epson LQ printers (an LQ-1000 and an LQ-500). It just plain couldn't be coaxed to work on the LQ-500 at all. On the LQ-1000, it did work, but had the *annoying* habit of appending a stray character (usually a capital letter "R") in the upper left hand corner of every page. I took it back under the stores 30 day return "no questions asked" policy. -=- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob DeBula | Internet: debula-r@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu The Ohio State University | Disclaimer: These are my views, not the U's