sorensen@hstbme.mit.edu (Gregory Sorensen) (03/16/89)
Sorry if this has been summarized before... I hear rumors that the HP DeskJet (about $700 discounted) can be hooked to a Mac via the Grappler cable. Is this true? Is the output good? Does it approximate 300dpi? Is it the Grappler LQ or some other cable? Do you need the RAM cartridges? Anything close to laser-quality? Thanks... Greg Sorensen sorensen@hstbme.mit.edu
gaige@lts.UUCP (Gaige B. Paulsen) (03/17/89)
YES, the DeskJet works quite well as a printer off of a Macintosh. Make certain that if you do this, you get the Grappler/LS which emulates an ImageWriter II at double resolution and is made specifically for dealing with 300 dpi laser and ink-jet printers (DeskJet and LaserJet most notably). There are, however, a few things to note when comparing it to laser printers. 1) It can be most closely compared to a LaserWriter SC, since neither of the printers or their respective drivers can handle "real" font scaling. This means that the fonts which you want to print need to be available in 4* resolution. Note that if you happen to have an LWII SC, you can use the fonts that come with it. There are three fonts which are included with the Grapler LS, a Times clone, a Courier clone, and an Helvetica clone. 2) For graphics, quickdraw is used, therefore giving a very accurate rendition of what is on the screen, but not affording the user any of the smoothing that is done in the LW's. I have found that the printer is a very good bargain for the current price and provides ample printing capability for anyone who does low-volume, high-quality printing. I would NOT necessarily suggest it for anyone who is doing any kind of Page Layout or Desktop Publishing, since the output from the DeskJet is not going to correspond to the output from PostScript printers as well as other PS printers (i.e. LaserWriters). Gaige B. Paulsen InterCon Systems Corporation Disclaimer: My employer is not responsible for the statements made in this (or any other) article, even though he may agree wholeheartedly.
thweatt@radar.UUCP (James Thweatt) (03/19/89)
I have been using the Grappler LQ/Deskjet combination for about 8 months and have basically been satisfied. The output quality is a little better than the best 24 pin printers I've seen. Gripes: SLOW! SLOW! This is not very speedy, but the grappler spooler helps some. FONTS - For 288 DPI output you need 4x font sizes. Grappler comes with Bitstream versions of Times, Helvitica, and Courier. A program called FontSizer does an excellent job of creating big fonts with a Postscript Printer but the files can get rather large. There is also a question of copyright, etc. SCALING - the grappler software normally does a 4% reduction to keep the bit- mapped fonts looking pretty. I've had some problem with this when drafting. Anyway, I've gotta get back to work. Send me mail if you'd like to hear more. I'm new to the net but I'm pretty sure I'm all connected. Jim Thweatt JTA Computer Support Services, Nashville, TN