jel@digi-g.UUCP (John Lind) (01/12/85)
OK, I have had it with glossy literature that says nothing, salespeople who know nothing, and stores where you can try nothing. I have a list of needs/wants for a small printer (or two, if sufficiently inexpensive). Please scan this list and tell me about printers which you KNOW can meet or nearly approximate these criteria. You response will be sincerely appreciated, and you will save me much frustration. These criteria are listed ROUGHLY in decreasing order of importance, with the top items being indispensible. * Draft mode speed >= 120cps * Correspondence quality approaching that of daisy-wheel or good typewriters. Overlayed dots ok (>2 passes?). * At least ONE nice font with an unslashed zero (0)!! * Arbitrary paper handling -- tractor labels, fan fold paper, single sheet linen letterhead, etc. * Durable! * Easy to maintain (no screwdriver needed to change ribbon :-) * All options software selectable * nroff compatible (not tough, I think) * serial port with software handshaking (XON/XOFF) o Graphics capability (NOT character graphics), preferably APA (all points addressable) o Proportional correspondence mode for which nroff tables can be built (Yes, Virginia, this can be done -- we did with our TI 810LQ: need to replace col, otherwise great) o Quiet (quieter than phonebooks being rended, anyway) o Reasonable availability (<6 weeks) I need to find a solution for under $600. Thank you in advance for your help. I do appreciate it. ------ John Lind, DSC, 10273 Yellow Circle Drive, Mpls MN 55343 mail : { ihnp4 | stolaf }!umn-cs!digi-g!jel USnail: Starfire Consulting Services, PO Box 13001, Mpls MN 55414
zemon@fritz.UUCP (Art Zemon) (01/19/85)
For under $600 you will have a tough time getting a dot matrix printer to come very close to letter quality. You might consider my solution to requirements similar to yours. I bought two printers! This was actually less expensive than buying a single dot matrix which would do acceptable letter quality. I do not consider a dot matrix to be acceptable letter quality unless I cannot tell the difference between its characters and those of a daisy wheel printer. The only printers which came even close to meeting this specification cost more than $1000. My choice was a Star Gemini 15X for draft work, graphics, etc. The 12 pitch font is pretty good, although not letter quality. You can buy the 10X for about $250 (+ $50 for serial interface, total about $300). For letter quality work, I bought a Star PowerType ($410 + $60 for tractor feed, total about $470). The PowerType prints 18 cps and is a real daisy wheel printer. Two features that I particularly like: 1) it accepts the same commands as the Gemini printers, 2) flip a switch and it accepts the same commands as a Diablo printer. I set the switch to Diablo emualtion, installed WordStar for a Diablo, and everything works wonderfully! Oh yes, it is nroff compatible. Tbl even! So there you have it, for a bit under $800 I have the best of both worlds and a spare printer to boot. Good luck. -- -- Art Zemon FileNet Corp. ...! {decvax, ihnp4, ucbvax} !trwrb!felix!zemon
acad@hao.UUCP (Dan Packman Acad Bob Chatfield) (01/22/85)
> For under $600 you will have a tough time getting a dot > matrix printer to come very close to letter quality. > > ... I do not consider a dot matrix > to be acceptable letter quality unless I cannot tell the > difference between its characters and those of a daisy > wheel printer. The only printers which came even close to > meeting this specification cost more than $1000. > I'm pretty happy with the Toshiba 1340, which retails for around $750, and in one add for under $700. In some ways, it appears superior to daisy wheels -- the letters appear more uniform, more like a good typewriter. Daisy wheels seem to degenerate to produce rather uneven impressions with their letters, and eventually wear and look like a dirty typewriter. The Toshiba typeface is not perfect, but the dots appear much harder to find than with the LQ-1500 of Epson and perhaps the TI. However, you must put up with a graphics description that differs from the Epson MX/FX standard. Anyone programmed up an Epson -> Toshiba dot-graphics translator? Robert Chatfield seismo!hao!acad National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado 80307