john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) (01/20/89)
Does anyone have any experience with the Canon BJ-130 Bubble-Jet printer ? It's advertised as being a DeskJet look-a-like/work-a- like, is this so ? I've heard it has problems with smearing. Does it in fact have this problem and is it shared with the DeskJet ? I have a blind friend considering purchasing either a DeskJet or a Canon BJ-130 and she was looking for recommendations or advice. Thanks. John -- John Gayman, WA3WBU | UUCP: uunet!wa3wbu!john 1869 Valley Rd. | ARPA: john@wa3wbu.uu.net Marysville, PA 17053 | Packet: WA3WBU @ AK3P
andrea@hp-sdd.hp.com (Andrea K. Frankel) (01/21/89)
In article <212@wa3wbu.UUCP> john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) writes: > > Does anyone have any experience with the Canon BJ-130 Bubble-Jet >printer ? It's advertised as being a DeskJet look-a-like/work-a- >like, is this so ? I've heard it has problems with smearing. Does >it in fact have this problem and is it shared with the DeskJet ? I >have a blind friend considering purchasing either a DeskJet or a >Canon BJ-130 and she was looking for recommendations or advice. Thanks. And what is your blind friend going to do with a printer? I could imagine that maybe, just maybe, an impact printer could be useful to her if her fingertips were sensitive enough, but any "jet" printer's output will lie flat on the media. DeskJet output will smear if you touch it with sweaty hands; the ink is a compromise in order to work on plain paper. (For comparison, the PaintJet ink doesn't smear, but you really need to use the special HP PaintJet paper for best output quality.) My personal solution for DeskJet is to keep a can of Blair Spray-Fix around (any art supply store carries it, as well as our local Osco Pharmacy), and lightly mist any pages that I think will be handled alot. Or, just learn to handle the paper by the edges and margins, like picking up a [vinyl] lp. Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 "wake now! Discover that you are the song that the morning brings..." ______________________________________________________________________________ UUCP : {hplabs|nosc|hpfcla|ucsd}!hp-sdd!andrea Internet : andrea%hp-sdd@hp-sde.sde.hp.com (or @nosc.mil, @ucsd.edu) CSNET : andrea%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet USnail : 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA
pcg@aber-cs.UUCP (Piercarlo Grandi) (01/29/89)
In article <1693@hp-sdd.hp.com> andrea@hp-sdd.hp.com.UUCP (Andrea K. Frankel) writes: In article <212@wa3wbu.UUCP> john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) writes: > > Does anyone have any experience with the Canon BJ-130 Bubble-Jet >printer ? It's advertised as being a DeskJet look-a-like/work-a- >like, is this so ? I have just evaluated one briefly. Here are my impressions: * It is bulky, only the 132 columns version is available. * It can use fanfold paper and wide paper. * It has an in built sheet feeder, like the Deskjet. * Cost per copy is about half that of the Deskjet. * It emulates a Proprinter XL, i.e. it has very primitive esc sequences * It does not have italics, but has reverse and shading. * It can enlarge type in both dimensions. * The choice of fonts is miserable. * It cannot reverse feed. * It is slow mechanically, especially paper advance. * Overall you get only 1-1.5 pages per minute in high quality mode. * It cannot microspace horizontally (vertically it can in 1/216" increments) * Print quality is excellent, with a 48 nozzle head. * Paper advance is noisy, the head clunks while braking at either margin, etc... * It can print sideways, as it is wide enough to put in a sheet sideways. * It cannot print on the first or last half inch of a page. * It looks very reliable, and without the many problems of old inkjets. >I've heard it has problems with smearing. Does >it in fact have this problem and is it shared with the DeskJet ? DeskJet output will smear if you touch it with sweaty hands; the ink is a compromise in order to work on plain paper. * Ink does not smear at all, even if you wet the page. * On some papers there are very rare, invisible smears in tight corner letters. Overall it is an excellent printer at a low price. To me most important pluses are that operating cost is very low, and can take fanfold or wide paper, and output quality is excellent. Note also that it costs just a bit more than virtually every 24 wire dot matrix printer I have seen that has 132 columns and the same speeds, and indeed costs much less than a 24 wire printer with a sheet feeder. I have however decided that I am not buying it, because the limitations in its firmware (Proprinter emulation is too dumb), the half inch margins, and the poverty of fonts are not good for my main intended application (ditroff), and it is too slow and bulky for me. There is some suspicion that the printer intelligence was deliberately crippled, like probably the Deskjet, to avoid it competing against laser printers... I have decided to dig deep in my pockets and buy a small laser printer. Cost is painful, but flexibility and speed are so much better... By the way: my current favourite is the Panasonic Laser Partner that comes for $1,400 at Compuclassics. My real favourite would be the Qume Crystalprint II (AKA Nissei Sangyo LCS130), simply because it is so small (it also ought to be about 20% cheaper). Anybody can recommend a mail order that has them? All in all, if your alternative is a daisy wheel, or a 24 wire printer with sheet feeder for word processing, the BJ130 is a great buy. -- Piercarlo "Peter" Grandi | ARPA: pcg%cs.aber.ac.uk@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth | UUCP: ...!mcvax!ukc!aber-cs!pcg Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk