[comp.os.vms] Need help with 3rd party printers

jareed@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Judith Ann Reed) (06/12/91)

Greetings! At our (VMS) site, we  use DEC printers, but now we need to 
replace them, and are integrating UNIX RISC systems into our network, to
which we would like to be able to provide printing support. I am seeking
advice from folks who use 3rd party laser printers, as to what is needed to 
make them work, what ones they like, what to watch out for. In particular,
we are interested in 8-15 ppm laser printers, duty cycle > 6,000 pages/month,
simplex. 

* What 3rd-party printer do you use?
* Does it require vendor-supplied drivers for VMS? UNIX?
* Does it support Postscript? TeX? (what driver do you use?) Tek4010/4014?
* Can it emulate an LN03?
* Does it support output from Scribe, ditroff, troff? Is that necessary in
a printer serving a unix environment? Any other unix oddities it should 
support?
* Did you have to develop setup files for it (VMS? UNIX?) Were there 
instructions available on how to do this?
* What "gotcha's" should I look for, as a DEC printer user, moving into
the third-party printer environment?      
* What has been especially troublesome about the operation of the printer 
you use?
* Would you recommend this particular make of printer, or no? Why?