[comp.laser-printers] Anyone using a QMS PS-810?

alexande@drivax.UUCP (Mark Alexander) (03/23/88)

Does anyone out there use the new QMS PS-810 printer?  From the ads it
looks Incredibly Wonderful (PostScript, 8 ppm, HP LaserJet emulation,
2 MB RAM, $4100 at discount, etc.).  But I'd like to hear from real
users.  Any information about print quality, reliability, and
compatibility with software like Ventura Publisher would be greatly
appreciated.

Thank you.
-- 
Mark Alexander	(UUCP: amdahl!drivax!alexande)
"Bob-ism: the Faith that changes to meet YOUR needs." --Bob

mark@cblpf.ATT.COM (Mark Horton) (04/21/88)

In article <3234@drivax.UUCP> mimsy!uunet!ism780c!ism780!drivax!alexande@brillig.umd.edu (Mark Alexander) writes:
>
>Does anyone out there use the new QMS PS-810 printer?  From the ads it
>looks Incredibly Wonderful (PostScript, 8 ppm, HP LaserJet emulation,
>2 MB RAM, $4100 at discount, etc.).  But I'd like to hear from real
>users.  Any information about print quality, reliability, and
>compatibility with software like Ventura Publisher would be greatly
>appreciated.

I have one.  In general, I'm very impressed with it.  It's small, quiet,
fast, and the paper comes out facing the right way.  Print quality is
excellent.  It holds about twice as much paper as the 810, and paper
is easier to load.  (Much of this applies because it uses the new Canon
print engine.)  I've even fed in viewgraph transparency blanks and gotten
viewgraphs straight out of it, using the manual feed slot.

The copy I have is, I understand, a prerelease.  I'm not sure it's out
for the general public yet.  Mine came through somebody else, and I
don't have a manual for it.  Hence, I don't know how to make it speak
HP LaserJet, and it doesn't just automatically figure out the difference
between text and PostScript.

The only gripe I have is that when it runs out of paper, the lights
don't change status to show it has.  It just stops until I figure it
out and feed it.  This might just be my instance, might even be a
burned out light or something.

I'm treating it as a standard PostScript printer.  It's connected to
an AT&T 6386 via a parallel port.  I feed it text files and troff
using DWB.  I would like transcript, but mostly because I miss the
enscript command, which emboldens the headers.

I did have to fight the printer spooler (and it won) - I can't get
output, other than a banner page, from the spooler, but it works fine
if I just output syncronously to /dev/lp, which I finally settled on.
But I had to add PostScript support to the 6386 myself, and I may have
done it wrong.  I don't think the problem is with the printer.

	Mark