garrett@UDEL.EDU (Joel Garrett) (12/11/87)
Hello net-landers,
Sorry this summary has taken so long, but things around here have been
especially busy as of late. I've gotten very favorable comments on the
PS-Jet conversion kit.
In talking to people at Laser Connection, the subsidiary of QMS that markets
the conversion kit, I have found that they no longer sell the PS-Jet kit,
and have lowered the price of the PS-Jet+ upgrade to what they used to charge
for the PS-Jet ($2995 US) In place of the PS-Jet+ they have something like
the PS-Jet+, but with more on-board RAM (I think they said 3 MEG). Here
is the 800 number for Laser Connection: 1-800-523-2696
Note that these people only sell directly to OEMs and dealers, they will
give you the name and number of their dealer nearest to you. Enough of
this, here are the replies I received.
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We have a complete PS-Jet engine from Laser-Graphics, rather than a conversion.
I presume it is the same board inside. It seems to be a direct clone of an
Aplle laser writer (not a PLUS). We have had no problems related to postscript
implementation (so far ). Havnt looked at the card so I cannot comment on its
quality. Our manual includes the part about installing it in an engine, that
part looks good, lots of pictures etc.
--
Roger Sanderson: {clyde|decvax|ihnp4}-\
VE3RKS {tektronix}-+--> watmath!watdcsu!rsanders
{ubc-vision|utzoo}-/
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I installed the PS JET a few weeks ago. It was a piece of cake. We
use it as a networked printer from a Unix(tm) host. Also there is a PC
nearby that can use it locally with the use of a switch. In case you
didn't know, the PS Jet emulates an HP Ljet+, Diablo 630, HPGL plotters,
as well as Appletalk Postscript capability. There is a thumbwheel
on the side that goes up to 9 (!!). Parallel interfaces are available.
The Postscript version they use is the latest. In a recent MacWorld
(or MacUser) issue, this was one of the reasons that it left the
Apple Laserwriter in the dust. Another was the fact that it has more
memory that the Apple. The PS Jet upgrade gives you the functional equivalent
of a QMS 800+ (they're identical).
All I can say is that I recommend the upgrade highly. Ours has worked
without a hitch since I plugged it in the first time. When you consider
the we paid ~$2500 for the HP Ljet and ~$2500 for the PSjet+, we have
a great printer for $5000. It's better than throwing away an HP Ljet.
Donald Crowe
AT&T Bell Laboratories
Whippany, NJ
whuts!crowe
Note: The PS Jet upgrade replaces the entire top of the HP. It
is as big around as the printer itself, quite a bit more than a card.
Also, the $2500 was the price quoted for the PS Jet (not the "plus").
For some reason (a mistake, I think) we got the PS Jet+ for the price
of the PS Jet. The only difference is the number of fonts in ROM.
The PS Jet has 13, the PS Jet+ has 35.
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From: starkweather.pa@xerox.com
Message-ID: <871130-113917-1166@Xerox>
Yes, I have done the conversion and it is working very well. I like it better
than the LaserWriter because of the LaserJet and HPGL plotter capabilities. So
far the system is excellent.
-- Gary --
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We have put Laser Connection PS-Jet+ kits on 2 HP Laserjets with no problems.
The conversion takes about half an hour. They even send you the screw driver
to install the board. Enclosed in the kit is a IBM-compatible 5 1/4" disk and
a Mac disk so you can align the printer and print samples. The interface is
strictly serial (no parallel available). A thumbwheel switch allows you to
select PostScript, HP-Laserjet emulation, HP-GL, or Diabo emulation. At this
time there is no software switch.
Bill Brungardt
AT&T Network Systems
Atlanta, Ga
akguf
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That's it!
Joel J. Garrett
Research Associate
Center for Composite Materials
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware 19716
arpa: garrett@udel.edu
or: garrett@udel-ccm.arpa