ram@typo.umb.EDU.UUCP (11/25/87)
The Canon CX engine is being replaced with an engine named SX. The SX has these properties: 1. Its video interface is the same as that of the CX, so controllers need not be redesigned, nor should software or fonts 2. It is designed to be cheaper and more reliable. 3. It takes a bigger paper tray. I don't remember the size. 4. Its toner cartridge is designed to last longer. It is not compatible with the CX cartridges. There is some minor strangeness in the way the paper tray works. At the moment, I can't remember what it is, but it struck me as more of a curiosity than a misfeature. [But I'll bet a ream of paper that just its novelty will generate many flames by writers who will offer superior design....]. There are two paper exits, one at the back as in the CX, one at the top, which flips the paper over. I assume, but don't know, that these are software selectable, and I also assume that existing controllers might not know how to make that choice. On the other hand, I imagine that controller designs like the current LaserWriter and similar PostScript or HP compatible printers could stand re-doing with current IC technology and so be faster, cheaper, and have more memory. This is a write to black 300 dpi engine whose print quality seems to me to be noticeably, although not astoundingly, better than the CX with bit mapped fonts which were heavily tuned for CX engines by very skilled font artists at Interleaf. I have not seen it with on-the-fly scan converted fonts such as PostScript would produce. At one time I heard that Canon would not be shipping CX engines after September, but I have no idea whether that is in fact the case. Bob Morris Professor of Math and C.S., UMASS-Boston and Member of Technical Staff, Interleaf, Inc. -------- p.s. on a related subject a reader wrote asking about the potential damage done to CX rollers by the paper guides which ride on them. I've seen no answer. Here's my personal experience: Two or three rubber covered metal guides ride on the roller. As time passes, the rubber wears off these, leaving metal to begin wearing a groove in the hard plastic roller. When this groove is deep enough, toner will deposit in it, leaving streaks on the paper, and nothing can be done except replace the roller. Certainly it is not necessary to replace the entire engine. The guides themselves are also easily replaced, and I would advise doing that before the roller wears. Unfortunately, I have no idea whether there is a retail source of these parts, or whether you can buy them from authorized (whatever that is ) Canon service places. It looks like an easy job to me. Both the guides and the roller are held in place by easily accesible clips. At UMASS I believe we've had the roller and guides replaced under service calls on an Imagen printer, but I don't know what we were charged, because other things were done at the same time. --Bob Morris