ghot@ms.uky.edu (Allan Adler) (06/28/91)
I am contemplating getting a laser printer for printing out manuscripts
produced by TeX. I have a number of naive questions about laser printers
that will hopefully help me either decide or else ask better questions.
(1) I have some familiarity with PostScript and that makes me favor printers
that understand PostScript. I feel that it gives me the option of doing
certain kinds of graphics applications that interest me in addition to
my typesetting of manuscripts. The most inexpensive PostScript laser
printer I have seen is one for $995 from The Print Works. On the other
hand, if I knew the language that a given laser writer understands,
I might feel comfortable with another laser printer. For example, the
cheapest laser writer I have seen is an Okidata Laser 400 for $650,
followed by a Toshiba PageLaser6 for $670. But what documentation is
there for the languages these and other laser printers understand ?
I don't expect any of the other languages to be as user friendly and
powerful as PostScript but at least one can learn about them.
(2) Since toner cartridges are expensive, it is natural to ask: how many
pages does one get for each toner cartridge in general ?
(3) Since toner cartridges are probably toxic, it is natural to ask: what
kind of ventilation and other precautions does one need for safety ?
(4) Let's say I get a PostScript laser printer. In effect it is a computer
on which the PostScript language is resident. It would be nice if one
could talk to it from the PC and get answers on the screen. I believe
that there is a command (/executive, I think, or something like that)
which is supposed to make this happen. But it did not happen when
I tried it on a SUN workstation connected to an Apple LaserWriter
and I was told that this was because the laserwriter was connected to
the SUN's printer port, which apparently has only one way communication.
So how does one have to connect a PostScript Laser Printer to a
a PC compatible (say, an 80386 machine) to have bilateral communication
in PostScript on one's terminal ?
Allan Adler
ghot@ms.uky.edu