jel@digi-g.UUCP (John Lind) (01/12/85)
OK, I have had it with glossy literature that says nothing, salespeople
who know nothing, and stores where you can try nothing. I have a list
of needs/wants for a small printer (or two, if sufficiently inexpensive).
Please scan this list and tell me about printers which you KNOW can meet
or nearly approximate these criteria. You response will be sincerely
appreciated, and you will save me much frustration. These criteria are
listed ROUGHLY in decreasing order of importance, with the top items
being indispensible.
* Draft mode speed >= 120cps
* Correspondence quality approaching that of daisy-wheel or
good typewriters. Overlayed dots ok (>2 passes?).
* At least ONE nice font with an unslashed zero (0)!!
* Arbitrary paper handling -- tractor labels, fan fold paper,
single sheet linen letterhead, etc.
* Durable!
* Easy to maintain (no screwdriver needed to change ribbon :-)
* All options software selectable
* nroff compatible (not tough, I think)
* serial port with software handshaking (XON/XOFF)
o Graphics capability (NOT character graphics), preferably
APA (all points addressable)
o Proportional correspondence mode for which nroff tables can
be built (Yes, Virginia, this can be done -- we did with
our TI 810LQ: need to replace col, otherwise great)
o Quiet (quieter than phonebooks being rended, anyway)
o Reasonable availability (<6 weeks)
I need to find a solution for under $600. Thank you in advance for
your help. I do appreciate it.
------
John Lind, DSC, 10273 Yellow Circle Drive, Mpls MN 55343
mail : { ihnp4 | stolaf }!umn-cs!digi-g!jel
USnail: Starfire Consulting Services, PO Box 13001, Mpls MN 55414zemon@fritz.UUCP (Art Zemon) (01/19/85)
For under $600 you will have a tough time getting a dot
matrix printer to come very close to letter quality.
You might consider my solution to requirements similar to
yours. I bought two printers! This was actually less
expensive than buying a single dot matrix which would do
acceptable letter quality. I do not consider a dot matrix
to be acceptable letter quality unless I cannot tell the
difference between its characters and those of a daisy
wheel printer. The only printers which came even close to
meeting this specification cost more than $1000.
My choice was a Star Gemini 15X for draft work, graphics,
etc. The 12 pitch font is pretty good, although not letter
quality. You can buy the 10X for about $250 (+ $50 for
serial interface, total about $300).
For letter quality work, I bought a Star PowerType ($410 +
$60 for tractor feed, total about $470). The PowerType
prints 18 cps and is a real daisy wheel printer. Two
features that I particularly like: 1) it accepts the same
commands as the Gemini printers, 2) flip a switch and it
accepts the same commands as a Diablo printer. I set the
switch to Diablo emualtion, installed WordStar for a
Diablo, and everything works wonderfully! Oh yes, it is
nroff compatible. Tbl even!
So there you have it, for a bit under $800 I have the best
of both worlds and a spare printer to boot.
Good luck.
--
-- Art Zemon
FileNet Corp.
...! {decvax, ihnp4, ucbvax} !trwrb!felix!zemonacad@hao.UUCP (Dan Packman Acad Bob Chatfield) (01/22/85)
> For under $600 you will have a tough time getting a dot > matrix printer to come very close to letter quality. > > ... I do not consider a dot matrix > to be acceptable letter quality unless I cannot tell the > difference between its characters and those of a daisy > wheel printer. The only printers which came even close to > meeting this specification cost more than $1000. > I'm pretty happy with the Toshiba 1340, which retails for around $750, and in one add for under $700. In some ways, it appears superior to daisy wheels -- the letters appear more uniform, more like a good typewriter. Daisy wheels seem to degenerate to produce rather uneven impressions with their letters, and eventually wear and look like a dirty typewriter. The Toshiba typeface is not perfect, but the dots appear much harder to find than with the LQ-1500 of Epson and perhaps the TI. However, you must put up with a graphics description that differs from the Epson MX/FX standard. Anyone programmed up an Epson -> Toshiba dot-graphics translator? Robert Chatfield seismo!hao!acad National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado 80307
ABN.COSCOM-CE@USC-ISID (01/22/85)
The Star Micronics gemini 10x is a printer the computer company I work for would recommend highly to suit your needs. The parallel port version can be had as cheaply as $260 if you shop around. The optional serial board is another $80 or $90 I think ( we use parallels mostly). These printers emulate the old Epson MX80, so suit most software, have a 2 k buffer and character download region. Different fonts are built in and the is the usual supply of 2 pass correspondence, 120cps draft mode, wide, condenced modes too. It is anologous to the workhorse the MX80 was...cheap and reliable. I am not affiliated with Star Micronics in any way (except that we recommend and sell them). Kevin Rappold 1LT(P) GS 1st COSCOM <abn.coscom-ce>@usc-isid.arpa
dmt@ahuta.UUCP (d.tutelman) (01/25/85)
CC: dmt
REFERENCES: <7626@brl-tgr.ARPA>
I also own a Star Gemini 10X. A couple of points you ought to know:
First the good news:
- It's inexpensive, and pretty effective.
- Print quality is good.
- It's close enough to the Epson that PC software USUALLY
works with it.
Unfortunately, there's bad news too:
- It seems unduly sensitive to the feed angle of the paper, even
with tractor feed. If the paper doesn't feed
ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT IN, it goes to hell in a hurry
(uneven line spacing, and even torn sprocket holes).
- It is sufficiently incompatible with Epson that some software
(for instance, any dot graphic software) for the PC
won't work.
- I called Star Micronics about the latter problem, and was
sufficiently unimpressed by their response that I
will probably not repeat a purchase fsom them.
Dave Tutelman
{ This is my own opinion, and not necessarily that of anything or anyone else }buehring@waltz.UUCP (01/25/85)
I can recommend the TI-855 (warning, I work for TI - but hey, I don't do sales). It meets the following of the author's criteria: > * Draft mode speed >= 120cps 150cps draft. > * Correspondence quality approaching that of daisy-wheel or > good typewriters. Overlayed dots ok (>2 passes?). Excellent in "quality mode" -- get out the magnifying glass if you want to see any dots! > * At least ONE nice font with an unslashed zero (0)!! Dozens of font modules, 3 of which may be plugged in at one time. Many of these modules emulate the popular daisywheels. > * Arbitrary paper handling -- tractor labels, fan fold paper, > single sheet linen letterhead, etc. Yes, and an auto single sheet feeder is optional. > * Durable! So I'm told -- no problems here. > * Easy to maintain (no screwdriver needed to change ribbon :-) > * All options software selectable > * nroff compatible (not tough, I think) Will accept either Epson MX or daisywheel (Qume?) protocol. > * serial port with software handshaking (XON/XOFF) Selectable XON/XOFF, DTR(Busy/Ready), or STX/ETX protocols. > o Graphics capability (NOT character graphics), preferably > APA (all points addressable) > o Proportional correspondence mode for which nroff tables can > be built (Yes, Virginia, this can be done -- we did with > our TI 810LQ: need to replace col, otherwise great) Will even do the proportional stuff itself (you set the margins and tell it to enter proportional mode -- haven't done it myself yet). > o Quiet (quieter than phonebooks being rended, anyway) About average. > o Reasonable availability (<6 weeks) And one more thing -- it has BOTH a parallel and serial interface STANDARD. > I need to find a solution for under $600. Thank you in advance for > your help. I do appreciate it. There's the rub -- I think the 855 can be had for ~750 these days, but I think it's the last printer one would ever need (except for color) since it seems to succeed at being all things -- fast draft printer, LQ when needed, super graphics resolution, and compatible w/ just about anything. Yeah, I like mine. /Walt/ ARPA: Buehring%Waltz%TI-CSL@CSNet-Relay UUCP: {convex!smu, texsun, ut-sally, rice} ! waltz ! buehring
esfraga@watmath.UUCP (Eric S Fraga) (01/26/85)
In article <398@ahuta.UUCP> dmt@ahuta.UUCP (d.tutelman) writes: > >I also own a Star Gemini 10X. A couple of points you ought to know: > >Unfortunately, there's bad news too: >- It seems unduly sensitive to the feed angle of the paper, even > with tractor feed. If the paper doesn't feed > ABSOLUTELY STRAIGHT IN, it goes to hell in a hurry > (uneven line spacing, and even torn sprocket holes). > > Dave Tutelman > I also own a Star Gemini 10x. I had this very same problem when I first set it up. The problem is that the printer allows for both friction feed and tractor feed. When using tractor feed, the lever which controls the friction must be in the OFF position, else you get a conflict between the friction and the tractor! Anyway, mine now works like a charm and I highly recommend it. It's inexpensive, fast enough, quiet enough, and uses standard typewriter ribbons. -- Toto of Oz (woof-woof :-) {ihnp4|allegra|utzoo|utcrgv}!watmath!esfraga