prindle@NADC.ARPA (06/25/84)
A June 12th article in a Philadelphia newspaper tells of a Chicago computer show wherein was revealed the Okimate 10 printer from Okidata of Mt. Laurel, N.J. It supposedly prints 80 characters per second in normal black on white, plus can print color raster graphics in 40 shades! The technology is not revealed, but it sounds ink jet to me. Although none of this is astounding in itself, the price is: the quoted price is $239. "including" an interface to your specific computer (initially Commodore and Atari)!!! It is also said to produce it's color images in a "glossy" format; color pictures are slow, up to 15 minutes (with much overprinting no doubt). The accompanying picture shows a compact unit about 8"X14"X2.5" or maybe a little smaller. A call to Okidata's toll free number produced only a verbal shrug and the phone number of some dealer in western Pa. Has anyone really seen one of these (at the Chicago show maybe) and is it as good (for the price) as it sounds? Looks like Okidata has set their sights on the C64 crowd, and with their reputation, I can't imagine it's junk. But will it ever go into production?
kek@mgweed.UUCP (Kit Kimes) (06/29/84)
[] I had the chance to see this printer in action at the CES here in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. It is really impressive in that the colors are very vivid. They accomplish this by using Thermal Transfer Dot Matrix process. I didn't spend a lot of time checking it out but it looks like they use several different ribbons (four maybe) that are the type that you can only use once. I don't know how expensive they are to replace. The unit uses regular paper (smooth paper works best) and weights 7 pounds, so it is very portable. the Plug 'n Print package comes with a screen dump software program on disk so you can copy a screen but it isn't needed for text copy. All in all, it looks like a nice printer but it could be rather expensive to operate if you planned to do a lot of printing. Kit Kimes AT&T Consumer Products Montgomery Works Aurora, Il. 60507 ..!ihnp4!mgnetp!mgweed!kek