edler (02/04/83)
Several weeks ago I posted a query on dot-matrix printers with (I think) the following characteristics: under $1000 "reasonable" print quality wide (~15 in.) platten tractor and friction feed bit graphics (complete control on the dots) serial rs232 interface Well, I figured I should follow up, so here it is. Any further info would be appreciated. I haven't really made a decision yet. Thanks to those who responded with the following information. Jan Edler cmcl2!edler (nyu) edler@nyu (I think) pyuxll!jse (abi piscataway) ------------------- We have several C.Itoh 8510/ACD printers and are very happy with them. Features include: * 120 cps bidirectional print with full head motion logic * Graphics mode with 160 dots/inch horizontal by 144 dots/inch vertical. * Built in fonts are: pica, elite, compressed, proportional, double wide, Greek and graphic. * Bold and underline capabilities * RS-232 serial interface with 3K buffer. Understands XON/XOFF, and DTR flow control. Runs at line speeds up to 9600 baud. * Friction and tractor feeds. Can use single sheet feed, roll paper, fanfold or multipart forms. * Fairly small and unobtrusive. Rather spartan front panel with controls for select, line-feed and page eject, and indicator lights for power-on, select and out-of-paper. * Price: $600 mail order, slightly higher from local distributors. We've put together a nroff terminal description so we can use the proportional font and output document draft. The 8510 has an 8" carriage, but the C.Itoh Prowriter 1550 is exactly the same printer with 15.5" carriage instead (for about $150 more than the 8150). If you just want to have 132 column output, the 8510's compressed font gives you 136 columns on 8" paper, and it's very readable. ------------------- I've heard nothing but good things about the Epson MX100 - around $700 with F/T fitted. ------------------- We use the OKIData MicroLine 84 printer which meets your requirements except it may be $150-200 over your $1K limit. It prints at 200cps in correspondence quality mode and 50cps in "near letter quality" (their terminology) mode. The RS232 interface includes a 2K buffer (smaller ones were available in past so be careful in specs for purchase). Without the RS232 interface (i.e. Centronicsonly) it is under $1K. Seems well built and maintenance manual is available for$35. Have also used IDS Prism but don't know if it is available with wide platen. ------------------- I just bought a dot matrix printer, a C.Itoh Prowriter. I am very happy with it. I researched printers quite a bit before buying it. The only one I wasn't able to look at was the IDS Microprism. Prowriter is an upgrade of the NEC 8023, as follows: 120 cps logic seeking bidirectional integral tractor and friction feed many character attributes: 5x7 characters with true descenders in a 7x9 box pica(80 cols), elite(96), compressed(136) pitches all pitches can be elongated proportional spaced printing with microjustification underline and boldface attributes decent graphics: one pass: 72v x 160h (dots per inch) two pass: 144v x 160h horizontal movement between dots of 160 dpi (print 8 bits vertically at a time) vertical movement of N/144 where 0<N<100 (adjustable from line to line) centronics parallel standard, serial optional one year(!!) warrantee from distributor (Leading Edge) 10" or 15" carriage width, using same inexpensive ribbon (price an mx100 ribbon!) selected as next standard printer for Apple low cost: I bought mine(10") for $425 plus $8 shipping (check ads in BYTE for best prices) Am I happy? Of course not. Okidata just announced the Microline 92. 160 cps plus correspondence quality at 40cps. Loadable character sets. Lists for $699. (Discounts likely.) Sigh! You can't win. ------------------- The Okidata 84 is an excellant printer, high quality construction, etc. and very fast (200 cps). The only marginal qualification from your list is price--wholesale is about $1000. Oki is coming out with a new model (#93, I think) around April which is as good as the 84, but only goes 160cps and probable will cost about $800. As a bonus on these, you get a letter-quality mode (two passes). On the #84, this is 50 cps. ------------------- Get the Okidata 84a (at $799 in some ads) Not only does it have everything you specified it is A.) Faster B.) More reliable. I have found that as wonderful as an Epson is for the money, it is essentially light duty printer. I found that after printing a couple of images on it it quickly overheats and shuts off. (Granted in text mode it will work for several hours before over heating) The Okidata on the other hand runs 1.5 times as fast and has NEVER over heated or been "down" for reasons of over use. Additionally, it may be cheaper than the MX-100 but you'll have to check that one. ------------------- We have both the Epson MX-80 and the C.ITOH 8510A printers In my opinion the 8510A is the better of the two, the print rate is much faster (120cps) and in general is better built. The price of the C.ITOH printer is 645.00, which includes both traction and friction feed. It has all of the features you are looking for, also it works well with Televideo Terminals. If you are also looking for a good terminal the Televideo is the best buy around. The printers serial interface baud rate is selectable up to 9600. The unit comes with a 3k buffer.