truesdel@ICS.UCI.EDU (Scott Truesdell) (01/04/90)
I am looking for the cheapest way to get a 300 dots per inch printer on a LocalTalk network. Here's where I'm at: current printer: GCC's PLP (Personal Laser Printer, SCSI) I will sell this if I come up with a better solution. gripe: After spending approx. $1700 on a non-networkable printer, the only clear alternatives are: (a) spend $1700 more for the BLP upgrade, or (b) sell the PLP and spend $3400 anyway for a printer that will network from the start. question: Is there any way to get a NETWORKED laser printer or even a DeskWriter networked for less than $2000? ANY 300 dpi printer will do. Am I really blind or is there a HUGE gap in the printer market? Thanks for any help or ideas. --scott
bergman@m2c.m2c.org (Michael Bergman) (01/06/90)
I don't think your blind -- just misled. There isn't a gap, there's just a problem: you don't want to pay for the item that's designed for the use you intend to make. The low cost printers (such as the one you have) came out to fill the needs of people who wanted high resolution printing but *didn't* need network capability. There is another solution. Buy a second hand Mac+ for ~$600, and dedicate it as a printer server. You may have to write your own software, I'm not sure. May also require Apple Share or TOPS to do it without a separate hard disk. I'd go for a printer designed for network use myself. Oh, yeah. There are also printer buffers (hardware devices) on the market. As long as you were sticking to "draft" mode text, no graphics, one of them might help you. Possibly, with the use of a Grappler-type cable, some graphics could be dealt with as well. -- --mike bergman Massachusetts Microelectronics Center 75 North Drive, Westborough, MA 01581, USA +1 (508) 870-0312 UUCP: (...harvard)!m2c!bergman INTERNET: bergman@m2c.org