Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.org (Marda Anderson) (06/29/90)
Index Number: 8987
I recently received information in the mail from a company called Howtech
in Hudson, New Hanmpshire, describing their new printer. It is a ink
jet printer which can be used to print Braille as well. Grade Two
Braille can be printed using one of the translation programs such as
Duxbury or Turbobraille. The printer can also do graphics though I
didn't see an example of the graphics. There was also no mention of
price. If anyone has heard more, it might be interesting to know about
it. The information I received was in print except for a sample of
Braille from the printer. Personally, I was disappointed in the Braille.
The translation was perfect but the dots were not as sharp as those
printed on a Braille embosser, Braille writer, etc. The sharpness was
about equal to the dots from the converted daisy wheel printer from Arts
Computer Products. It was readable, but I know there are some people who
would have trouble with it.
Just thought I'd pass that info along. If you want more information, I
still have the letter so I can get the address.
marda
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!321!150!Marda.Anderson
Internet: Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.orgpjr@murdu.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU (Peter Rayner) (07/07/90)
Index Number: 9047 Yes I've seen it and the braille, I was mainly interested in its graphics though. No the braille isn't as sharp as embossed or the old (is it old?) solid dot stuff. The graphics isn't bad although the relief isn't nearly as good as stereocopier output. The price trade-off is interesting, at least for highish quality graphics. The price I was quoted was about $US5000 to buy. The cost/page was then quoted as 3C. This compares with a stereocopier price (if you can get them in the U.S. which I couldn't when I was there) of about $us3000 but a cost of order $us1-1.5 per page. Potentially an interesting printer/graphics engine. A big advantage over other printeres is that it doesn't sound like armaggedon! Peter Rayner
mattioli@took.dec.com (John R. Mattioli) (07/09/90)
Index Number: 9071 In article <12572@bunker.UUCP>, Marda.Anderson@f150.n321.z1.fidonet.org (Marda Anderson) writes... > >I recently received information in the mail from a company called Howtech >in Hudson, New Hanmpshire, describing their new printer. It is a ink >jet printer which can be used to print Braille as well. Grade Two >Braille can be printed using one of the translation programs such as >Duxbury or Turbobraille. The printer can also do graphics though I >didn't see an example of the graphics. There was also no mention of >price. If anyone has heard more, it might be interesting to know about >it. > Marda and others, The Howtek printer is called the Pixelmaster. It is a laser printer, not an ink jet printer. It uses a sort of crayon instead of the usual toner that a regular laser printer uses. The crayon is melted down before it is put on the page where it forms braille dots. The printer can function in three ways: print only, braille only, or print and braille combined. This combination means that the printer can be useful to sighted people not just blind people. The printer is not intended to replace an embosser. The braille is, indeed, not very clear. I see the big gain in the graphics ability of the printer. I have seen several graphics samples and they were quite good. One of these graphic samples was a floor plan of the hotel where the ACB convention was held in Denver. Perhaps the biggest win with this printer is the ability to print postscript files. Postscript, for those who don't know, is a standard "language" for typesetting. It is extremely popular under every operating system. It is extremely powerful and has been a barier to me for quite some time. The price for the entire printer package: printer, Duxbury translator, crayons, etc is about $6,800. This package does not include the postscript driver. This is where some confusion comes in. It seems that to use the printer there are drivers you need for MS-DOS. I don't understand what these drivers are for. I don't understand why the drivers are necessary for non-postscript operation. I don't know if these drivers are available or necessary for machines other then IBM PC compatible machines. The printer is being sold by Enabling Technology in Florida and they were unable to answer any of these questions although they did say they'd get back to me with an answer. I must say that I am not a fan of ETC. This printer could be a fantastic product but it needs a marketer that can fully understand and appreciate it's power and I'm not sure that Enabling Technology is in that position as of yet. I am having some info sent to me which will hopefully explain more details about the printer and what it can and can't do. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Mattioli Most improved skier (american blind skiers association 1989) and humble to! (DEC E-NET) TOOK::MATTIOLI (UUCP) {decvax, ucbvax, allegra}!decwrl!TOOK.dec.com!MATTIOLI (ARPA) MATTIOLI@TOOK.dec.com MATTIOLI%TOOK.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com (US MAIL) John Mattioli 550 King St. LKG2-2/BB9 Littleton, Ma. 01460
Al.Hoffman@f143.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Al Hoffman) (07/18/90)
Index Number: 9156
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
The letter you have is probablly the PixelMaster??? Its a Laser
Printer, from Embabling Technologies, and will cost you around
$5000 to $8,500 depending on options. The PixelMaster is really
neat. It will allow you to create raised drawings, because the
image is printed, not the characters. You can have braille and
print on the same page, or braille and a map. What can be done
with a normal laser printer for the most part, can be done with the
PixelMaster. Its a color laser printer, so the price is not so
high in that case. I have sample that are really outstanding. I
want one to make maps with, but don't have cash. If I thought I
could sell maps of areas to people as a side business, I'd consider
starting a side business. Anybody think its a possibility?
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!109!143!Al.Hoffman
Internet: Al.Hoffman@f143.n109.z1.fidonet.orgAl.Hoffman@f143.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Al Hoffman) (07/18/90)
Index Number: 9158
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
Hi:
The PixelMaster is good, but the one drawback is its also slow.
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!109!143!Al.Hoffman
Internet: Al.Hoffman@f143.n109.z1.fidonet.orgDavid.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) (07/18/90)
Index Number: 9183
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
MA> Actually, the new Braille printer I wrote about is not the
MA> Pixlemaster, though I'd like to see that one. It sounds pretty
MA> neat. This one is not from enabling technologies it is, as my
MA> message said, from Howtek and it is an in-jet printer, not a
MA> laser printer. It would be interesting to compare graphics
MA> from both printers. Maybe someone will get to see one or both
MA> of them at one of the conventions.
Marda,
Unless I im mistaken, the Howtek printer is the PixelMaster. Howtek makes the
basic printer which is modified by them and Enabling Technologies with a
"braille font" card. Howtek was at the NFB convention and I saw the printer
there. The braille is not great, but readable. The printer excells at
displaying graphics and/or graphics and braille on the same page.
David Andrews
... Your Sound Alternative
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!David.Andrews
Internet: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgmattioli@took.dec.com (John R. Mattioli) (07/20/90)
Index Number: 9342 In article <12786@bunker.UUCP>, David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) writes... >Index Number: 9183 > > MA> Actually, the new Braille printer I wrote about is not the > MA> Pixlemaster, though I'd like to see that one. It sounds pretty > MA> neat. This one is not from enabling technologies it is, as my > MA> message said, from Howtek and it is an in-jet printer, not a > MA> laser printer. It would be interesting to compare graphics > MA> from both printers. Maybe someone will get to see one or both > MA> of them at one of the conventions. > Marda, I suspect there's lots of confusion over exactly what this printer is because of the way it works. Perhaps Howtek has made two printers, although I doubt it. A "normal" laser printer uses "toner" to place characters or graphics on the page. Toner is a sort of powdered ink that is melted down and stuck on the page in the form of the pictures and characters. The pixelmaster uses a much different material in place of the toner. It is like crayon. It is melted down like the toner, but several layers of it are placed on the page. This layering gives it thickness so you can actually feel what's been printed. The additional modification is a new font. The new font is a braille font. This font redefines the look of all the characters so that they come out like braille instead of print. Howtek makes the printer and ETC is selling it. Now for a little bit of bad news: 1. If you're looking for good quality braille, this is not the printer for you. You want an embosser. The dots on the pixelmaster are not high enough and seem to wear quickly. Buy this printer for it's graphics ability. It's graphics are fantastic and can be far more complex then your average finger can resolve. 2. The control panel is a flat panel with lights. The "buttons" are not raised so you have to know where they are. I don't believe the printer beeps when you hit a button, so you really need to know what you're doing. The sales guy at ETC told me to buy a light probe (add that to the cost of the $6000 printer). 3. As I said, you should buy this printer for its graphics. It has been marketed (by Howtek) as being able to deal with postscript (a standard typesetting and graphics language for graphical output devices). The problem is that ETC has no idea how this works. I asked several questions of ETC around the postscript issue and they were unable to answer any of them. So, as I said, buy it for it's graphics, but only if you can find someone who knows something about how they work. Enough ETC bashing for one message. It really is a nice printer (although a tad expensive but what's new in this field). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Mattioli Most improved skier (american blind skiers association 1989) and humble to! (DEC E-NET) TOOK::MATTIOLI (UUCP) {decvax, ucbvax, allegra}!decwrl!TOOK.dec.com!MATTIOLI (ARPA) MATTIOLI@TOOK.dec.com MATTIOLI%TOOK.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com (US MAIL) John Mattioli 550 King St. LKG2-2/BB9 Littleton, Ma. 01460
campbell%hpdmd48@hplabs.HP.COM (Gary Campbell) (08/10/90)
Index Number: 9711 Here is a brochure I received a month or so ago in the mail along with a letter, a braille sample, and some other samples. I know that the brochure is hipe, but I think it does give some answers to some questions asked here, even though it doesn't discuss the braille aspect of the machine. This material was scanned with a TrueScan Model S and a ScanJet set for decolumnized ASCII (don't think it was actually needed) and "darken". I left the scan uncorrected so you could see what it is like. The TrueScan marks scanning errors with a star (*). It also checks words against some kind of dictionary, and marks words it doesn't recognize as errors even though they scan okay, so it will flag Pixelmaster every time it occurs. [Note from Bill McGarry: I did some re-formatting where lines were over 80 characters long.] I have no connection with Howtek (except that I'm on somebody's mailing list!). Neither am I connected with Callera, the manufacturer of TrueScan. *Pixelmaster Introducing *Pixelmaster *Pixelmaster is a full capability color printer that delivers brilliant colors, high resolution, *integruted text and images, on any standard office paper, at an affordable price. Up to 262,000 different colors can be printed. *PostScript language, *QuickDraw, and Windows compatible, the *Pixelmaster operates with virtually all computers. This versatile color printer is ideal for applications in: *n *Desktop Publishing *n Business Graphics/Presentations *2 Graphic Arts/Design and Imaging *n Computer Aided Design T*he *Pirelmaster *uorking in conjunction *udth a *Howtek *Ranner provides the input and output tools *nece&aryfor a Total Color *Sokaion. How It Works *Pixelmaster is designed around *Thermogetr" Technology - a highly efficient method of placing dots on paper. This technology brings together important developments in ink, *VlSl electronics, and precision mechanical components. *T'he *Pixelmaster creates quality text and full-color images by placing thousands of colored ink dots on the paper's surface. Specially developed plastic inks are heated to liquid form and stored in individual color reservoirs in the rotating print head. As the paper flows by, a proprietary highly accurate and reliable head mechanism jets the plastic ink onto the paper. The ink solidifies instantly upon contact with the paper adhering to form the desired text or brilliant color images. The *Pixelmaster produces higher quality output than many more expensive color printers. The extreme accuracy of the dot placement results in sharp, crisp images and tex*t. The slightly raised print produces a textured quality that gives each document the look and feel of a true original. Thermojet Technology overcomes the limitations of other color printers. It is faster, quieter, and far more versatile than color impact printing, and far more afford-able than other non-impact printers. An important advantage over these other printers is i*is low cost of consumables, which makes the *Pixelmaster the most economical color printer capable of producing high quality professional output. Paper? Your choice. *Pixelmaster works equally well with any of the commercially available paper stocks, including standard office paper. The *Pixelmaster can produce high quality color output on your company letterhead for a fraction of the cost of other color printers. *Pixelmaster is compatible with virtually any computer. Now *PostScript' language, *QuickDraw," Windows"' HP-PCL and *HPGL plotter compatible, you can create stunning full color proposals, presentations, or designs. *'Mirty-five professional quality fonts are supported with an infinite number of point sizes, through an intelligent font scaling system. Only *Pixelmaster Offers So Much Print Quality - Brilliant color graphics can be merged with crisp dense text producing a professional quality document. Accepts All Papers - No need to purchase special or computer fan fold paper for the *Pixelmaster. it works with papers already found in today's office from copier paper, to quality bond or letterhead. Affordability - *The *Pixelmaster's price/performance level is superior to any color printer on the market today. The *Pixelmaster can produce a full color document for five to ten cents per page. Compatibility - *Pixelfnaster is *PostScript language, *QuickDraw, and Windows compatible, as well as *HPGL and HP-PCL compatible. A broad range of available software applications packages are fully supported on both the IBM PC and Mac 11 platforms. Ease of Use - Solid plastic inks are clean and as easy to handle as a crayon. Paper loads from a convenient cassette tray. The control panel contains various status lights and a 16 key membrane switch pad supported by a two digit LED display that can be custom programmed for various functions. The *Pixelmaster even has a "copier mode" which can be used to print up to 99 copies of any page without tying up the system. Variety of Typestyles - With the Mac 11 *QuickDraw driver, IBM compatible Script-It"' or *MacScript-It" *PostScript language compatible interpreters, all 35 common laser printer fonts are included. When using *HPGL or HP-PCI, eight operator installable font cartridges offer the user multiple fonts or typestyles and the capability to store logos, letterheads, signature blocks or other special graphics - all in full color. Reliability - No periodic maintenance is required for the *Pixelmaster. Paper and ink are easy to load, and the *Pixelmaster's self cleaning cycle minimizes operator intervention. Any major subassembly can be replaced in less than 30 minutes. The result is a *filll color printer designed for trouble free office use and low life cycle cost. The versatile *Ptxelmaster supports most Presentation *GraPhics *P"kages *alloudng you to output stunning full color *damments on any *dandard office paper. A 16 *kty *controlpanelprovids easy *accem to various custom *Programmingfunctions. Applications *Desktop Publishing Create eye catching communications to announce a big corporate event or publish your company newsletter in full color, merging life like images with crisp dense text. Make those training manuals easier to read by incorporating color. Be creative using the *desktop application packages you are currently working with! Presentations Dazzle the board, present your next corporate report in full color. No need to include flimsy special paper printouts in your documents. The *Pixelmaster will effortlessly place those soaring sales charts on your top quality bond paper in living color. include color *pictures scanned into your system with the *Howtek *Scanmaster fa*mily to add that special "not available anywhere else" stamp on your next proposal. Graphic Design The *Pixelmaster is perfect for Graphic Arts houses wanting a reasonably priced color proofing device. Create stunning color *comps, with t*ext that exceeds existing standards. impress that client with the tightest possible *comp you could make. Moving from the comp stage to the final mechanical stage is simple ... it's already in your computer! Computer Aided Design Present your clients with clean, bright and accurate full color renderings of your designs directly from the leading edge *CAD applications you're already working with. The *Pixelmaster's full range of 262,000 colors offers realistic renderings from applications which support solid shading. Only *Pixelmaster offers all the most desirable features in a computer printer. Full color, quality text, system compatibility across the board, total versatility and reliability. Quiet, compact, reliable, and economical. In a word, Value. *Pixelmaster. It's t*he name to remember in *colorprinters. SPECIFICATIONS General Size 37.5*' (H) x