roh@gmdzi.gmd.de (Peter Rohleder ) (10/30/90)
A friend of mine is going to buy a mac and he also needs a cheap printer with good printing quality. There seem to be different solutions for this problem: 1. Buying an ImageWriter 2. Buying this ImageWriter compatible Seikosha 1000 Printer 3. Buying an Epson compatible(9 of 24 pin) printer with this Grappler-Interface 4. Buying an Epson printer(9 or 24 pin) with this Epson software which enables the Mac to print documents on Epson compatible printers. If solution 1 (ImageWriter) should appear to be the best, I can easily buy the ImageWriter in Germany To realize solution 2 I need a shop either in Europe or in the States which is reachable via telephone line(no 800...-number) or better e-mail(uucp, CompuServe), accepts MasterCard and can ship this printer with 220 V power supply(or is it self configurable ?). For solution 3 and 4 I also need such kind of shop but the printer itsself is better to buy here in Germany since there will be no shipping costs. They only need to ship me either the Grappler or the Epson Software. What kind of solution would you recommend and what are the advantages or disadvantages of the different solutions ? Maybe you know a better solution not listed above(Laser printers would be too expensive!). Thanks in advance Peter Rohleder Peter Rohleder, roh@gmdzi.UUCP, (+49 2241) 14-2208 German National Research Center for Computer Science (GMD) Schloss Birlinghoven, P.O.Box 1240, D-5205 St. Augustin 1, FRGermany
wiseman@tellabs.com (Jeff Wiseman) (11/01/90)
In article <3521@gmdzi.gmd.de> roh@gmdzi.gmd.de (Peter Rohleder ) writes: >A friend of mine is going to buy a mac and he also needs a cheap >printer with good printing quality. > >There seem to be different solutions for this problem: > <<list of possiblities deleted>> One potential solution missing from the list is one that I know little of but am very mush interested in. It involves the use of a program called "Freedom of Press". This program supports a series of pin and ink printers by converting postscript output into printer drive. Anyone had any good/bad/indifferent experiences with this product? Sounds like a great idea. -- Jeff Wiseman: ....uunet!tellab5!wiseman OR wiseman@TELLABS.COM
dane@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Dane Spearing) (11/03/90)
In article <3521@gmdzi.gmd.de> roh@gmdzi.gmd.de (Peter Rohleder ) writes: >A friend of mine is going to buy a mac and he also needs a cheap >printer with good printing quality. > >There seem to be different solutions for this problem: > >1. Buying an ImageWriter > >2. Buying this ImageWriter compatible Seikosha 1000 Printer > >3. Buying an Epson compatible(9 of 24 pin) printer with this >Grappler-Interface > >4. Buying an Epson printer(9 or 24 pin) with this Epson software >which enables the Mac to print documents on Epson compatible printers. > > -- much stuff deleted -- Yes, I know a better solution. Buy an Epson FX-850 dot matrix printer with the serial port option (preferably with 8K or 32K buffer). It's a good, solid, fast, reliable 9-pin printer with tractor paper parking and single sheet feed slot. If you want to go even cheaper, get the cheapest Epson compatible 9-pin printer you can find (maybe even secondhand). Then buy Point Technologies 'Witch'. It will give you print quality as good as the Imagewriter LQ on the FX-850 for less than half the price. It gives better print quality and is more reliable than either Grappler or the Epson drivers. It's distributed in Europe by: Accademy Software Acorn House 74/94 Cherry Orchard Road Croyden Surrey CR0 6BA ENGLAND If you write to them they will send you information and sample printout. -- Dane Spearing | Dept of Geology | (415) 723-4092 <---------------------------| Stanford University |------------------------> dane@pangea.stanford.edu | Stanford, CA 94305 | #include <disclaim.h>