oliver@fire.berkeley.edu (05/10/91)
About a week ago, I posted a question asking about low-end Postscript printers. I was particularly curious about the QMS PS410, the TI MicroLaser, and the Printer Works JetScript/Canon engine combination. There certainly seem to be a lot of cheerful laser printer owners out there :-). The responses about the QMS spanned the entire range from "it works fine, I recommend it" to "since I bought a 410, I have become wise, wealthy, and even my dog likes me". One person reported that the machine had been damaged en route, but was fixed by QMS immediately. All of the four people who had or had used TI printers liked and recommended them as well. The only person with anything bad to say said that he had had a bad experience with the JetScript controller. So, I'm still not quite sure whether to get the TI or the QMS. I'm leaning towards the former because it is small and a bit cheaper, but I have been left with a very good impression of the 410 and I may go ahead and spring for one if I can find a good deal. It sounds like I should be in pretty good shape either way. I'd like to thank everyone who responded, and I hope this summary is useful to someone else. The replies came from: bryan@cs.utexas.edu (Bryan Bayerdorffer @ Wit's End) tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff) Steve Owens <owens@cse.ogi.edu> peb@pine.pine.dk (Per Baekgaard) unmvax!gatech!dcatla!dudkl@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Danny Llewallyn) adpplz!dtb@apple.com (Tom Beach) gatech!motatl!mcdchg!gargoyle!chinet.chi.il.us!pdg@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Paul Guthrie) lee@shell.com (Bill Lee) Joseph_Keenan@NeXT.COM Thanks, everyone. Cheers, - Oliver
hebert@wolves.uucp (Jim Hebert) (05/16/91)
Probably a dumb question, but do I care if the postscript printer I'm interested in has a Cannon -CX vs -SX vs <mumble>X engine? If so, how do they differ? Thanks in advance, Jim
woody@chinacat.unicom.com (Woody Baker @ Eagle Signal) (05/17/91)
It makes a very big diffrence if you need high resolution or deep blacks. For example the CX engine always has washed out blacks with gray streaking (the original). This was because the toner, charge balance and spot size were not properly matched. Using a 3rd party reload toner helps this out. The SX has a much better matched toner, charge and spot size. Cheers Woody