CompuServe Messages

I have a Deskjet500 (not the C version, just B&W) and am very pleased with it. I use the HP_500C driver downloaded from AmigaUser Libs; I have some other PD drivers as well, but generally just use the HP_500C. The output at 150x150dpi is something like 24-pin quality and at 300x300dpi is excellent, depending on the program and font used. I get excellent output from FinalCopy (using FC fonts) as well as from ProPage and Pagestream Compugraphic fonts. Using the printer's internal fonts is easy using the PD program DJ_Print by Steve Anderson, also in AmigaUserLibs as djprnt.lzh. Text printing using internal fonts at any resolution is pretty fast; HP touts 3 PPM and that sounds right; draft mode is faster. Graphic printing is slower and is also dependent on the speed of your Amiga. I have downloaded but not yet tried Post or PostDJ. See no reason why they won't work but they're probably fairly slow. Installation is EASY – just plug it in, load the prefs driver and start printing. Leave dip switches in the default position; the prefs driver and DJ_Print give you software control of the dip options Advantages: it's reasonably fast,comparatively quiet and gives you very pretty B&W output. It seems compatible with all Amiga software either through Prefs or custom program-provided drivers. Disadvantages: Ink technology; if you work at it, you CAN smear the print and on some paper it will bleed at the edges of characters. On the whole, I am very pleased with the DJ500/Amiga combination.