#Fargo & switchbox?
26 messages in this thread
Does anyone use the Fargo with a switch box? I read somewhere that it
didn't like to.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
Gracia,
I have attempted without success to use the Fargo Primera Color Printer
with a parallel switchbox. When I checked with Fargo, they confirmed that
the printer was very sensitive to the length of the parallel cable and
that a switchbox would not work. Since then I have used the Primera
hooked directly to the parallel port of my A4000 via a four foot cable.
Tom
Thomas,
I guess it was your old mess that I saw <G>. Funny the shop in Winston
used a switch box with no trouble, of course attached to Big Blue or
clone. I'd hate to have to change cables all the time.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
Gracia:
Well, here's the story. The Fargo will work great with a switchbox as long
as the computer it's getting it's data from isn't an Amiga! 🙁 I have both
an A3000, as well as a PC clone here, and I have tried a few different
switchboxes, and the Fargo has no problem as long as it's the PC thats
printing. I called them to ask them about it, and they told me that it has
something to do with the line levels put out by the Amiga that they havn't
been able to get it to work properly on the Amiga if there's a switchbox
in the connection. I don't know why this is, only that it is. 🙁
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Yes, Mike, you're right, the Amiga is more affected by a bad switch-box
and the problems are less on the PC. Though, the difference is only minor
and the same problems do exist on the PC (I can back this up with masses
of PC user phone calls to hotlines of manufacturers I deal with – it's a
known problem and most users do not consider any cable problems if one
printer driver fails and another works… strangly, it can be a cable
problem 🙁 and convincing users to really get a good (not expensive!)
cable is sometimes a real pain.
As said before, the problem can be solved by several electronic switch
boxes that do amplify the signal (as said, I highly recommend the arXon
switch box as it has proofen to work with lot's of stuff like digitizers,
scanners and printers). While box comes with Amiga software, you can also
use it for your PC and the price of the box is compareable to other
electronic switch boxes.
Beside: I called arXon 2 weeks ago and had a chat with the guy doing the
arXon software (Waldemar Adams). In the past they had great problems with
delivering the switch-box because of the low quantaty of the production
wich was very time consuming and thus expensive. The main reason the box
was not available from other dealers was the low quantaty of the
production. On the other side the requests were not high enough to do
larger batches. They now have a SMD version of the box and they are now
able to deliver larger quantaties so I'm sure the box will become more
attractiv as it comes available. They are also thinking about doing new
software (wich I think is not necessary as the old software is totaly
ok… but well, you can allways do better).
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf:
Thanks for the info. Is this switchbox available in the USA yet?
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Not that I know as this box is still an inside-tip though it exists since
2 years. Reason why and address of arXon can be found in my message to
Garcia.
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Mike,
Thanks. I guess you'll see all the other answers. Do read them. You
confirmed what I knew from seeing it work at the PC shop. I'm going to try
Wolf Faust's solution, since he seems to be a Fargo guru <G>.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
Gracia,
It can depend on the box as much as the printer. Some cheap boxes don't
use all th conductors, are poorly grounded, and have the wrong kind of
switch (I think make-before-break is the one to avoid, but don't quote me
on that). You gotta just try a few. And they may look the same on the
outside, but end up real different in performance. I've been though this
with 15 pin monitor switches and both 25 and 9 pin switch boxes with FFV,
PSFC and AmiLink.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
My box is an old 4 way # that has worked perfectly so far. The only thing
that has, I hope I'm not jinxing it! BUT I think I'll take Wolf Faust's
advice
if I go for a Fargo.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
Gracia,
Pardon me for butting in… Can you or anyone else tell me a bit more
about about the Fargo ? i.e. what is photo realistic ? what I want to do
is to be able to send out flyers to selected customers that include good
colour pictures of our products. Say I scan a product photo on our Sharp
colour scanner (300dpi), giving me a lovely (on screen !) 24 bit image,
would the Fargo re-produce the image accurately or would it be dithered,
dotty & dark like the BJC ?
Thanks,
Andrew.
Andrew…
The Fargo printer with Dye Sublimation upgrade prints near photographic
quality prints up to around 8×10 inches. The cost is about $3 per print. The
reproduction is done with "dots" screening but it isn't noticeable until you
look at the print with a lupe, much the same as any high quality magazine. For
the price the Primera is one of the great bargins to be had for the Amiga. The
next competing printers are from Kodak and Tektronics and cost in the $8,000 to
$10,000 range. The resolution of the Fargo Primera is the same as the $20,000
Kodak dye sub printer, 203 dots per inch.
I have a Primera and love it. My only regret is that I don't have more time
to use it. One cavaet – you need lots of ram in your Amiga to print at the
highest quality. Only ImageFX (as far as I know) lets you print to the Fargo
and use hard drive memory as virtual ram. I have 14 megs of ram in my A3000
and it isn't near enough to work with the 18meg images I work with in the
office with the MAC systems. If you plan on working with large images you
should have twice the amount of ram as the image you plan on working with
(example you should have at least 12 megs to work with a 6 meg image file).
..Carl
Carl,
I agree with your post, except, and I know, it's advertisment (flame
me)…
StudioDS can print pictures in dye-sub in any size (yes, even
multiple-page posters) from disk without need for memory! Also, it doesn't
need awfull lot of time doing the job without memory as the program's main
target is different.
Yes, you can even print those complex JPEG, interlaced Targa and
interlaced GIF pictures in portrait/landscape (90 degree rotation without
memory!) and NO, it doesn't need any hard drive space for doing the VMEM
(it's all a software issue and it cost me major work to put it into
StudioDS ;-).
I do it myself all the time, printing base*16 (2000×3000 pixels) PhotoCD
pics with 1 MByte memory. I convert the PCD pics using PhotoWorX Prof.
from Olaf Barthel and than print them. The main problem is the memory
required reading PhotoCD's. So I usualy convert those big pictures once to
JPEG wich than can be stored on my MO without much need for disk space.
And everytime someone want's a demo print or I want to test certain
things, I just print those nice big JPEG's with just 2 MByte and no
disk-space!
Also, the visible dithering is MUCH less with StudioDS on the Fargo in
comparison to ImageFX and ADPro. Beside, if you can live with minor color
errors, you can turn off "dithering" and use treshold "dithering" wich
results in none visible dither but minor color faults as the printer can
only print 4096 colors per dot. You can do this treshholding with 3 Amiga
Fargo solutions (at least the Fargo WB driver, ADPro and StudioDS do have
that option – don't know of ImageFX… have to check out myself…).
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf…
Sounds great Wolf but I have been unable to find your StudioDS printer driver
for sale here in the Wash. D.C., U.S.A. :^( I would love t to do some
printing from some base*16 PhotoCD images. How do I obtain a copy of your
program? I know several other AMIGA owners with new Primera's who would
p Commodore's printer.device. The amount of data that can be
send to the printer to set it up is very limited with Commodore's
printer.device. There are only 3 drivers exceeding that limit by using a
very tricky work-arround. 2 of those drivers are on the CanonDisk and are
from me (they allow download-fonts and overlay pages). The 3th driver I
know of is Commodore's PS driver. At least the last versions I tested
still didn't worked because of the problems I don't wanna described here.
I took myself several months to get it working.
Now you can argue wether I should exchange one of the supported setting in
order to support your wanted EconoMode setting. But it should be obvious,
that others would start crying…
Because of other features I want to port from the Canon drivers to the HP
drivers, you might see that features in the future ;-9
2. The latest SetupPJL from the HP disk does support a SAVE option and
thus can be used in the WBStartup drawer. Also, the latest version does
support those other standard things like unit and device name (PUNT
chunk). And it now write's using the device IO request, thus, in case you
printer is not online/on, you immeaditly get a requester allowing you to
abort and quit the program. SetupPJL undergone a major rewrite for Studio
V2 but was allready released with the Studio-Light V1.17 disk from HP with
the announcement of the HP 4 Plus and 4M Plus. I will upload the new
SetupPJL version on CIS as soon as I have the time to setup all that legal
readme stuff (note, Studio-Light is not freely-distributable – though,
it's usualy given away for free and of course people are allowed to make a
copy for a friend… but there is a minor difference to FD!).
I hope that solves your wishes…
3. "Pricey Studio", well, depends, in Germany, the main market for Studio,
the packed is sold at most dealers for DM 80 ($50). I think this is far
from being pricey if you think about the software and 140 page german
manual. I agree, things are different in the US. There are several reasons
for the high price and one of many reasons why distribution in the US got
changed lately (RRP dropped from $130 to $89). If I you have a idea how to
make it cheaper to users let me know. At least I can't make it $1 cheaper
as this would mean I would loose money. Every cent earned with Studio has
been reinvested in Studio V2 coming up end summer. Currently, I allready
have to think about sending letters to users if not really necessary as
one letter sent means I don't earned anything (a big thanks to the german
post office for ripping off people 😉
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Carl,
as mentioned in my mail, you need PhotoWorX to convert the images first.
StudioDS does support printing many different file formats without need
for memory (GIF, Targa, IFF, JPEG, PPM, Sun,…), but not PCD. That would
be to much to ask and would also significantly increase the StudioDS price
because of Kodak's license fee. As said, I do use PhotoWorX Prof. (a new
version just announced in Germany and that will start shiping shortly) as
the program is simply the best/fastest on the Amiga (and yes, in several
respect this program beats most MAC PCD stuff in speed/quality by far!).
Also, StudioDS will be replaced by Studio V2 in August and in this case,
you will be able to print from PhotoWorX Prof. using Studio directly.
Though, in this case you must have the memory for PhotoWorX…
I have some real nice PhotoCD base*16 pics from my last Australia trip
(Barrier Reef… Rain forest… waterfalls…). I converted them overnight
using VMem. As PhotoWorX does allow selecting several pics for conversion,
this is a nice and easy job, though, it took a several hours for 20
base*16 pics. Once converted, I can print them easily without VMem and
speed reduction. Is use JPEG for those images so I can give away those
pics to users in order to have real nice and HUGE pics for printing 😉
Though, some of the better JPeg pics are still 4-5MByte big. ;-9
Yes you're right, StudioDS was not available in the US because my former
distributor (MacroSystem US) didn't ordered them nor paid my bills. But
NoahJi's (303-4991975) should have them in stock now or can tell you a
dealer who bought the stuff from him if he's allready sold out.
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf…
Thanks for the reply. I will try NoahJi's for your StudioDS. Look forward to
your V2. What I do is digitize my own photographs via the Nikon scanner at
work or grab images from our PhotoCD's into PhotoShop on the MACs and convert
them to either JPEG or Amiga IFF and save them to SYQUEST carts. Then at home I
can load them into ImageFX (the only Amiga image processing software that can
handle large image files on its own) and make prints. But even ImageFX doesn't
allow me to import 18meg image files intooo onto a 14 meg AMIGA <g> so your
StudioDS sounds like the solution for my problem. Too bad I can't get my money
back from all the software I have purchased trying to make good prints from the
Primera. :^( Nearly as much as I spent on the printer in the first place
(actually when I really sit down and add it up MORE. :^(
Thanks again hope to get back to you when I have had time to try your software.
..Carl
Wolf…
PPS…If you would like to see some of my photogaphs you can either go to the
Gallery (Go Gallery) Graphics Forum here on CIS. There are numerous
Smithsonian libraries there and you can locate some of my photos by using
keyword search of Belize (for underwater shots) or Panama (for tropical photos)
all of which are in the Science library. If you have access to Internet you
can download images from our server (Photo1.si.edu). All the images are in GIF
format to preclude their being published without permission. Lots of good
photos there and all free for the download.
..Carl
Carl,
Many thanks for the info, thats exactly what I wanted to hear.
Cheers,
Andrew.
Andrew…
Just read today that Fargo is coming out with Primera Pro 600×300 dpi true
24bit printer at $1,900. I called them and was told it will be a month before
they will be shipping. For interested Fargo owners listening in they will be
offering an upgrade path to the new printer but won't announce it for three or
four months. An incredible price.
..Carl
I'm even more seriously tempted now. I wonder how long before this one
hits the UK….
Andrew.
Andrew…
You are probably in a better position to get it before me since they will be
selling it to new customers first then offering an upgrade path for existing
customers. If I was you -and very serious about getting it – I would contact
them by phone or mail and let them know you have heard about it and would like
to have the opportunity to purchase it direct from them as soon as possible. I
am sure they won't be able to kee t
keep them in stock once they go on sale.
..Carl
I see you got a got a good answer. I did a scanned picture of mine at a PC
store in the non photo mode (they didn't has to upgrade yet) & it looked
great. The stuff they have sent to me looks fantastic & they seem to be
very good about trying to help their customers.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
I'm seriously tempted…….
Andrew.
Go for it!
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC
Yes, I use the Fargo with a switch box and no problems. Like several other
printers the Fargo is very sensitiv to signal alterations. That means, you
should allways use a very good(!) and very short printer cable. I highly
recommend good "Lindy" cables as they have proofen several thousand times
to work without any problems where other cables failed.
Beside the printer cable, it's also important you buy a good electronic
switch box. It's pretty dangerous to use a mechanic switch box on the
Amiga. Aren't you using a Studio driver allready (I just can remember your
name somehow)? In this case, have a look at the Studio manual for a very
good and cheap switch box I use (->arXon switch box!). The benefit of the
arXon switch box is also, you don't have to switch the box manualy. You
can setup the software to automaticly switch between printers by software
(the box is controlled by your second joystick port). And remember,
StudioDS for Fargo is just $25 for Studio users 😉 It's currently by
far(!) the best software for the Primera on the Amiga and saves you from
buying the photo realistic upgrade kit. (oups… that was the sales person
in me ;-).
— Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —
Wolf, thanks for info. Do you know where can one buy the "Lindy" cables
and arXon in the States?
When you say very short cable, is 4 feet on each cable (1 from computer to
box, 2 from box to printer) short enough? I have a scanner & 2 printers on
box now. How about a driver for a Canon 1080a <G>? It still does some nice
stuff.
I haven't bought your drivers yet because I don't have printer that can
use it, BUT I difinitely shall since my 13 yr year computer pal just
bought a Canon600 which he brings over & I hope to get a Fargo. BTW Canon
says not to use a switch box, but his 600 works on mine.
How could you forget a name like mine <G>.
Gracia, on AutoPilot from Cooleemee, NC