Printers
6 messages in this thread
Rick, I don't have much experience with the lasers, and am interested in
them. Is there any to get colour out of an inexpensive laser, or is that
just the heavy duty machines? Does your laser handle postscript, (a
growing need for my applications)? If not, can a postscript card be added?
I hear that many machines will accept a postscript card, but ease of
installation is pretty much a contridiction of terms. Any insights would be
welcome. Bob Felts, 72767,642
BF>> Is there any to get colour out of an inexpensive laser
Not unless you consider $5,000 or so to be inexpensive. Now if you can get
color toner cartridges, you can do color. Similar to the way someone was
describing doing color on a DeskJet (a single color inkjet printer).
However, we've tried it with our copy machine and the colors don't blend
well.
BF>> heavy duty machines? Does your laser handle postscript, (a growing
BF>> need for my applications)? If not, can a postscript card be added? I
hear
Yes, my IIP does Postscript, using a cartridge. And installation is easy.
Plugging in the cartridge is no harder than plugging in a Nintendo Cart,
8-Track tape, etc. You simply turn off the printer and insert the cartridge
into the font cartridge slot.
Hitachi (I think that's the ones who sent me a flyer) offers a laser
printer that looks pretty interesting. It's one of two non-HP laser
printers I ever recommend. It looks at incoming data and decides what mode
it should be in, i.e. Epson, HP LJII or Postscript. All for a list of
about $2,500.
The other laser printer I recommend (of the non-HP type) is the one from
Star Micronics. It's basically an HPIIP in a different case. It uses the
same font cartridges, paper trays, toner carts, etc. Hence TRULY HP
compatible.
I'm shopping for a postscript printer. Should ANY printer with HP emulation
work with my Amiga 500? By the way, I'm moving up to the Amiga 3000 for
Christmas and at that time I'll marry the postscript to the more powerful
machine. I'm thinking of buying the Texas Instruments PS17 postscript
printer. Anybody know anything about this model?
Barry–
The TI PS35 is what my place of business is now buying for small
postscript printers; it is definitely the best buy out there. I suggest
that you go for the PS35, since it only runs a couple of hundred bucks more
than the PS17. You couldn't buy the fonts that cheaply.
Any printer with HP emulation will work with the 500, or any Amiga.
Having HP emulation in a postscript printer is essential for any Amiga
user, since Postscript support is so spotty.
Jonathan
Jonathan – from Albany, NY, via whap!
The TI MicrLaser PS17 & PS35 are both very good buys in the 300 dpi
postscript market. About the only thing they won't do that is just showing
up on newer postscript lasers, is autodetect your input and automatically
switch between emulations. The printer itself is very high quality and
reliable, and the proccessor comes with 6 different emulations +
postscript!
– Whapping from the North Coast Michael
Pv/1ably yes, any HP emulating laser printer should work.
However, a word of warning about printer emulations.
In the dot matrix world, when a printer claims to Epson compatible it is.
In the laser world, HP compatibility ranges from "fully HP compatible, uses
same font cartridges, toner carts, etc." to "well, we can use the same
commands" or "gee, we use soft fonts just like the HP".
While I know nothing about that TI printer, I still can only recommend two
laser printer brands for TRUE HP compatibility, and one of them is HP! The
other is Star Micronics. I've tested both of these and the Star is almost
100% parts interchangable with the HP IIP and is 100% language and command
compatible.
Remember, if someone is going to make something for laser printers (font
cartridges etc.) they will do it for the HP first.