#Okidata OL400
42 messages in this thread
Anyone out there tried using the Okidata OL400 laser with an Amiga yet? I
am seriously looking at one and any advice would be good. I tried to get a
HP Deskjet but they are as scarce as hen's teeth right now. I can get the
OL400 for $629.00 here. Seems like a fair price for a laser, even though it
isn't as functional as the HP's and other Okidatas.. help me out here
guys.. I need a printer pronto..
Joe,
I'm using an Oki OL400. I've had it for about 3-4 months. I'm not sure
whether I recommend it or not. It's cheap and so far seems to be reliable.
However, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, has a driver for it. So what you do is
use an HP Laser driver, which gives less function. Also, it only seems to
offer Courier size 10 or 12 font and helvetica size 10 or 12.
Wordperfect runs fine on it, once you figure out which driver to use. But
again you have limited font selection. I bought PageStream to cure the
problem. It did cure the problem, however, I was forced to buy a memory
upgrade for about $370 since PageStream requires over 1 meg of ram to print
a page and the OL400 comes with 1/2 meg. (By the way, if you go this
route, don't use Oki ram chips, they're ridiculously overpriced. I got the
service agency to use approved 3rd party chips without invalidating my
warranty) From various crosstalk following my complaints, I have the
impression that any laser printer you buy will require a memory upgrade to
work with PageStream. I like PageStream a lot, by the way, but it was
expensive.
The OL 400 works nicely and if you don't have demanding needs I would go
with it over most pin printers since it prints more cleanly. Oh, by the
way, it is black and white only, so if you want color you need to either
spend more money or go to a good pin printer. I'm no expert, but people
seem to like Epson and HP brand printers.
If you have any other questions, send me a note.
John
Thanks for the note John. I have checked on the memory and even hooked one
to my Amiga. I have PageStream2.2 and it works fine with the 512k. I sent
file to disk first to see what size I was dealing with and it came up
nearly 1.5 megs… It still printed fine on the 512k, but it was comprised
of a 3 page document with very full text ( download font). I WAS slow but
no t that much more than an HP II. It still looks like a good buy to me. I
have been given prices of $169.00 for 2 meg upgrade.
Joe,
That is REALLY interesting. I can't understand why PageStream works for
you but not me on 512k. I was using version 2.1. I suppose it's possible
that some compression was added in version 2.2, but I'm surprised. Also, I
got lots of discussion from folks on this forum who generally agreed that
it just couldn't be done in 512k. As for the $169 for 2 meg upgrade, I'm
green with envy. Mine was about $370.
John
The Oki should handle a full page of PgS text w/only 512K but any laser
will require at least twice that to include bitmap graphics (including the
structured lines and boxes produced with PgS.
regards,
Michael
John, I can't imagine why the diff either, but what I did was print to a t
t or rather a disk file and then copy that to par: . I assume that inspite
of the fact that I had fully loaded pages in a downloa d font, the stuff
was still sent in PAGES so each didn't exceed the max of 512K
I have run into some memory shortages using full page graphics though.
Well, as I understand it, a page is right at the limit of 512K. It may be
that you fell just inside the boundary and I fell just out. Maybe we chose
different fonts or something. This is a moot point for me now, since I had
to buy the memory upgrade and it did in fact fix the problem.
John
Joe,
One other point in addition to my other note to you: the OL400 is not a
Postscript printer. That means you do not get scalable fonts. Which is
the source of my complaints. So, if I was going to buy a laser printer
today I would probably spend the bigger bucks and get a Postscript printer.
John
John,
You should take a look at Post.
I am eyeing laser printers right now, and since my only requirement is
that it be able to handle full page bitmaps, the Oki 400 looks fine to me,
in conjunction with Post, for doing PostScript stuff.
-larry
Larry,
What's Post? I never heard of it. Sounds exciting.
The Oki 400 will NOT handle full page bitmaps, unless Post solves that
problem. If you multiple the bits per line times the bits in the vertical
direction, (300 dpi*8.5in * 300 dpi*11in and there's a factor of bits per
dot that I don't know, possibly 1) you get a number that is bigger than a
half meg, which is exactly the reason the Oki wouldn't work with
PageStream. PageStream apparently sends a bitmapped image, which is larger
than the printer could hold. The end result was that I got about 3/4 of a
page. If I were you, I would require a salesman to show me that the Oki can
print a full page before I bought, and I mean put an image in and see the
paper come out, not look at specs. WordPerfect, for example, is not a test,
because it apparently doesn't send a bitmapped image; I don't know exactly
what it sends, but it's encoded somehow. Does Post act as an encoder?
John
Well, I expect to have to add memory to it to allow printing full page
bitmaps. That's standard, and there's no way around it.
Post is a PostScript interpreter. It will output to screen, printer, or IFF
file. In other words, with Post, you don't need a PS capable printer. In
fact, you can output to virtually any printer, though with my 9 pin dot
matrix printer, quality is not exactly stunning.
I don't use any word processors or DTP programs, so it doesn't much matter
if any of them will or won't work with the Oki.
-larry
Larry,
Post sounds interesting. Who sells it or where can I get more info? Thanks
in advance.
John
Post is freely distributable, and can be found here in a LIB in AmigaUser.
Go to any LIB, and try a 'bro key:post* lib:all', or 'bro post16* lib:all'.
-larry
Thanks. I'll take a look.
John
Larry,
I suggest you go for the HP LJ IIIP! If you get tired of Post, you can
plug in a real postscript cartridge.
Got my IIIP from my (canadian) dealer for $1495 – that inludes PST and GST!
Bought a 4 meg memory board for $168US mail order.
And the IIIP gives you PCL5, HP-GL/2, and Resolution Enhancement
Technology. Comes standard with 1 meg, and two built in Compugraphic
scalable font families.
73, Kelly
Kelly,
Thanks for the suggestion, but that's about double the price I can get
the Oki 400 for (from a Canadian dealer). Extra ram will end up costing me
about $150 Cdn for a bare board, and nothing extra for the SIMMs, of which
I have about 10 lying around from a previous project. Personally, if I were
to spend that amount, I would go for the SilentWriter2 Model 90, which is
going for $1700-1800 Cdn locally, already has PostScript, and has the
blackest, most crisp blacks I have ever seen in a laser printer.
-larry
Joe–
I've been looking at low cost lasers for a while, and I think that there
may be a better alternative out there.
Epson just came out with the ActionLaser; it has the same list price as
the Oki 400. However, it also user-upgrades with standard SIMMS (much less
money than the OKI for more memory), and it is Postscript compatible.
It also takes HP font carts, although on an Amiga they will probably be of
limited value. Looking at things from the price of the laser plus the
price of additional memory (I believe that the Epson has a higher street
price), the Epson comes out ahead. Prowrite allows you to select 10
different fonts through its print requester, so this plus a cart may be a
better deal. Not speaking from experience, however.
Jonathan
– via Whap!
Jonathon,
The Oki can also take HP font cards. Be sure that you look closely to see
which ones. You see, while the Oki can take several cards, the fonts all
end up being Courier or Helvetica, and almost all are size 10 or 12. The
Oki memory can also be upgraded with standard SIMMS, which the dealer will
grudgingly admit under duress, but first you have to buy a populated memory
board. They swore up and down to me that there is no such thing as an
unpopulated memory board for the Oki. I happen to think they were lying,
but that may be another story. 1 meg from Oki costs $178 plus about $60
for installation; using standard chips, it becomes $60 plus about $60 for
installation, unless you are capable of installing it yourself. Again,
they swore that installation of the board requires more than simply
plugging it in. So I bought 2 meg upgrade for a total price of about $370,
rather than the $550 that the registered dealer originally tried to gouge
me for. D—-d expensive upgrade considering the printer only cost $650.
I seriously considered trading it in and getting a more expensive model,
but the ones I wanted were $1200 + and that was just too much for my home
use.
John
John,
According to my dealer, there are several third-party unpopulated memory
boards available for the Oki. I don't know if thse are locally made, or if
they are available all over the place.
-larry
Like I said, I was pretty sure the dealer was lying to me. There are only
2 dealers listed by Oki in San Diego. One didn't admit to third party
memory at all, and the other admitted to it but said I had to buy a 1 meg
populated board and then add another meg. Both meg's were 3rd party (which
is why I was sure he was lying). But calling someone a liar and then
asking him to service your precious printer seems like a dubious practice
to me <g>, so I took my wounds and moved on.
John
Yes, it's a bit touchy to say the least. I sometimes forget how lucky I am
to have found a dealer who is honest, and who likes to save me money,
because he knows that I will coma back to him later because he see to my
interests as well as his own.
-larry
A dealer like that, with farsighted vision, is worth his weight in
platinum. Hang onto him!
John
> worth his weight in platinum..
He sure is. I first met him when he was looking to open a service business
for fixing Commodore machines (PET and C64 at the time), and helped him
with obtaining some service related things, such as schematics, alignment
diskettes, and so on. I have stuck with him ever since, and send lots of
people his way. I have never had anyone come back and gripe about the
reference.
-larry
Care to ship him to San Diego? <g>
John
I've been having a problem with getting multiple copies of messages. I use
Whap, and I'm not sure if this is an artifact of Whap or of Compuserv.
Today, 2/2 I downloaded messages and got 2 copies of #47890 with subject
47832. Could you tell me if this is a Compuserv problem, i.e. do you see 2
copies?
John
John,
I only see one copy of 47890.
One thing that might be happening. If Whap is set up to read messages
marked for you, and then to scan through all messages since last logon, you
will get any messages to you, twice. Once will be for the 'RM' (Read
marked), and the other for the 'RTN' (Read Thread New).
Whap has been known to occasionally put up duplicate messages, but that is
when posting messages, and in that case, the message numbers will differ. I
don't think that's the case in the situation you mentioned.
-larry
I looked at the Epson and it seemed ok but the price was a little more. You
say Postscript… Are you talking aboutan upgrade cartridge? If so
. have you seen a price?
Joe:
I've seen the Oki 400 down to $575 US from CDW. Check out their ad in the
Computer Shopper. I've got one myself. I did need a memory upgrade to get
300X300 DPI for some plots. The HPGL that's available in the IIIP is fast,
but I don't think it's worth the price difference.
Paul
Paul:
How does the output of text look compared to a HP deskjet or a typical HP
III laser? I can't seem to find one to go look at, can you help?
I usually look at characters with a 8X loupe and then compare to 1270 DPI
postscript. What do you think, can you make a guesstimate?
Thanx for the help,
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Paul:
You won't see much difference in text outout between an HPIIP & the OKI.
The Oki laser beets any inkjet hands down. With the HPIIIP you gain the HP
Resolution Enhancement Technology, which varies the sizes of the dots, so
you get finer curves.
regards,
Michael
Michael:
Thanks for the info. Is the HPIIIP's RET also used in text as well as
graphics? If I print out a PGS file and then some text, this will give me a
good idea of the OKI's capabilities, right?
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Paul,
The HPIIIP's RET _is_ used in text and graphics, under both PCL and
PostScript. It's worth it, IMHO.
Malcolm
Paul–
Yes, HP's RET is used for all printing (text & graphics). Printing out a
complex PgS file (using several fonts in large and small sizes) and then a
page of straight ascii text (using the HP's internal fonts) will be the
best way to compare the printers… and if you can, use PgS to output a
PostScript file and print it on a native postscript printer (like the NEC)
and on the HPIIIP w/PS cartridige. The HPIIIP, while not exactly fast, is a
really fine laser.
Michael
Test Piloting 0.02A
Thanks Michael, I got my floppies and am headed out.
Paul
OK, I'll bite. What's 0.02A 🙂
Paul:
Good luck with the laser tests… let me know what you think (and just how
co-operative you find dealers!)
>>> "What's 0.02A"
sorry 'bout that mysterious signature…. just testing out a
software pkg.
Michael
….from the north coast
I bought one locally for a total out the door of $629. I like it so far and
it does need an upgrade in memory sometimes. Where did you get your
upgrade, how much and did you install it yourself? Thanks for the info!
Joe:
I did install the memory upgrade my self. It's just unscrewing the cover
and a circuit board. Then just plug it in on the pins. No switches to
set.
I can't remember where I got it, but it was a 2 mb board (incase I ever
want to use fonts). You may want to see the difference between 1 & 2 mb
prices. If they have 2 mb boards with only 1 mb on it, sometimes it's
cheaper just to buy your onw chips.
Paul
I got a 2 meg board with one meg installed. It was a piece of cake to
install! It will be easy to upgrade whenever a need arises. It has already
m ade a big diff in what I can create with PgS!!
Paul:
I've seen ads in computer shopper for a 2meg board for the OKI400 for $139.
Michael
….from the north coast
Joe:
The 1 meg is all you need to add for full page graphics. The extra meg
would be for downloaded fonts. (I believe) PgS develops the page in the
Amiga, and then just sends it out. Therefore you won't have any need for
the added memory.
I fond it strange that Okidata only puts out a 1 meg board. Third party
manufs. had to make the 2 meg version.
Paul
Oki puts out a 2 meg board, populated with 1 meg worth of chips. They also
sell an upgrade for the board, consisting of chips only. Fortunately, the
third party upgrades are available readily (around here at least), and are
considerably lower cost.
-larry
Joe–
I believe that the Postscript upgrade is some sort of cart from Epson – I
don't believe that you can use one for the HP.
However, with the Postscript aside, it may be cheaper to buy the Epson
plus SIMM memory than the OKI plus the memory board plus memory.
Jonathan
– via Whap!