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REVIEWS
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NECcp6.rvw
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1988-04-09
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A REVIEW OF THE NEC CP6
by Jim Bolf
Everyone knows about the tremendous graphics capabilities of the AMIGA.
But to put those graphics onto paper you need a color printer.
DOT-MATRIX VS. ?
Three types are available. INKJET * THERMAL * DOT-MATRIX. The latest
generation of Inkjets are far and away the best for printing good colour
graphics. They are also the most expensive. Thermal printers are much
cheaper to buy and do almost as good a job as the Inkjets. However, they are
much slower. The cost for a full page color graphic is around sixty to
seventy cents for an Inkjet and around one dollar for the thermal printer.
The price of a good dot matrix color printer is somewhere between the other
two, and the cost of a printout on my NEC is around twenty five to thirty
cents.
If I had the money I'd have an inkjet for graphics and a Dot Matrix for
text.
NEC CP6
I decided to buy the NEC CP6 because it was the cheapest 24 pin color
printer around at the time. After about seven months of very intensive use I
thought I should pass on what I have learned to those who may be thinking of
buying a printer.
The CP6 can be used with either a black or a color ribbon. The color
one has black, blue, red and yellow sections. From these four colors it is
capable of making just about any color that you could want. The black ribbon
costs around thirteen dollars and the color is about twenty seven dollars.
I keep one of each in stock and change to black when I am going to do a lot
of text printing.
The text printout from the NEC is excellent. Any one who says that
they need better quality printing than is provided by the latest 24 pin
printers is only engaging in snobbery. Daisywheels are a dying breed and
with the latest round of low priced 24 pin printers on the market so are the
9 pin Dot Matrix printers.
SETTING-UP
Not much is required to get the printer up and running. A few pieces
of tape and packing are removed and your ready to plug it in. The power
cord is a polarised three pin. However, I ran into one of the great
stupidities of Commodore when I tried to plug in the I.B.M. standard cable
that came with it. The AMIGA requires a female receptacle but the I.B.M.
comes with a male plug. The reason for the difference is that COMMODORE has
wired their printer output differently. This means that you either have to
change the plug and change the wiring on the cable or make an adaptor.
Either way, its extra work that isn't really necessary. The A500s and
A2000s don't have this problem.
The printerdriver was considerably more trouble. Workbench 1.2 does
not support 24 pin printers. Workbench 1.3 which is already out to the
software developers in the STATES does have some 24 pin drivers. NEC uses
EPSON command sets so an LQ2500 driver will drive the CP6. However, on
FISHDISK 60 I found a printerdriver generator that works very well for most
programs. It takes up a whopping 12 kbytes but gives you the ability to set
up four different print densities. By checking the commands given in the
165 page TECH GUIDE supplied with the printer I was able to set up the
driver with:
DOTS PER INCH
horizontal vertical
120 60
90 180
180 180
360 180
By going into preferences I can choose anyone of the four densities by
changing the DRAFT AND LETTER options in conjunction with the 6 lpi and the
8 lpi options. This driver generator also allows you to change the height
to width ratio. It is very important because different programs recognize
different ratios. I.E. DELUXEPAINT II uses a 1.2 to 1 ratio and AEGIS DRAW
PLUS uses a 1 to 1 ratio. If you don't use the right one then the circles
will not be round and the squares will not be square. If you are using a
CAD(computer aided design) program this is a very important consideration.
This driver works with most programs but unfortunately does not work
with any of the DTPs (Desk Top Publishers). Pagesetter and ProWrite seem to
only want to print out in a 9 pin format. (which seems to be defeating the
purpose of DTP'ing). Publisher 1000 will print out to the 5 kbyte Epson
LQ2500 driver but not the 12 kbyte one. Shakespeare, not in AUSTRALIA yet
but I am negotiating to get it sent over, has WORKBENCH 1.3, so it will
support the NEC CP6. From what I've seen of the SHAKESPEARE demo, it leaves
all the rest for dead.
OPERATION
The NEC is simple to operate and comes with a very adequate instruction
manual. There are only five buttons. One is the on-off switch and another
is a "quiet print" switch that you push to slow down the printing speed
which also lowers the printing noise. That leaves only three other switches
to worry about. The "feed" switch is pushed to advance the paper. If you
push it and immediately release it then the paper moves one line. If you
keep it pushed down for about a second or so then the paper will be run
completely out of the printer. The fourth switch called "select" allows you
to put the printer on or off line any time you want. You can also take the
printer off line by lifting the plastic lid that covers the printhead and
its mechanisms. Instead of a micro switch they have used a small magnet and
sensor. The final switch is labelled "font". This one allows you to select
any one of the 13 internal printing styles or a style which is contained in
the software that you are using.
The ability to use cli as a typewriter combined with the font selection
ability means that you can type short notes and address envelopes or fill in
labels etc. without going the trouble of loading a wordprocessor or text
editor into the computer.
[ED. NOTE: to do this in the CLI, enter >copy * to prt:
then whatever you type in will be sent to the printer whenever you hit
RETURN. To escape from this mode enter >CTRL-\ ]
FEATURES
The different printing modes include condensed, italic, super and
subscript, enhanced, double strike, proportional spacing, draft and letter
quality, double height, double width, triple width, and uses either the
I.B.M. or ITALIC character sets.
Enhanced printing involves printing the character then shifting the
print head 1/180" to the right and printing the character a second time.
Double strike involves printing the character then moving the paper up by
1/180", printing the character a second time then shifting the paper back
down again. Enhanced and double strike can be combined to make the
characters stand out even more. Actually most of the capabilities can be
combined. Line spacing can be changed in increments of 1/360ths inch. In
addition the paper feed can advance or reverse. The last two features can
be combined to give true "super/subscripts".
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Print speed: Letter Quality 60 cps
Draft Quality 180 cps
High Speed 216 cps
Acoustic noise: Regular Mode 56 dba
Quiet Mode 53 dba
Quiet mode cuts printer speed in half and significantly lowers the noise.
Print Head: The print head is securely fastened in place with two easily
accessable screws. The head can be removed in seconds by removing the two
screws and unplugging the flat ribbon cord. The head contains 24 pins, each
having a diameter of .2 mm. They are arranged in two staggered vertical
rows of 12. They have a life expectancy of 200 million characters.
Interface: You can order either a Centronics Parallel or Serial RS-232C
plug.
Buffer: It comes standard with 8 kbytes.
Graphic Resolution: Maximum of 360x360 dpi.
Ribbon life: Black ribbon has a life of 2.2 million characters.
Colour ribbon has a life of .8 million characters.
Carbon copies: Original plus three copies
Paper width: 11.5 cm (4.5") up to 25.4cm(10")
The printer comes only with friction feed. If you need them, cut sheet
feeders and uni- or bi-directional tractors are available.
The print head is equipped with a heat sensor. If the head temperature
reaches 90 C the printer prints only unidirectionally. If the temp gets to
105 C the printer stops completely. The font display will show an "H".
When the head cools down the printer will automatically start printing
again.
To conclude this review I will say that I have found nothing to
complain about with the CP6. Once I learned how to use it properly it
served me well. Any problems that I thought it had were my fault. The text
output is excellent and the graphics are very acceptable if you can put up
with lines inherent with the Dot-Matrix style of printer.
At a price of between $1000 and $1300 I feel that it is money well
spent. The only problem is that I seem to be keeping a small paper company
in business. To look at it another way, I will never need any wall paper as
my walls are quickly becoming covered with graphic printouts. GREAT FUN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF NECCP6.RVW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~