500 MB Nyheder Direkte fra Internet 2/500 MB nyheder direkte fra internet CD 2.iso/start/data/text/printers.txt

Text File | 1994-09-21 | 55KB | 998 lines

      FUNDAMENTALS
  A computer usually displays its answers on a screen. If you
want the computer to copy the answers onto paper, attach the
computer to a printer, which is a device that prints on paper.
  The typical printer looks like a typewriter but lacks a
keyboard. To feed information to the printer, you type on the
computer's keyboard. The computer transmits your request through
a cable of wires running from the back of the computer to the
back of the printer.
  A computer's advertised price usually does not include a
printer and cable. The cable costs about $8; the typical printer
costs several hundred dollars.
  Printers are more annoying than screens. Printers are noisier,
slower, cost more, consume more electricity, need repairs more
often, and require you to buy paper and ink. But you'll want a
printer anyway, to copy the computer's answers onto paper that
you can give your computerless friends. Another reason to get a
printer is that a sheet of paper is bigger than a screen and lets
you see more information at once.

     Printer dealers
  To get a printer cheaply, phone these mail-order discount
dealers:
Harmony Computers & Electronics
1801 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn NY 11210
800-441-1144 or 718-692-3232

USA Flex
135 N. Brandon Dr.
Glen Ellyn IL 60139
800-USA-FLEX or 708-351-7172

Midwest Micro
6910 U.S. Route 36 East
Fletcher OH 45326
800-423-8215 or 513-368-2309
  Harmony has the lowest prices but doesn't offer any technical
help. Midwest Micro offers the greatest variety of printers, a
free 56-page catalog, and toll-free technical help; but its
prices are higher than the other two companies. USA Flex's prices
and service are midway between the other two companies.
  You can also get good prices from chains of discount
superstores, such as Comp USA (which sells all kinds of computer
equipment) and Staples (which sells all kinds of office supplies
and some computer equipment).
                             Another way to get a printer cheaply
is to phone [phone]. That gets you the Accessories Division
of a major computer manufacturer, Epson. Say that you're
interested in buying an Epson printer that's
factory-reconditioned (which means ``used but fixed up by the
manufacturer to be like new''), and that you'd like a catalog
explaining which ones are available. They tend to be older
models, at prices that are ridiculously low. You get a 30-day
money-back guarantee and 2-year warranty. Consumers who have
phoned that number and received those printers have been
thrilled.

                                        Three kinds of printers
                             Three kinds of printers are popular.
                             A dot-matrix printer looks like a
typewriter but has no keyboard. Like a typewriter, it smashes an
inked ribbon against the paper. Like a typewriter, it's cheap: it
typically costs about $175.
                             An ink-jet printer looks like a
dot-matrix printer; but instead of containing a ribbon, it
contains tiny hoses that squirt ink at the paper. It prints more
beautifully than a dot-matrix printer and costs more. It
typically costs about $250.
                             A laser printer looks like a
photocopier. Like a photocopier, it contains a rotating drum and
inky toner. It prints even more beautifully than the other two
kinds of printers. Like a photocopier, it's expensive: it
typically costs about $650.

                                         Special requirements
                             As you progress from a dot-matrix
printer to an ink-jet printer to a laser printer, the quality
tends to go up, and so does the price. But here are exceptions. .
. .
                             Color If you need to print in color
(instead of just black-and-white), get an ink-jet printer.
(Dot-matrix printers produce colors too crudely and slowly. Color
laser printers cost too much ___ about $10,000.) Ink-jet printers
that can print in color cost about $400.
                             Mailing labels Although you can
print mailing labels on all three kinds of printers, the easiest
way to print mailing labels is on a dot-matrix printer.
                             Multi-part forms If you want to
print on a multipart form (using carbon paper or carbonless NCR
paper), you must buy a dot-matrix printer.
                             Old accounting software Some old
accounting software requires that you buy a dot-matrix printer.
It also requires that the printer be an expensive kind that can
handle extra-wide paper.

                                          Cost of consumables
                             After you've bought the printer and
used it for a while, the ink supply will run out, so you must buy
more ink.
                             In the typical dot-matrix printer,
the inked ribbon costs about $5 and lasts about 1000 pages, so it
costs about a half a penny per page. That's cheap!
                             In the typical ink-jet printer, the
ink cartridge costs about $20 and lasts about 500 pages, so it
costs about 4 cents per page. That's expensive!
                             In the typical laser printer, the
toner cartridge costs about $80 and lasts about 4000 pages, so it
costs about 2 cents per page. That's expensive, but not as
expensive as the ink in an ink-jet printer.
                             Those prices assume you're printing
black text. If you're printing graphics or color, the cost per
page goes up drastically. For example, full-color graphics on an
ink-jet printer cost about 50 cents per page.
                             For all three kinds of printers, you
must also pay for the paper, which costs about 1 cent per sheet
if you buy a small quantity (such as a 500 sheets), or a half a
cent per sheet if you buy a large quantity (such as 5000 sheets).
For low prices on paper, go to Staples.
  You must also pay for the electricity to run the printer; but
the electricity's cost is negligible (much less than a penny per
page) if you turn the printer off when you're not printing.
  Warning: if you leave a laser printer on even when not
printing, its total yearly electric cost can get high, since the
laser printer contains a big electric heater. (You might even
notice the lights in your room go dim when the heater kicks on.)

              Daisy-wheel printers
  Although the most popular kinds of printers are dot-matrix,
ink-jet, and laser, some folks still use an older kind of
printer, called a daisy-wheel printer. It's cute! Here's how it
works. . . .
  Like a typewriter and a dot-matrix printer, a daisy-wheel
printer smashes an inked ribbon against paper. To do that, the
daisy-wheel printer contains a device called a daisy wheel, which
is an artificial daisy flower made of plastic or metal. On each
of the daisy's petals is embossed a character: a letter, a digit,
or a symbol. For example, one petal has the letter A embossed on
it; another petal has B; another petal has C; etc.
  Notice that each character is embossed. (The word ``embossed''
is like ``engraved'', but an ``embossed'' character is raised up
from the surface instead of etched into the surface.)
  To print the letter C, the printer spins the daisy wheel until
the C petal is in front of the inked ribbon. Then a hammer bangs
the C petal against the ribbon, which in turn hits the paper, so
that an inked C appears on the paper.
  The printer can print each character extra-dark or regular. To
print a character extra-dark, the printer prints the character,
moves to the right just 120th of an inch, and then reprints the
character. Since the second printing is almost in the same place
as the original character, the character looks darkened and
slightly fatter. Those darkened, fattened characters are called
boldfaced.
  You can remove the daisy wheel from the printer and insert a
different daisy wheel instead. Each daisy wheel contains a
different font. For example, one daisy wheel contains italics; a
different daisy wheel contains Greek symbols used by scientists.
  The printer holds just one daisy wheel at a time. To switch to
italics in the middle of your printing, you must stop the
printer, switch daisy wheels (a tedious activity that requires
your own manual labor!), and then press a button for the printer
to resume printing.
  Manufacturers The most famous daisy-wheel printer manufacturer
was Diablo, founded by Mr. Lee in California. He sold the company
to Xerox, then founded a second daisy-wheel printer company, Qume
(pronounced ``kyoom''), which he sold to ITT. In 1988 he bought
Qume back. Other companies (such as Brother and Juki) invented
imitations that claimed to be Diablo & Qume compatible.
  Variants of the daisy wheel Over the years, many variants of
the daisy wheel have been invented.
  For example, Nippon Electric Company (NEC) invented a
``wilted'' daisy wheel, whose petals are bent. The wilted daisy
wheel is called a thimble. Computerists like it because it spins
faster than a traditional daisy and also produces a sharper
image. It's used just in NEC's Spinwriter and Elf printers.
  Another variation of the daisy wheel is the plastic golf ball,
which has characters embossed all over it. IBM calls it a
Selectric typing element. IBM uses it in typewriters, typesetting
machines, and printers. It produces better-looking characters
than daisy wheels or thimbles. Since it spins too slowly and
needs too many repairs, IBM is discontinuing it.
  Gigantic printers used by maxicomputers and minicomputers have
characters embossed on bands, chains, and drums instead of
daisies. Those printers are fast and cost many thousands of
dollars.

                   Look closer
  Now let's take a closer look at each of the three popular kinds
of printers: dot-matrix, ink-jet, and daisy-wheel. . . .

   DOT-MATRIX PRINTERS
                                                     A dot-matrix
printer resembles a daisy-wheel printer; but instead of
containing a daisy wheel, it contains a few guns, as if it were a
super-cowboy whose belt contains several holsters.
                                                     Each gun
shoots a pin at the inked ribbon. When the pin's tip hits the
ribbon and smashes the ribbon against the paper, a dot of ink
appears on the paper. Then the pin retracts back into the gun
that fired it.
                                                     Since each
gun has its own pin, the number of guns is the same as the number
of pins.

                                                        9-pin printers
                                                     If the
printer is of average quality, it has 9 guns ___ and therefore 9
pins. It's called a 9-pin printer. The 9 guns are stacked on top
of each other, in a column that's called the print head. If all
the guns fire simultaneously, the pins smash against the ribbon
simultaneously, so the paper shows 9 dots in a vertical column.
The dots are very close to each other, so that the column of dots
looks like a single vertical line. If just some of the 9 pins
press against the ribbon, you get fewer than 9 dots, so you see
just part of a vertical line.
                                                     To print a
character, the print head's 9 guns print part of a vertical line;
then the print head moves to the right and prints part of another
vertical line, then moves to the right again and prints part of
another vertical line, etc. Each character is made of parts of
vertical lines ___ and each part is made of dots.
                                                     The pattern
of dots that makes up a character is called the dot matrix.
That's why such a printer's called a 9-pin dot-matrix printer.
                                                     Inside the
printer is a ROM chip that holds the definition of each
character. For example, the ROM's definition of ``M'' says which
pins to fire to produce the letter ``M''. To use the ROM chip,
the printer contains its own CPU chip and its own RAM.
                                                     Manufacturer
s When microcomputers first became popular, most dot-matrix
printers for them were built by a New Hampshire company,
Centronics. In 1980, Japanese companies took over the
marketplace. Centronics went bankrupt.
                                                     The two
Japanese companies that dominate the industry are Epson and
Panasonic.
  Epson became popular because it was the first company to
develop a disposable print head ___ so that when the print head
wears out, you can throw it away and pop in a new one yourself,
without needing a repairman. Also, Epson was the first company to
develop a low-cost dot-matrix impact printer whose dots look
``clean and crisp'' instead of looking like "fuzzy blobs''. Epson
was the main reason why Centronics went bankrupt.
  Epson is part of a Japanese conglomerate called the Seiko
Group, which became famous by timing the athletes in the 1964
Tokyo Olympics. To time them accurately, the Seiko Group invented
a quartz clock attached to an electronic printer. Later, the
quartz clock was miniaturized and marketed to consumers as the
``Seiko watch'', which became the best-selling watch in the whole
world. The electronic printer, or ``E.P.'', led to a better
printer, called the ``son of E.P.'', or ``EP's son''. That's how
the Epson division was founded and got its name!
  Epson's first 9-pin printer was the MX-80. Then came an
improvement, called the FX-80. Those printers are obsolete;
they've been replaced by Epson's newest 9-pin wonders, the FX-870
($268) and the FX-1170 (which can handle extra-wide paper and
costs $349). Epson's cheapest and slowest 9-pin printers are the
LX-300 ($164) and the Action Printer 2250 ($124). You can get
those prices from USA Flex.
  For a 9-pin printer, I recommend buying the Panasonic 1150
instead, because it prints more beautifully and costs just $126
from discount dealers such as Harmony. Too bad it can't handle
extra-wide paper! If you want to print on extra-wide paper, you
must pay over twice as much: try the Panasonic 1695, which
Harmony sells for $349. One reason why the Panasonic 1695 costs
so much is that it's extra-fast.
  Besides Epson and Panasonic, four other Japanese companies also
popular: NEC, Oki, Citizen, and Star. Printers from all six of
those Japanese companies are intended mainly for the IBM PC,
though they work with Apple 2 and Commodore computers also.
  The most popular printers for the Mac were the Imagewriter and
the Imagewriter 2. They were designed by Apple to print exact
copies of the Mac's screen. They even print copies of the
screen's wild fonts and graphics. Apple stopped marketing them,
but you can still buy a refurbished Imagewriter for $127 and a
refurbished Imagewriter 2 for $199 from Computer Town in New
Hampshire at 603-898-3200. (Refurbished means ``used but fixed up
to be as-good-as-new''.)

           7-pin printers
  Although the average dot-matrix printer uses 9 pins, some older
printers use just 7 pins instead of 9. Unfortunately, 7-pin
printers can't print letters that dip below the line (g, j, p, q,
and y) and can't underline. Some 7-pin printers print just
capitals; other 7-pin printers ``cheat'' by raising the letters
g, j, p, q, and y slightly.

           24-pin printers
  Although 9 pins are enough to print English, they're not enough
to print advanced Japanese, which requires 24 pins instead.
  Manufacturers The first company to popularize 24-pin printers
was Toshiba. Its printers printed Japanese ___ and English ___
beautifully. 24-pin Toshiba printers became popular in America,
because they print English characters more
beautifully than 9-pin printers.
                                         Epson and all the other
Japanese printer companies have copied Toshiba. Now the cheapest
wonderful 24-pin printers are the Epson Action Printer 3250
($172), the Epson Action Printer 3260 ($194), the Panasonic 2023
($189), the Panasonic 2123 ($224), and the Epson LQ-570+ (which
is sturdier, easier to operate, and costs $239). The cheapest
24-pin printer that handles wide paper is the Epson LQ-1070+
($364). You can get those prices from Harmony and USA Flex.
                                         In a typical, cheap
24-pin printer (such as the Epson Action Printer 3250), the
even-numbered pins are slightly to the right of the odd-numbered
pins, so you see two columns of pins. After firing the
even-numbered pins, the print head moves to the right and fires
the odd-numbered pins, whose dots on paper overlap the dots from
the even-numbered pins. The overlap insures that the vertical
column of up to 24 dots has no unwanted gaps.
                                         In fancier 24-pin
printers (such as the Panasonic 2023 and 2123), the 24 pins are
arranged as a diamond instead of two columns, so that the sound
of firing pins is staggered: when you print a vertical line you
hear a quiet hum instead of two bangs.

                                                  Beyond 24 pins
                                         The fastest dot-matrix
printers use multiple print heads, so that they can print several
characters simultaneously.

                                               Why the daisies died
                                         During the 1970's,
daisy-wheel printers were popular, but they've died out.
Computerists have switched to dot-matrix printers instead, for
the following reasons.
                                         The mechanism that spins
the daisy is expensive, slow, and frequently needs repairs.
                                         Dot-matrix printers can
easily print graphics by making the pictures out of little dots.
Daisy wheels cannot.
                                         Although the first
dot-matrix printers had just 7 pins and printed ugly characters,
the newest 9-pin and 24-pin printers from Epson and Panasonic
print prettier characters than the average daisy wheel. Moreover,
you can make the typical 9-pin printer imitate an 18-pin printer
by doing 2-pass printing, in which the printer prints a line of
text, jerks the paper up very slightly, and then prints the line
again so the new dots fill the gaps between the old dots.
                                         If you have a
daisy-wheel printer and want to change to a different font (such
as italics), you must spend your time manually switching daisy
wheels. If you have a dot-matrix printer instead, just tell the
printer which font you want (by pressing a button on the printer
or on your computer's keyboard), and the printer will
automatically switch to different patterns of dots to produce the
different font, since the printer's ROM contains the definitions
of many fonts. To make a daisy-wheel printer print so many fonts,
you must buy several dozen daisy wheels, costing a total of
several hundred dollars.
                                         So daisy-wheel printers
died because of competition from dot-matrix printers ___ and from
ink-jet and laser printers, which print even more beautifully!
Let's examine those super-beautiful printers now. . . .

          INK-JET PRINTERS
  An ink-jet printer resembles a dot-matrix printer but contains
hoses instead of guns. The hoses squirt ink at the paper. The
hoses are called nozzles. There are no pins or ribbons.
  When you use an ink-jet printer, you hear the splash of ink
squirting the paper. That splash is quieter than the bang
produced when a dot-matrix printer's pins smash a ribbon. If you
like quiet, you'll love ink-jet printers!
  The most popular ink-jet printers are made by Hewlett-Packard
(HP). Recently, Canon and Epson have started making ink-jet
printers also.
  Epson's print head contains 48 nozzles; HP's contains 50
nozzles; Canon's contains 64 nozzles.
  How does the ink get out of the nozzle and onto the paper? In
most ink-jet printers (such as the ones by HP and Canon), a
bubble of ink in the nozzle gets heated and becomes hot enough to
burst and splash onto the paper. Epson uses a more precise
technique in its Stylus 800 printer: the nozzle suddenly
constricts and forces the ink out.

         Mainstream printers
  On the whole, the best ink-jet printers to buy are the HP
Deskjet 520 ($289), the Epson Stylus 800+ ($279), and th Canon
Bubble Jet BJ-200e ($279 minus $30 rebate, bringing your final
cost down to $249). Those are the prices from discount dealers.
  All three printers are excellent, and people who use them are
all happy. Here are the minor difference between the printers. .
. .
  Quality of graphics printed The Canon is the best (because it
has the most nozzles). The Epson is the worst.
  Speed The Canon is the best (up to 248 characters per second).
The Epson is the worst (because it lacks a ``high-speed
quick-draft'' mode).
  Size The Canon is the best: it's small, cute, and weighs just
6.6 pounds! The HP is the worst: it's too big and bulky.
  Cost of ink The HP is the best: its 1000-page cartridge costs
$25, giving 2.5¢ per page. The Epson is almost as good: its
700-page cartridge costs $18, giving 2.6¢ per page. The Canon is
the worst: its 450-page cartridge costs $23, giving 5.1¢ per
page. Those are the prices charged by discount dealers such as
USA Flex. Those page counts are approximate: the actual number of
pages that the cartridge prints depends on how many characters
and graphics you put on each page.
  Quality of text printed Each printer has its own advantages:
the Epson has the best kind of nozzle, the Hewlett-Packard has
the most precise dot location (600 positions per inch
horizontally), and the Canon's ink handles the widest variety of
paper well. If you won't let me say ``it's a tie'', then call the
Epson the best, the Canon the worst.

                Paper
  If you buy an ink-jet printer, experiment with using different
brands of paper. Some brands absorb ink much better than other
brands. If you choose the wrong brand, the ink will bleed (spread
out erratically through the strands of the paper's fiber). Start
by trying cheap copier paper, then explore alternatives. The
brand of paper you buy makes a
much bigger difference with ink-jet printers than with dot-matrix
or laser printers.

                                                  Water-based ink
                                         Canon's ink is
water-based. The bad thing about water-based ink is that if you
print on a sheet of paper or envelope that accidentally gets wet
(from rain or a sweaty thumb), the ink will run and smear. But if
you're careful to keep the paper dry, Canon's ink smears very
little.

                                                 Cheapest printers
                                         The cheapest decent
ink-jet printers are Epson's Stylus 400 ($244), Epson's Stylus
300 ($199), and Canon's BJ-100 ($249 minus $30 rebate). They're
cheap because they print slowly. The Stylus 300 is super-cheap
because it also prints less beautifully and requires an ink
cartridge that's more expensive.

                                                 Portable printers
                                         For the
executive-on-the-go, Canon and HP have invented portable ink-jet
printers which weigh very little (about 4 pounds). Unfortunately,
they print more slowly and require you to insert each page
manually, one page at a time: no automatic paper feed! Those
portable printers are the Canon BJ-10sx ($234) and the HP Deskjet
310 ($299).

                                                   Old printers
                                         Some people still use
older models. For example:
The old model of Epson's Stylus 800+ was the Stylus 800.
The old model of Canon's BJ-200e was the BJ-200.
The old model of Canon's BJ-10sx was the BJ-10.
The old model of HP's Deskjet 520 was the Deskjet 500.

                                                   Wide printers
                                         Epson and Canon make
wide printers that can print on extra-wide paper. Epson's is
called the Stylus 1000 ($449); Canon's is the BJ-230 ($389 minus
$30 rebate).

                                                  Color printers
                                         HP, Canon, and Epson
make printers that print in color.
                                         Epson's is called the
Color Stylus ($569). Canon's is called the BJC-600 ($549 minus
$30 rebate). They're both slightly nicer than HP's Deskjet 560C
($559).
                                         HP also makes a
super-fast model (the Deskjet 1200C for $1389) and older, worse
models (the Deskjet 550C for $419 and the Deskjet 500C for $389).

                                                   Mac printers
                                         All those ink-jet
printers I described are IBM-compatible. If you have a Mac
instead, you must buy a Mac printer ___ or a Mac version of an
IBM-compatible printer.
IBM-compatible printer                                 Mac
version and its price
Canon BJ-10                                            Apple
Stylewriter 1
Canon BJ-200                                           Apple
Stylewriter 2
$280
Canon BJC-600                                          Apple
Color Stylewriter Pro
$600

HP Deskjet 520                                         HP
Deskwriter 520
$299
HP Deskjet 560C                                        HP
Deskwriter 560C
$575
                                         The Stylewriters are
built by Canon but marketed by Apple. The Stylewriter 1 has been
discontinued; for the other printers, I've shown the prices
charged by discount dealers.

     LASER PRINTERS
  A laser printer, like an office photocopier, contains a drum
and uses toner made of ink. The printer shines a laser beam at
the drum, which picks up the toner and deposits it on the paper.
  For the IBM PC, the most popular laser printers are made by
Hewlett-Packard (HP).
  HP's first laser printer was the Laserjet. Then came an
improvement (the Laserjet Plus), a second improvement (the
Laserjet 2), a third improvement (the Laserjet 3), and a fourth
(the Laserjet 4).
  They've all been replaced by the Laserjet 4 Plus, a cheaper
``personal'' version called the Laserjet 4P, and an even cheaper
``lower-cost'' version called the Laserjet 4L.

     Laserjet 4 Plus
  The Laserjet 4 Plus is the best of all those printers. Here's
how it works. . . .
  It can print 12 pages per minute (12 ppm). It can print 600
dots per inch (600 dpi); and it uses a trick called Resolution
Enhancement Technology (RET), which can shift each dot slightly
left or right and make each dot slightly larger or smaller.
  Its ROM contains the definitions of 45 fonts. Each of those
fonts is scalable: you can make the characters as big or tiny as
you wish. If you want extra fonts, insert a font cartridge that
contains extra ROM chips, or do this: buy a floppy disk
containing definitions of extra fonts, put that disk into your
computer, copy those font definitions to your computer's hard
disk, then tell your computer to copy those font definitions to
the printer's RAM. So altogether, the printer can handle three
kinds of fonts: the 45 internal fonts that were inside the
printer originally; the cartridge fonts that you added by
inserting a cartridge; and soft fonts that are copied into the
printer's RAM from the computer's disks.
  The printer contains 2 megabytes of RAM, so it can handle lots
of soft fonts and graphics on the same page. Moreover, the
printer uses a trick called data compression, which compresses
the data so that twice as much data can fit in the RAM (as if the
RAM were 4 megabytes).
  The printer costs $1399. That's the price charged by discount
dealers (such as Harmony), and it includes a toner cartridge.
                                           Cheaper printers
                             If you can't afford a Laserjet 4
Plus, buy a cheaper printer instead:
Laser printer                            ResolutionRAM     Fonts
Speed                                                                 Price
HP Laserjet 4 Plus                       600 dpi + RET2M +
compression                                                45
scalable
12 ppm                                                                $1399
HP Laserjet 4P                           600 dpi + RET2M +
compression                                                45
scalable
4 ppm                                                                  $959
HP Laserjet 4L                           300 dpi + RET1M +
compression                                                26
scalable
4 ppm                                                                  $659

Epson Action Laser 1500                  300 dpi + RET1M   13 s +
14 b
6 ppm                                                                  $649
Panasonic KX-P4400                       300 dpi 1M        28
bitmap
4 ppm                                                                  $429
                             In the cheapest laser printer (by
Panasonic), the ROM's fonts are bitmap, which means
``non-scalable'', which means you cannot make those fonts bigger
or smaller: to get bigger or smaller fonts, you must buy
different fonts (font cartridges or soft fonts). Its $429 price
(from discount dealers such as Harmony) is actually $479 minus a
$50 rebate.
                             In Epson's mid-priced laser printer
(the Action Laser 1500), 13 of the fonts are scalable, and 14 are
non-scalable (bitmap).

                                             Print engines
                             Each HP laser printer contains a
photocopier print engine manufactured by Canon. In fact, each HP
laser printer is just a modified Canon photocopier!
                             In Epson's laser printer, the print
engine is made by Minolta instead of Canon. Panasonic and Sharp
make their own print engines.

                                            Older Laserjets
                             Many offices still use older
Laserjets. Here's how the famous old Laserjets compare with
modern ones:
Printer                            ResolutionRAM     Fonts
SpeedCheaper version
Laserjet 2                         300 dpi ½M        bitmap 8
ppmLaserjet 2P is 4 ppm
Laserjet 3                         300 dpi + RET1M   scalable 8
ppm
Laserjet 3P is 4 ppm, ½M
Laserjet 4                         600 dpi + RET2M +
compressionscalable                                         8
ppmLaserjet 4P is 4 ppm
Laserjet 4 Plus                    600 dpi + RET2M +
compressionscalable                                        12 ppm
                             The Laserjet 2 contains just a few
bitmap fonts ___ and they're all ugly! If you have a Laserjet 2,
I recommend that you add extra fonts to it by getting a font
cartridge. The most popular font cartridges for the Laserjet 2
are the Microsoft Z cartridge (manufactured by HP) and the
25-in-1 cartridge (manufactured by Pacific Data). For example,
this entire Secret Guide, which you're reading now, was produced
on a Laserjet 2 with the Microsoft Z cartridge (except for the
cute pictures and largest headlines). If you have a Laserjet 3,
3P, 4, 4P, 4L, or 4 Plus, don't bother buying font cartridges,
since those Laserjets include many good scalable fonts already.
        PCL versus Postscript
  When your computer wants to give the printer an instruction
(such as ``draw a diagonal line across the paper'' or ``make that
scalable font bigger''), the computer sends the printer a code.
  HP laser printers understand a code called Printer Control
Language (PCL). It was invented by HP. The newest version of PCL
is called PCL 5e. It's understood by the Laserjet 4 (and by the
Laserjet 4 Plus, 4P, and 4L). Older HP printers understand just
older versions of PCL and can't perform as many tricks.
  Most IBM-compatible laser printers (such as the ones by Epson,
Panasonic, and Sharp) understand PCL, so that they imitate HP's
laser printers, run the same software as HP's laser printers, and
are HP-compatible. But most of them understand just old versions
of PCL and can't perform as many tricks as the Laserjet 4 series.
  Some laser printers understand a different code, called
Postscript, which was invented by a company called Adobe.
  Back in the 1980's, PCL was still very primitive. Postscript
was more advanced. The fanciest laser printers from HP's
competitors used Postscript. The very fanciest laser printers
were bilingual: they understood both Postscript and PCL.
  Now that PCL has improved and become PCL 5e, it's about as good
as Postscript. PCL 5e printers cost less to manufacture than
Postscript printers.
  In Postscript, each command that the computer sends the printer
is written by using English words. Unfortunately, those words are
long and consume lots of bytes. In PCL, each command is written
as a brief series of code numbers instead. Since PCL commands
consume fewer bytes than Postscript commands, the computer can
transmit PCL commands to the printer faster than Postscript
commands, and PCL commands can fit in less RAM.

            Mac printers
  For the Mac, the most popular laser printer is Apple's
Laserwriter, which comes in many versions. Now the most popular
version is the Laserwriter Select 320. Discount dealers sell it
for $795. It uses Postscript.
  HP makes Laserjets that are modified to work with a Mac:
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4is the Laserjet 4M.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4 Plusis the Laserjet 4M Plus.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4Pis the Laserjet 4MP.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4Lis the Laserjet 4ML.
Each understands both PCL and Postscript. Each attaches to bothe
the IBM PC and the Mac. The cheapest (the 4ML) contains 4M of
RAM; the others each contain 6M of RAM.

              BEST BUYS
The cheapest nice IBM-compatible printer is the 9-pin Panasonic
1150 ($124). The next major step up is the 24-pin Panasonic 2023
($189). For a true workhorse, get the 24-pin Epson LQ-570+
($239).
                                         For prettier printing,
try an ink-jet printer such as the Canon BJ-200e ($249). But
remember that ink-jet printers are more finicky about what kind
of paper you insert, and the ink is expensive.
                                         The next major step up
is to get a laser printer, such as the Panasonic KX-P4400 (300
dpi, 4 pages per minute, $429), Epson Action Laser 1500 (300 dpi
+ RET, 6 pages per minute, $649), the HP Laserjet 4P (600 dpi +
RET, 4 pages per minute, $959), or the HP Laserjet 4 Plus (600
dpi + RET, 12 pages per minute, $1399).

         PRINTER TECHNOLOGY
  Now let's plunge into the technical details of printer
technology!

      Impact versus non-impact
  A printer that smashes an inked ribbon against the paper is
called an impact printer. The most popular kind of impact printer
is the dot-matrix printer. Other impact printers use daisy
wheels, thimbles, golf balls, bands, chains, and drums. They all
make lots of noise, though manufacturers have tried to make the
noise acceptable by putting the printers in noise-reducing
enclosures and by modifying the timing of the smashes.
  A printer that does not smash an inked ribbon is called a
non-impact printer. Non-impact printers are all quiet! The most
popular non-impact printers are ink-jet printers and laser
printers. Other non-impact printers are thermal printers (whose
hot pins scorch the paper), and thermal-transfer printers (which
melt hot colored wax onto the paper).
  Each has its own disadvantages. Thermal printers require
special ``scorchable'' paper. Thermal-transfer printers require
expensive ribbons made of colored wax.

             Resolution
  If a printer creates characters out of dots, the quality of the
printing depends on how fine the dots are ___ the ``number of
dots per inch'', which is called the print resolution.
  9-pin printers usually print 72 dots per inch vertically.
That's called draft quality, because it's good enough for rough
drafts but not for final copy. It's also called business quality,
because it's good enough for sending memos to your coworkers and
accountant.
  If you make a 9-pin printer do 2 passes, it prints 144 dots per
inch. That's called correspondence quality, because it's good
enough for sending pleasant letters to your friends. It's also
called near-letter-quality (NLQ), because it looks nearly as good
as the letters produced on a typewriter. The typical 9-pin
printer has a switch you can flip, to choose either 1-pass draft
quality (which is fast) or 2-pass correspondence quality (which
is slower but prettier).
  A 24-pin printer prints 180 dots per inch. That's called letter
quality (LQ), because it looks as good as the letters printed by
a typical typewriter or daisy-wheel printer. It's good enough for
writing letters to people you're trying to impress.
  A standard laser printer prints 300 dots per inch. That's
called desktop-publishing quality, because it's good enough for
printing newsletters. It's also called near-typeset-quality,
because it looks nearly as good as a typesetting machine.
  A standard typesetting machine prints 1200 or 2400 dots per
inch. Those are the resolutions used for printing America's
popular magazines, newspapers, and books.
  HP's Laserjet 2P Plus, 3, 3P, and 4L all print 300 dots per
inch; but the 3, 3P, and 4L produce prettier output than the 2P
Plus by using this trick: they can print each dot at 5 different
sizes (ranging from ``normal'' to ``extra tiny'') and nudge each
dot slightly to the right or left. HP's Laserjet 4 and 4P print
600 dots per inch.
  Ink-jet printers by Canon and Epson usually print 360 dots per
inch. HP's ink-jet printers usually print 300 dots per inch.
                                                  Character size
                                         To measure a character's
size, you must measure both its width and its height.
                                         Width Like an
old-fashioned typewriter, a traditional printer makes each
character a tenth of an inch wide. That's called ``10 characters
per inch'' or 10 cpi or 10-pitch or pica (pronounced ``pike
uh'').
                                         Some printers make all
the characters narrower so you get 12 characters per inch. That's
called 12 cpi or 12-pitch or elite.
                                         The typical dot-matrix
impact printer lets you choose practically any width you wish.
For example, the Epson LQ-850 can print 5, 6, 7½, 8■, 10, 12, 15,
16■, and 20 cpi. The widest sizes (5, 6, 7½, and 8■ cpi) are
called double-width, because they're twice as wide as 10, 12, 15,
and 16■ cpi. The narrowest sizes (16■ and 20 cpi) are called
condensed or compressed; they're 60% as wide as 10 and 12 cpi.
                                         Some printers make each
character a different width, so that a ``W'' is very wide and an
``i'' is narrow; that's called proportional spacing. It looks
much nicer than uniform spacing (such as 10 cpi or 12 cpi). The
typical modern printer lets you choose either proportional
spacing or uniform spacing. Uniform spacing is usually called
monospacing.
                                         Height The typical sheet
of paper is 11 inches tall. If you put one-inch margins at the
top and bottom, you're left with 9 inches to print on.
                                         After printing a line of
type, the typical typewriter or printer jerks up the paper a
sixth of an inch, then prints the next line. As a result, you get
6 lines of type per inch, so the entire sheet of paper shows ``9
times 6'' lines of type, which is 54 lines.
                                         The fanciest printers,
such as laser printers, can make characters extra-tall or
extra-short. The character's height is measured in points. Each
point is 1/72 of an inch. A character that's an inch tall is
therefore called ``72 points tall''. A character that's half an
inch tall is 36 points tall.
                                         Like a typewriter, a
printer normally makes characters 10 points tall. (More
precisely, it makes the top of a capital ``Y'' 10 points higher
than the bottom of a small ``y''.) It also leaves a 2-point gap
above the top of the ``Y'', to separate it from the characters on
the previous line. That 2-point gap is called the leading
(pronounced ``ledding''). That technique is called ``10-point
type with 2-point leading''. Since the type plus the leading
totals 12 points, it's also called ``10-point type on 12'' (or
``10 on 12'' or ``10/12'').
                      Fonts
  You can make a capital T in two ways. The simple way is draw a
horizontal bar and a vertical bar, like this: T. The fancy way is
to add serifs at the ends of the bars, like this: T. A character
such as T, which is without serifs, is called sans serif, because
``sans'' is the French word for ``without''.
  Monospaced fonts The most popular monospaced fonts are Courier
(which has serifs) and Letter Gothic (which is sans serif).
Letter Gothic was invented by IBM in 1956 for typewriters.
Courier was invented for typewriters also.
  Proportionally-spaced fonts The most popular proportionally
spaced fonts are Times Roman (which has serifs) and Helvetica
(which is sans serif). Times Roman was invented by The Times
newspaper of London in 1931.  Helvetica was invented by Max
Miedinger of Switzerland in 1954. (The name ``Helvetica'' comes
from ``Helvetia'', the Latin name for Switzerland.)
  Samples Here are samples from the 300-dot-per-inch laser
printer that printed this book (an HP Laserjet 2 printer with
Microsoft Z cartridge):


  Here are samples from a 24-pin dot-matrix printer, the Epson
LQ-570:


  Here are samples from an ink-jet printer, the Canon BJ-200e. In
these samples, the Canon is pretending it's the Epson LQ-570. The
Canon's imitative printing looks better than Epson's original,
since Canon's printer is an ink-jet instead of a dot-matrix. Look
at how pretty Canon's printing is:


Canon doesn't imitate Epson's OCR-B or Script C.
                                                             Paper
                                                     Laser
printers and most ink-jet printers accept a stack of ordinary
copier paper. You put that paper into the printer's paper tray,
which is also called the paper bin and also called the cut-sheet
paper feeder.
                                                     Dot-matrix
printers Though some dot-matrix printers handle stacks of
ordinary copier paper, most dot-matrix printers handle paper
differently. Here's how. . . .
                                                     To pull
paper into the printer, dot-matrix printers can use two methods.
                                                     The simplest
method is to imitate a typewriter: use a rubber roller that grabs
the paper by friction. That method's called friction feed.
Unfortunately, friction is unreliable: the paper will slip
slightly, especially when you get near the bottom of the sheet.
                                                     A more
reliable method is to use paper that has holes in the margins.
The printer has feeder pins that fit in the holes and pull the
paper up through the printer very accurately. That method, which
is called pin feed, has just one disadvantage: you must buy paper
having holes in the margins.
                                                     If your
printer uses pin feed and is fancy, it has a clamp that helps the
pins stay in the holes. The clamp (with its pins) is called a
tractor. You get a tractor at each margin. A printer that has
tractors is said to have tractor feed. Usually the tractors are
movable, so that you can move the right-hand tractor closer to
the left-hand tractor, to handle narrower paper or mailing
labels.
                                                     A dual-feed
printer can feed the paper both ways ___ by friction and by pins
___ because it has a rubber roller and also has sets of pins. The
printer has a lever to the left of the roller and pins: if you
pull the lever one way, the paper will pass by the roller, for
friction feed; if you pull the lever the other way, the paper
will pass by the pins, for pin feed.
                                                     Most
dot-matrix printers have dual feed with movable tractors.
                                                     Paper that
has holes in it is called pin-feed paper (or tractor-feed paper).
  Like a long tablecloth folded up and stored in your closet,
pin-feed paper comes in a long, continuous sheet that's folded.
Since it comes folded but can later be unfolded (``fanned out''),
it's also called fanfold paper. It's perforated so you can rip it
into individual sheets after the printer finishes printing on it.
If the paper's fancy, its margin is perforated too, so that after
the printing is done you can rip off the margin, including its
ugly holes, and you're left with what looks like ordinary typing
paper.
  The fanciest perforated paper is called micro-perf. Its
perforation is so fine that when you rip along the perforation,
the edge is almost smooth.
  Paper width Most printers can use ordinary typing paper or
copier paper. Such paper is 8½ inches wide. On each line of that
paper, you can squeeze 85 characters at 10 cpi, or 170 characters
at 20 cpi, if you have no margins.
  Pin-feed paper is usually an inch wider (9½ inches wide), so
that the margins are wide enough to include the holes.
  Some printers can handle pin-feed paper that's extra-wide (15
inches). Those wide-carriage printers typically cost about $130
more than standard-width printers.

                Speed
  The typical printer's advertisement brags about the printer's
speed by measuring it in characters per second (cps) or lines per
minute (lpm) or pages per minute (ppm). But those measurements
are misleading.
  Dot-matrix and ink-jet printers For example, Epson advertised
its LQ-850 dot-matrix printer as ``264 cps'', but it achieved
that speed only when making the characters small (12 cpi) and
ugly (draft quality). To print characters that were large (10
cpi) and pretty (letter quality), the speed dropped to 73 cps.
  Panasonic advertised its KX-P1091 dot-matrix printer as ``192
cps'', but it achieved that speed only if you threw an internal
switch that made the characters even uglier than usual!
  For dot-matrix and ink-jet printers, the advertised speed
ignores how long the printer takes to jerk up the paper. For
example the typical ``80-cps'' printer will print 80 characters
within a second but then take an extra second to jerk up the
paper to the next line, so at the end of two seconds you still
see just 80 characters on the paper.
  Daisy-wheel printers To get an amazingly high cps rating, one
daisy-wheel manufacturer fed its printer a document consisting of
just one character repeated many times, so the daisy never had to
rotate!
  Laser printers To justify a claim of ``8 pages per minute'',
Apple salesmen noticed that their Laserwriter 2 NT printer takes
a minute to produce 8 extra copies of a page. They ignored the
wait of several minutes for the first copy!
  Like Apple, most other laser-printer manufacturers say ``8
pages per minute'' when they should really say: ``1/8 of a minute
per additional copy of the same page''.
  Keep your eyes open Don't trust any ads about speed! To
discover a printer's true speed, hold a stopwatch while the
printer prints many kinds of documents (involving small
characters, big characters, short lines, long lines, draft
quality, letter quality, and graphics).
                                                    Interfacing
                                         A cable of wires runs
from the printer to the computer. The cable costs about $8 and is
not included in the printer's advertised price: the cable costs
extra.
                                         One end of the cable
plugs into a socket at the back of the printer. The other end of
the cable plugs into a socket at the back of the computer. The
socket at the back of the computer is called the computer's
printer port.
                                         If you open your
computer, you'll discover which part of the computer's circuitry
the printer port is attached to. In a typical computer, the
printer port is attached to the motherboard; but in some
computers (such as the original IBM PC), the printer port is
attached to a small PC card instead, called a printer interface
card, which might not be included in the computer's advertised
price.
                                         When the computer wants
the printer to print some data, the computer sends the data to
the printer port; then the data flows through the cable to the
printer.
                                         Serial versus parallel
The cable contains many wires. Some of them are never used:
they're in the cable just in case a computer expert someday
figures out a reason to use them. Some of the wires in the cable
transmit information about scheduling: they let the computer and
printer argue about when to send the data. If the computer's port
is serial, just one of the wires transmits the data itself; if
the computer's port is parallel, eight wires transmit the data
simultaneously.
                                         Parallel ports are more
popular than serial ports, because parallel ports transmit data
faster, are more modern, and are easier to learn how to use.
Unfortunately, parallel ports handle only short distances: if the
printer is far away from the computer, you must use a serial port
instead.
                                         When you buy a printer,
make sure the printer matches the computer's port. If your
computer's port is parallel, you must buy a parallel printer; if
your computer's port is serial, you must buy a serial printer
instead.
                                         If your computer has two
printer ports ___ one parallel, one serial ___ you can attach the
computer to either type of printer; but I recommend that you
choose a printer that's parallel, because parallel printers cost
less, and because many word-processing programs require that the
printer be parallel.
                                         Standard cables The
typical parallel printer expects you to use a cable containing 36
wires. Just 8 of the wires transmit the data; the remaining wires
can be used for other purposes. That 36-wire scheme is called the
industry-standard Centronics-compatible parallel interface.
                                         The typical serial
printer expects you to use a cable containing just 25 wires. Of
the 25 wires, just 1 transmits data from the computer to the
printer; the remaining wires can be used for other purposes. That
25-wire scheme is called the recommended standard 232C serial
interface (RS-232C serial interface).
                                         Weird cables If your
computer is an IBM PC or clone, you'll get a surprise when you
try attaching it to a parallel printer (which expects 36 wires):
your computer's parallel port contains just 25 wires instead of
36! To attach the computer's 25-wire parallel port to a 36-wire
parallel printer, computer stores sell a weird cable that has 25
wires on one end and 36 wires on the other.
                                         If your computer is
small and cute (such as the Apple 2c, 2GS, Mac, Commodore 64, or
Radio Shack Color Computer), you'll get a surprise when you try
attaching it to a standard serial printer (which expects 25
wires): your computer's serial port contains fewer than 10 wires!
You must buy a weird cable that has 25 wires on one end and fewer
on the other.
This is Courier, 10 points high and 10 cpi.
This is Courier Bold (10 points high, 10 cpi).
This is Lineprinter (similar to Letter Gothic), 8.5 points high
and 16.7 cpi.
This is 8-point Times Roman. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice
things come in small packages.
This is 10-point Times Roman, Times Roman Bold, and Times Roman
Italic.
This is 12-point Times Roman, Times Roman Bold, and Italic.
This is 14-point Times Roman Bold.
This is 8-point Helvetica. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice
things come in small packages.



This is 8-point Helvetica. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice
things come in small packages.
This is 10-point Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, and Helvetica Italic.
This is 12-point Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, and Helvetica Italic.
This is 14-point Helvetica Bold.