PRINTERS¢--------¢¢By Jon Cooper.¢¢¢¢A printer is a very handy piece of hardware to have, but some people are confused about what make or type they want in this article I hope to get you going in the right direction.¢¢The main question to ask yourself when buying a printer is whether to get a Atari printer or a 'other make' printer.¢If you only want your printer for using at home for things like short letters and the odd graphic dump then a Atari printer should do you. Atari have stopped making 8-bit printers but there are plenty about second hand. The big plus with Atari printers is that no interface is needed which will save you about fourty quid!Buying a Atari printer may seem ideal but a fair bit of commercial software will not work with them so be warned!¢Atari have made several printers but the one I would recomend is the 1029 model expect to pay about seventy to eighty pounds for a decent one.¢¢¢After reading the last couple of paragraphs you may wonder whats the point in buying one of the 'other makes of printers' when they are a fair bit more expensive and you need a interface to use them with the 8-bit. The main reasons are:-¢¢A:They are useally faster than Atari printers so long letters can take half the time to print.¢¢B:They have a much better resale value.¢¢C:Some of the best 8-bit printer software will only work on them.¢¢If you want to really get 'into' printing I would recomend you think carefully about buying 'one of the other makes' but be prepared to pay a fair bit out for one.¢When I have mentioned 'other makes' I mean makes like STAR, CITIZEN, EPSON etc.¢The type is really up to you but make sure it is 100% Epson compatible as other wise you will have BIG problems.¢¢Any make of printer apart from Atari will need a interface to work. There are three or four types availble and they cost about twenty to fifty pounds new.¢If you are only going to need your interface for printing check that you are not buying a interface that allows you to use other hardware as well like modems etc as they can cost twice as much as a normal printer interface.¢GRALIN INTERNATIONAL who advertise in Page6 sell a interface for about thirty pounds which seems a good buy.¢¢¢I haven't gone into as much detail in this article as I would have liked but if you want help or have a particular question to ask please write to me with a stamped addressed envelope and I'll be happy to help.¢¢Write to:-¢¢JON COOPER¢201 LANGER LANE¢CHESTERFIELD¢DERBYSHIRE¢S40 2JW¢¢
