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CRYSTAL.TXT
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1988-09-23
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Review of CrystalPrint WP Page Printer
Copyright 1988 by David W. Batterson
The growth of page printer sales has been remarkable, and will continue to
increase over the years as the technology advances and prices drop.
Page printers are printers which use the technologies of ink jet, thermal
transfer, laser, liquid crystal shutter (LCS), light emitting diode (LED)
array, and ion-deposition. Such printers reproduce both graphics and text in
high resolution, generally 300 dots per inch (dpi) or higher.
Most page printers are compatible with the H-P LaserJet series and/or
Apple LaserWriters, and their respective page descriptive languages, PCL and
PostScript. They also generally emulate popular character printers like Epson
and Diablo.
According to Dataquest, a San Jose, CA market research firm, low-end page
printers will rack up sales of about $1.9 billion by 1991. Therefore one
realizes why so many companies are trying to grab a piece of this fat pie.
Qume Corporation has paired up with Casio Computer Co., Ltd. (yes, the
same company which had huge success with LCD watches and calculators). The
printer uses Casio's LCS printer engine and a Qume controller.
Unlike a laser printer which uses a rotating mirror, this LCS printer has
no scanning distortion, and uses fewer moving parts. With the LCS technology,
the light source shines onto the assembly of liquid crystal shutters, causing
selected light to pass through the lens and onto the drum.
Thus the CrystalPrint WP is what some call a "laser class" printer, like
NEC's Silentwriter series of LED-array page printers.
One major advantage of the CrystalPrint WP is its size (or "footprint," a
term I get tired of seeing). It measures 15.7" x 13.4" x 9.1". Thus it's
almost 20 percent smaller than the HP DeskJet, and about 50 percent smaller
than the H-P LaserJet Series II. Weight is around 35 pounds.
According to Qume, the H-P DeskJet (an ink jet printer which is a few
hundred dollars cheaper) is "12 times slower" than a six-page-per-minute
printer like the CrystalPrint. The WP has a suggested list of $1,299 which
should discount to under $1000, while the DeskJet can be purchased at some
places for around $700 at this time.
The WP is not really meant for intensive desktop publishing, like its
"bigger brother," the CrystalPrint Series II. It is meant primarily for
printing 300 dpi output of word processing and spreadsheet files. The WP
emulates the Diablo 630 ECS, and is compatible with all word processing and
spreadsheet software.
Optional cartridges provide emulation of the Epson FX-85, IBM ProPrinter
II and HP LaserJet Plus. Optional cartridge fonts include Prestige Elite,
Times Roman, Helvetica, Presentation Helvetica and Letter Gothic. Also
optional is an increase to 256K memory (from standard 128K); this is required
for the printer emulation options.
The standard font is Medium Courier (regular or bold), 12 point and 10
characters per inch in size. Courier is generally the supplied font for most
if not all page printers. It is a perfectly fine font, but as a personal
preference I would rather have a sans serif font.
The paper tray holds 100 sheets of standard 8 1/2" x 11" paper; optional
trays are available for legal, DIN A4 and DIN B5 paper sizes. The drum has a
rated life of 10,000 pages, while a toner set will last about 6,000 pages (with
5% coverage). If you do extensive graphics printing, you'll use up toner much
faster. Three toner packs are provided.
I did not verify it with a stopwatch but warm-up time is about 30 seconds,
with a maximum of 24 seconds to first print. Once it starts printing, you get
six pages per minute output.
Unpacking and setup did not take a lot of time. You remove the protective
spacers (small plastic parts which protect the delicate printer parts during
shipment), and then install the toner unit. Next add toner (no muss or fuss!),
the waste toner bottle, fuser cleaner and drum. The illustrated manual is
clear and concise.
The control panel is well-designed, carefully explained, and easy to use.
Like your office copier machine, the CrystalPrint WP has "operator attention
messages" (number codes), such as: out of paper, replace toner, paper jam,
printer cover open, replace drum, and so forth.
There are also code numbers for "service required messages." If you get
these, it means it's time to call an authorized service technician. I did not
get any of these messages during the evaluation period.
Although the default Diablo 630 ECS settings should work properly with
your software, the control panel also allows changing these. For instance you
can set "automatic line feed with carriage return" to "On" or "Off". The
manual covers how to do this, but doesn't explain in simple terms WHY it may be
necessary to make the various changes.
The manual also mentions "ECS mode" several times, but nowhere does it
bother to explain what "ECS" stands for, which is "extended character set."
These are the "high-bit" ASCII characters: boxes, border characters, foreign
language characters and math symbols. I was unable to get the WP to print
these special characters, although it should do so.
Another aspect of printers is explained poorly in most printer manuals,
including this one: control codes and escape codes. For instance, "ESC O"
selects bold print; the decimal value is "27 79." These are entered in your
word processing software's configuration or setup program, so that bold
printing and other requirements will occur when you want them to.
In testing the integrated software Ability Plus, I was unable to get bold
printing to work after entering "ESC O" in the printer drivers program.
Instead of bold print, the phrase (ESC)O was printed before the words that were
supposed to be in bold print. I believe the problem was with Ability Plus,
since I was able to get bold printing with the Electric Desk word processor.
Some users may have to call tech support for help with this. However,
there is no mention in the manual of a separate tech support number; the
company's corporate phone number is on the back cover, so try it if necessary.
So how is the WP's printing quality? I would have to give it an excellent
rating overall. Type fonts print out crisp, dark and clean.
If you're in the market for a laser class printer and have a limited
budget, this might be just what you're looking for.
For more information, contact: Qume Corporation, 2551 Walsh Ave.,
Santa Clara, CA 95051; 408-727-8899; FAX number 408-986-1426.
#
David W. Batterson writes computer articles, reviews and commentary, and does
editing and desktop publishing for various clients.