| Title: | AMIGA NOTES |
| Notice: | Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2 |
| Moderator: | HYDRA::MOORE |
| Created: | Sat Apr 26 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Wed Feb 05 1992 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5378 |
| Total number of notes: | 38326 |
A while ago I finally got tired of apologizing for the print quality on
my NEC P6 printer, and went looking for something better. With my
Christmas cash burning a hole in my pocket I went to Computer Town in
Nashua and asked for the printer of my dreams: 300 dpi, compatible with
the HP Laserjet (or anything else that is supported by Preferences) and
with PostScript. From an old issue of AmigaWorld I expected to pay 5
or 6 thousand dollars for such a beast.
The salesman took an NEC Silentype brocure from the nearest table and
opened it to the back: the LC-890 is just what I was looking for. The
best part, however, is that he offered it to me for only $3890. I
guess prices have come down in the last year!
I offered him cash on the spot, but he didn't have any in stock, so I
didn't get it until a week later. I took it home and set it up (not a
hard job, but you must follow the instructions carefully). The power
up test page is Adobe's typical great-looking PostScript demo, so I
knew the hardware and firmware worked. I downloaded some PostScript
files intended for the LPS40, and they worked just fine. It took a few
days of beating my head against a wall to get HP Laserjet graphics
working, but when I finally discarded my 1.2 printer drivers and
started using the 1.3 drivers, that part started working, too.
I have ordered the PostScript driver for AmigaTeX; when it comes I will
be able to include IFF graphics with my TeX output, using \specials.
In the mean time I am using ProWrite and ProScript to get PostScript
output. ProScript doesn't support all of the fonts in the LC-890; I
have written to New Horizons Software asking for additional font
support.
For anyone who is tired of 180-dpi graphics, I can recommend this
printer as the next step up. It isn't a laser printer, but it seems to
be the closest thing to one; so close that I now have no desire for a
laser printer at all.
John Sauter
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2131.1 | Christmas Cash? | MTWAIN::MACDONALD | WA1OMM 7.093/145.05/223.58 AX.25 | Thu Jan 19 1989 17:53 | 3 |
"Only $3890"?
Say John, wanna adopt some of us?!
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| 2131.2 | 2nd the motion | MPGS::GOGUEN | Fri Jan 20 1989 06:47 | 2 | |
I second that!?
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| 2131.3 | good choice of parents | SAUTER::SAUTER | John Sauter | Fri Jan 20 1989 07:25 | 17 |
With reference to "Christmas cash", I have some rich, elderly,
relatives on the West Coast. Because I almost never visit them, they
don't know what to get me for Christmas, so they send money. After a
few years it mounts up to enough to buy me some nice toys. This
printer is my Christmas present for 1987 and 1988.
I have found a good source of high-quality paper for this beast, by the
way. Lots of the paper coming out of our LPS40 is thrown away,
particularly PostScript jobs that have been run through the ASCII
translator by mistake. I rescue such paper from the trash cans and
print on its back side.
I've still got some money left, so I am looking forward to getting an
A2620 when they arrive at System Eyes. If nothing else it should speed
up printing: at 300 dpi with smoothing the printer is pretty slow.
However, I also expect the Maxiplan sorts to go faster.
John Sauter
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| 2131.4 | Sounds like an instresting car, I mean, Printer | PRNSYS::LOMICKAJ | Jeff Lomicka | Fri Jan 20 1989 14:11 | 14 |
I want to know more. - Ink jet, i assume? - Parallel interface, or serial only? - Is PistScript by Adobe built in? And most importantly - How slow is it? How long does it take to print something like the first page of one of the NARC newsletters? What about other well known PostScript demos, such as the "Rose" picture? | |||||
| 2131.5 | more | SAUTER::SAUTER | John Sauter | Fri Jan 20 1989 16:53 | 19 |
re: .4
No, it uses an array of LEDs. After the LEDs it's just like a laser
printer.
Parallel (which I use), serial and AppleTalk.
Yes, Adobe PostScript is built in. There are other models that don't
have PostScript, in case you don't have a need for it.
It seems pretty slow to me, though I haven't tried the NARC newsletter.
I don't know what the Rose picture is, but the 3d view of the US map
took a long time. Since Adobe built the PostScript RIP, though, I
imagine it's about the same performance as the LN03R ScriptPrinter
(which I also think is slow).
The last time I priced a new car you couldn't get anything decent for
less than $6000. I bought a used car instead.
John Sauter
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