Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Cannon PJ 1080A Inkjet printer
    
    Cost:      260.00 while supplies last (list 795.00)
    Type:      Four colors using Inkjet technology
    Paper:     For best output clay coated or other recommended, plain
               paper can be used.
    Interface: Standard parallel interface
    Driver:    Not available, will wait for one or create my own.
    Supplies:  Coated paper $12.00 per roll, approx. $.06 per sheet
               not including ink.  Ink $30.00 or so, will update later.
    
    This is the same color printer being sold for $199.00 (sale price)
    at Radio Shack except that the Radio Shack version is older and
    has fewer ROM instructions and no DOUBLE density feature.
    
    The COMPUTER CLUB (I think Atari ST club) is selling these at the
    $260.00 due to an agreement between IBM and Cannon to sell the 
    product as the IBM Inkjet printer, the units being sold have the 
    Cannon name.  I will supply more information when I get my printer,
    I'm only suppling information now due to the limited availability
    of these printers at this time.  (4000 units were allocated to this
    club, only 500 remain)
    
    Atari Computer Club, Natick MA
    (617) 879-5232
    
    Cannon PJ1080A $260.00
    Interface cable $14.95
    Membership $5.00, needed for purchase.  You will get information
    on the Atari as well as other products the club gets at a reduced
    price.
    
    Drew

    I also have th canon PJ1080 printer.  I got mine at the bit bucket
    in Wellsely for about the same price.  The reson they are so cheap
    is (according to the salesman) that CANON has dicontinued the model.
    I'm using standard paperin mine and it works just fine.  I can also
    give anyone who needs it a copy of the driver for the CANON but
    be forewarned it does seem to have one bug in it: a z gets printed
    at the beginning of a job.  FOr those of you  thinking of purchasing
    the printer you  should look at the text first since it does not
    have lower decenders.  This makes for very funny looking type.
    Steve
    

    I am selling my Epson LX90 printer to a friend, and am looking for
    a new printer.  I was disappointed with the graphics capabilities.
    
    Any reccommendations for a good dot matrix printer, with good graphics
    output and NLQ mode.
    
    I understand that Toshiba makes a 22 pin printer that has beautiful
    output.  Does anyone have any experience with this?  Does it need
    a special driver to work with the Amiga?
    
    Color output is not needed.
    
    Randy
    

    There is a review of Printers for the Amiga in a recent mag. Wish
    I could recall which one. Its either the current issue of Amiga
    World or Byte. One or the other.
    
    Paul

     
    The current (Nov-Dec) issue of AmigaWorld has a review of a whole
    slew of color printers. Check it out - Some are very inexpensive.
    
    Roy

but it specifically addresses only color graphics.  It says that the current 
state of the art doesn't permit use of a single printer for good b&w text and 
also color graphics.

	Paul

    As I said, I am not interested in color printing.  Just good NLQ
    and good graphics.
    
    Anyone have experience with the Juki, Panasonic or the newer Epsons?
    
    Randy
    

    Toshiba seems to be the leader in 24-pin NLQ printers. I believe
    their latest also run 240 cps in draft mode.
    
    Paul

    Yes, but is it Epson compatible, or is there a driver for it for
    the Amiga?
    

    I just took delivery of a Juki 5510 Color printer from GoAmiga.
    It is wonderful...even better than I thought it would be.  The near
    letter quality rivals 24 pin machines.  The graphics are quite good,
    in color or B&W.  It is very similar to the Epson JX-80, but that
    does not have NLQ.                             
                                                   
    They are selling it for $499 with the color kit.  It seems to be
    a good all around printer, with color capabilities.
    

    Does anyone have thoughts about the apple image writer.  With this
    printer you have color plus NLQ.  Does it work well with the amiga?
    
    The drawback with the cannon is the roll paper.  It's
    hard to get flat.  The paper stays rolled after printout.  Plus
    you have to tear it out like a piece of tin foil.  This produces
    a somewhat jagged edge.  Speaking from someone else who owns a cannon
    color printer. 

    The imagewriter is supposed to perform very well.  However it will
    tie up your serial port (I believe) so you will need a printer switch
    if you want to use a modem or other serial accessory.
    

    What is the cost of an imagewrite? Is there a drive for it?
    How do the colors compare to the Okimate 20?
    
    ... .   .     Rich

    Instead of starting a new topic to clutter this conference, I decided
    to try to revive this one.
    
    What printers are people using nowadays? What points should one
    keep in mid when choosing a printer? Are 24-pin printers worth the
    extra money? etc. etc.
    
    I'currently using an LA-50 (the worst printer ever created by man,
    at least reagrding the paper transport). It's not mine, anyway,
    and I'd like to free up my serial port for other uses. The printers
    (9 pin) that seem to offer the best price/performance over here
    seem to be the Epson LX-800 and Star NL-10 (because of the huge
    volume and competition in the I*M clone market). Does anyone have
    one of these? Any comments?
    

I have a STAR NX10 and Okimate-20 on the parallel port and an LA75 and
HP plotter on the serial port.  The star is so-so.  OK for the price.
The Okimate gives super color but is slow.  If you want great color
and only use it once in a while, this is probably the cheapest way to go 
for picture reproductions.  For high volume or as your document printer, 
I don't recommend it.

The LA75 in compatability mode is pretty good.  They straightened out the 
paper feeding problems of the LA50 and there is a super sheet feeder 
available that really works!

The HP plotter is great with products like Aegis Draw Plus.

As for a reasonable production rate color printer, the new DEC LJ250/252 ink 
jet printer would be worth a try.  I haven't tried any laser printers yet.  
Anyone out there have any input?  Something that would give reasonable 
output like for a newsletter or tech docs without having to mortgage the
homestead would be nice...

Anyone hook an LN03 to an Amiga yet???


john

    How's the LA75 for graphics?
    
    ... Rich

    My needs are just for B/W text and graphics, but with reasonable
    resolution...
    
    (E.g. there are a couple of PC layout programs available which produce
    rather decent prototype (or amateur :-) quality PC designs on a
    good matrix printer).
    

    Don't forget that the impending release of WorkBench 1.3 will contain
    totally new versions of printer drivers.  The new drivers will be
    intelligent enough to use the full resolution capabilities of the
    printer rather than a simple screen image bit map.
    
    VizaWrite uses their own super-driver to produce excellent results
    on large fonts, so it is possible.

    Oh, how good.
    
    Can anyone say off the top of their heads what the resolution (dpi)
    of, say, the LX-800 is?
    

     This note is old, but it seems like the one for asking 
     about printers so ...
     
     From reading all the notes I could find on printers in here,
     I deduced that the Okimate 20 is most suited to my needs -
     good color, occasional use, no heavy text use, good price.
     If this note conference didn't exist, I would probably just buy
     one. So here are two questions:
     
     Is there another similar /better printer I should consider?
     
     Is the Okimate (or other) printer something I should get
     mail order, or is so fragile that I would want
     service and an easy return policy?
     
     Thanks,
     Dave
     
     

    I too am looking for a printer.  I want a color printer that will
    print good quality paint programs, plus have the capablity of printing
    Near Letter or Letter Quality work in color.  Do any of you have
    any suggestions?  I do not want to spend a lot of money - like no
    more than $500 or less if possible.
    
    Thanks for any help,
    
    Jill

    I have a B&W printer for sale:
    
    o Epson RX80F/T
    o Built-in parallel and serial ports
    o Dresselhaus "Dots Perfect" letter quality character ROM
    o Tractor and friction feed
    
    $200 or best offer.

    I've been using it on my A1000. Nice printer with the "Dots Perfect"
    output!
    
    Paul

	Hewlett-Packard has recently begun advertising a printer called
	a DeskJet.  According to some literature I read, this thing is
	intended as a poor man's laser-printer -- without the laser.  It
	uses inkjet technology to get 300 DPI resolution on standard
	8 1/2 by 11 sheets; it doesn't do color, but the B/W graphics
	looked pretty good.  There are multiple fonts available for it
	both as font-cartridges and downloadable soft-fonts, and it comes
	standard with both a Centronics parallel interface and a serial
	connection.  Best of all, there's a driver for it in 1.3 Workbench...
	All this for $995 retail.

	The quality of the output displayed in their ads is almost
	indistinguishable from a laser-printer.  Has anyone actually 
	SEEN one of these things ?  Are they really as good as they sound ?

    I used to have an Okimate 10 printer.  Color graphics were quite
    good, especially for the price of the printer.  But be warned: 
    the ribbons are quite expensive.  As I remember, a color printout
    can cost as much as $1.00 a page.  (Okimate 20 owners, correct me
    if I'm wrong)  You will also need thermal transfer paper, otherwise
    the printouts will not look very good, including text.  The wax
    inks do not transfer to standard paper very well, the texture is
    too rough.  An because it is a wax transfer process, the ribbon
    can only be used for one pass.                                   
                                                   
    Speed is another problem.  For an occasional color printout, it's
    not bad.  For heavy graphic or even text use, have plenty of spare
    time set aside.                                
                                                   
    Overall, you pay for what you get.  It is inexpensively constructed,
    therefore longevity of life might be a problem.
                                  
    Randy (who owns a Juki 5510 color printer [similar to the Epson
    JX-80] and does a color print about once a month]...and has just
    discovered the wonders of PostScript output, so the Juki is really
    getting a vacation now)
    

How about the DEC LJ250? I have one in the office and I'm astonished by it!

This little bugger is around $300 transfer and prints better than a
LCP01 (my opinion) which is thousands...

It has 256 colors, speaks ASCII, SIXEL, and HP-PCL. Even has a special
transparency mode (makes 2 passes for *nice* slides*)

I think I heard it being under $1000 employee price.

If anyone is in the Marlboro (NKS Digital) area, stop by for a demo...

John