Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    I'm real happy with my Epson LX800.  Has most of the features of
    more expensive printers, pretty-darned-good NLQ, reasonable graphics
    rendition, and can be had for as low as $179 mail-order.  I bought
    mine 1.25 years ago and have only had to change the (cloth) ribon.
    
    It's not the fastest around, but I think its probably the best
    good-cheap printer around.

    I was in the same boat that you were in about a month ago and went
    and bought an Epson LX800.  Got it about a week later at a total
    cost of about 200.00 including parallel cable and shipping.  So
    far I'm tickled to death with it.  For the money it is probably
    the best that you can get and the most reliable.

    So far 2 votes for the Epson LX800. In some of the earlier notes
    people seemed to like the Panasonic KXP1091i-Mod.2. This seems to
    run about the same price as the LX800. Has anyone seen both of these
    printers?
    
    Thanks for the responses,
    
    tom

    I don't know about the Panasonic that much, but they had it at the
    store where it bought my Epson LX800.  The Panasonic looked kind
    of fragile.  Ya know, If you sneezed funny, it might not work. 
    The Epson is pretty solid and I've had nothing but success!
    
    But I've never used the Panasonic nor do I know anyone who owns
    one, so please take my comment with a grain of salt.
    
    Steve O

    	I have used my Panasonic kxp1091i for about a year now with
    out any problems. (except setting it up under word perfict which
    was realy my fault) My wife got a 80386 to run ms-dos on (i don't
    know why that stuff is not very good) and I keep moving the printer
    back and forth between the two systems with out causing any problems.
    	One thing I like about this printer over the la50 is the switch
    that changes it to draft/nlq. You can still change it with software
    but I like the switch. It also has never had paper feel problems
    or xoff problems like most of the la50s end up with.
    	I think the Panasonic printer may cost a few bucks more than
    the Epson. The Epson line seems to be sold by ALL the discount/mail
    order places which keeps the price down.
    	Well good luck with what ever you decide to get.
    Jeff Filer MAAHPS

    For those of use who are not familiar with your brand please include
    specs such as;
    
       Printer width
       Type  Daisy Wheel, 9 pin, 18 pin, 24 pin
       Sheet feed available
    
    And any others you like.
    
    Thank you 
    
    Harry

        I've had my Star NL-10 for about 3 years now and it works great.
        I purchased it mailorder for $269 with parallel interface.  I've
        only used it on two machines so far.  The first an Atari 130XE
        and now an Atari 520ST.
        
        It has a simple sheet feeder with it, but I use that tractor
        feed, so I can't tell you much about that.  It has a narrow
        platen, only supports up to 9" wide paper.  It is only a 9-pin
        printer, but the Near Letter Quality mode is much better than a
        LA-50.
        
        It is fully Epson campatible and supports graphics, sub- and
        super- scripting.  It will print in condensed print, giving up to
        at least 132 characters on a line (maybe more, I don't use it
        this way much, thus don't remember the maximum).
        
        New versions in the Star line are the NX-1000 and NX-1000C.  Both
        of these retail for around $200 with the "C" version being color,
        and runs about $30 to $50 more.
        
        My guess that the Star desiginations are something or the order -
        
                NX-xxxx - indicates the normal version.
                NL-xxxx - indicates a heavy duty version, thus is a bit
                          more, price wise.
        
        Bob 
        
        (Yes I know this isn't the Atari ST notes file, my brother-in-law
        has an Amiga 1000 with a Microbotics Starboard memory expander on
        it.  So I have the best of both worlds, I get to use both
        machines!  Besides, printers, monitors, modems, and disk drives
        aren't (or at least shouldn't be) specific to any one brand of
        system and should be transferable to the next machine purchased.)

    	I have a Panasonic 1080i.  (About $150 now)  And NO, IT'S NOT
    FRAGILE!  I've dropped it, travelled with it many times, including
    a 1500 mile trip that I took several times.  I never even bother
    putting the printer in the box any more.  I just put a towel over
    it to keep from scratching it, and Go.  It has really taken a beating,
    and shows no signs of quitting.
    	The 1080i is fully epson compatible, and supposedly has several
    extra modes that an epson does no have, although I don't know what
    they are.  If I can remember, I'll bring in my owner's manual on
    monday, and list the features.
    	The only trouble I have had to date is with a "cheap" off brand
    ribbon I bought for it.  Now, I buy my ribbons mail order from MEI,
    and they are the Panasonic brands.  No trouble with them.
    
     - Chris
    

    Another vote for the Panasonic KX-P1091i (model II). I've had it for 
    only a few months now, (using it with my C=128) and agree with a previous 
    reply that it is NOT fragile. Very well built, fairly quick (192 cps 
    draft, 38 nlq). For a 9 pin printer, I think its print quality is 
    exceptional. Switchable settings (draft, nlq, bold proportional
    and compressed modes) are a real plus. Has both single sheet and
    tractor feed. Full Epson compatability, as well as IBM Proprinter mode.
    8 bit parallel interface, 2 year warranty. The manual is very complete.

    My only (minor) complaints are (1) the tractor feed is after the platen
    rather than before it, causing you to waste a page to get the last printed 
    page off & (2) the cover isn't hinged, but snaps on. Paid ~$180 for it 
    at a recent computer show. 
						    -Dom

I've had a Star NX-1000-C (color) for about a month now and I'm very satisfied.
I also have a Star Gemini 10-X for five years now and was also satisfied with
that, except that I had to do a couple of repairs on it on occasion (blown
transistor array and paper feed motor, both of which I was able to do myself). 

The NX-1000 has a number of features that attracted me to it. Specifically, the
NLQ fonts are really good, especially for a 9 pin machine. Besides draft mode,
there are three built-in NLQ fonts: prestige, Sans Serif (with both lower case
and small caps for lower case) and Orator, all with italics and various pitches.
There is a single sheet feeder and the tractor is behind the platen, and the
machine has reverse feed. One really nice feature is the ability to run the
paper backwards and "park" it behind the platen while you feed a single sheet
through. You can also run the paper forward to tear off a sheet and then park
the paper, and then, by pulling back on the bail and releasing it again, the
paper is positioned back to the top margin. There are lots of front panel
accessible things you can do, such as clear the buffer, micro-feed forward or
reverse, lock in any font (regardless of what the program tells it to do), and
you can design your own NLQ font and download it to the printer (at the expense
of a smaller working buffer). 

I got it at the Memory Location for $325 ($265 for the B&W equivalent) but they
are available for lots less elsewhere. 

Dave 

    It seems like a real toss-up. Everyone seems to like their LX800s
    and their 1091i-M2s. I called two dealers who each sold both printers.
    One liked the Panasonic and the other the Epson. I've seen both
    these printers in mail order ads for $179 so price is the same.
    The Star NX1000 sounds good too. I've seen that for $169.
    
    The 1091i seems the fastest at 192cps followed by LX800 at 180cps
    and NX1000 at 144cps. The NX1000 seems to have more features,multiple
    fonts,etc. but the panasonic has a 2 yr. warranty as opposed to
    1 yr for the others.
    
    The salesman who liked the Epson said it had more advanced paper
    handling capibilities but one the one who liked the panasonic said
    it didn't. Anyone know for sure?
    
    The salesman who liked the Epson also liked the NX1000. The color
    NX1000 for $229 sounds good too. But I don't want to spend a lot
    on color ribbons when I mostly print B & W. The salesman said that
    black ribbons worked in the color NX1000 but it wasn't mentioned
    in the manual and it looked like if you sent a color command to
    the printer with the black ribbon in, you could damage the ribbon
    transport mechanism. Is this true?
    
    thanks
    tom
    
    

    I have the Panasonic 1091i-M1.  160cps I believe.
    
    the two big features for me are speed and the print style selection
    slide switch.  There are lots of other features buried in the
    printer, but I mainly use it for printing docs and program listings.
    You really notice the speed when you are waiting for a listing,
    160 is reasonable, slower is painful (I used my brother's Star
    Gemini 10X for a while, not sure what it's speed was).
    
    The style switch means you don't have to play with printer commands
    just to print something in a compressed font.  Nice.
    
    -Dave
    

    I checked my Panasonic 1091 manual for the actual print speed (entered
    the 192 cps from a computer catalog I had sitting in the office). The
    192 is a bit misleading as it only prints that fast in draft elite mode.
    In draft pica mode its 160 cps. Still pretty quick.

    As far as paper handling, there are all sorts of commands for 1/8, 7/72,
    1/6, n/72, and n/216 inch paper feeds, if that's what you're looking for.

    Another happy LX800 owner, but I'm easy to please.  I've no idea
    how fast it is.  With the 1.2 printer device as slow as it is, who
    can tell how fast the printer really is anyway.  :-)
    
    Gary (who still doesn't have 1.3)

    Just to go across another bigger pond....
    In Australia, prices tend to be double that of USA, but my vote
    goes for the Panasonic 1081 (had mine about 3 yrs on Commodore 64
    then on Amiga 500). Quite a rugged printer but the ribbon prices
    are expensive here. This model has a lot of features that the
    imaginative programmer can use and is still available in Sydney
    from the Norman Ross (or is it Harvey Norman?) stores for Aus$349
    The only maintenance item that all Panasonic owners should look
    at is to oil the ends of the square paper drive shaft, as a few
    metal filings begin to appear there after a lot of use.

                       Regards...............Guy

    Thanks for all the help. I've decided on the 1091i ($179 from TCP)
    but I don't really know why. The Epson and the Panasonic both sounded
    good so I just picked one. I suppose the higher speed and the 2
    yr. warrenty nugged me toward the 1091.
    
    I've read some good things about FinePrint and am thinking of buying
    it. Has anyone tried it yet? Now I just need to do lots of printing
    on my new printer so I can get an old worn out ribbon to use with
    FinePrint.
    
    tom

    One more problem. What printer driver do I need for the Panasonic
    KX-P1091i and where can I get it. I saw there is a PD driver for
    KX-P10xx on an Amicus disk. Is this what everyone is using? Is it
    on the net anywhere. I need to get WB1.2 working right now. In a
    week or so I'll be upgrading to 1.3. Is there a 1.3 printer driver
    for the panasonic?
    
    thanks,
    
    tom

Re:-.1

	Under 1.2, use Epson.
	Under 1.3, use EpsonX.

Mark

Speaking of printer drivers and 1.3, has anyone thought about fixing
the LA50 driver to make it work with 1.3.

There are still a few of us with LA50's and I sure would like to use
it along with the 1.3 printer stuff.

        Regards....   Clint

PS.. I don't know enough about the internals to understand why the
driver does not work under 1.3, let alone fix it.

Re:.-1
    If sombody can point me to docs about new way wb1.3 speaks to drivers,
    I'll be happy to try to fix the LA50 driver.
    
    I've not seen any of such docs up to now, and i wonder if such docs
    even exists!.
    
    Ciao,
    		Roberto.
    
    

    Let's speak our dialect !
    Roberto, io ho la documentazione disponibile circa la 1.3.
    Tutto quello che mi risulta eserci e' il manuale che accompagna
    la nuova release . Ho anche gli include files che pero' non credo
    ti servano a nulla.

    Well, I've got my 1091i all hooked up and running with the Epson
    driver (WB1.2). The one problem I have is when I print bit mapped
    graphics with a large dark area like the lady from DigaPaint. I
    get horizontal black lines across the page. It looks like the paper
    is not being advanced far enough and the top pin of the current
    line is overprinting the bottom pin of the previous line. I remember
    reading something about white horizontal lines in this conference
    but now I can't find that note.
    
    Is this normal for the 1091i or do I have a bad printer or is this
    a driver problem?
    
    I realize this is an inexpensive printer and I didn't really buy
    it for this type of printing but I would like to know if I have
    a bad printer or not.
    
    thanks,
    tom
 

    I have a PANASONIC_KX-P10XX printer driver in my account which is designed
    for all panasonic 10XX printers.  I've been using it with my 1091
    for about a year now with no problems.  It's in:
    
    DNEAST::SYS$USER5:[COMBAR_CURT.AMIGA.ARC]PRTDRV.ARC
    
    Curt

    Curt:
    
    Have you tried it w/ WB 1.3?
    
    Tim (another P1091i user)

    Re .22
    	On my 1081 I get those dark lines. In my case it happens on
    an older ribbon because the Panasonic ribbon does not have a "turn-over"
    feature and the bottom edge gets very little use during
    normal draft printing due to the relative rarity of descenders.
    	A brand new ribbon gives a good black and if kept exclusively
    for graphics, it should fade evenly and not get the stripes.
                                 Regards....................Guy

    Tim,
    
         I just tried the Panasonic Driver tonight with WB 1.3 on an
    A2000 with 1.3 ROMS installed also.  I sent a text file and also
    printed an IFF image with Brian Conrad's SHOWPRINT.  All came out
    fine - no black lines!  
    
    Curt

    Well, I thought to re-awaken this note rather than write a new one..
    
    Two things, first, I just recently gave my sister my Panasonic 1080
    printer.  Can someone give me a current pointer to printer driver for
    it as referenced in .25-.26?  Thanks..
    
    Second, the reason I parted with it is that I want to go with a color
    printer.  The one that _The Memory Location_ recommends (at least at
    my price range) is the Star NX1000C.  I noted a favourable response for
    that printer earlier.  Does it do a nice job with bitmap output, either
    B&W or Color?  I briefly saw example output but it was very much
    designed for a color printer (eight colors or so, very little mixing).
    How does the Star do with an image, say pulled in from Digi-View?
    
    Thanks for any info,
    George
    

    Don't know about the one available here on the net, but I've been
    using the EpsonXOld driver that comes w/ WB 1.3.2. I initially was
    using just the EpsonX driver & was having some difficulties w/
    graphics output. Switching to the EpsonXOld seems to have solved the
    problem - greyscale looks just fine. This is btw, for a Panasonic 1091,
    which shouldn't be too much different than a 1080.

							-Dom