Conference 7.286::atarist

Hi Leo,

>I'd get a 24 pin device if I thought it would work ok. If not I'll stick with
>a 9 pin unit.

  Both will work fine.

>My printing needs are minimal; straight ASCII text files and PRINT SCREEN.
>Printing FirstWord files with bold and italic would be a bonus.
>
>The Panasonic KXP-1124 parallel printer seems like a good buy, or the 
>Epson LQ510. My default choices for 9 pin would be a Panasonic 1180 or 
>Epson LX810. I've also heard some good reports about a Toshiba.

  I used a 9 pin printer, FX-85 for several years, and it worked fine. Then
  I replaced it with a 24 pin printer, the LQ-500 (almost identical to the
  LQ-510). It has done an excellent job for about two years - not a single
  failure, and the print quality is excellent.

>Can someone tell me if these 24 pin printers are compatible with my Atari?

  Should be little or no problem.

>My Atari 1st Word has an Epson driver; will this work with both 24 pin units
>or will I need another driver?
>If drivers are required, where are these available?

  I use 1st Word with my LQ-500 all the time - works fine with the supplied
  drivers (bold, italics, and underlines appear as expected). However, if
  you want "print screen" to work, you will need a driver. I never bothered
  to get this driver since I never have a need to print the screen. These
  drivers are available in many Public Domain libraries.

>Should I go for the 24 pin unit or stick with the 9 pin?

  I'd recommend the 24 pin printer since the quality is very high and the
  price of these printers has come down considerably in the last year or two.

Beware the NEC P2200 24 pin printer on the ST.  They don't work in graphics mode
that well, even with a driver.  It is some electrical problems or something.  
The problems do not appear on PCs with the same printer.  NEC even did a  free
fix on mine and it still has the problem.  USENET talked alot about thios in 
the past.  i don;t know is the new P2200XE or the European plus or whatever 
their new P2200 model I saw in Germany in January is.

Chad

    
    I use an NEC CP6 printer and have no problems with it.
    Because i have a public domain disk from NEC Corporation.
    On the disk you find any programs to make
       -HARDCOPY's of the desktop a.o.
       -Spezialprintings 
    You can also run the disk on an IBM PC or Laptop
    
    Bye
         RALF
    

    I'm also looking into Panasonic printers, the 1180 (9 pin) and 1123
    (new cheap 24 pin).  For the extra $50 or so the 1123 gives me real
    letter quality, faster draft (300 cps) and a larger buffer (10K vs. 2K,
    either one can be upgraded with an additional 32K for extra $$).  All
    of which sounds good to me.
    
    What I need to know is what the story is for screen dumps.  Do I
    understand correctly that the 9 pin will do them OK, but for the 24
    pin I need a new driver?  
    
    							Brian

	If you're using an application such as 1st-Word, Notator, etc., then 
	you will need a new printer driver.

	I don't see much advantage in a 2 or 10K buffer. If you're using a 
	spooler on the ST, then I don't think there would be any operational 
	difference.

	I have heard good reports about a Canon BubbleJet printer. Quiet & 
	cheap with near-laser quality printing. The problem is that you need
	a special printer driver for it. I do know that Notator now supports 
	it, so perhaps it's becoming 'supported'.  Anyone got one of these ?

Jim

You might want to check out the latest issue of Consumer Reports. They
evaluate a wide variety of printers, comparing a lot of features. It
makes interesting reading. I think I saw the Canon bubbleJet listed.

   The above might be worth looking at if it's in your price range & requirements.
   Laser-like quality with build-in sheet feeder. Not tractor stationary though.

   Either way (DJ or 24-pin), you'd need a new driver for screen-dumps but you
  should be able to get some for either as PD.

    All right, let's get real confused now...
    
    Let me see if I have this right. If I want to do screen dumps, and I
    use the "install Printer" desk acc, the ST thinks I have either a 9x9
    dot matrix with Epson graphics or a daisy printer, right?  What about
    when I want to print a .doc file from the desktop?  This is straight
    ASCII, but will it work if I have other than an Epson compatible 9x9?
    
    As far as my WP programs go, they have drivers for a lot of printers,
    including some Epsons and IBMs that Panasonic claims to "emulate", so
    I'm all set there.  
    
    I looked around int he PD archives I havbe access to for a printer
    driver for 24-pin dot matrix printers and found nada.  Could I expect
    an Atari dealer who sells these printers to maybe have a copy of some
    driver that I could use?  Or will he tell me to read the manual...I
    know if I order from some IBM mail-order house I'm on my own  8^)  8^)
    
    If I wanted to write my own, how is it done and how do I "install" the
    driver?
    
    I mean, I could buy a $150 KPX-1190 and be Epson 9x9 compatible and all
    set but I'd rather have the 24 pin KPX-1123 and have the true (instead
    of near) letter quality, bigger buffer and faster draft speed. Am I
    just expecting too much?  If anyone out ther actually *has* a 24 pin
    printer or has written a driver, could you E-mail me and smack me
    around until I have it straight?
    
    I gotta know before I waste a lot of money  8^)  8^)
    
    						Brian

    I have a Citizen 124D 24 pin printer. They supplied a disk which has a
    number of drivers on it, one of which I use for first word plus, and it
    works fine. Aside from that, I don't use the drivers at all, and the
    only problem I get is if I want to do screen dumps. They come out in a
    compressed form 1/3 the height of normal. I could probably fix this
    using one of the drivers but I never use the facility anyway so I
    haven't bothered. Straight document prints come out fine - as you'd
    expect since these are only ASCII. The only other printer s/w I use is
    Notator but fortunately that drives my printer without modification
    (one of the reasons I chose the printer!)
    
    If anyone needs the drivers I could probably upload them, unless I
    would be contravening copyright (perhaps someone could warn me?)
    
    Tony I

>    If anyone needs the drivers I could probably upload them, unless I
>    would be contravening copyright (perhaps someone could warn me?)

If the disk, documentation (for the drivers), or any of the files have a
copyright notice then they are copyrighted and should not be distributed by
you in any way.

	Ray (Moderator)

Re.8
    Screen Dumps - To do these, forget about the 'Install Printer' acc.
	What you need is a program that sits in the AUTO folder and replaces
	the default screen-dump vector to point to it's own code, which stays
	resident. I'm _very_ suprised that you didn't find anything the the PD
	libs, though... You _may_be able to get a driver if you get the drive
	from an Atari dealer and it may also be worth contacting the driver
	manufacters directly.

    Printing from the Desktop - As .9 says, thats's straight ASCII and will 
	work fine.

    

re:	What you need is a program that sits in the AUTO folder and replaces
	the default screen-dump vector to point to it's own code, which stays
	resident. I'm _very_ suprised that you didn't find anything the the PD
	libs, though... 

Take a look at Jeff's desk acc for the toshiba 24-pin printer.  It shows how 
to hook into the screen dump vector, and how to reformat screen dumps for a 
24 pin printer.  It is specific to the toshiba, but your 24-pin printer's 
bitmap protocol is probably similar.  I'm using a modification of this to 
drive my incompatible printer, a 9-pin TEC 8510A.

$ dir PRNSYS::DUA2:[LomickaJ.Hobby.ST]tosh*
PRNSYS::DUA2:[LOMICKAJ.HOBBY.ST]TOSHIBA.ARC;2
                              51  25-MAY-1989 12:36:26.00  (RWED,RWED,RWE,RE)

Total of 1 file, 51 blocks.

I used the Toshiba P321 for a while, and wrote the aforementioned
program for screen dumps.  PageStream had a driver for it, Word
Writer was general enough for me to configure my own.

The Toshiba is NOT in the slightest way compatible with Epson, except
for the straight ascii stuff, which works anywhere.

    After calling around to both Bit Bucket and Computer Bug ("No, we don't
    have the 1123 in stock.  Of course it can do screen dumps.  Well, no we
    have never actually tried it.") I'm more confused than ever.  
    
    I may try to con my local Panasonic dealer (who sells PC clones) into
    letting me drag my 1040 down and hook it up to see what happens. 
    Thanks for the replies.
    
    							Brian

    
    If you find out that your printer is NEC-P6 compatible, I could give
    you both drivers for screendump and Wordplus. It might be worth a try.
    
    Bernd