Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: net.periphs Subject: Re: HP LaserJet, a quick look Message-ID: <4462@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Mon, 15-Oct-84 13:09:28 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.4462 Posted: Mon Oct 15 13:09:28 1984 Date-Received: Mon, 15-Oct-84 13:09:28 EDT References: <4434@utzoo.UUCP>, <217@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 48 > > There are mumbles about math fonts, and we're > > prodding the local HP man about 12-pitch fonts, but no details yet. > > I also have heard little more than mumbles about the math font. Latest word: math fonts expected by January, 12-pitch sooner than that. > ... Plus, with some effort, you can feed it in-line raster-graphics. > An entire font would be a lot of work (for the programer, cpu, and laserjet), > but a few 'extensions' to a standard font would be no real problem. Bear in mind that the LaserJet has serious limits on how much raster graphics can appear on a page. Sprinklings of non-standard characters shouldn't be a grave problem, but I doubt very much that you could get a whole page of text in a non-standard font into the raster memory. > > The LaserJet *must* have a full 8-bit path... > > before you sign a PO, make very > > very sure that your Unix can give you a full 8-bit output path without > > resorting to raw mode (which deprives you of flow control). > > But not, of course, with SYS III and later. (Note that HP`s HP-UX is > SYS III/V.) However, HP did not come up with this to sell to unix sites, > but to offices with a pc or two. As much as a replacement for dasiywheels, > it is a replacement for dot-matrix, and many of those require 8 bit > data. In any case, the laserjet has a 56k buffer, and prints at a very > constant 8 ppm, so it should be easy enough to spoon feed it through the > printer daemon if you had to. True, System N will give you independent control of path width and flow control. But you miss my point: there are *many* systems, not just old Unixes, which can't give you that 8th bit. Probably including a good number of micros. This decision remains stupid. As I commented, even the el cheapo dot-matrix jobs have a way to cope with a 7-bit data path. Spoon-feeding it with a daemon is not an answer. It is not easy to do flow control in a daemon -- try it sometime, you need better IPC between the sender and the listener than standard Unix has. > > ...Our $400 Geminis will do this, but the $4k LaserJet won't! > > Talk to your HP rep; we paid little more than $2K. The price is from our HP rep. "$" doesn't automatically mean "US$", although USAnians seem to think so. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry