Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site uw-beaver Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!laser-lovers From: laser-lovers@uw-beaver Newsgroups: fa.laser-lovers Subject: Xerox 9700 Message-ID: <225@uw-beaver> Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 00:29:35 EST Article-I.D.: uw-beave.225 Posted: Mon Dec 17 00:29:35 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 16-Dec-84 08:36:14 EST Sender: daemon@uw-beaver Organization: U of Washington Computer Science Lines: 32 From: ihnp4!utzoo!henry@uw-beaver.arpa Various people have flamed me for characterizing the 9700 as a big dumb line printer. (I note that nobody has argued with this description of the IBM laser printer, though.) Several of them have pointed out the existence of graphics and typesetting packages for it. So I'll modify my previous observations... If you want to run the 9700 as anything but a big dumb line printer, make sure that the exact software you need, with the exact fonts you need, is available; insist on seeing it demonstrated. Writing it yourself is not very practical, since getting the necessary information out of Xerox is quite a chore. As far as I know, it is not possible to do your own fonts at all; you have to buy them from Xerox, which has its own odd ideas of what should (and shouldn't) be in a font. Note in particular that if you need full ASCII in your fonts, insist that Xerox show you; many of their fonts are not full ASCII. Do not, repeat, not, assume that something which looks "close enough" can be convinced to do exactly what you want; insist on a 100% hit. Yes, I have worked on a 9700. We never succeeded in running it as anything but a big dumb line printer, although other people have. The company which bought U of T's 9700 (sold for complicated reasons) did so on faith that it would prove possible to exploit the considerable potential of the device. They eventually sold it in disgust, because the means to do so had not materialized from Xerox. Caveat emptor. "At heart, Xerox is still a photocopier company; they're trying to change, but it's difficult and slow." -- Butler Lampson Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry