Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ttidcc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) Newsgroups: net.consumers Subject: Further adventures with DAK and Olivetti Message-ID: <160@ttidcc.UUCP> Date: Tue, 11-Dec-84 20:58:37 EST Article-I.D.: ttidcc.160 Posted: Tue Dec 11 20:58:37 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 14-Dec-84 06:27:05 EST Organization: TTI, Santa Monica, CA. Lines: 63 This is a followup on a query and exchange of several weeks ago. At that time, I requested information about DAK, Inc. and what experiences people had had with them. I then ordered an Olivetti Praxis 39 typewriter and its computer interface from DAK. This is, I hope, the conclusion of that adventure. Things went something like this: The Olivetti arrived but without the computer interface which had been back-ordered. Oh, well. I set it up anyway to try it out as a typewriter. Discovery #1: The user's manual incorrectly described the ribbon installation procedure. Took me an hour to get it so it stopped chewing up the ribbon. Discovery #2: I can type faster than the Olivetti can, so it buffers characters while it trys to catch up. Very distracting. It's also very noisy and takes about 2 seconds to do a full carriage return. I am not impressed, but figure the computer won't mind such things. Two weeks later, the computer interface arrived. Aha! Unpack, read directions (so I'm not a hacker (-: ), plug in, and away we go... Well, not really. Took me about an hour to get WordStar configured for it. Discovery #3: The escape sequence to disable automatic linefeeds doesn't work. Finally got everything set up and decided to run off a simple business letter. Discovery #4: Not only is the Olivetti a slower typist than I am, it's less accurate as well! This is the one that broke the camel's back. I was grudgingly willing to put up with noise and slow output and configuration problems for the sake of a cheap letter quality printer cum typewriter, but when it started making typographical errors that was the end of my tolerance. Of course I checked the file it was printing (clean), tried it again (different errors this time), and ran off a copy on my dot-matrix printer (no errors in 1/10th the time). I also note that both DAK and Olivetti claimed 12 cps output, while Consumer Reports said the best they could get out of it was 7 cps. I think CR was being optimistic. I'd estimate it was doing < 5 cps at best. That's under 60 wpm. VERY slow. Upshot was I returned the Olivetti and interface to DAK today. They were reasonably courteous about it, made no fuss about taking it back, and said I could expect a notice of the MasterCard charge being cancelled in about 1.5 weeks. At this point I have no complaints about DAK, except possibly about the quality of their merchandise. You buy cheap, you get cheap. (I suspected I was in trouble when the Olivetti's box had "Made in Singapore" on it.) Caveat emptor. -- The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Opinions expressed here are my own Transaction Technology, Inc. and unrelated to anyone else's. 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 United States (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 ...{garfield,lasspvax,linus,cmcl2,seismo}!philabs!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe