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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