Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!gatech!bloom-beacon!think!ames!sdcsvax!ucbvax!UMASS.BITNET!manly From: manly@UMASS.BITNET Newsgroups: comp.os.vms Subject: (none) Message-ID: <8707181745.AA13620@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Thu, 16-Jul-87 09:48:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8707181745.AA13620 Posted: Thu Jul 16 09:48:00 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 19-Jul-87 01:11:11 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 39 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello, everyone. Well, we are coming up on the last chapter of the "Amherst College: In search Of The Perfect Laser Printer" story. We have (drum roll please) decided to go with the IMAGEN 3320 machine. The major reasons for this, in order of importance, are as follows (the other major contender was the Talaris 1500): The IMAGEN 3320 is the ONLY printer I found which does page counts accurately (the symbiont actually goes out and asks the printer to report the pages printed -- a technique other non-postscript printers would do well to emulate). The IMAGEN TeX driver (written by Kellerman and Smith, the same folks that brought us TeX under VMS) reads PK format TeX font files. The Talaris printer required fonts in QUIC format. Since we want to run TeX on both the LN03's and the new laser printer, having to duplicate all the font files would have been a real disk-eater. Although at first the IMAGEN service contract seemed quite high ($4500/year compared to $2300/year for the Talaris), it turns out that when you include the cost of consumables, the IMAGEN and the Talaris cost about the same ($7000/year) to maintain (this number is based on printing 200K pages per year, with 80K of those occuring all in one month at the end of the semester.) There were some other reasons, but those were the major ones. I hope this helps other people looking for printers. Now, for those of you using IMAGEN 3320's (or are thinking of buying them), here is a warning: if you connect your printer via a DMF-32 parallel printer port, the symbiont WILL NOT return page counts to the accounting system (this from one of the authors of the IMPRINT symbiont.) I thank everyone who responded to my various requests for information. BITNET: JWMANLY@AMHERST - John W. Manly PHONE: (413)-542-2526 System Manager Amherst College ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~