Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!lll-tis!oodis01!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wes
From: wes@obie.UUCP (Barnacle Wes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: laser printers on ST - query for experience
Message-ID: <223@obie.UUCP>
Date: 6 May 88 05:33:55 GMT
References: <282@xrxns.UUCP>
Organization: Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, north branch
Lines: 75
Keywords: lasers, postscript, tex, desktop publishing
Summary: STs and Laser Printers...

In article <282@xrxns.UUCP>, toml@xrxns.UUCP (Tom Love) writes:
> i am thinking seriously about investing in a laser printer, both for
> personal and professional use.  applications include text and graphics,
> desktop publishing, software development, and anything else i can think
> of which is fun and/or profitable.
> 
> i am interested in hearing of the experience of others in coaxing
> laser-quality output out of their atari st's.  naturally one of the
> biggest decisions i have to make is whether to opt for a postscript
> printer or not.  money is definitely an issue, but a useful future
> may prevail over a short life and saved money.
> 
> key questions i have are:  what packages support postscript output?

I can't think of any EXCEPT Word Perfect right off the bat.  Too bad,
since postscript is usually quite a bit faster than creating a bit
map, as you must do with the HP LJ.

> and the followup, what packages can drive non-postscript lasers, e.g.
> hp laserjet, and cheaper lasers like the kyocera, okidata, etc.  what
> about interfacing - any problems with any particular machines?

Here's my setup: at home, I own an ancient (8/85) 520ST, upgraded to 1
meg.  I also have an Oki Laserline 6, which is an HP LJ compatible,
with 512K memory.  At work, I have several Mega-2s (belong to my
employer, that is), and the use of an HP LJ II with 4.5 meg of RAM.

I use/have used WordPerfect with the HP, using WPs driver - it works
pretty well.  I use First Word Plus, using a driver I wrote in about
an hour one afternoon for my Oki.  It works great, if you have enough
fonts to be interesting.  The LJ II does not come with an Italics font
in it (but the Oki does).

I also use the WordUp word processor and EasyDraw.  I have Migraph's
HP300.SYS GDOS device driver for the LaserJet.  It works well with
both EasyDraw and WordUp, but IT IS SLOW AS MOLASSES IN JANUARY!!

The driver has to create the entire page in memory, as a bitmap, and
then send it out to the printer a byte at a time.  The average time
for a page full of text, with 1/2" margins all around, is about 12
mins on the Mega-2.

The Migraph driver has an option for printing on an HP (or clone) with
limited memory.  I haven't tried this yet, but the docs say it slows
it down by a factor or 3 or so.  This will make for 35-40 minutes per
page.

I haven't seen a GDOS device driver for postscript printers, does
anybody know of one yet?  Does anybody want to write one?

> i'm interested in (but don't yet own) wordperfect, softlogik's desktop
> publishing package (can't recall the name), cyber-stuff, easy-draw, and
> any of a variety of databases/spreadsheets/etc.

See above.

> i guess the two machines at the top of my list are the apple laserwriter
> plus, which seems to be available used for around $2500, and the hp
> laserjet 2 which is available new for around 1700 or so.  i view
> postscript as an attractive selling point for the apple printer.  other
> postscript printers don't seem to be available used, and all the
> postscript printers cost too much new for me to consider.

If you can get the driver(s) for the LaserWriter, buy it.  Postscript
is the way to go, for speed if nothing else.

> anyone have any experience with hp's deskjet yet?

Not me.  See other postings (lamentations) here.

-- 
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