Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!laird
From: laird@think.com (Laird Popkin)
Subject: Re: Postscript printers
Message-ID: <1991Apr23.235348.9765@Think.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
References: <39358@cup.portal.com>
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Date: Tue, 23 Apr 91 23:53:48 GMT

In article <39358@cup.portal.com> whirt@cup.portal.com (William Bill Hirt) writes:
>(Rich Andrews) writes:
>
>>I am considering getting a Postscript printer for my amiga.  The
>>models that I am considering are: the TI miscolaser, NEC silentwriter
>>2 model 90, QUME 410 or scriptTEN.  Suggestions? (Budget = ~$2000)
>
>One other printer you might want to consider is the HP IIP. I have a IIP
>with a Pacific Page Postscript cartridge. It emulates Adobe PS version 51.9.
>We have a QMS PS 2220 at work with genuine Adobe Postscript 51.0 and I
>haven't found anything yet which prints on one and won't print on the
>other. Street price on the IIP is now under $800. The Pacific Page
>cart is about $350 and comes with the standard 35 Postscript type families.
>You need to add a 2 meg card to the IIP for Postscript work. I got a 4
>meg card (populated) for under $500 for my IIP. Another $150 or so mail
>order can get you the under the printer 250 page sheet feeder tray.
>
>I have a friend which has the HP Postcript cartridge for the IIP and
>has found it to work well with ProPage for several months now. The
>advantage of the Pacific Page cart over the HP cart is that you can
>send a software reset to the printer to switch between Postscript and
>HP PCL mode. The HP cart requires you to remove it to drop back to PCL
>mode. 
>
>If you look around, you may be able find a close-out LaserJet II for
>around $1000. Adobe makes a Postscript cartridge for the II that sells
>for between $250-275 mail order. The Adobe cart only works on the
>LaserJet II. HP's cart works on the IIP, III, and IIID and is a licensed
>version of Adobe Postscript.
>
If you're looking specifically for a Postscript printer, I would advise
against the IIp.  Why?  First, it is pathetically slow when compared to any
other Postscript printer -- the primary factor seems to be that the IIp has
a very slow processor in it (it was designed mainly for priting simple
text).  Second, it's quite expensive to expand RAM and can't be expanded
otherwise.  A Postscript printer that I would recommend highly is GCC's BLP
II, which comes with 2 Mb RAM expandable to 4 by adding off the shelf
SIMMs, and it also has a SCSI port for adding a hard drive.  Best of all,
it lists for under $2K.  To use it from an Amiga you need to add a serial
or parallel port to the printer ($100 or so for both) because it comes
standard with only AppleTalk (aka LocalTalk).  Or get a LocalTalk port for
your Amiga (I've been looking for one, incidentally, if anyone has any info
I'd like to hear it).

>>How well does some of the packages for the amiga (ProPage 2.0, ProDraw,
>>Pagestream 2.1) use these printers?  Could I buy PS fonts and download
>>them instead of buying extra hardware (how well does that work).
>
>I have used ProPage 2.0 to print to my IIP with the Postscript cart. The
>change in ProPage 2.0 is that you must use the Postscript fonts in your
>document. Before, ProPage would convert the CompuGraphic fonts to the
>approriate Postscript fonts at print time. Why they changed this I have
>no idea and I have yet to get a response yet from Gold Disk why this 
>change was made.
>
>The Gold Disk CompuGraphic font series has a Postscript font downloader
>included in each font package. ProPage can also be told to download
>any fonts you are using in your document at print time. There are a 
>number of Type 1 Adobe fonts around from IBM and Mac land that you can use.
>The main thing is creating the AFM and metric files for use in ProPage. 
>There are several PD and shareware programs which do this. The other thing
>is you need to have enough additional memory in the printer to hold all
>your non-resident fonts while doing your print job. If you plan to to
>use a lot of downloaded fonts, 4 megs of printer memory would be a lot
>better than 2 megs. A 2 meg expansion on a IIP gives you 2.5 megabytes
>of memory which would probably be sufficent 99% of the time.

Of course, if you have a cheap 20 Mb hard drive on your printer, you only
need to download the fonts once <grin>.

>>Could I get a parallel PS printer to work under A-Max?  I would be
>>interested in using FreeHand, PageMaker, etc.  What drivers would I
>>need.  How well does A-MaxII handle the parallel connection?
>
>The IIP and the Pacific Page cart support serial communications if you 
>need to go this way with Amax.
>
>Bill

- Laird Popkin


