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From: walk@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Todd Walk)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: 16Mhz Mac Classic?
Message-ID: <1990Dec11.220231.10359@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 11 Dec 90 22:02:31 GMT
References: <1990Dec10.031031.24801@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1990Dec10.192355.7500@umiami.ir.miami.edu> <4278@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> <1990Dec11.030108.14247@eng.umd.edu> <1990Dec11.083318.22635@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>
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>Anyone ever try to print to a laserprinter on a PC?  Find out it will
>blindly download all the fonts it just downloaded a minute ago, for the
>previous document?  Snarl at the 600K preamble to the 2K file?

Modern PC programs don't have any problems like this.

>The Mac, in case you forgot how spoilt you were, will ask the printer a
>question--and the printer will answer.  It can tell you what fonts,
>trays, paper size, &c, are loaded.  (QMS implements the last two--trays
>"tell" the printer what size they are, which in turn goes back to the
>chooser dialogue for the printer.  Too slick.)

>The PC, and most machines, only get "I'm full--stop sending!" back.  If
>that...

>The person who creebed about connecting parallel printers over a network
>forgot: at least parallel gives you an unambiguous paper-out and
>write-fault condition.  And it is MUCH faster, potentially, than serial
>communication for those 600K preambles I creebed about above.

>That doesn't EVEN address the non-standard RS-232 "standard" which
>*EVERYONE* implements utterly differently--as anyone trying to lash a
>printer to a PC will tell you.  Fie on RS-232 connections: give me
>Centronics (who the HECK mentioned that Centronics was promulgated by
>DEC--Centronics is the name of a company fwgawdsakes!) any day.

>Or, give me true appletalk printer-inquiries, preferably--at least the
>results are worth it.

>And note: yes, this is the same Alex who grotches at length about the
>Mac.  Whatever else their faults, the design team made the right
>printing decisions on the Mac.

Yes they did.  However, I believe that both you and about 99% of the other
people who posted on this subject missed the point, which is that for good
output, yes buy a good printer and hook it up to the computer.  However, if
you can only afford a Mac Classic, then you are not going to spend much on 
a printer (do you really think that a person that buys a $1500 Classic will
also go out and buy a $2500 laser printer?).  A person that buys a Classic
is not a person that is going to spend $$$ for a printer, but instead they
are going to cring at the thought of spending at least $600 for a printer
setup when a person with an IBM system can get a decent 9-pin printer and
cable for under $200.  (Note: I did not mention the print quality from a 
$200 printer, but if you want laser quality output, many of the copy shops 
in towns offer Mac to laserwriter printing.)  NOTE:  I am not suggesting that
this be used in all Macs, and I am not suggesting that the Classic should
have its serial ports ripped out.  What I am suggesting is for a usually
unused, expensive, floppy port be replaced by a cheap Centronics port for
cheap printing on cheap Macs so that they can be more cost effective        
compared to IBM systems.
					Todd Walk
					walk@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu