Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!ntg!dplatt From: dplatt@ntg.uucp (Dave Platt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: Re: Stylewriter / Deskwriter Message-ID: <66@goblin.ntg.uucp> Date: 17 Apr 91 18:22:07 GMT References: <2482@n-kulcs.cs.kuleuven.ac.be> <1991Mar20.010444.15445@eng.umd.edu> <1991Apr11.173045.3661@tkna.uucp> Reply-To: dplatt@ntg.UUCP (Dave Platt) Organization: New Technologies Group, Inc. Palo Alto CA Lines: 67 In article <1991Apr11.173045.3661@tkna.uucp> alan@mr_peck.UUCP (Alan Light) writes: >There is absolutly no reason to by the Deskwriter. (Cost > $600). What you >should buy in that case is: > >1. An HP DeskJet 500 (About $475 with the typical discount). >2. A copy of JetLink Express from GDT Softworks. (About $85 with cable). > > >This will give you 300 DPI, Quiet operation, Nice envelope printing AND the >ability to use HP font cartridges. PLUS full compatibiliy with ATM and Adobe >outline fonts. > >PLUS as a bonus you have a printer which will work with either PC's, Mac's and >anything else your might imagine (it features both serial and parallel ports). Well... I have to disagree, for a number of reasons: - The DeskWriter serial interface operates at 57600 bps (or at AppleTalk speeds if you enable that mode). A DeskJet 500, running over a serial line using JetLink Express, operates at a maximum throughput of 19200 bps. Even using the latest version of JetLink Express, which supports the DeskWriter-style 2D graphics compression mode, there is a real difference in throughput between 19200 bps and 57600 bps. The DeskWriter's throughput will be (in my experience) at least to% better than that of the DeskJet 500's, when printing a page filled with 10-point text. - In order to get DeskWriter-grade speed from a DeskJet 500, you must push the bits in through the parallel port at high speed. This requires purchasing a 57600 bps protocol converter... presumably the Paralink (Johnathon Freeman Technologies, also available through GDT). I paid $70 for mine; GDT charges rather more. You could also buy a Hurdler CPI Centronics parallel interface for a NuBus-equipped machine... this is considerably more expensive. - The DeskJet 500 is not networkable without playing some funny games. The DeskWriter supports AppleTalk. - Both the DeskWriter (using HP's driver) and the DeskJet 500 (using GDT's) are completely compatible with ATM (Type 1 PostScript fonts) and with TrueType (TrueType outline fonts). Both drivers have built-in support for proprietary outline-font interpreters, both are shipped with the same basic set of fonts, and both have extra font packs (LW+ equivalent) at roughly comparable prices. To get DeskWriter-grade speed from a DeskJet 500, you must purchase both JetLink Express _and_ a Paralink. This brings the cost of the DeskJet 500 purchase up to roughly the cost of a DeskWriter. You gain the ability to have multiple connections, but you lose the ability to AppleTalk the printer. I personally own a DeskJet 500 (an original DeskJet, upgraded by HP), a Paralink, and JetLink Express. It's a great combination... all of the companies involved have provided excellent support when I've needed it (this means _you_, Dave Neff!). However... if I were buying today, I'd probably buy a DeskWriter... it's a one-stop-shopping approach that gives good performance for the same price (+/- a few dollars) as the multi-vendor approach. -- Dave Platt VOICE: (415) 813-8917 UUCP: ...apple!ntg!dplatt USNAIL: New Technologies Group Inc. 2468 Embarcardero Way, Palo Alto CA 94303