Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!dali.cs.montana.edu!attila.cs.montana.edu!icsu8053 From: icsu8053@attila.cs.montana.edu (Craig Pratt) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: An interesting idea... Keywords: laser printer PostScript NeXT Message-ID: <3867@dali> Date: 26 Apr 91 03:40:06 GMT References: Sender: usenet@dali.cs.montana.edu Organization: Montana State University, Dept. of Computer Science, Bozeman MT 59717 Lines: 34 In article judge@alchemy.tcnet.ithaca.ny.us (rory toma) writes: >I was thinking about the Atari laserprinter theother dayand came up with >an interesting idea... > >Would it be possible to produce a cheap laserprinter (Postscript) that >used both the memory and processor of it's host machine? On a 3000, it >could use the'030 on an '030/'040 equipped machine. Or am I just >dreaming? > >rory This is exactly what the NeXT does. The 400 DPI Next laser printer is a simple device which recieves raster information from the NeXT. True, this does take up CPU time and RAM, but I can imagine upgrades are much easier and there aren't any real RAM problems thanks to virtual memory. There also aren't any font compatability problems since the display and printer use the same font resources. The price is also nice: ~$1300 educational and ~$2000 retail. This is one of the beauties of using PostScript as a imaging model. BTW, I don't think the NeXT sends the printer the raw image. It's probably send with some sort of encoding, perhaps run-length encoding. I also understand that there are now drivers for other raster printers such as desk jets and dot matrix printers, as well. They would have to be quite a bit slower due to the above and the fact that they would probably have to be connected to the serial port. Chalk another up for NeXT. -- Craig Pratt icsu8053@cs.montana.edu Montana State University, Bozeman MT Craig.Pratt@msu3.oscs.montana.edu "It's a Buddist meditation technique; it focuses your aggression. The monks used to do it before they went into battle.", Otto, _A_Fish_Called_Wanda_