Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!stl!stc!idec!kbsc!yorick From: yorick@kbsc.UUCP (Yorick Phoenix) Newsgroups: comp.periphs Subject: Re: Heavier Duty Postscript Printer Survey Results Message-ID: <910@kbsc.UUCP> Date: 13 Apr 88 12:07:29 GMT References: <1292@titan.camcon.uucp> <449@sering.cwi.nl> Reply-To: yorick@kbsc.UUCP (Yorick Phoenix) Organization: The Knowledge-Based Systems Centre, London, UK Lines: 76 Keywords: The Agfa's not all bad (really). In article <449@sering.cwi.nl> fmr@cwi.nl (Frank Rahmani) writes: >> The Agfa P400PS is actually an LED array printer with the following specs: >> 408 dpi A4 pages >That's the highest resolution of the three, just a pity it DOESN'T >show, as a matter of fact the quality of the output is MUCH worse >than the other two. Not on mine it isn't. True the improvement in quality is not as good as you would expect if you look at the mathmatics involved. >> 5000000 page drum life >With 140000 prints done (in about three months) we >just got the third drum. Had no problems with my drum so far over the same kind of distance, but then the replacement drums shouldn't have cost you anything either. >> The Atlas board spools incoming jobs onto the hard disk. So if a page >> jams then you don't have to print it again as it just reads the >> damaged page back off the disk and prints it again. >And believe me, you NEED this feature. Our machine jams about thirty >times a day, sometimes even after every second page.(No real jams, >due to some bad timing in the transport the machine just stops. Re- >moving a sheet which looks very burned(!) and pressing 'C' on the >control panel gets things going again. I had this once upon a time and it's due to paper curling upwards. If the paper is put in the printer with the curling upwards then it is possible that on the output the paper might just fail to trigger the microswitch. This distance can be adjusted and once I had that done I was back to my normal 2-3 jams per month. >If things get too wild we call >the serviceman, which forgets our appointment and usually shows up >one week later (we have 8 working hours followup on our contract!!) >and after some angry phone calls from our part (Hi, Agfa Netherland, >recognize your style?). If you want smooth operation in your print- >shop stay away from this one (we just needed the font_downloading_ >to_builtin_harddisk feature and look how we got burned). I have had no problems from sevice calls, but then Agfa UK are only the other side of London from me which does help. At a guess you should do something about the level of service that your getting from Agfa Netherland, remember your paying for it and are therefore entitled to what you are paying for which includes getting your money back. >Compared to the next machine, the input and output bins of >the Agfa are very unpractical and of very low quality. But compared to a standard Cannon engine they are great. Also there is a 20 bin output sorter that I plan on having on evalation. >One last word about output quality. The Agfa (at least our Agfa) >can't print fuul page bitmap pics, there are big white patches >all over the page. Also it can't print a grayscale, there is NO >distinction between the values of the scale. Both, the Apple LW+ >and the Dataproducts produce this kind of output very nicely. I think you need your machine serviced and the print density changing, I get decent bitmaps and greyscales from mine without white patches (that's the sort of thing my LaserWriter does instead). >All the above is my personal opinion from working as an operator >12 hours daily with this machines. >fmr@cwi.nl Is there anything less than a 12 hour day for operators/technical support. Also Agfa were kind enough to let us have it on extended (read 5 months) trial before we deceided to buy it. Yorick -- +--------------------------+ The Knowledge-Based Systems Centre | yorick@kbsc.UUCP | 58 Northside, Clapham Common | ..mcvax!ukc!kbsc!yorick | LONDON SW4 9RZ England +--------------------------+ Voice: +44 1 350 1622