Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att-cb!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!think!ames!elroy!mahendo!jplgodo!wlbr!scgvaxd!ashtate!dbase!drc
From: drc@dbase.UUCP (Dennis Cohen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: New LaserWriter II SC
Summary: Blame Microsoft
Keywords: Variable Print Times
Message-ID: <338@dbase.UUCP>
Date: 1 Apr 88 21:29:08 GMT
References: <1589@ur-tut.UUCP>
Organization: Ashton Tate Development Center Glendale Cal.
Lines: 49

In article <1589@ur-tut.UUCP>, giaccone@ur-tut (Tony Giaccone) writes:
> 
> Ok Folks, we've been evaluating the new IISC laserwriter, and found some
> things that seem to be real problems. The first problem ocurrs when printing
> a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The time it takes to print this spread sheet
> seems to vary from a low of 2.5 minutes to a high of over 35. Can anyone
> suggest any reason why there should be the amount of variation in the 
> printing of the same document. The spread sheet is one page, printed
> landscape mode, uses only the Times font. 
> 
I don't use Excel since I seldom use a spreadsheet for anything, so I can't
really say anything to this particular issue.  However, on the rare occasion
that I do use a spreadsheet, I use a prerelease of Full Impact (there are some
advantages(?) to working for a major developer) and it prints quite quickly
to my LaserWriter IISC.


> The second problem is with a Microsoft Word (3.0)  document. This document
> has two columns, is in Times, with screen dumps included with 1/4 inch column
> spacing, and 1/2 inch margins all around. When printed on the SC it seems to
> expand the margins so that the right column is pushed off the edge of the
> page. The inter-columnar (1/4 inch ) is enlarged to greater than 1/4 inch,
> and no amount of spacing adjustment seems to solve the problem. Not even
> setting the columnar spacing to negative values (ie -0.25 inches gives more
> than +0.5 inch spacing between columns). Switching measurments to picas
> instead of inches gives entirely different, but still incorrect, results.
I had this same difficulty with Word until I got the Word 3.02, which was
an upgrade to fix compatibility problems with the new LaserWriters.  Again, I
don't use Word much since I now have FullWrite, but I used to use it a lot and
still have to use it for some magazine articles.  Get hold of 3.02 -- it should
fix your problem with the margins.

> Has anyone else out there used the SC, have you noticed these or any other 
> problems with the printer? What's going on here. Would someone from Apple
> care to comment?
I have an SC (as stated above) and have found few problems with it.  MockWrite
won't print to it, PageMaker 2.0 dies when trying to print to it, but everything
else I use prints just fine.  In general, it is as fast as (or faster than) the
LaserWriter IINTX at the office and I like the print quality better for things
with bitmaps in them.  MPW and LightSpeed work fine also.

Dennis Cohen
Ashton-Tate Macintosh Division
dBASE Mac Development Team
--------------------------
Disclaimer:  MY OPINIONS ^^^^^!

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