Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!SCROLLS.WHARTON.UPENN.EDU!shull
From: shull@SCROLLS.WHARTON.UPENN.EDU (Christopher E. Shull)
Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers
Subject: RE:  LN03 --> LN03R Upgrade
Message-ID: <8804251550.AA04494@brillig.umd.edu>
Date: 22 Apr 88 13:50:27 GMT
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 34
Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu

On Fri, 15 Apr 88 20:30 EST, ecsvax!khj@uncecs.edu (Kenneth H. Jacker)
asks about the DEC LNO3 PostScript upgrade.  We didn't install the
upgrade itself, but got the LN03R as "factory upgraded".  As to PostScript
compatibility, it is very compatible, with only one real exception, namely
the type of the password is integer, whereas the Apple LW's password is
string (or vice versa).

We have it connected to an Apollo using the Apple LW print server 
configuration, so I can't answer the other questions.

I can offer some general observations however.  Our biggest problem is with
software fonts.  The LN03 has a write-white engine, while the Apple LW has a
write-black engine.  Fonts are tuned for the LW by making them skinnier, but
the LN03 needs them to be tuned fatter.  As a result, if LW fonts are used on
the LN03, they look doubly weak and spindly, and to be honest, not much better
than 24-pin dot matrix printer output.

Another observation is that the LN03R is slow and has only a few resident
fonts.  It cannot be expanded nearly as well as, for example, the new Apple
LaserWriter II NT or NTX.  It also has no provision for an AppleTalk port,
which may be a cost effective way to print faster than RS-232C communications
can handle, especially if images are involved.

Good Luck!

-Chris

Christopher E. Shull
Decision Sciences Department
The Wharton School                      shull@wharton.upenn.edu
University of Pennsylvania              shull@scrolls.wharton.upenn.edu
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6366            215/898-5930
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Damn the torpedoes!  Full speed ahead!"  Admiral Farragut, USN, 1801-1870
---------------------------------------------------------------------------