Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hplabsz!taylor From: taylor@hplabsz.hp.com (Dave Taylor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Deskjet Message-ID: <2923@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM> Date: 16 Feb 89 01:05:01 GMT References: <1266@ccnysci.UUCP> Sender: taylor@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM Reply-To: taylor@hplabs.hp.com (Dave Taylor) Distribution: all Organization: Intuitive Systems; guest of Hewlett-Packard Laboratories Lines: 139 There are currently two major alternatives on the market for those people interested in hooking up an HP Deskjet printer to a Macintosh; the Orange Micro "Grappler LS" or the DataPak Software "Printer Interface III" package. After comparing the two, I chose the latter package (approx. $195) which consists of a special DeskJet printer driver for the Mac (installed by copying it into the System folder and rebooting). It pushes the DeskJet as fast as it will go, 9600 baud, which is actually quite a bit faster than the DeskJet can print. For comparison, the Grappler comes with a small in-line box that is hooked up to the printer port of the Mac as well as a device driver of their own. I assume that the box does a serial -> parallel conversion (the DeskJet can take serial or parallel input, but the Mac can only generate serial, I believe) Both solutions suffer from an inability to properly use the builtin DeskJet fonts and font cartridges, though they indicate that they are capable of same. The basic problem is that the proportional font information for equivalent fonts on the Mac is completely different to that which is actually in the HP font cartridges. The end result is fast, but hideously proportionally spaced output (eg kerning). Courier, however, the monospace sans-serif font that is built in to the printer, seems to work pretty well for program listings and other "typewriter" work; it also allows printouts that are dozens of times faster than with the higher printout quality. The standard way to get high quality printouts on the Deskjet is to have "4x" fonts available; Apple display fonts that are four times the size of the fonts you are using. This way, when you use, say, 10 point Helvetica, the driver can build up an image with 40 point Helvetica and ship a 300dpi graphical image to the printer, which then happily prints at laser quality. (the reason this works is simply aspect and resolution ratios: the Mac screen is 72 dpi, which is ~1/4 the resolution of the 300dpi printer). This actually works beautifully, but requires that you have some pretty large font families on your disk for the driver to access. My solution has been to choose a single typeface that I stick with -- Palatino (a proportionally spaced serif face) -- and to have a considerable number of fonts in that face loaded into my Mac. At the cost of being "stuck" in one typeface (though I do have italics, bold, and bold italics, as well as the more traditional roman) it works out well. If you choose to use a font that is not available in the 4x size, then the driver will try to use a 2x size, with the resulting printout at approximately 150 dpi. If that size is also not available, then you get 72dpi rough ugly typefaces on the printout. With the Printer Interface III you get considerable control over the driver parameters, including the selectable option of having lower than 300 dpi printouts (the lower the resolution the faster the printout) and having no graphics transmitted and "close" typefaces mapped into the builtin fonts (again, speeding up the printout significantly). Graphics print out in publication quality (I often have screen dumps (saved with COMMAND-OPTION-3 and edited with Fullpaint) printed out as figures or illustrations to go with my articles) and look very clean and crisp. I have had especially fine results with MacDraw illustrations, the only strange part being that complex background fills come out at 1/4 the screen image, rather than the same as on the screen. (that is, if I have grey diamonds at a density of, say, 4 per inch on the screen, the printout will have them at 16 per inch). Most of my work is professional correspondence or other desk-top publishing work, and with the exception of the depressingly slow speed of printing, I am quite pleased with the combination of HP DeskJet, Printer Interface III and Mac Plus for output. The DeskJet even prints my envelopes! One other point worth mentioning; GDT Softworks has announced that they will be shipping their own DeskJet driver called JetLink Express (tm). Their advert in MacWorld indicates that JetLink Express "employs the same leading-edge outline font technology used by Postscript laser printers...This allows you the flexibility to create various fonts, sizes and styles with astonishing results." I have talked with GDT Softworks and they indicate that there is no need for 2x or 4x fonts with JetLink Express, and that it can also feed data to the printer as fast as it can print. They also indicate that their product will be compatible with SuperSpool and other major printer spoolers. Speaking of compatibility, one gripe with Printer Interface III is that it seems to be a badly behaved driver; I have had problems with more than one program due to my having this driver loaded, notably with MetCom Modula-2. Contact Information: Hewlett-Packard Co. HP DeskJet (300 dpi inkjet printer) 1501 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304 (415) 857-1501 Orange Micro Grappler LS Mac Serial Laser/DeskJet 1400 N. Lakeview Ave. Anaheim, CA 92807 (800) 223-8029 (in Ca: (714) 779-2772) DataPak Software, Inc. Printer Interface for the Macintosh: Version III 14011 Ventura Blvd. Suite 401 Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 (818) 905-6419 GDT Softworks, Inc. JetLink Express (not yet released) Post Office Box 1865 Point Roberts, WA 98281 (800) 663-6222 I hope this helps!! -- Dave Taylor Intuitive Systems Los Altos, CA guest of HP Laboratories at taylor@hplabs.hp.com ************************************************************************* *** Note: I have no affiliation with any of the Mac firms mentioned *** *** in this article. I'm just a consumer... *** *************************************************************************