Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!violet.berkeley.edu!steve
From: steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: LQ Exchange Report
Message-ID: <24696@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 22 May 89 16:16:32 GMT
Sender: usenet@agate.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: steve@violet.berkeley.edu (Steve Goldfield)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 36

After six or seven weeks, I finally received my replacement
LQ last week. It appears to be an entirely new one (not
rebuilt though I'm not sure how easy it is to tell). I
haven't tested it extensively but it seems not to screw
up at the top of the page like my old one did. It isn't
exactly less noisy; what they've apparently done is to
change the frequencies in which the noise is distributed
somewhat. From memory, the whining sound the LQ makes as
it prints, especially in its best mode, is a little bit
lower-pitched and thus a little bit less annoying. But
the sound is still pretty annoying so it isn't a dramatic
improvement.

The main difference visible in the printer is the paper
separator which comes installed and stays in the printer
regardless of paper path. The printer also comes with
a HyperCard stack to explain the paper-path options;
unfortunately it won't run without a later version of
HyperCard than I currently have.

One interesting anomaly: when I reinstalled my AppleTalk
Option card, I noticed that two of the dip switches were
in a different position than shown in the manual. One was
switch 8 on block SW2. The self-test states that this
switch toggles the precise position to which the paper is
loaded after printing. The other, however, is switch 8 on
block SW3. The LQ AppleTalk Option manual gives a warning,
"Do not adjust DIP switch block SW3 yourself. Only authorized
Apple dealer technicians should adjust SW3." Does anyone out
there know what this switch block controls and why switch 8
is shown as up (open) in the manual but was set down (closed)
by Apple? I figure that if Apple wants to protect me from
myself, they should either set the switches as described or
explain why they didn't.

Steve Goldfield