Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!decwrl!shelby!polya!rokicki From: rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Deskjet Printer Message-ID: <9748@polya.Stanford.EDU> Date: 6 Jun 89 07:03:30 GMT References: <7549@hoptoad.uucp> Sender: Tomas G. Rokicki Distribution: usa Organization: Stanford University Lines: 46 (Steve Costa) writes: > I'd like to hear from people using the HP Deskjet or Deskjet Plus printer. Okay! Here I am! > How well does the Amiga use its capabilities? Does it do a good job in > desktop publishing applications? I'm particularly interested in whether > the current driver is strictly pixel-oriented, or whether it is able > to use the line-drawing capabilities of the printer. I hate to rain on the parade, but the printer doesn't have general vector capability---it can draw horizontal and vertical rules, but you have to be really careful in how you specify them or the printhead will go wild. But even working on a pixel by pixel basis, the DeskJet Plus is very fast; it dumps a full page of 300 dpi graphics in a minute. > I've heard that a Postscript emulator has been written for use with the > IBM. I assume it's too optimistic to hope that such a thing has been done > or planned on the Amiga. Why do you assume? The Amiga is much more forefront than the PC. A PostScript interpreter has already been done and should appear in comp.amiga.binaries anytime now. It ain't perfect, but it's pretty good. > Any other observations on the Deskjet would be appreciated. Drawbacks: The ink is water-soluble. Just don't read the letters in the rain, and you'll be fine. Drawing large black areas can cause the ink to pool---it'll dry fine. The output quality depends highly on the paper used and the *side* of the page used---experiment before deciding on a paper to use. The envelope feeding is the best I've seen on any printer, laser or otherwise. It's actually very usable! The DeskJet Plus is several times faster than the DeskJet at graphics. It's worth the extra bucks. The printer is highly recommended. I can't imagine why anyone would get a dot-matrix printer if they can afford one of these. ($700 at Fry's for the DJ+!) -tom