Path: news.uiowa.edu!news.physics.uiowa.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.erols.net!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!van-bc!unixg.ubc.ca!freenet.vancouver.bc.ca!gareth From: gareth@vcn.bc.ca (Gareth Jones) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Re Apple II e.....Can I use Inkjet or Lasers ?????? Date: 18 Oct 1996 17:24:27 GMT Organization: Vancouver CommunityNet Lines: 235 Message-ID: <548egb$c37@milo.vcn.bc.ca> References: <53u4s9$1d5@jerry.loop.net> <53ucg9$i80@nntp.novia.net> <545sih$mn4@uni.library.ucla.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: opus.vcn.bc.ca X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] pubpc1@library.ucla.edu wrote: : cknoblo@oasis.novia.net (Carl Knoblock) wrote: : >exposures@loop.com wrote: : >> Which printers available can I use with my old reliable Apple II e? : >> Would love an inkjet or Laser....Can you get me started? Thank a : >> million. : >> : >> Vince exposures@loop.com : > : >For inkjets, you should use the Hewlett-Packard DeskJets. You will need a : >parallel card. For laser, the H-P line is still a good choice. : For lasers, PostScript printers are a better choice. The several IIe : programs that support laser printers assume PostScript. These include : Publish-It!, Springboard Publisher, and GEOS. For the Apple LaserWriters : (some models) there are also ImageWriter emulation programs that let them : work with older software. Note: I wrote this a couple of years ago (1994?) so the prices of printers have changed. The prices were in Canadian dollars, too. Also, the prices were for _new_ printers. I myself picked up an used Apple LaserWriter Plus for $450 Canadian, about $300 U.S., although the original list price was somewhere around $8000. So use this article to decide what you really want to own, then keep your eyes open. Good luck, -Gareth Choosing a Printer for your Apple II Gareth Jones Introduction A computer system first shows its age in its printouts. Faded and jagged characters or splotchy illustrations may make you want to dump your Apple II for a new computer. Don't do it! All it takes is a new printer to bring a fresh look to your computer's public face. You can use the newest printer technologies with Apple II's for results that are indistinguishable from other computers'. This article shows you how. Choosing a new printer for an Apple II is a complicated process, though. You already have the software that you intend to use, and that software may have been written before PostScript, TrueType, or QuickDraw were ever heard of. This article looks at printers from the point of view of people who own an Apple II with at least 128K (sorry, ][ Plus people) and a software collection. It discusses how to print files from, or with, the most popular programs. These specifically include AppleWorks, Print Shop (all versions), Blazing Paddles, Dazzle Draw, Publish It! 4 and GS-only software. Printing with GS Programs If you use only GS/OS and ProDOS 16 programs you have an easy job selecting a new printer. Look at the list of printer drivers available through the system software and through third-party packages, and make your choice based on the printer's price, speed, and resolution. Whatever printer driver you install, it will work equally well with all your software. System 6 supports several Apple printers and many nine-pin Epson and Epson-compatible printers. The LaserWriter printer driver should support any PostScript printer to the limit of its resolution. This is usually 300 dpi ("dots per inch"), but 600 dpi printers are coming down in price. Other printers are supported by drivers in "Independence" (from Seven Hills Software) and "Harmonie" (Vitesse). Independence supports the Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet, DeskWriter, LaserJet IIP and LaserJet III. Harmonie supports the same printers as well as the HP PaintWriter, PaintJet, QuadJet, LaserJet compatibles such as the Okidata OL400 and TI MicroLaser, and a selection of 9- and 24-pin dot matrix printers. Printing with the Classics Every eight bit program poses problems to the printer hunter because it supports an idiosyncratic list of printers. These lists do not match between programs, even when they are from the same company. Even worse, many programs have not been updated to support modern printers. Even the recently-released New Print Shop does not work with any inkjet or laser printers. If you want to keep printing with eight bit software, make a "master table" of supported printers. Take a sheet of lined paper and write the word "Printer" and the names of the programs you use along the top. Boot up one of the programs and select its "Configuration" or "Set-Up" option. Write down all the printers that it supports in the first column, then place checkmarks against them in the appropriate column for that software. Do the same for each program, checking off the printers that were already on the list and adding new ones as necessary. The printers you will want to consider buying will have a checkmark in every column. These printers will probably be ImageWriters or nine-pin Epson dot matrix printers. If you would like more choices than the master list gives you, read on. I will describe your alternatives. First, I will discuss why and how to use a new application program to print all of your old files. Second, I will show how PostScript printers are chameleons which work with the newest software for high-quality results but emulate an ImageWriter to work with older software. Third, I will discuss the commercial software drivers that let all of your GS-specific software use some models of laser and inkjet printers. Using Applications as Printing Utilities The cheapest way to use a new printer with old software is to do all your printing with software that supports the printer. Some of these programs are probably in your software collection already. If you only need to print text, don't give up on AppleWorks. This program lets users create custom printer drivers. Hewlett-Packard LaserJet drivers are available in the public domain. In addition, Resource Central sells a book called Using AppleWorks With a DeskJet 500. If you own a GS, you can continue word-processing with your favourite program, but save the documents as text files. These text files can be loaded into AppleWorks GS or Teach (a simple word processor that comes free with System 6) for touching up with GS fonts and printing with GS/OS printer drivers. I have similar advice for GS owners who create masterpieces with Blazing Paddles, Dazzle Draw, or another drawing or painting program. Create them, save them as usual, then convert them to super hi-res and print them with a GS paint program. SuperConvert (from Seven Hills Software) or Graphics Exchange (Roger Wagner Publishing) will do the conversion for you. Desktop publishing programs are the best printing "utilities" for graphics or text from almost any source. GraphicWriter III, for example, will import formatted AppleWorks, AppleWriter, FrEdWriter, MouseWrite, Bank Street Writer, Teach, and text files. It also imports Print Shop, Print Shop IIgs, MacPaint, and single, double, and super hi-res graphics. These files can be combined, arranged, enhanced with colour and GS fonts, and then printed to any printer for which you have a driver. Publish It! 4 provides just as much flexibility for owners of any 128K Apple II. It lets you load, manipulate, and print word processing files from AppleWorks and Bank Street Writer, text files, and all sorts of graphics: hi-res, double hi-res, super hi-res, Print Shop, New Print Shop, Print Shop IIgs, Newsroom, and Encapsulated PostScript. It uses GS fonts, even if you don't have a GS. Publish It! 4 supports many dot-matrix printers, all PostScript printers, and the HP DeskJet and LaserJet series. Publish It! 4 prints to about the same resolution on the HP printers as on a dot-matrix printer, so the results are not the best that the HP printer is can do. On the other hand, the software supports PostScript printers to the limit of their resolution, usually 300 dpi. Recommended Laser Printers Moving on to a slick, modern printer is going to cause some incompatibilities with your current software. Depend on it. The problems will be minimized if you spend $2000 to buy a PostScript laser printer. These are fast, quiet, clear, and will let you keep printing with your old programs, by using Apple's ImageWriter Emulator software. If you would like a laser printer for half the cost, I recommend the HP LaserJet or one of its many imitators. This printer is supported by all GS/OS programs if the appropriate printer driver is installed from either "Independence" or "Harmonie." It is also supported on eight-bit Apples by Publish It! 4. LaserJets are not supported by Print Shop (in any of its variations). If you buy a LaserJet you will have to create your letterheads, posters, and cards in Publish It! 4 or GraphicWriter III. This is not as easy, but think of it as a challenge to your creativity! Fortunately, you can save your pennies ($400 to $500 worth) to make your LaserJet into a PostScript printer. Some LaserJet compatibles, such as the Okidata OL400, cannot be upgraded to PostScript. Make sure that your printer can be upgraded. Recommended Inkjet Printers For between $500 and $600 you can buy an HP DeskJet 500. The DeskJet's printouts are almost as good as a LaserJet's. The most serious drawback is that DeskJets (like other inkjet printers) cannot be upgraded to PostScript. You can use a DeskJet with GS/OS applications if you buy either Harmonie or Independence. You can also use it with Publish It! 4. The StyleWriter printer is a bit less expensive than the DeskJet and its driver comes free with System 6, but you will only be able to use it with GS/OS programs. A phone call to TimeWorks' Technical Department verified that there are no plans to have Publish It! 4 support the StyleWriter. Given this, I personally recommend the DeskJet over the StyleWriter. Recommended Colour Printers At this moment, the only colour printer supported by a GS/OS driver is Apple's ancient ImageWriter II. However, Vitesse, the publisher of Harmonie, is working on a driver for HP's excellent colour inkjet printer, the DeskWriter C. (For a review, see inCider, March 1992). Quality Computers informs me that the colour driver should be available in early 1993. The DeskWriter C sells locally for about $1000. Recommendations for Impoverished Users Even if you can't afford to buy a printer that matches your refined tastes in typography, you can still produce beautiful printouts. Publish It! 4 allows you to save files in PostScript format so that they can be uploaded to a printer service bureau. GS owners have the same capability in all of their software, thanks to a wonderful hidden feature ("Easter Egg") in the LaserWriter printer driver. Just select the LaserWriter printer from the "DC Printer" Control Panel. Give the command that brings up the "Print" dialogue box. Hold down the Apple and "f" keys as you click "OK." A PostScript file called "PostScript.GSxx" will be created in the Drivers folder. (The "xx" in the filename represents numbers). One additional note: if you want to print graphics from AppleWorks GS v. 1.1 to a PostScript printer, or to "print" them to disk as PostScript files, import them into the Page Layout module and print them from there. The Graphics module will print "draw objects" like circles and squares as bit maps, but Page Layout prints them as draw objects. If you don't understand what that means, don't worry. Just remember that the Page Layout module produces better results when you work with PostScript printers or PostScript files. Once the PostScript file has been created, you must find a way to transfer it to the computer that will print it. A modem is one way. An even easier way, thanks to the HFS (Macintosh) file system translator that comes with System 6 for the GS, is to copy the PostScript file onto a Macintosh-formatted disk. In theory, any big-name desktop publishing software for MS-DOS or the Mac should be able to open and print a PostScript file generated on your Apple II. My experience with Aldus PageMaker (running under Windows) suggests that you may have to alter Apple II PostScript files to make them acceptable. Experiment, but be prepared to get quicker and easier results from service bureaus than from your friends with a Mac or an MS-DOS machine. Conclusions The Apple II is capable of making beautiful printouts with modern inkjet and laser printers. The secret is to develop a printer strategy before you choose a printer. Think carefully about your desires, your funds, and your current software. If you buy a LaserWriter or other PostScript printer, you will be able to produce beautiful documents with any software that supports PostScript. In addition, you will still be able to use your old software by pretending that the new printer is an old-fashioned ImageWriter. Clearly, this is the easiest route to follow. If you buy a non-PostScript laser or an inkjet printer, you will probably have to do a little work to see the results. If you use AppleWorks, then make or borrow a customized driver for your printer. This will suffice for printing plain text with no fancy fonts or graphics. To print those desirable luxuries from an eight bit Apple II, do all your printing with Publish It! 4. If you have a GS, buy printer drivers to work with a DeskJet or LaserJet. Or just print PostScript files to disk with the LaserWriter driver and develop a relationship with a local service bureau. One way or another, your Apple II will help you look good.