
      FUNDAMENTALS
  A computer usually displays its answers on a screen. If you 
want the computer to copy the answers onto paper, attach the 
computer to a printer, which is a device that prints on paper.
  The typical printer looks like a typewriter but lacks a 
keyboard. To feed information to the printer, you type on the 
computer's keyboard. The computer transmits your request through 
a cable of wires running from the back of the computer to the 
back of the printer.
  A computer's advertised price usually does not include a 
printer and cable. The cable costs about $8; the typical printer 
costs several hundred dollars.
  Printers are more annoying than screens. Printers are noisier, 
slower, cost more, consume more electricity, need repairs more 
often, and require you to buy paper and ink. But you'll want a 
printer anyway, to copy the computer's answers onto paper that 
you can give your computerless friends. Another reason to get a 
printer is that a sheet of paper is bigger than a screen and lets 
you see more information at once.

     Printer dealers
  To get a printer cheaply, phone these mail-order discount 
dealers:
Harmony Computers & Electronics
1801 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn NY 11210
800-441-1144 or 718-692-3232

USA Flex
135 N. Brandon Dr.
Glen Ellyn IL 60139
800-USA-FLEX or 708-351-7172

Midwest Micro
6910 U.S. Route 36 East
Fletcher OH 45326
800-423-8215 or 513-368-2309
  Harmony has the lowest prices but doesn't offer any technical 
help. Midwest Micro offers the greatest variety of printers, a 
free 56-page catalog, and toll-free technical help; but its 
prices are higher than the other two companies. USA Flex's prices 
and service are midway between the other two companies.
  You can also get good prices from chains of discount 
superstores, such as Comp USA (which sells all kinds of computer 
equipment) and Staples (which sells all kinds of office supplies 
and some computer equipment).
                             Another way to get a printer cheaply 
is to phone 800-873-7766. That gets you the Accessories Division 
of a major computer manufacturer, Epson. Say that you're 
interested in buying an Epson printer that's 
factory-reconditioned (which means ``used but fixed up by the 
manufacturer to be like new''), and that you'd like a catalog 
explaining which ones are available. They tend to be older 
models, at prices that are ridiculously low. You get a 30-day 
money-back guarantee and 2-year warranty. Consumers who have 
phoned that number and received those printers have been 
thrilled.

                                        Three kinds of printers
                             Three kinds of printers are popular.
                             A dot-matrix printer looks like a 
typewriter but has no keyboard. Like a typewriter, it smashes an 
inked ribbon against the paper. Like a typewriter, it's cheap: it 
typically costs about $175.
                             An ink-jet printer looks like a 
dot-matrix printer; but instead of containing a ribbon, it 
contains tiny hoses that squirt ink at the paper. It prints more 
beautifully than a dot-matrix printer and costs more. It 
typically costs about $250.
                             A laser printer looks like a 
photocopier. Like a photocopier, it contains a rotating drum and 
inky toner. It prints even more beautifully than the other two 
kinds of printers. Like a photocopier, it's expensive: it 
typically costs about $650.

                                         Special requirements
                             As you progress from a dot-matrix 
printer to an ink-jet printer to a laser printer, the quality 
tends to go up, and so does the price. But here are exceptions. . 
. . 
                             Color If you need to print in color 
(instead of just black-and-white), get an ink-jet printer. 
(Dot-matrix printers produce colors too crudely and slowly. Color 
laser printers cost too much ___ about $10,000.) Ink-jet printers 
that can print in color cost about $400.
                             Mailing labels Although you can 
print mailing labels on all three kinds of printers, the easiest 
way to print mailing labels is on a dot-matrix printer.
                             Multi-part forms If you want to 
print on a multipart form (using carbon paper or carbonless NCR 
paper), you must buy a dot-matrix printer.
                             Old accounting software Some old 
accounting software requires that you buy a dot-matrix printer. 
It also requires that the printer be an expensive kind that can 
handle extra-wide paper.

                                          Cost of consumables
                             After you've bought the printer and 
used it for a while, the ink supply will run out, so you must buy 
more ink.
                             In the typical dot-matrix printer, 
the inked ribbon costs about $5 and lasts about 1000 pages, so it 
costs about a half a penny per page. That's cheap!
                             In the typical ink-jet printer, the 
ink cartridge costs about $20 and lasts about 500 pages, so it 
costs about 4 cents per page. That's expensive!
                             In the typical laser printer, the 
toner cartridge costs about $80 and lasts about 4000 pages, so it 
costs about 2 cents per page. That's expensive, but not as 
expensive as the ink in an ink-jet printer.
                             Those prices assume you're printing 
black text. If you're printing graphics or color, the cost per 
page goes up drastically. For example, full-color graphics on an 
ink-jet printer cost about 50 cents per page.
                             For all three kinds of printers, you 
must also pay for the paper, which costs about 1 cent per sheet 
if you buy a small quantity (such as a 500 sheets), or a half a 
cent per sheet if you buy a large quantity (such as 5000 sheets). 
For low prices on paper, go to Staples.
  You must also pay for the electricity to run the printer; but 
the electricity's cost is negligible (much less than a penny per 
page) if you turn the printer off when you're not printing.
  Warning: if you leave a laser printer on even when not 
printing, its total yearly electric cost can get high, since the 
laser printer contains a big electric heater. (You might even 
notice the lights in your room go dim when the heater kicks on.)

              Daisy-wheel printers
  Although the most popular kinds of printers are dot-matrix, 
ink-jet, and laser, some folks still use an older kind of 
printer, called a daisy-wheel printer. It's cute! Here's how it 
works. . . . 
  Like a typewriter and a dot-matrix printer, a daisy-wheel 
printer smashes an inked ribbon against paper. To do that, the 
daisy-wheel printer contains a device called a daisy wheel, which 
is an artificial daisy flower made of plastic or metal. On each 
of the daisy's petals is embossed a character: a letter, a digit, 
or a symbol. For example, one petal has the letter A embossed on 
it; another petal has B; another petal has C; etc.
  Notice that each character is embossed. (The word ``embossed'' 
is like ``engraved'', but an ``embossed'' character is raised up 
from the surface instead of etched into the surface.)
  To print the letter C, the printer spins the daisy wheel until 
the C petal is in front of the inked ribbon. Then a hammer bangs 
the C petal against the ribbon, which in turn hits the paper, so 
that an inked C appears on the paper.
  The printer can print each character extra-dark or regular. To 
print a character extra-dark, the printer prints the character, 
moves to the right just 120th of an inch, and then reprints the 
character. Since the second printing is almost in the same place 
as the original character, the character looks darkened and 
slightly fatter. Those darkened, fattened characters are called 
boldfaced.
  You can remove the daisy wheel from the printer and insert a 
different daisy wheel instead. Each daisy wheel contains a 
different font. For example, one daisy wheel contains italics; a 
different daisy wheel contains Greek symbols used by scientists.
  The printer holds just one daisy wheel at a time. To switch to 
italics in the middle of your printing, you must stop the 
printer, switch daisy wheels (a tedious activity that requires 
your own manual labor!), and then press a button for the printer 
to resume printing.
  Manufacturers The most famous daisy-wheel printer manufacturer 
was Diablo, founded by Mr. Lee in California. He sold the company 
to Xerox, then founded a second daisy-wheel printer company, Qume 
(pronounced ``kyoom''), which he sold to ITT. In 1988 he bought 
Qume back. Other companies (such as Brother and Juki) invented 
imitations that claimed to be Diablo & Qume compatible.
  Variants of the daisy wheel Over the years, many variants of 
the daisy wheel have been invented.
  For example, Nippon Electric Company (NEC) invented a 
``wilted'' daisy wheel, whose petals are bent. The wilted daisy 
wheel is called a thimble. Computerists like it because it spins 
faster than a traditional daisy and also produces a sharper 
image. It's used just in NEC's Spinwriter and Elf printers.
  Another variation of the daisy wheel is the plastic golf ball, 
which has characters embossed all over it. IBM calls it a 
Selectric typing element. IBM uses it in typewriters, typesetting 
machines, and printers. It produces better-looking characters 
than daisy wheels or thimbles. Since it spins too slowly and 
needs too many repairs, IBM is discontinuing it.
  Gigantic printers used by maxicomputers and minicomputers have 
characters embossed on bands, chains, and drums instead of 
daisies. Those printers are fast and cost many thousands of 
dollars.

                   Look closer
  Now let's take a closer look at each of the three popular kinds 
of printers: dot-matrix, ink-jet, and daisy-wheel. . . . 

   DOT-MATRIX PRINTERS
                                                     A dot-matrix 
printer resembles a daisy-wheel printer; but instead of 
containing a daisy wheel, it contains a few guns, as if it were a 
super-cowboy whose belt contains several holsters.
                                                     Each gun 
shoots a pin at the inked ribbon. When the pin's tip hits the 
ribbon and smashes the ribbon against the paper, a dot of ink 
appears on the paper. Then the pin retracts back into the gun 
that fired it.
                                                     Since each 
gun has its own pin, the number of guns is the same as the number 
of pins.

                                                        9-pin printers
                                                     If the 
printer is of average quality, it has 9 guns ___ and therefore 9 
pins. It's called a 9-pin printer. The 9 guns are stacked on top 
of each other, in a column that's called the print head. If all 
the guns fire simultaneously, the pins smash against the ribbon 
simultaneously, so the paper shows 9 dots in a vertical column. 
The dots are very close to each other, so that the column of dots 
looks like a single vertical line. If just some of the 9 pins 
press against the ribbon, you get fewer than 9 dots, so you see 
just part of a vertical line.
                                                     To print a 
character, the print head's 9 guns print part of a vertical line; 
then the print head moves to the right and prints part of another 
vertical line, then moves to the right again and prints part of 
another vertical line, etc. Each character is made of parts of 
vertical lines ___ and each part is made of dots.
                                                     The pattern 
of dots that makes up a character is called the dot matrix. 
That's why such a printer's called a 9-pin dot-matrix printer.
                                                     Inside the 
printer is a ROM chip that holds the definition of each 
character. For example, the ROM's definition of ``M'' says which 
pins to fire to produce the letter ``M''. To use the ROM chip, 
the printer contains its own CPU chip and its own RAM.
                                                     Manufacturer
s When microcomputers first became popular, most dot-matrix 
printers for them were built by a New Hampshire company, 
Centronics. In 1980, Japanese companies took over the 
marketplace. Centronics went bankrupt.
                                                     The two 
Japanese companies that dominate the industry are Epson and 
Panasonic.
  Epson became popular because it was the first company to 
develop a disposable print head ___ so that when the print head 
wears out, you can throw it away and pop in a new one yourself, 
without needing a repairman. Also, Epson was the first company to 
develop a low-cost dot-matrix impact printer whose dots look 
``clean and crisp'' instead of looking like "fuzzy blobs''. Epson 
was the main reason why Centronics went bankrupt.
  Epson is part of a Japanese conglomerate called the Seiko 
Group, which became famous by timing the athletes in the 1964 
Tokyo Olympics. To time them accurately, the Seiko Group invented 
a quartz clock attached to an electronic printer. Later, the 
quartz clock was miniaturized and marketed to consumers as the 
``Seiko watch'', which became the best-selling watch in the whole 
world. The electronic printer, or ``E.P.'', led to a better 
printer, called the ``son of E.P.'', or ``EP's son''. That's how 
the Epson division was founded and got its name!
  Epson's first 9-pin printer was the MX-80. Then came an 
improvement, called the FX-80. Those printers are obsolete; 
they've been replaced by Epson's newest 9-pin wonders, the FX-870 
($268) and the FX-1170 (which can handle extra-wide paper and 
costs $349). Epson's cheapest and slowest 9-pin printers are the 
LX-300 ($164) and the Action Printer 2250 ($124). You can get 
those prices from USA Flex.
  For a 9-pin printer, I recommend buying the Panasonic 1150 
instead, because it prints more beautifully and costs just $126 
from discount dealers such as Harmony. Too bad it can't handle 
extra-wide paper! If you want to print on extra-wide paper, you 
must pay over twice as much: try the Panasonic 1695, which 
Harmony sells for $349. One reason why the Panasonic 1695 costs 
so much is that it's extra-fast.
  Besides Epson and Panasonic, four other Japanese companies also 
popular: NEC, Oki, Citizen, and Star. Printers from all six of 
those Japanese companies are intended mainly for the IBM PC, 
though they work with Apple 2 and Commodore computers also.
  The most popular printers for the Mac were the Imagewriter and 
the Imagewriter 2. They were designed by Apple to print exact 
copies of the Mac's screen. They even print copies of the 
screen's wild fonts and graphics. Apple stopped marketing them, 
but you can still buy a refurbished Imagewriter for $127 and a 
refurbished Imagewriter 2 for $199 from Computer Town in New 
Hampshire at 603-898-3200. (Refurbished means ``used but fixed up 
to be as-good-as-new''.)

           7-pin printers
  Although the average dot-matrix printer uses 9 pins, some older 
printers use just 7 pins instead of 9. Unfortunately, 7-pin 
printers can't print letters that dip below the line (g, j, p, q, 
and y) and can't underline. Some 7-pin printers print just 
capitals; other 7-pin printers ``cheat'' by raising the letters 
g, j, p, q, and y slightly.

           24-pin printers
  Although 9 pins are enough to print English, they're not enough 
to print advanced Japanese, which requires 24 pins instead.
  Manufacturers The first company to popularize 24-pin printers 
was Toshiba. Its printers printed Japanese ___ and English ___ 
beautifully. 24-pin Toshiba printers became popular in America, 
because they print English characters more
beautifully than 9-pin printers.
                                         Epson and all the other 
Japanese printer companies have copied Toshiba. Now the cheapest 
wonderful 24-pin printers are the Epson Action Printer 3250 
($172), the Epson Action Printer 3260 ($194), the Panasonic 2023 
($189), the Panasonic 2123 ($224), and the Epson LQ-570+ (which 
is sturdier, easier to operate, and costs $239). The cheapest 
24-pin printer that handles wide paper is the Epson LQ-1070+ 
($364). You can get those prices from Harmony and USA Flex.
                                         In a typical, cheap 
24-pin printer (such as the Epson Action Printer 3250), the 
even-numbered pins are slightly to the right of the odd-numbered 
pins, so you see two columns of pins. After firing the 
even-numbered pins, the print head moves to the right and fires 
the odd-numbered pins, whose dots on paper overlap the dots from 
the even-numbered pins. The overlap insures that the vertical 
column of up to 24 dots has no unwanted gaps.
                                         In fancier 24-pin 
printers (such as the Panasonic 2023 and 2123), the 24 pins are 
arranged as a diamond instead of two columns, so that the sound 
of firing pins is staggered: when you print a vertical line you 
hear a quiet hum instead of two bangs.

                                                  Beyond 24 pins
                                         The fastest dot-matrix 
printers use multiple print heads, so that they can print several 
characters simultaneously.

                                               Why the daisies died
                                         During the 1970's, 
daisy-wheel printers were popular, but they've died out. 
Computerists have switched to dot-matrix printers instead, for 
the following reasons.
                                         The mechanism that spins 
the daisy is expensive, slow, and frequently needs repairs.
                                         Dot-matrix printers can 
easily print graphics by making the pictures out of little dots. 
Daisy wheels cannot.
                                         Although the first 
dot-matrix printers had just 7 pins and printed ugly characters, 
the newest 9-pin and 24-pin printers from Epson and Panasonic 
print prettier characters than the average daisy wheel. Moreover, 
you can make the typical 9-pin printer imitate an 18-pin printer 
by doing 2-pass printing, in which the printer prints a line of 
text, jerks the paper up very slightly, and then prints the line 
again so the new dots fill the gaps between the old dots.
                                         If you have a 
daisy-wheel printer and want to change to a different font (such 
as italics), you must spend your time manually switching daisy 
wheels. If you have a dot-matrix printer instead, just tell the 
printer which font you want (by pressing a button on the printer 
or on your computer's keyboard), and the printer will 
automatically switch to different patterns of dots to produce the 
different font, since the printer's ROM contains the definitions 
of many fonts. To make a daisy-wheel printer print so many fonts, 
you must buy several dozen daisy wheels, costing a total of 
several hundred dollars.
                                         So daisy-wheel printers 
died because of competition from dot-matrix printers ___ and from 
ink-jet and laser printers, which print even more beautifully! 
Let's examine those super-beautiful printers now. . . . 

          INK-JET PRINTERS
  An ink-jet printer resembles a dot-matrix printer but contains 
hoses instead of guns. The hoses squirt ink at the paper. The 
hoses are called nozzles. There are no pins or ribbons.
  When you use an ink-jet printer, you hear the splash of ink 
squirting the paper. That splash is quieter than the bang 
produced when a dot-matrix printer's pins smash a ribbon. If you 
like quiet, you'll love ink-jet printers!
  The most popular ink-jet printers are made by Hewlett-Packard 
(HP). Recently, Canon and Epson have started making ink-jet 
printers also.
  Epson's print head contains 48 nozzles; HP's contains 50 
nozzles; Canon's contains 64 nozzles.
  How does the ink get out of the nozzle and onto the paper? In 
most ink-jet printers (such as the ones by HP and Canon), a 
bubble of ink in the nozzle gets heated and becomes hot enough to 
burst and splash onto the paper. Epson uses a more precise 
technique in its Stylus 800 printer: the nozzle suddenly 
constricts and forces the ink out.

         Mainstream printers
  On the whole, the best ink-jet printers to buy are the HP 
Deskjet 520 ($289), the Epson Stylus 800+ ($279), and th Canon 
Bubble Jet BJ-200e ($279 minus $30 rebate, bringing your final 
cost down to $249). Those are the prices from discount dealers.
  All three printers are excellent, and people who use them are 
all happy. Here are the minor difference between the printers. . 
. . 
  Quality of graphics printed The Canon is the best (because it 
has the most nozzles). The Epson is the worst.
  Speed The Canon is the best (up to 248 characters per second). 
The Epson is the worst (because it lacks a ``high-speed 
quick-draft'' mode).
  Size The Canon is the best: it's small, cute, and weighs just 
6.6 pounds! The HP is the worst: it's too big and bulky.
  Cost of ink The HP is the best: its 1000-page cartridge costs 
$25, giving 2.5 per page. The Epson is almost as good: its 
700-page cartridge costs $18, giving 2.6 per page. The Canon is 
the worst: its 450-page cartridge costs $23, giving 5.1 per 
page. Those are the prices charged by discount dealers such as 
USA Flex. Those page counts are approximate: the actual number of 
pages that the cartridge prints depends on how many characters 
and graphics you put on each page.
  Quality of text printed Each printer has its own advantages: 
the Epson has the best kind of nozzle, the Hewlett-Packard has 
the most precise dot location (600 positions per inch 
horizontally), and the Canon's ink handles the widest variety of 
paper well. If you won't let me say ``it's a tie'', then call the 
Epson the best, the Canon the worst.

                Paper
  If you buy an ink-jet printer, experiment with using different 
brands of paper. Some brands absorb ink much better than other 
brands. If you choose the wrong brand, the ink will bleed (spread 
out erratically through the strands of the paper's fiber). Start 
by trying cheap copier paper, then explore alternatives. The 
brand of paper you buy makes a
much bigger difference with ink-jet printers than with dot-matrix 
or laser printers.

                                                  Water-based ink
                                         Canon's ink is 
water-based. The bad thing about water-based ink is that if you 
print on a sheet of paper or envelope that accidentally gets wet 
(from rain or a sweaty thumb), the ink will run and smear. But if 
you're careful to keep the paper dry, Canon's ink smears very 
little.

                                                 Cheapest printers
                                         The cheapest decent 
ink-jet printers are Epson's Stylus 400 ($244), Epson's Stylus 
300 ($199), and Canon's BJ-100 ($249 minus $30 rebate). They're 
cheap because they print slowly. The Stylus 300 is super-cheap 
because it also prints less beautifully and requires an ink 
cartridge that's more expensive.

                                                 Portable printers
                                         For the 
executive-on-the-go, Canon and HP have invented portable ink-jet 
printers which weigh very little (about 4 pounds). Unfortunately, 
they print more slowly and require you to insert each page 
manually, one page at a time: no automatic paper feed! Those 
portable printers are the Canon BJ-10sx ($234) and the HP Deskjet 
310 ($299).

                                                   Old printers
                                         Some people still use 
older models. For example:
The old model of Epson's Stylus 800+ was the Stylus 800.
The old model of Canon's BJ-200e was the BJ-200.
The old model of Canon's BJ-10sx was the BJ-10.
The old model of HP's Deskjet 520 was the Deskjet 500.

                                                   Wide printers
                                         Epson and Canon make 
wide printers that can print on extra-wide paper. Epson's is 
called the Stylus 1000 ($449); Canon's is the BJ-230 ($389 minus 
$30 rebate).

                                                  Color printers
                                         HP, Canon, and Epson 
make printers that print in color.
                                         Epson's is called the 
Color Stylus ($569). Canon's is called the BJC-600 ($549 minus 
$30 rebate). They're both slightly nicer than HP's Deskjet 560C 
($559).
                                         HP also makes a 
super-fast model (the Deskjet 1200C for $1389) and older, worse 
models (the Deskjet 550C for $419 and the Deskjet 500C for $389).

                                                   Mac printers
                                         All those ink-jet 
printers I described are IBM-compatible. If you have a Mac 
instead, you must buy a Mac printer ___ or a Mac version of an 
IBM-compatible printer.
IBM-compatible printer                                 Mac 
version and its price
Canon BJ-10                                            Apple 
Stylewriter 1
Canon BJ-200                                           Apple 
Stylewriter 2                                                        
$280
Canon BJC-600                                          Apple 
Color Stylewriter Pro                                                
$600

HP Deskjet 520                                         HP 
Deskwriter 520                                                       
$299
HP Deskjet 560C                                        HP 
Deskwriter 560C                                                      
$575
                                         The Stylewriters are 
built by Canon but marketed by Apple. The Stylewriter 1 has been 
discontinued; for the other printers, I've shown the prices 
charged by discount dealers.

     LASER PRINTERS
  A laser printer, like an office photocopier, contains a drum 
and uses toner made of ink. The printer shines a laser beam at 
the drum, which picks up the toner and deposits it on the paper.
  For the IBM PC, the most popular laser printers are made by 
Hewlett-Packard (HP).
  HP's first laser printer was the Laserjet. Then came an 
improvement (the Laserjet Plus), a second improvement (the 
Laserjet 2), a third improvement (the Laserjet 3), and a fourth 
(the Laserjet 4).
  They've all been replaced by the Laserjet 4 Plus, a cheaper 
``personal'' version called the Laserjet 4P, and an even cheaper 
``lower-cost'' version called the Laserjet 4L.

     Laserjet 4 Plus
  The Laserjet 4 Plus is the best of all those printers. Here's 
how it works. . . . 
  It can print 12 pages per minute (12 ppm). It can print 600 
dots per inch (600 dpi); and it uses a trick called Resolution 
Enhancement Technology (RET), which can shift each dot slightly 
left or right and make each dot slightly larger or smaller.
  Its ROM contains the definitions of 45 fonts. Each of those 
fonts is scalable: you can make the characters as big or tiny as 
you wish. If you want extra fonts, insert a font cartridge that 
contains extra ROM chips, or do this: buy a floppy disk 
containing definitions of extra fonts, put that disk into your 
computer, copy those font definitions to your computer's hard 
disk, then tell your computer to copy those font definitions to 
the printer's RAM. So altogether, the printer can handle three 
kinds of fonts: the 45 internal fonts that were inside the 
printer originally; the cartridge fonts that you added by 
inserting a cartridge; and soft fonts that are copied into the 
printer's RAM from the computer's disks.
  The printer contains 2 megabytes of RAM, so it can handle lots 
of soft fonts and graphics on the same page. Moreover, the 
printer uses a trick called data compression, which compresses 
the data so that twice as much data can fit in the RAM (as if the 
RAM were 4 megabytes).
  The printer costs $1399. That's the price charged by discount 
dealers (such as Harmony), and it includes a toner cartridge.
                                           Cheaper printers
                             If you can't afford a Laserjet 4 
Plus, buy a cheaper printer instead:
Laser printer                            ResolutionRAM     Fonts 
Speed                                                                 Price
HP Laserjet 4 Plus                       600 dpi + RET2M + 
compression                                                45 
scalable                                                         
12 ppm                                                                $1399
HP Laserjet 4P                           600 dpi + RET2M + 
compression                                                45 
scalable                                                          
4 ppm                                                                  $959
HP Laserjet 4L                           300 dpi + RET1M + 
compression                                                26 
scalable                                                          
4 ppm                                                                  $659

Epson Action Laser 1500                  300 dpi + RET1M   13 s + 
14 b                                                              
6 ppm                                                                  $649
Panasonic KX-P4400                       300 dpi 1M        28 
bitmap                                                            
4 ppm                                                                  $429
                             In the cheapest laser printer (by 
Panasonic), the ROM's fonts are bitmap, which means 
``non-scalable'', which means you cannot make those fonts bigger 
or smaller: to get bigger or smaller fonts, you must buy 
different fonts (font cartridges or soft fonts). Its $429 price 
(from discount dealers such as Harmony) is actually $479 minus a 
$50 rebate.
                             In Epson's mid-priced laser printer 
(the Action Laser 1500), 13 of the fonts are scalable, and 14 are 
non-scalable (bitmap).

                                             Print engines
                             Each HP laser printer contains a 
photocopier print engine manufactured by Canon. In fact, each HP 
laser printer is just a modified Canon photocopier!
                             In Epson's laser printer, the print 
engine is made by Minolta instead of Canon. Panasonic and Sharp 
make their own print engines.

                                            Older Laserjets
                             Many offices still use older 
Laserjets. Here's how the famous old Laserjets compare with 
modern ones:
Printer                            ResolutionRAM     Fonts 
SpeedCheaper version
Laserjet 2                         300 dpi M        bitmap 8 
ppmLaserjet 2P is 4 ppm
Laserjet 3                         300 dpi + RET1M   scalable 8 
ppm                                                            
Laserjet 3P is 4 ppm, M
Laserjet 4                         600 dpi + RET2M + 
compressionscalable                                         8 
ppmLaserjet 4P is 4 ppm
Laserjet 4 Plus                    600 dpi + RET2M + 
compressionscalable                                        12 ppm
                             The Laserjet 2 contains just a few 
bitmap fonts ___ and they're all ugly! If you have a Laserjet 2, 
I recommend that you add extra fonts to it by getting a font 
cartridge. The most popular font cartridges for the Laserjet 2 
are the Microsoft Z cartridge (manufactured by HP) and the 
25-in-1 cartridge (manufactured by Pacific Data). For example, 
this entire Secret Guide, which you're reading now, was produced 
on a Laserjet 2 with the Microsoft Z cartridge (except for the 
cute pictures and largest headlines). If you have a Laserjet 3, 
3P, 4, 4P, 4L, or 4 Plus, don't bother buying font cartridges, 
since those Laserjets include many good scalable fonts already.
        PCL versus Postscript
  When your computer wants to give the printer an instruction 
(such as ``draw a diagonal line across the paper'' or ``make that 
scalable font bigger''), the computer sends the printer a code.
  HP laser printers understand a code called Printer Control 
Language (PCL). It was invented by HP. The newest version of PCL 
is called PCL 5e. It's understood by the Laserjet 4 (and by the 
Laserjet 4 Plus, 4P, and 4L). Older HP printers understand just 
older versions of PCL and can't perform as many tricks.
  Most IBM-compatible laser printers (such as the ones by Epson, 
Panasonic, and Sharp) understand PCL, so that they imitate HP's 
laser printers, run the same software as HP's laser printers, and 
are HP-compatible. But most of them understand just old versions 
of PCL and can't perform as many tricks as the Laserjet 4 series.
  Some laser printers understand a different code, called 
Postscript, which was invented by a company called Adobe.
  Back in the 1980's, PCL was still very primitive. Postscript 
was more advanced. The fanciest laser printers from HP's 
competitors used Postscript. The very fanciest laser printers 
were bilingual: they understood both Postscript and PCL.
  Now that PCL has improved and become PCL 5e, it's about as good 
as Postscript. PCL 5e printers cost less to manufacture than 
Postscript printers.
  In Postscript, each command that the computer sends the printer 
is written by using English words. Unfortunately, those words are 
long and consume lots of bytes. In PCL, each command is written 
as a brief series of code numbers instead. Since PCL commands 
consume fewer bytes than Postscript commands, the computer can 
transmit PCL commands to the printer faster than Postscript 
commands, and PCL commands can fit in less RAM.

            Mac printers
  For the Mac, the most popular laser printer is Apple's 
Laserwriter, which comes in many versions. Now the most popular 
version is the Laserwriter Select 320. Discount dealers sell it 
for $795. It uses Postscript.
  HP makes Laserjets that are modified to work with a Mac:
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4is the Laserjet 4M.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4 Plusis the Laserjet 4M Plus.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4Pis the Laserjet 4MP.
The Mac version of the Laserjet 4Lis the Laserjet 4ML.
Each understands both PCL and Postscript. Each attaches to bothe 
the IBM PC and the Mac. The cheapest (the 4ML) contains 4M of 
RAM; the others each contain 6M of RAM.

              BEST BUYS
The cheapest nice IBM-compatible printer is the 9-pin Panasonic 
1150 ($124). The next major step up is the 24-pin Panasonic 2023 
($189). For a true workhorse, get the 24-pin Epson LQ-570+ 
($239).
                                         For prettier printing, 
try an ink-jet printer such as the Canon BJ-200e ($249). But 
remember that ink-jet printers are more finicky about what kind 
of paper you insert, and the ink is expensive.
                                         The next major step up 
is to get a laser printer, such as the Panasonic KX-P4400 (300 
dpi, 4 pages per minute, $429), Epson Action Laser 1500 (300 dpi 
+ RET, 6 pages per minute, $649), the HP Laserjet 4P (600 dpi + 
RET, 4 pages per minute, $959), or the HP Laserjet 4 Plus (600 
dpi + RET, 12 pages per minute, $1399).

         PRINTER TECHNOLOGY
  Now let's plunge into the technical details of printer 
technology!

      Impact versus non-impact
  A printer that smashes an inked ribbon against the paper is 
called an impact printer. The most popular kind of impact printer 
is the dot-matrix printer. Other impact printers use daisy 
wheels, thimbles, golf balls, bands, chains, and drums. They all 
make lots of noise, though manufacturers have tried to make the 
noise acceptable by putting the printers in noise-reducing 
enclosures and by modifying the timing of the smashes.
  A printer that does not smash an inked ribbon is called a 
non-impact printer. Non-impact printers are all quiet! The most 
popular non-impact printers are ink-jet printers and laser 
printers. Other non-impact printers are thermal printers (whose 
hot pins scorch the paper), and thermal-transfer printers (which 
melt hot colored wax onto the paper).
  Each has its own disadvantages. Thermal printers require 
special ``scorchable'' paper. Thermal-transfer printers require 
expensive ribbons made of colored wax.

             Resolution
  If a printer creates characters out of dots, the quality of the 
printing depends on how fine the dots are ___ the ``number of 
dots per inch'', which is called the print resolution.
  9-pin printers usually print 72 dots per inch vertically. 
That's called draft quality, because it's good enough for rough 
drafts but not for final copy. It's also called business quality, 
because it's good enough for sending memos to your coworkers and 
accountant.
  If you make a 9-pin printer do 2 passes, it prints 144 dots per 
inch. That's called correspondence quality, because it's good 
enough for sending pleasant letters to your friends. It's also 
called near-letter-quality (NLQ), because it looks nearly as good 
as the letters produced on a typewriter. The typical 9-pin 
printer has a switch you can flip, to choose either 1-pass draft 
quality (which is fast) or 2-pass correspondence quality (which 
is slower but prettier).
  A 24-pin printer prints 180 dots per inch. That's called letter 
quality (LQ), because it looks as good as the letters printed by 
a typical typewriter or daisy-wheel printer. It's good enough for 
writing letters to people you're trying to impress.
  A standard laser printer prints 300 dots per inch. That's 
called desktop-publishing quality, because it's good enough for 
printing newsletters. It's also called near-typeset-quality, 
because it looks nearly as good as a typesetting machine.
  A standard typesetting machine prints 1200 or 2400 dots per 
inch. Those are the resolutions used for printing America's 
popular magazines, newspapers, and books.
  HP's Laserjet 2P Plus, 3, 3P, and 4L all print 300 dots per 
inch; but the 3, 3P, and 4L produce prettier output than the 2P 
Plus by using this trick: they can print each dot at 5 different 
sizes (ranging from ``normal'' to ``extra tiny'') and nudge each 
dot slightly to the right or left. HP's Laserjet 4 and 4P print 
600 dots per inch.
  Ink-jet printers by Canon and Epson usually print 360 dots per 
inch. HP's ink-jet printers usually print 300 dots per inch.
                                                  Character size
                                         To measure a character's 
size, you must measure both its width and its height.
                                         Width Like an 
old-fashioned typewriter, a traditional printer makes each 
character a tenth of an inch wide. That's called ``10 characters 
per inch'' or 10 cpi or 10-pitch or pica (pronounced ``pike 
uh'').
                                         Some printers make all 
the characters narrower so you get 12 characters per inch. That's 
called 12 cpi or 12-pitch or elite.
                                         The typical dot-matrix 
impact printer lets you choose practically any width you wish. 
For example, the Epson LQ-850 can print 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 
16, and 20 cpi. The widest sizes (5, 6, 7, and 8 cpi) are 
called double-width, because they're twice as wide as 10, 12, 15, 
and 16 cpi. The narrowest sizes (16 and 20 cpi) are called 
condensed or compressed; they're 60% as wide as 10 and 12 cpi.
                                         Some printers make each 
character a different width, so that a ``W'' is very wide and an 
``i'' is narrow; that's called proportional spacing. It looks 
much nicer than uniform spacing (such as 10 cpi or 12 cpi). The 
typical modern printer lets you choose either proportional 
spacing or uniform spacing. Uniform spacing is usually called 
monospacing.
                                         Height The typical sheet 
of paper is 11 inches tall. If you put one-inch margins at the 
top and bottom, you're left with 9 inches to print on.
                                         After printing a line of 
type, the typical typewriter or printer jerks up the paper a 
sixth of an inch, then prints the next line. As a result, you get 
6 lines of type per inch, so the entire sheet of paper shows ``9 
times 6'' lines of type, which is 54 lines.
                                         The fanciest printers, 
such as laser printers, can make characters extra-tall or 
extra-short. The character's height is measured in points. Each 
point is 1/72 of an inch. A character that's an inch tall is 
therefore called ``72 points tall''. A character that's half an 
inch tall is 36 points tall.
                                         Like a typewriter, a 
printer normally makes characters 10 points tall. (More 
precisely, it makes the top of a capital ``Y'' 10 points higher 
than the bottom of a small ``y''.) It also leaves a 2-point gap 
above the top of the ``Y'', to separate it from the characters on 
the previous line. That 2-point gap is called the leading 
(pronounced ``ledding''). That technique is called ``10-point 
type with 2-point leading''. Since the type plus the leading 
totals 12 points, it's also called ``10-point type on 12'' (or 
``10 on 12'' or ``10/12'').
                      Fonts
  You can make a capital T in two ways. The simple way is draw a 
horizontal bar and a vertical bar, like this: T. The fancy way is 
to add serifs at the ends of the bars, like this: T. A character 
such as T, which is without serifs, is called sans serif, because 
``sans'' is the French word for ``without''.
  Monospaced fonts The most popular monospaced fonts are Courier 
(which has serifs) and Letter Gothic (which is sans serif). 
Letter Gothic was invented by IBM in 1956 for typewriters. 
Courier was invented for typewriters also.
  Proportionally-spaced fonts The most popular proportionally 
spaced fonts are Times Roman (which has serifs) and Helvetica 
(which is sans serif). Times Roman was invented by The Times 
newspaper of London in 1931.  Helvetica was invented by Max 
Miedinger of Switzerland in 1954. (The name ``Helvetica'' comes 
from ``Helvetia'', the Latin name for Switzerland.)
  Samples Here are samples from the 300-dot-per-inch laser 
printer that printed this book (an HP Laserjet 2 printer with 
Microsoft Z cartridge):


  Here are samples from a 24-pin dot-matrix printer, the Epson 
LQ-570:


  Here are samples from an ink-jet printer, the Canon BJ-200e. In 
these samples, the Canon is pretending it's the Epson LQ-570. The 
Canon's imitative printing looks better than Epson's original, 
since Canon's printer is an ink-jet instead of a dot-matrix. Look 
at how pretty Canon's printing is:


Canon doesn't imitate Epson's OCR-B or Script C.
                                                             Paper
                                                     Laser 
printers and most ink-jet printers accept a stack of ordinary 
copier paper. You put that paper into the printer's paper tray, 
which is also called the paper bin and also called the cut-sheet 
paper feeder.
                                                     Dot-matrix 
printers Though some dot-matrix printers handle stacks of 
ordinary copier paper, most dot-matrix printers handle paper 
differently. Here's how. . . . 
                                                     To pull 
paper into the printer, dot-matrix printers can use two methods.
                                                     The simplest 
method is to imitate a typewriter: use a rubber roller that grabs 
the paper by friction. That method's called friction feed. 
Unfortunately, friction is unreliable: the paper will slip 
slightly, especially when you get near the bottom of the sheet.
                                                     A more 
reliable method is to use paper that has holes in the margins. 
The printer has feeder pins that fit in the holes and pull the 
paper up through the printer very accurately. That method, which 
is called pin feed, has just one disadvantage: you must buy paper 
having holes in the margins.
                                                     If your 
printer uses pin feed and is fancy, it has a clamp that helps the 
pins stay in the holes. The clamp (with its pins) is called a 
tractor. You get a tractor at each margin. A printer that has 
tractors is said to have tractor feed. Usually the tractors are 
movable, so that you can move the right-hand tractor closer to 
the left-hand tractor, to handle narrower paper or mailing 
labels.
                                                     A dual-feed 
printer can feed the paper both ways ___ by friction and by pins 
___ because it has a rubber roller and also has sets of pins. The 
printer has a lever to the left of the roller and pins: if you 
pull the lever one way, the paper will pass by the roller, for 
friction feed; if you pull the lever the other way, the paper 
will pass by the pins, for pin feed.
                                                     Most 
dot-matrix printers have dual feed with movable tractors.
                                                     Paper that 
has holes in it is called pin-feed paper (or tractor-feed paper).
  Like a long tablecloth folded up and stored in your closet, 
pin-feed paper comes in a long, continuous sheet that's folded. 
Since it comes folded but can later be unfolded (``fanned out''), 
it's also called fanfold paper. It's perforated so you can rip it 
into individual sheets after the printer finishes printing on it. 
If the paper's fancy, its margin is perforated too, so that after 
the printing is done you can rip off the margin, including its 
ugly holes, and you're left with what looks like ordinary typing 
paper.
  The fanciest perforated paper is called micro-perf. Its 
perforation is so fine that when you rip along the perforation, 
the edge is almost smooth.
  Paper width Most printers can use ordinary typing paper or 
copier paper. Such paper is 8 inches wide. On each line of that 
paper, you can squeeze 85 characters at 10 cpi, or 170 characters 
at 20 cpi, if you have no margins.
  Pin-feed paper is usually an inch wider (9 inches wide), so 
that the margins are wide enough to include the holes.
  Some printers can handle pin-feed paper that's extra-wide (15 
inches). Those wide-carriage printers typically cost about $130 
more than standard-width printers.

                Speed
  The typical printer's advertisement brags about the printer's 
speed by measuring it in characters per second (cps) or lines per 
minute (lpm) or pages per minute (ppm). But those measurements 
are misleading.
  Dot-matrix and ink-jet printers For example, Epson advertised 
its LQ-850 dot-matrix printer as ``264 cps'', but it achieved 
that speed only when making the characters small (12 cpi) and 
ugly (draft quality). To print characters that were large (10 
cpi) and pretty (letter quality), the speed dropped to 73 cps.
  Panasonic advertised its KX-P1091 dot-matrix printer as ``192 
cps'', but it achieved that speed only if you threw an internal 
switch that made the characters even uglier than usual!
  For dot-matrix and ink-jet printers, the advertised speed 
ignores how long the printer takes to jerk up the paper. For 
example the typical ``80-cps'' printer will print 80 characters 
within a second but then take an extra second to jerk up the 
paper to the next line, so at the end of two seconds you still 
see just 80 characters on the paper.
  Daisy-wheel printers To get an amazingly high cps rating, one 
daisy-wheel manufacturer fed its printer a document consisting of 
just one character repeated many times, so the daisy never had to 
rotate!
  Laser printers To justify a claim of ``8 pages per minute'', 
Apple salesmen noticed that their Laserwriter 2 NT printer takes 
a minute to produce 8 extra copies of a page. They ignored the 
wait of several minutes for the first copy!
  Like Apple, most other laser-printer manufacturers say ``8 
pages per minute'' when they should really say: ``1/8 of a minute 
per additional copy of the same page''.
  Keep your eyes open Don't trust any ads about speed! To 
discover a printer's true speed, hold a stopwatch while the 
printer prints many kinds of documents (involving small 
characters, big characters, short lines, long lines, draft 
quality, letter quality, and graphics).
                                                    Interfacing
                                         A cable of wires runs 
from the printer to the computer. The cable costs about $8 and is 
not included in the printer's advertised price: the cable costs 
extra.
                                         One end of the cable 
plugs into a socket at the back of the printer. The other end of 
the cable plugs into a socket at the back of the computer. The 
socket at the back of the computer is called the computer's 
printer port.
                                         If you open your 
computer, you'll discover which part of the computer's circuitry 
the printer port is attached to. In a typical computer, the 
printer port is attached to the motherboard; but in some 
computers (such as the original IBM PC), the printer port is 
attached to a small PC card instead, called a printer interface 
card, which might not be included in the computer's advertised 
price.
                                         When the computer wants 
the printer to print some data, the computer sends the data to 
the printer port; then the data flows through the cable to the 
printer.
                                         Serial versus parallel 
The cable contains many wires. Some of them are never used: 
they're in the cable just in case a computer expert someday 
figures out a reason to use them. Some of the wires in the cable 
transmit information about scheduling: they let the computer and 
printer argue about when to send the data. If the computer's port 
is serial, just one of the wires transmits the data itself; if 
the computer's port is parallel, eight wires transmit the data 
simultaneously.
                                         Parallel ports are more 
popular than serial ports, because parallel ports transmit data 
faster, are more modern, and are easier to learn how to use. 
Unfortunately, parallel ports handle only short distances: if the 
printer is far away from the computer, you must use a serial port 
instead.
                                         When you buy a printer, 
make sure the printer matches the computer's port. If your 
computer's port is parallel, you must buy a parallel printer; if 
your computer's port is serial, you must buy a serial printer 
instead.
                                         If your computer has two 
printer ports ___ one parallel, one serial ___ you can attach the 
computer to either type of printer; but I recommend that you 
choose a printer that's parallel, because parallel printers cost 
less, and because many word-processing programs require that the 
printer be parallel.
                                         Standard cables The 
typical parallel printer expects you to use a cable containing 36 
wires. Just 8 of the wires transmit the data; the remaining wires 
can be used for other purposes. That 36-wire scheme is called the 
industry-standard Centronics-compatible parallel interface.
                                         The typical serial 
printer expects you to use a cable containing just 25 wires. Of 
the 25 wires, just 1 transmits data from the computer to the 
printer; the remaining wires can be used for other purposes. That 
25-wire scheme is called the recommended standard 232C serial 
interface (RS-232C serial interface).
                                         Weird cables If your 
computer is an IBM PC or clone, you'll get a surprise when you 
try attaching it to a parallel printer (which expects 36 wires): 
your computer's parallel port contains just 25 wires instead of 
36! To attach the computer's 25-wire parallel port to a 36-wire 
parallel printer, computer stores sell a weird cable that has 25 
wires on one end and 36 wires on the other.
                                         If your computer is 
small and cute (such as the Apple 2c, 2GS, Mac, Commodore 64, or 
Radio Shack Color Computer), you'll get a surprise when you try 
attaching it to a standard serial printer (which expects 25 
wires): your computer's serial port contains fewer than 10 wires! 
You must buy a weird cable that has 25 wires on one end and fewer 
on the other.
This is Courier, 10 points high and 10 cpi.
This is Courier Bold (10 points high, 10 cpi).
This is Lineprinter (similar to Letter Gothic), 8.5 points high 
and 16.7 cpi.
This is 8-point Times Roman. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice 
things come in small packages.
This is 10-point Times Roman, Times Roman Bold, and Times Roman 
Italic.
This is 12-point Times Roman, Times Roman Bold, and Italic.
This is 14-point Times Roman Bold.
This is 8-point Helvetica. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice 
things come in small packages.



This is 8-point Helvetica. It's very tiny, but sometimes nice 
things come in small packages.
This is 10-point Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, and Helvetica Italic.
This is 12-point Helvetica, Helvetica Bold, and Helvetica Italic.
This is 14-point Helvetica Bold.