Re: trouble

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Bud,

No fear. I use a dot matrix printer too.

Specifically, I have a Panasonic KX-P3123, which is a pretty good
letter-quality printer. I went through a few of them, including the
previous Panasonic model, the KX-P1124. I think it uses the same XyWrite
printer drivers as the Epson letter-quality printers, but I customized
several versions of the drivers for use with the Panasonic.

By coincidence, it started giving me trouble yesterday -- the monospace
Prestige Roman typeface wouldn't print right; it was cutting off the
descenders and the bottoms of the letters. The other fonts seem to be OK,
but they're ugly and hard to read.

If anybody has any ideas on what went wrong and how to fix it, let me know.

Assuming I can't fix it, I wanted to know whether I could get another one,
so I searched the web and found a few, the most reliable and convenient of
which was Quill, where it sells for $270, plus tax and shipping, which
should take 2-3 days. I could easily find several places that sell them on
the Internet by searching Google for that model. There are lots of places
that serve owners of old dot matrix printers. My doctor's office still uses
a dot matrix printer. (Kind of humbling to me after all those stories I
wrote on medical office automation for Medical Tribune.)

Staples still sells several brands of continuous-form paper. I like to buy
it in a 3,200-sheet box. I also buy dot matrix ink and ribbon fabric
reloads from Computer Friends so the ink costs me almost nothing per page.

The funny thing about dot matrix printers is that the old model after I
bought a new model, the KX-P3123, it turned out to have all kinds of
advanced convenient features, like more fonts and feeding the paper forward
temporarily so you can tear it off without wasting a page. It's strange to
think of an advanced dot matrix printer, but they've come a long way.
You'll love the 24-pin letters.

I've got $300, and I really want to get back to work, so I'm probably going
to buy a new Panasonic KX-P3123 from Quill. I could comfortably recommend
that you do the same, although you may have a particular model that you
prefer. My other option is to buy a laser printer for about $7-800. People
on this list tell me they like HP and Brother, which have 2-sided printing,
but I have to think that out, get the specs, and figure out whether it's as
cheap per page and convenient as my dot matrix. The one thing I like about
the Panasonic KX-P3123 is that it gives me monospace Roman type, and I'm
not sure I can get that in a laser printer. I'll be interested in what
other people on the list have to say.

I do have a closet full of broken or obsolete dot matrix printers, some of
which are serviceable. I think the old Panasonic works well except for
Prestige Roman. I really wouldn't want to sell it to you because it would
be more trouble packing it and taking it to the post office than I could
charge you in good conscience. Plus I'd have to clean out my closet. But if
things get desperate I'll help you out. If you live in the New York area
maybe you could come over and pick one up. If there are any thrift shops in
your neighborhood, they often have dot matrix printers, but the owners
often have an exaggerated idea of their value. I also might be able to help
you with the manuals.

The other option is to figure out how to use XyWrite with my Brother
MFC300C color fax, but I just paid $25 for a new ink cartridge after
finishing a ream of paper. 5 cents a page is a chilling effect on free
expression. I think the HP drivers are supposed to work with dot matrix
printers.


Norman


At 01:32 PM 11/4/03 -0500, Bud Tritschler wrote:
>
Xywrite III+, beautiful Xywrite has been my fruitful friend since I needed
such a friend. Consequently, all my old and valuable stuff is stored
there. My ancient pin printer died, and with it, apparently, my ability to
print from any DOS based program. I can't find a printer, ink jet or
otherwise, to run DOS. Keeping in mind that my technological illiteracy is
vast, does anyone have a likely solution?       Bud

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Norman Bauman
411 W. 54 St. Apt. 2D
New York, NY 10019
(212) 977-3223
http://www.nasw.org/users/nbauman
Alternate address: nbauman@xxxxxxxx
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