Olivetti printers

Personal Computer News

PLUG IN PARAPHERNALIA Our eight-page guide to Christmas peripherals. PICK OF THE PRINTERS MONITORS IN FOCUS DISK DRIVES ASSESSED ...AND OTHER ADD-ONS DECIPHERING THE PERIPHERALS PUZZLE Once you've had a computer for a little while,you may be wondering what else you can do with it, aside from playing games and writing the odd program. Buying one of the wealth of peripherals currently on the market can open up a whole new realm of possibilities, by presenting new programming challenges, new types of software,and providing more capabilities for your computer. The problem is, what to buy, for how much,and where from? Probably the most uninteresting peripherals are printers,which are only of real use for word processing, screen dumps,and program listings. These come in many different types, sizes, prices and capabilities,from dot matrix to daisywheel. Of much more interest these days are modems. Unfortunately,they can give you that dreaded disease known as Hackery, which includes symptoms such as high telephone bills, sleepless nights and no interest in anything else. Other add-ons include light pens and touch pads for budding computer artists. These generally come with some software, but make sure when you buy that there are some details on howto program it yourself. The same applies to joysticks and tracker balls. On some machines handling these is easy but on others, such as the Spectrum and Electron, things area little more difficult. There are so many gadgets available that it would be impossible to name them all. Out of these, perhaps the most exciting are second processors, some of which can turn your humble home micro into something approaching the power of a minicomputer. Others are just add-ons to allow a sought after CP/M system. These are much more common, being available for the BBC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC464, and Sinclair QL, to name but a few. One point to bear in mind when you buy something extra for your micro is what you are going to do with it when you become fed up with the applications that come with it. If you make sure that there are details on how to access and control it, you will be able to write your own routines to run it, thereby giving it a whole new lease of life. PCN's six page peripherals guide should give you some idea of what is available, how much you should expect to pay, and where you can get them from. PRINTERS Many people think they can live without printers, probably due to their high prices, but eventually you'll probably want one for your microcomputer. There are a number of types around, from the more expensive daisy wheels to the cheaper thermal or ballpoint pen printers. Not to be forgotten, too, are the ubiquitous dot matrix and the ink jet types. The former are generally judged by their Epson compatibility and features. Once the type of printer has been decided upon, there are then a number of additional features to choose from, print buffers, RS232 or Centronics, graphics capabilities, redefinable character sets, and speed being just a few. A printer with all of these the Smith Corona D200 for example - can cost up to £500. Alternatively, a ballpoint pen plotter such as a MCP-40 will cost around £150, but this only takes narrow paper and doesn't give you half the facilities. THERMAL BROTHER EP-22 The EP-22 is quite cheap and will take either thermal paper or a carbon ribbon. It has a keyboard, which makes it a word processor too. PRICE: £169.95 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 35 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or thermal carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Brother [redacted] BROTHER HR5 The HR5 thermal printer from Brother basically uses the same mechanism as the EP-22 and EP-44. PRICE: £180.55 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 47 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Jones & Brother [redacted] DOT MATRIX SMITH CORONA D200 If you want a dot matrix that does nearly everything for your needs then the Smith Corona D200, at £483, is a good buy. PRICE: £483 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics, both fitted REVIEW: Issue 87 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 160cps FEATURES: 2K internal buffer, NLQ AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers WALTERS WM80 If you just want a workhorse with no fancy bits, then choose a bottom-end machine such as this. PRICE: £189.75 INTERFACES: RS232 or Centronics REVIEW: Issue 43 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 80cps AVAILABILITY: Walters Microsystems International, [redacted] COLOUR INTEGREX COLORJET The Integrex Colorjet is mainly for BBC and Apple owners. A BBC screen dump program comes with this very versatile printer. PRICE: £632.50 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 51 and 44 FEED MECH: Pinch PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 37cps AVAILABILITY: Integrex [redacted] COMMODORE MPS 801 There are no frills on this and you will have difficulty attaching it to anything except a Commodore. PRICE: £395.95 INTERFACES: I triple Commodorey REVIEW: Issue 79 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 38cps AVAILABILITY: Commodore [redacted] DAISIES JUKI 6100 The Juki 6100 has above average speed at 17cps and is a nice cheap daisy wheel printer although it does have a few rough edges. PRICE: £385.25 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 17 FEED MECH: Pinch WHEEL TYPES: Triumph Adler PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 17cps AVAILABILITY: Most dealers SMITH CORONA L1000 The L1000 from Smith Corona is a good quality printer if a little noisy and slow. £50 extra for a parallel interface. PRICE: £368 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 78 FEED MECH: Pinch and optional tractor feed WHEEL TYPES: Smith Corona PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 12cps AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers MODEMS Modems could well be classed as the up and coming peripheral of 1985. With the rapid growth of bulletin boards and the increase in Prestel-type systems, the number of cheap modems available has doubled since last year. One of the problems that beset their introduction was BABT/BSI approval. The modems had to be sent to the BABT or BSI for testing for compatibility with BT's telephone network. By the middle of 1984, there were so many modems awaiting the green sticker that people started selling them without. Things have settled down a bit now and there are a number of good modems on the market. These can be split up into different types - direct connection, acoustic coupler, single speed, or multi speed. The standard transmission speeds are 300/300 and 120005. The first is generally used for bulletin boards, although both Prestel and Telecom Gold are available on this speed. Whatever modem you buy, make sure you get one that fits your needs as far as baud rates go, otherwise you may feel a bit left out. COMMODORE COMMUNICATIONS Those with a Commodore 64 needn't feel left out. The Commodore Communications modem gives you access to Compunet, of course, and also Prestel. In the near future, Commodore is going to produce some software to allow user to user communication. If you want to use the various bulletin boards, you will have to acquire an RS232 port and a standard 300 modem. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Commodore cartridge port and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Commodore dealers PRISM VTX 5000 One of the most popular modems for the Spectrum is the Prism VTX 5000. If you only want access to Micronet and Prestel it is ideal, although it can have a few problems with Interface 1. The way around this is to connect the whole system up without the modem and let it warm up (go and make a cup of coffee). Once warm, the VTX5000 can be connected (after powering down again) and it will work. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Spectrum system bus and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Micronet 800, [redacted] PACE NIGHTINGALE The Pace Nightingale is another multi speed modem with both Bell and CCITT frequencies. It is a hard wire modem ie it connects directly into the telephone socket. Built mainly to be used with the BBC, for which the Commstar ROM is available, the complete package costs about £136. It is also available for any other RS232 compatible communications package. PRICE: £136.85 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 1200/75 INTERFACE: RS423/232 CONTACT: Pace Software [redacted] MINOR MIRACLES WS2000 The Minor Miracle WS2000 is great for bulletin board hackers and Prestel users alike. It lacks auto dial and auto answer facilities, which are a little expensive at £30 each but at least you're given the option. PRICE: £149.44 Auto dial and answer boards extra at £30 each BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300, 1200/75, half duplex 600,1200 INTERFACE: RS232 with DTR, RTS, CTS, DCD handshaking EXTRAS: Also has the Bell 103/113, 108, 202 and CCITT, V21, V23 tones standards fitted. CONTACT: Minor Miracles [redacted] SENDATA 700B For the ultimate in portability, it is hard to beat the Sendata 700B acoustic modem, distributed by Tandy. This modem will fit onto any standard telephone via its flexible connector so you can use it in a phone box if you don't mind the pips corrupting your data. PRICE: £235 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 INTERFACE: RS232 to the computer, and acoustic modem to BT CONTACT: Sendata [redacted] MONITORS The major excuse for not buying a monitor is that it's not strictly necessary if you have a TV. The counter arguments are that with a monitor you can see your superb high-resolution graphics with less eyestrain. The clincher is that someone else might want to watch TV. You mostly measure a monitor's quality by its bandwidth. This defines how fast the individual dots are scanned on the screen so obviously the faster it does this, the better the picture will be. 10MHz is at the low end of the range with the better colour monitors having over 20MHz. Another consideration is whether to buy colour or monochrome. The latter comes in various different coloured phosphors, usually green on green. Other options are orange on orange or grey on grey, if you want full colour, you must pay quite a lot more for high quality. If you are not too bothered about that there are a number of converted TV tube monitors available for much less. CHEAP COLOUR At the very cheap end come the JVC and Fidelity converted TV tube-type monitors. The JVCs come in two different versions, medium- and high-resolution. The 1302-2 is the high-resolution version but has a rather dirty white. This is generally caused by the quality of the phosphors used. However, it's not at all bad for £229.95. The lower priced version, the 1302-1, costs less at £149.95 but the bandwidth is not as good. MONITOR: JVC 1302-1/1302-2 PRICE: £253 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels/580 x 470 CRT SIZE: 14in/14in BANDWIDTH: 6MHz/10MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25/80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB analogue/TTL SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Opus Supplies, [redacted] The Fidelity CM14 resembles the JVCs ie it's a converted TV tube. Its advantage is that it can be interfaced to a number of different machines, and has a built-in speaker and amplifier to allow access to, for instance, the Commodore 64's sound output. Cables for a number of machines are available from Tape Recorder Spares. One drawback to the CM14 is that it gives a better picture with some computers such as the Oric, but a bad one with others, notably the Dragon. MONITOR: Fidelity CM14 PRICE: £228 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels CRT SIZE: 14in BANDWIDTH: 12MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL, Audio input (1Kohm imp) SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Micro Peripherals [redacted] BETTER QUALITY Near the top of the range of colour monitors are Kaga, Microvitec, and one from Prism. The latter looks suspiciously like the Fidelity although it is better quality. The Kaga monitors come in a range, at the top of which is the Vision III. This has a black anti-glare tube and good colours. MONITOR: Kaga Vision III PRICE: £370 RESOLUTION: 640 x 440 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB AVAILABILITY: MBS Data Efficiency, [redacted] The Cub is popular and usually found attached to BBCs. The range is wide but the standard version is probably the most common. MONITOR: Microvitec Cub 1431 PRICE: £225 RESOLUTION: 452 x 585 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL AVAILABILITY: Dealers MONOCHROME There are several monochromes around, and again, you pay for quality. A very average green-on-green monitor is Zenith's. This produces a fairly good picture on its 12in tube. It does have a switched option to allow the screen size to be altered between 40 or 80 columns. MONITOR: Zenith 123E PRICE: £90.85 RESOLUTION: 640 x 300 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 or 40 x 25 CONNECTION: Composite video AVAILABILITY: Most dealers Since most home micros now have an RF output socket as standard, many people want to use them with TVs. The quality of picture varies but the Sony Trinitron range is generally the best. MONITOR: Sony Trinitron KV1430 PRICE: £249 RESOLUTION: 320 x 250 CRT SIZE: 14in CHARACTERS: 60 x 25 CONNECTION: UHF switchable. AVAILABILITY: Electrical stores STORAGE Most home micros can only store data and programs on cassette, which can be a major hassle. The first big upgrade step that most micro owners take is some kind of fast access, mass storage system. For most machines this means a disk drive although for the Spectrum, Microdrives or Wafa drives are usually cheaper. As well as the disk/wafer drive, most machines need an interface to allow them to control the system. The odd one out is the Commodore 64 which has all the necessary bits and pieces built in. The problem here is that it can only be used with Commodore disk units (a typical Commodore gambit). SPECTRUM The main Spectrum storage system is the Sinclair Microdrive. This needs the Interface 1 to be fitted but once in, up to eight drives can be used, each giving access to 85K or so of storage. Unfortunately, this is not too reliable and is still rather slow, and there's no fancy filing system. The additional commands are those printed on the top row of the keyboard in red, so there are no random access files and no way of telling what type the file is until you try to load it. A better system is the Rotronics Wafa drive. This gives access to more storage space and a few more details about file types and sizes. The wafers, so far, have also been found to be much more reliable than the Sinclair Micro cartridges. SYSTEM: ZX Microdrive expansion pack PRICE: £99.95 COMMENTS: Comes with Interface 1, a single Microdrive, four pieces of software, an introductory cartridge, and a blank. Extra drives at £49.95 each. Interface 1 has a pseudo RS232 and a network port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores SYSTEM: Rotronics Wafa drive PRICE: £129.95 COMMENTS: Includes two drives, a word processor and a blank cartridge. Also includes an RS232 and a Centronics port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores BBC The BBC has one of the better filing systems found on home micros. From Basic you get proper random access files, loading and saving of programs and data with the big bonus that it is fast. The drawbacks are that you must have your Beeb altered and a disk controller fitted, costing around £100. You are also limited to a maximum of 31 files per disk and only four drives.The Acorn system is the most common, so if you don't buy its disk drives (which are not the best) you won't get a format program or a disk manual. Most dealers have sussed this and will sell you some other drives with the format disk included, or just the format disk at a nominal cost. The manual or a facsimile can be obtained in most good computer stores. There are a number of alternative filing systems for the BBC. These include the AMCOM, Watford, plus many others. They are not standard and some AcornSoft programs may not run on them. They do, however, improve on the Acorn DFS by getting around the 31 file limit. Which one you get depends on its price, performance, and what you want to do. Also for the BBC are a number of fast tape systems, including the Ikon Ultradrive and the Phloopy. The Ultradrive is better and costs about a quarter the price of a disk system. SYSTEM: Acorn DFS Upgrade PRICE: £115 Fitted DISK DRIVES: Cumana 100K £171.35, 200K £222 AVAILABILITY: Acorn Dealers SYSTEM: Watford DFS PRICE: In kit form £142.60 for single density, £97.75 for double density COMMENTS: The single density (100K 40 track) is more expensive due to the 8271 disk controller costing £90 AVAILABILITY: Watford Electronics [redacted] SYSTEM: Ikon Ultradrive PRICE: £79.95 COMMENTS: Pack of 6 cassettes £20.13 AVAILABILITY: Ikon Computer Products [redacted] AMSTRAD The Amstrad has a disk system in the offing, from Amstrad itself. This is a Hitachi drive and can be accessed from Basic using the definable I command to give IA, IB to select which drive, ITAPE, IDISC, ICPM, IDIR, IERA, and IUSER. From Basic there are, unfortunately, no random access files. The facilities are minimal with no proper filing. However, it does come with a full CP/M system and DR Logo fitted. The CP/M is the same good old standard that has been around for a number of years, the assembler is for the 8080 but on the whole, it paves the way for the Amstrad to become a full business system. SYSTEM: DDI-1 PRICE: £199.95 COMMENTS: Includes interface CP/M and DR Logo AVAILABILITY: High street stores INPUTS Input devices are things like joysticks, add-on keyboards, touchpads and light pens. Most of these can be simply plugged in and either come with their own software or can be used with existing games. Most computers have a minimum of a keyboard for input but some, most notably the original Spectrum Minus, have a keyboard that is less than suitable for a great deal of typing, as in word processing. Due to this, there has been a ready supply of add-on keyboards offerings from, for instance, Fuller, Cheetah, Transform and lately Sinclair itself, with the launch of the Spectrum Plus. Touchpads also seem to be booming with the release of the Touchmaster system for the Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Dragon. Also in the running is the KoalaPad but this is mainly for the Commodore 64 and the Apple. Also in the range of peripherals to help you with your graphics are light pens. These are usually for the Commodore 64 and imported from the US. A number of add-on Spectrum keyboards are available and most require fitting by the user. All you do is invalidate your guarantee by opening up the Spectrum's case, and pull out the keyboard connectors. These are then replugged into the add-on keyboard with the Spectrum circuit board and the add-on box re-assembled. A simpler way uses a buffer that plugs directly into the back of the Spectrum, so you don't have to invalidate your guarantee. KEYBOARD: Transform PRICE: £69.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Transform [redacted] KEYBOARD: Fuller FDS PRICE: £49.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Fuller [redacted] KEYBOARD: Stonechip PRICE: £59.95 FITTING: Plugs straight in AVAILABILITY: Stonechip Electronics [redacted] The peripheral for games players who want more speed and style is a joystick. The shape, size, and quality vary greatly but a rule of thumb is that quality costs more. Joysticks also fall into two types, is switched and analogue. The former is by far the most common with the usual connection being the standard Atari D plug with nine pins. Commodore, Atari, and Spectrum use this type and it is normally possible to obtain an interface for most other machines. The BBC micro is left out when it comes to joysticks as it uses the analogue type. These tend to be more expensive but more flexible to use. The major thing to watch out for is whether the stick might break just as you escape from the whirling hurling alien that is breathing down your back. One of the best is the Quickshot MkII, which comes with suction cups on the base to stop it slipping at tight moments. It also has its fire button built into the handle - good value for £12.95. Another good 'un is the Kempston Pro which doesn't have the fire button in the handle. It has two in tandem on the base allowing use by fight or left handers. It is also very solid. The BBC requires analogue sticks that plug into the analogue port at the back. The recommended version is marketed by Acorn but it seems to have been designed the wrong way round and is difficult to control. Other versions such as the Shado sticks from Spectrum at £16.95, come with an automatic centering mechanism that improves things no end. Of the light pen systems available, most and by far the best, are for the Commodore 64. The Flexidraw package from Inkwell Systems costs £140 but the accompanying software is flexible with full rubber banding, circles, fills, and a zoom. For the BBC, the best graphics package available is the BitStick. The trouble is that this does require the 6502 second processor and disk drives plus a souped-up joystick. However, for your money you get a system that will allow very high quality graphics to be designed and stored. The cleverest part is where you can zoom into part of a picture and then into a smaller part and so on until you run out of disk space. This means pictures can be designed with much more detail than is possible to see on screen. The major drawbacks are the price (£375 plus £199 for the second processor), and the lack of a suitable printer/plotter to obtain hard copy. The Spectrum is way behind in the graphics stakes with Touchmaster, DK'Tronics, and Stack being the few to produce something. The packages that come with these systems are primitive compared with other machines. The problem appears to be lack of interest from the US. The Touchmaster system costs £149.95 and is available from Touchmaster on [redacted]. The DK'Tronics light pen costs £19.95 and is available from DK'Tronics [redacted].

Your Computer

David Horne

David Horne with a quick guide to the best printers on the market. There is a very large and bewildering choice of printers available for the computer hobbyist and not a great deal of published work regarding the suitability of the machines for specific tasks. It is not possible to look at all the combinations of computers and printers but I hope to give a guide as to what can be expected from printers in each price bracket. I have also highlighted the points that the user should evaluate when contemplating the purchase of a printer. The factors will be weighted differently depending upon whether the required use is business, educational or hobbyist. For this reason I have simply stated the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The machines reviewed are all very good value for money and have been chosen on the basis of offering the most facilities within a given price-bracket. As a general introduction it should be said that ideally a printer should have both Centronics and serial interfaces. It is logical that as the number of homes with more than one computer increases, whether it be one computer per child or just a spare computer, that each computer should be able to share the expensive peripheral devices that are used infrequently. The annual/biannual cost of upgrading your system can be significantly reduced by purchasing a printer with the common interfaces - RS-232 and Centronics, although just as the last few years have seen an enormous expansion in the areas in which home computing is used, the same is about to happen to the printer. What this actually means is do not buy a badge-engineered product if it has reduced facilities i.e., either the RS-232 or Centronics interface removed, unless there are overwhelming financial reasons for doing so. It could provide a limitation on your future choice of computers. The two current main uses of a printer are to obtain listings of a Basic program and to perform word-processing activities. All the printers are suitable for producing listings. Some users may like wide listing paper so that comments may be added to the right of the relevant lines of Basic, but usually these would be added as Rem statements. The reason normally given for adding comments separately from the listings is either program security - it makes it easier for someone else to follow if a program is correctly annotated - or that the comments can be written in a different colour and therefore stand out much better, enabling the reader to gain a better insight to the workings of the program. With the limited memory available on many machines, the use of valuable RAM working space on formatting neat program notes for easy reading - if it is not neatly tabulated it will not be very easy to see the remarks - is not something that the user will usually contemplate. The advent of the very popular four-colour printer plotter enables the user to provide his own listings with remarks coloured for easy viewing. Inserting a pen which has run out of ink into the appropriate colour pen holder - you must not run the mechanism with a pen missing - will provide copies without visible remarks. It took me ages to think of this use for an old dried up pen. Waste not want not. For word-processing the needs of the enthusiast are not the same as the small business. Generally speed is not that important as the quantity of processed text will be small. The requirement for an A4 print is also not quite such a necessity, as it is just possible to get away with less. For instance, sending text to a magazine in 40 column format will generally be OK as that is how we print it. Accepting that narrow text is in certain cases permissible, it should only be considered as an interim solution until finances permit the acquisition of a A4, 8 inch wide paper, printer. Another consideration for word processing systems is lower case descenders. This is the portion of the printed character that is below the general base level of the printed capital letters i.e., the lower case letters g, j, p, q and y. If these sit up on a line the text can become difficult to read, with problems in differentiating between the g, q and 9. All the printers will work within a normal office environment without creating a significant noise problem, but the dot matrix printers and the ZX printer can cause a disturbance in a domestic environment especially late at night. In this respect the ink jet and thermal printers are the most suitable, but clearly do not have the capability of producing multiple copies from multi-part paper. I know it's obvious but with the colour matrix printer, only the original is coloured, the carbon copies are black and white. One of the main uses to which printers will be put in the very near future is electronic mail. Messages can be transmitted to suitably equipped sites at 1200 baud, usually at less cost than posting a first class letter, which should arrive the next day, or of sending the message orally over the telephone. Think of all the post that you send and how much of it could be serviced in this manner including the payment of bills using a credit card facility. It could be seen in today's climate as a way of greatly reducing costs in a very labour intensive industry. The development of electronic mail is dependent upon the advent of very cheap Modems, which are also responsible for holding back the demand for access to large database networks. We really are very close to the electronic communications age, not just for big business but also the general public, with all its obvious advantages and sometimes not so obvious perils. I hate to think what is actually going to happen to the network when the 'enthusiast' gets hold of it with an intelligent terminal; with the new electronic exchanges I can not see how it will be stopped. A printer uses what is euphemistically called consumables. These affect the ability of the user to actually print hard copy output, tn an office, if the printer runs out of paper, either to to the stationery cupboard and get another box or get some from a local stationery stockist. It is not quite that easy in the evening at home, a hobbyist is unlikely to carry a large range of spares so it is worth considering what levels of spares is required. A ribbon can dry out if left for any length of time unused and exposed. In such cases, wind the ribbon back and forth to wet it from adjacent inked portions of the ribbon. Always cap ink pens when not in use. If these run out then you're stuck. Users of the four-colour printer mechanism may prefer to purchase replacement pens from a Sharp stockist who provides packs of four pens - one of each colour. Ensure that if the equipment is battery operated, the batteries have sufficient charge to produce a clear print, otherwise use the main adaptor. As a general rule, roll paper as supplied is less likely to contain creases and is also less likely to jam. If you use fan fold paper, there may be a requirement for a form feed, otherwise printing over the perforated tear may occur, which besides being difficult to read, creates a lot of printing noise. The space requirements of fanfold paper is much greater than that of roll paper behind the printer, think very carefully about how and where you intend to install your printer. It is not usually a problem. Note that all examples are actual size. The cost of the Seikosha 700A featured on page 107 is about £440 and not £725 as indicated. Other prices should only be taken as a general guideline. TANDY CGP-115 Price: £149 Speed chars/sec: 12 No. Chars/line: 80 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 4.5 length: 150' No shts: N/A cost: £4.99/3 Cost of pens: £1.99/3 ribbons: N/A PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: Yes INTERFACES RS232: Yes Centronics: Yes A colour printer that has virtually become the standard, in many different badge engineered forms. Capable of high quality plotting and of screen dumps in colour. Low noise level and very good quality print but a trifle slow. Has limited capability of setting different print para meters, i.e. Carriage Return or Carriage Return and Line Feed. CONTROLS CHR$ 8 Backspace CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 11 Reverse linefeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 17 Set text mode CHR$ 18 Set graphic mode CHR$ 29 Change colour There is also a range of controls in graphics mode to enable the printer to operate as a four-colour plotter. TANDY CGP-229 Price: £499 Speed chars/sec: 37 No. chars/line: 91 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 8 length: 135' No shts: - cost: £9.95/3 Cost of Ink cartridge B/W: £6.95 Cost of Ink cartridge col.: £9.95 PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: Yes INTERFACES RS232: Yes Centronics: No A very high quality 7-colour ink Jet printer capable of excellent text and graphics performance. Very easy to load and unload ink cartridges, which can quickly be set 'off' for long periods of no use. Quiet in operation. The character set is in two parts with the 'sign' in what is called the 'European set' at CHGR$ (163). Colour resolution is 320 pixels across the paper although the dot resolution is 640 because the colours tend to mix. Each ink cartridge is sufficient for about 8 rolls of paper. Centronics and serial interfaces. CONTROLS CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 18 Bit image graphics CHR$ 28 Repeat commands CHR$ 30 Exit bit image TANDY TP-10 Price: £80 Speed chars/sec: 30 No. chars/line: 32 Type of paper: Thermal Paper width: 4" length: 65' No. shts: N/A Cost: £2.80/2 Cost of pens: N/A ribbons: N/A PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/Lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: No Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: Yes Centronics: No Currently the cheapest RS-232 printer on market. The quality is extremely good but limited to 4 inch wide paper and 32 chars. The printing is very quiet spoilt by a comparatively noisy line feed ratchet. Graphics capability is limited to quarter character cell blocks. There are no lower case descenders in the character set. Currently the best print quality for under £100. BROTHER EP-22 Price: £170 Speed Chars/Sec: 17 No. Chars/Line: 75 Type of paper: Plain/Thermal Paper width: A4 length: - No. shts: N/A cost: £2.85 for 100 Cost of pens: N/A ribbons: £5.70 for 5 PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: No Screen dump: No Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: Yes Centronics: No A portable printer that can be used as a typewriter, a calculator and as a word processor, capable of storing approx one page of A4 text with the power switched off. Currently the cheapest 'wide' paper printer. I would have liked to use it to enter data into the computer but nonetheless a very good printer. The keys are a trifle 'light' with no audible feed beck. The 16 character LCD display shows what is being typed in and allows a measure of text correction. This is a new concept in printers. There are no lower case descenders. CONTROLS CHR$ 8 Backspace CHR$ to Linefeed CHR$ 13 Carriage return (as selected) SEIKOSHA GP-250X Price: £260 Speed chars/sec: 50 No. chars/line: 80 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 10" length: N/A No. shts: Cost: £15 for 2,000 sheets Cost of pens: N/A PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: Yes A very good business machine but not really suitable for the home where the noise and installation may be a problem. Cover removal is required to gain access to switch selectable functions including baud rate. Dual Centronics and serial interfaces. Paper feed not very easy to use. Has control over print operations, with form feed and lines/page. CONTROLS CHR$ 7 Bell CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 12 Formfeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 14 Double width characters CHR$ 15 Standard characters CHR$ 16 Print start position address CHR$ 20 CR without LF (DC4) CHR$ 27 ESC commands CHR$ 28 Repeat SEIKOSHA 100A: Price: £215 Speed chars/sec: 50 No. chars/line: 80 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 4-10" length: N/A No. shts: N/A cost: Cost of pens: ribbons: PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: Yes One of the cheapest dot matrix printers with graphics capabilities. Can be used with two part paper to produce carbon copies. The top cover has to be removed to gain access to CR or CR/LF switch. Paper feed not very convenient, can be upgraded for RS232, the cassette ribbons easy to install. A UK character set may be used which puts the £ on Shift-3 key. No lower case descenders. CONTROLS CHR$ 8 Backspace CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 14 Double width characters CHR$ 15 Standard characters CHR$ 16 Print start position address CHR$ 20 CR without LF (DC4) CHR$ 27 Horizontal dot address CHR$ 28 Repeat command SEIKOSHA 700A: Price: £725 + VAT Speed chars/sec: 38 No. chars/line: 106 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 10" length: 11" No. shts: 9.5" cost: £16 for 2,000 sheets Cost of pens: N/A ribbons: £2.50 PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: Yes INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: Yes A very nice looking colour printer that has the ability to produce colour screen copies. Each pixel is colour addressible. There is software control over formfeed and lines/page. Centronics interface only. There is a copy command for screen dumps. When the optional extra screen dump board is installed. Does not appear as noisy as the two less expensive Seikoshas. CONTROLS CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 12 Formfeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 14 Double width characters CHR$ 15 Standard characters CHR$ 16 Print start position address CHR$ 20 CR without LF (DC4) CHR$ ESC commands CHR$ 28 Repeat commands ZX PRINTER Price: £40 Speed chars/sec: 50 No. chars/line: 32 Type of paper: Metallized Paper width: 4" length: 65' No. shts: N/A cost£ Cost of pens: N/A ribbons: N/A PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: No Probably the cheapest means of producing hard copy output from a computer. Special Sinclair interface prevents its use without an adaptor on other computers, at which price you should consider other printers. The metallized paper rolls are of variable quality and can produce faded bands of printing. The accumulation of particles inside the printer affect the drive logic leading to alternate line offsets and father peculiar characters. The printer is also prone to become noisy after prolonged use. The solid bar roll holder is a useful accessory and helps in overcoming the initial sticking of the paper drive. Very fast COPY, LLIST and LPRINT. Plotting and user defined graphics available. NEC PC-8221A Price: £80 Speed chars/sec: - No. chars/line: 40 Type of paper: Thermal Paper width: 3 length: 150' No. shts: - cost: £ Cost of pens: - ribbons: - PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: Yes Currently the cheapest Centronics and the cheapest dot addressible printer on the market. Exceptional value for money. Run by four penlight batteries or a mains adaptor. Limited paper width of 3 inch. Very quiet in operation end completely portable. CONTROLS CHR$ 10 Line feed CHR$ 13 Carriage return CHR$ 14 Double size printing CHR$ 15 Standard printing CHR$ 27 ESC Used to produce user defined graphics which may be 16x16 pixels in size. OLIVETTI INK JET Price: £400 Speed chars/sec: 66 No. chars/line: 132-80 Type of paper: Plain Paper width: 8-9" length: N/A No. shts: £15 for 2,000 sheets cost: £ Cost of ink: ££7.50 PRINT CAPABILITY (Yes/No) Upper/lowercase: Yes Graphics: Yes Screen dump: Yes Colour: No INTERFACES RS232: No Centronics: Yes A very fast quiet ink jet printer with manual control of the print intensity Capable of very high quality graphics. I could not use the roll paper as the machine was supplied without a left hand support bracket. CONTROLS CHR$ 7 Bell CHR$ 9 Horizontal Tabulation CHR$ 10 Linefeed CHR$ 11 Vertical tabulation CHR$ 12 Formfeed CHR$ 13 Carriage Return CHR$ 14 Double width characters CHR$ 15 Standard characters CHR$ 16 Print start position address CHR$ 20 CR without LF (DC4) CHR$ 27 ESC commands CHR$ 26 Repeat commands

Personal Computer News

Ian Scales

PRODUCT: Brother HR-15 Daisywheel printer PRICE: £540 plus VAT, Tractor fee £80 plus VAT, Sheet feeder £220 plus VAT INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics Parallel DISTRIBUTOR: Thame Systems [redacted] PRINT WITH BROTHER For those watching the pennies Ian Scales tests Brother's letter quality printer - the HR-15 The HR-15 daisywheel printer is not so much a departure for it's manufacturer, Brother, as a logical extension to the company's present range of typewriters and printers. What makes the HR-15 different is its price. The printer is aimed at users who want letter quality output, aren't too worried about speed and have an upper price limit of about £500. The HR-15 makes a nice finale to our letter-quality printers series because it comes from a company which is well-established in the office equipment market and has a well-deserved reputation for support. It also shows that manufacturers are taking notice of the new cost-conscious micro user who is often parting with his own, rather than his company's, money. SETTING UP The printer itself is what I suppose you could call aerodynamically styled. The moving bits and pieces are all tucked away under a bonnet which cuts the electrical circuit when it is lifted, so you don't get parts of your body caught in the machinery. There was no difficulty experienced in inserting or removing either the ribbon cartridge or printwheels. They click in very easily. A full complement of touch-sensitive buttons enables you to self-test, form feed, select the pitch (how many characters you want per inch) and select the line pacings. The important 'dip switches' are easily accessible at the rear, as are the built-in Centronics parallel or serial RS232 interfaces. The dip switches allow you to select your language group (probably standard English or ASCII in your case) and choose your page length. The switches also control the line feed and auto skip - where a feed is generated to avoid the perforations on continuous paper. Daisywheel printers probably spend most of their time using single sheet paper, although you can use continuous paper with this one if you wish. The IIR- 15 has a top of form facility to enable you to get the single sheet paper in without having to adjust the rollers - you simply seat the paper at the back of the platen and push a button. The printer takes over and feeds the paper in to the right spot to start printing. A paper support can be clipped into the top of the unit to help with the procedure. UP AND RUNNING This is a slow printer, printing at about 11 cps. It is, however, capable of bidirectional printing which brings up the speed at which a page of text is printed. It is fairly quiet as the casing almost fully encloses the mechanisms. To compensate for the slow speed, the printer possesses a 3K buffer, expandable to 5K, which enables you to quickly download the contents of a single page to printer leaving your computer free for something else. As an added bonus Brother has included a 'copy function'. This enables you to leave the printer to turn out multiple copies of a document without the intervention of the computer. The quality of the finished product is very high and there is a wide variety of typewheels available to vary it. The documentation is adequate and reasonably understandable. The crucial dip switch settings are explained in table form and were lucid enough not to present any problems. The all-important function or control codes are clearly explained. Using them it is possible to generate printing features like proportional spacing, auto-underline shadow print or red print. This is an impressive product. Its pricing puts it within reach of many hobbyists or small businessmen and professionals who might previously have thought the cost of letter-quality printing too great to justify. It has a good quality feel about it and should prove a very competitive product.

A high printer capability in one direction will probably cause either a low capability in another or a higher price. Economy is a negative way of expressing price. If a printer has lots of everything it will close the price/performance gap.

Personal Computer News

Ian Scales

WHEELS REVEALED If you're in a spin over printers, Ian Scales will straighten you out with the lowdown on daisywheels. Daisywheel printers are designed to copy the output of good-quality typewriters. This is especially important in business correspondence where dot-matrix output, though readable, has yet to achieve the acceptance of the typewriter. People are used to typewriter-style text while its dot-matrix counterparts are more commonly associated with electricity bills and bank statements. Whatever the reasons, daisywheel printers are still an important segment of the computer peripherals market, and they're likely to be with us for some years yet. Far from fading out, there have been a couple of notable daisywheel printer releases over the past couple of months which have broken new price/performance ground. Manufacturers, it seems, are tailoring the products to be more price-compatible with the computers they serve. After all, who wants to buy a computer for a few hundred pounds and then have to spend more than twice as much on a printer to go with it. There are now a number of high-quality daisywheel printers around £500, four of which have recently featured in PCN Peripherals Pro-Tests. Here we round up the Juki, Smith Corona, Triumph Adler and Brother HR 15 printers and compare their features side by side. MECHANICS A daisywheel printer stamps a fully-formed character shape through a ribbon and onto paper in the same manner as a typewriter. Instead of using individual print arms, however, all the characters are on a single wheel made up of small print arms radiating from the hub - giving it the appearance (if you have enough imagination) of a daisy. The printer continually rotates the wheel back or forth. When the required letter arrives at the 12 o'clock position it is quickly struck through to the paper by a small hammer mechanism. The entire assembly (hammer and wheel) moves across the length of the paper as opposed to the carriage moving as in a conventional typewriter. In many ways, the cost involved in manufacturing a daisywheel printer as opposed to a dot matrix, reflects the disadvantages of trying to merge an old concept with a new technology. Not only does a daisywheel printer tend to cost more because of its reliance on a multiplicity of precise mechanical components, but it is also slow and inherently inflexible. Unlike alternative methods of getting marks on paper you are generally limited to a set number of characters. To change character sets you have to change daisywheels. It also means that you can't generate graphics or easily change typestyles or sizes within a page. All this means little if you want a printer to turn out letters and high-quality documents. But it's definitely worth bearing in mind if you can see yourself wanting to branch out to other applications. Most daisywheels communicate with their host computers through a Centronics parallel interface. If your computer's I/O limits you to, say, an RS232 serial interface it is worth bearing in mind that having to switch interfaces on either the printer or the computer is likely to cost extra. SPEED The thing to consider is the volume of text you are likely to want to put through in a day, or, perhaps more importantly, how quickly you require each document to be printed. The less costly daisywheel printers achieve their economy at the expense of speed - they are very slow. For applications which require a large volume of output but have a long lead-time - you know what you want to print and when you need it by (form letters for instance) - you only require to be well organised. Here a sheet feeder can pay dividends. If you want to produce one-off letters in a reasonably short space of time it can be a remarkably irritating procedure, especially if you want to work on the computer to do something else, in this situation a spooler can be a valuable aid. The spooler acts like a large buffer. The computer quickly down-loads the contents to the spooler which then feeds the text to the printer as it needs it. This enables you to get back on the computer again while your text is printing out. The trend in computer products generally is for the cost of micro-circuitry to fall dramatically in relation to the more static cost of mechanically-based components. Spoolers have therefore become viable for a slow daisywheel, especially as the alternative method of getting your computer to spend less time looking after the printer is to buy a faster printer - costing at present two to three times as much. The ease with which you can feed in the paper (assuming you aren't going to buy a mechanical sheet feeder) has a direct bearing on its speed. It's also important that it feeds in straight first time. If feeding in a sheet usually involves a manual realignment because the press-button 'top of form' function feeds it in crookedly then there's not much point having one in the first place. The same applies to the ease with which you can replace the ribbon and daisywheels. Noise is another thing to watch out for. Daisywheel printers vary considerably from brand to brand in the racket they make. Sound can be generated from the drive method of the printing mechanism in addition to the expected tap-tapping from the daisywheel itself. As these printers are so slow it's worth remembering that you are likely to have to put up with extended periods of (hopefully) background noise. FLEXIBILITY The printer's flexibility is another important criteria. First make sure you can get a full range of daisywheels. It is useful to have a varying number of pitch options. The pitch relates to the number of characters per line. By combining different-sized characters and pitches it is remarkable the different textual effects you can create. A normal range of pitches could offer you 10, 12 and 15 (characters per inch). Have a good look at the manual. The way the printer is controlled to set such things as page length, pause between pages and so on is normally set up by a set of 'dip switches'. These are a row of small on/off switches - configuring the switches to combinations of on or off enables you to permanently set the printer to work the way you require it. The directions for setting the dip switches should be clearly explained in the user manual. A second level of control commands is usually available to set such features as underlining, shadow or bold printing. The commands to set these features into the text often have to be sent down from the computer as 'control characters'. Make sure the printer has all the features you are likely to require. Last but not least, pay special attention to the level of support offered from the dealer. Can it be fixed quickly if it breaks down? Printers are as prone to a good old fashioned breakdown as any mechanical device. TRIUMPH ADLER TRD 170S PRODUCT: Triumph Adler TRD 170S daisywheel printer PRICE: £725 plus VAT INTERFACES: Choice of Centronics, Qume parallel, RS232 and Diablox emulation. EXTRAS: Optional tractor £125 plus VAT, mechanical sheet feed £595 plus VAT DISTRIBUTOR: Triumph Adler [redacted] The Triumph Adler TRD 170S comes at the top of this round-up price-wise. A few months ago a £723 plus VAT daisywheel was a pretty good buy, but now there are other similar-featured printers on the market. The TRD is rated at 16 cps. It has the bonus of a wide range of daisywheels available and a wide range of pitches which can be chosen by the user. The ribbons are available in fabric, carbon or multistrike carbon. As an added bonus the ribbon carrier has a lever to set the amount of ribbon transport to suit the pitch of the wheel being used. Paper loading is easy and accurate and there is little noise generated by the printer and its fan. On the minus side the control codes offered are sparse and there is a tendency for the first character on the line in 'double-strike' mode to be off-centre. BROTHER HR15 PRODUCT: Brother HR15 daisywheel printer PRICE: £540 plus VAT, Tractor feed £80 plus VAT INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics parallel DISTRIBUTOR: Thame Systems [redacted] The Brother HR-15 is a very solid, 'ownable' sort of printer. At £540 plus VAT it offers a bumper package of features in exchange fora very slow speed of 11 cps. To compensate for this it has a 2K buffer (expandable to 5K) and an automatic 'copy' function so you can leave it to churn out multiple copies while you use the computer to do something else. It has a full range of control functions available through a full set of dip switches (easily accessible at the rear of the machine) and a comprehensive range of control codes. Printing features include proportional spacing, auto-underline, shadow or, red print. Parallel Centronics and RS232 interfaces are both standard and the printer is very quiet. There is also a wide range of wheels in 10, 12 or 15 pitch. The ribbon and wheels are very easy to change. The HR 15 has the added bonus of a sheet feeder at the relatively low price of £220 plus VAT. SMITH CORONA TP1 PRODUCT: Smith Corona TP1 daisywheel printer INTERFACE: Centronics or RS232 Speed 12 cps PRICE: £485 plus VAT CONTACT: Smith Corona [redacted] The Smith Corona TP1 is a 'no frills' model costing £485 plus VAT. It comes with either Centronics or RS232 interfaces and the idea of 'either/or' is continued in pitch choice. You must specify whether you want a 10 or 12 pitch model. Friction feed comes as standard and there is a friction operated tractor upgrade available. Cost-cutting exercises include the elimination of dip switches. There is a single switch to set the printer into 'top of form' mode or 'normal' mode. Line spacing is set with a lever, like a typewriter. Changing the ribbon and print wheels are simple exercises and the manual is clear and concise. This printer is only capable of 12 cps but it is not bidirectional or logic seeking and because the print-head transport uses a rack and pinion system it is very noisy. The ribbons and wheels, however, are cheap: at £2 and £7.50 respectively. JUKI 6100 PRODUCT: Juki 6100 daisywheel printer INTERFACE: Centronics parallel PRICE: £399 plus VAT MANUFACTURER: Juki DISTRIBUTOR: Microperipherals [redacted] The Juki represents the major price breakthrough with its retail price of £399 plus VAT. On price/performance considerations it would appear to be the best buy in the round-up. With a print speed of 17 cps it operates in 10, 12 or 15 pitch modes, with an added proportional spacing option. There is a useful 2K buffer which enables you to down load about 2 pages of text and use the computer for something else. The ribbon is an IBM type and can be a bit mucky to install, although for economy it uses top, middle and bottom in turn. There is a wide range of control options available, both from a 10 dip switch panel and a comprehensive number of control codes. On the minus side however, the manual is a little confusing in places and the mechanism produces a rather irritating whining noise, Juki as a company is a newcomer to the UK market. It would therefore be wise to seek assurances on spare parts availability. QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK It's always useful to have the questions ready to fire at the dealer before you get, your printer home and discover them for yourself. Compatibility: If the interface isn't the same as the one on the computer get an assurance on how much money a change involves. The same applies to your word processing package: will it work without an endless amount of fiddling about with control codes? Speed: Try and determine the 'real' speed of the printer. If the machine can run in bi-directional mode, this increases the speed considerably; as does logic seeking where the printer doesn't waste its time tracking over white space at the end of a short line of text. Cost: If you are likely to need a sheet feeder, get an assurance on price and availability. Consumables are also an important factor. Do a calculation on ribbon life and cost and print wheel cost and include it in the equation - all this can add up. If you don't regard yourself as a business, remember about VAT. Noise: Remember you have to live with it. Carriage width: If you're likely to need wide output make sure the carriage is wide enough. If you don't, don't pay for features you won't use. Flexibility: Ask to see the range of print wheels. Remember you will probably want different sizes as well as styles. Documentation: This is more important than it sounds. There is nothing more frustrating than a manual that doesn't make any sense. Have a good pore through it in the showroom.