Olivetti JP101

Sinclair User

HARDWARE WORLD With ever-increasing amounts of peripherals available for Sinclair computers, users are finding it more and more difficult to know what to buy. We present a buyer's guide to joysticks, keyboard and printers and review the best of the rest from the 1984 add-on market. The decision to buy a printer to complete your computer system will be one of the most difficult and certainly one of the most expensive which you as a Sinclair user will have to make. The variety of printers available tends to confuse rather than facilitate your choice and many of them are likely to cost more than the rest of your system. Yet if you are intending to use a Sinclair machine for something other than games playing, you will, sooner or later, need to make a permanent copy on paper. With that in mind Sinclair User looks at 11 printers, from the inexpensive to those suitable for small businesses. The first consideration must be the purpose for which you intend to use a printer. All the printers reviewed will produce listings of programs, some faster than others and some more legibly. If you intend to do some word processing the type-style and method of printing is also important. Most of the machines reviewed are dot matrix printers. That means that, just as characters on the screen are composed of a number of dots - pixels - the printer has a number of little pins which are pushed on to the paper, through the ribbon, to form the character. The greater the number of dots the better the definition of the character. Just as user-defined graphics are made by changing the arrangement of the dots, dot matrix printers can easily change the type-style or the character. The printer holds those definitions in ROM and by telling it which set you want to use it can print in different type-styles and use different national characters, in some cases even Japanese. Some of the printers use different methods. The Alphacom 32 and the Brother EP44 are thermal printers. That means they use special, more expensive paper although they are still dot matrix types. The pins become hot and cause the paper to change colour. The Brother can also use plain paper with the addition of a special ribbon. The Dyneer DW16 is a daisywheel printer, using a wheel which has each character, like those on a typewriter, at the end of a spoke. To change type-styles the wheel has to be changed. The Olivetti JP101 has a small cartridge which fires an ink-jet at the paper. As there are few mechanical parts the printer is quieter than most. The Tandy CGP-llS has four ballpoint pens which form characters by moving the pen horizontally and the paper up and down. The speed of a printer normally is measured in characters per second; in theory the higher the number the greater the speed. To test that we used a standard body of text, the first chapter of Genesis, and timed how long it needed to print. The text was prepared using Tasword 2 and printed via a Kempston E Interface, where suitable, a total of 796 words over 77 lines. The results were surprising. The Microline 80, with a quoted speed of 80 cps, took nearly twice as long as the Mannesmann Tally MT80 and three times as long as the Olivetti. The answer would be to take such quoted figures only as a very rough guide. Another thing to consider is how you want to drive the printer. Two of the machines reviewed connect directly to a Sinclair computer, the Alphacom 32 and the Seikosha. While that is undoubtedly the cheapest method, when and if you upgrade your computer you are left with a printer you may not be able to connect to your new machine. There are two standards by which printers normally are driven, Centronics and RS232. Roughly speaking, Centronics interfaces have eight wires so that the bits of each byte travel to the printer at the same time along each wire. Serial interfaces have one wire and the bits travel along it one after the other. Whether you use Centronics or RS232 does not make much difference so long as you do not try to mix them. On many of the printers Centronics is fitted as standard and RS232 is available as an add-on at extra cost. Your future plans must be taken into consideration. Users with a Microdrive can use the RS232 port fitted. If you are thinking of buying a QL it also has an RS232 port fitted as standard. Other add-ons such as modems also tend to use RS232 and so the system has advantages, despite the extra cost. The width of paper the printer can handle may also be a consideration. Normal listings may use only 32 columns but if you like to add REM statements at the side or for word processing, 80 is the minimum. It is often necessary to indicate to the printer what you want it to do, whether changing the type-style or feeding paper through it. There is a standard for it known as ESCape codes, i.e., codes which escape from normal printing to do something different. Those codes were originated by Epson and are now used by most other makes of printer. To help you each printer is now considered, briefly, in turn. The Sinclair printer has not been included as it has been discontinued and will be available only while stocks last. Alphacom 32 is the cheapest on the market at the moment. It has reasonable print quality and is easy to use. It has only a ZX-81 size connector, so Spectrum users must use it as the last add-on. From Dean Electronics or Prism. Seikosha GP50S is an inexpensive plain-paper printer, not particularly fast and rather noisy but easy to use. It has a Spectrum-size edge connector, so ZX81 users will need an extender card not yet available from Seikosha, so try Eprom Services. From DRG or Prism. Tandy CGP-115 is the cheapest colour printer; it is very slow but can do pleasant graphics with the appropriate software. From retail shops. Microline 80 is supplied with roll paper holder as standard. It uses ordinary typewriter ribbons. It has only one type-style. From X-Data. Brother EP44 is a portable typewriter with RS232 connection. It is not really suitable as a computer printer but as a typewriter it is amazing. From local typewriter shops. Olivetti JPIOl is a quiet ink-jet printer; it has slightly blurred print but is reasonably fast. Epson RX80 is the standard by which other printers are measured. It is versatile with clear print and all the facilities you are liable to need. Star Gemini-10X was caught by a recent price reduction for the Epson, which it mirrors. It may be discounted further. From London Computer Centre or Micro Peripherals. Mannesmann Tally MT80 is a good-looking printer, also heavily discounted. Canon PW1080A is very fast and has a good range of facilities, including programmable characters. It is slower in near letter-quality mode. From London Computer Centre or Micro Peripherals. Dyneer DWl6 is a business users' daisywheel printer. The code is compatible with Diablo printers. From X-Data. British Olivetti Ltd, [redacted]. Dean Electronics Ltd, [redacted]. DRG Business Systems Ltd, Peripheral Division, [redacted]. London Computer Centre, [redacted]. Mannesmann Tally Ltd, [redacted]. Micro Peripherals Ltd, [redacted]. Prism Microproducts Ltd, [redacted]. X-Data Ltd, [redacted].

Alphacom 32

Brother EP44

Canon PW1080A

Dyneer DW16

Epson RX80

Mannesmann Tally MT80

Microline M80

Olivetti JP101

Seikosha GP50S

Star Gemini 10X

Tandy CGP-115

Name: Alphacom 32 Rec. Retail Price: £70 Centornics Port: No RS232 Port: No Sinclair Port: Yes Plain/Thermal: T Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 32 Dots Per Character: 8x8 Characters Per Sec.: Time For Test (secs.): 50 Max. Paper Width (inches): 4.25 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: No Different Type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Name: Seikosha GP50S Rec. Retail Price: £138 Centornics Port: No RS232 Port: No Sinclair Port: Yes Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 32 Dots Per Character: 7x7 Characters Per Sec.: 40 Time For Test (secs.): 152 Max. Paper Width (inches): 5 Line Feed Button: No Escape Codes: No Different Type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Name: Tandy CGP-115 Rec. Retail Price: £149 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: Yes Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Pen Characters Per Line: 40/80 Dots Per Character: N/A Characters Per Sec.: 12 Time For Test (secs.): 483 1440 Max. Paper Width (inches): 4.5 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: No Different Type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Name: Microline 80 Rec. Retail Price: £229 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £68 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 9x7 Characters Per Sec.: 80 Time For Test (secs.): 170 Max. Paper Width (inches):8.5 Line Feed Button: No Escape Codes: No Different Type-styles: No Graphics: No Name: Brother EP44 Rec. Retail Price: £253 Centornics Port: No RS232 Port: Yes Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: T/P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 24x18 Characters Per Sec.: 16 Time For Test (secs.): 383 Max. Paper Width (inches): 8.5 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: No Different Type-styles: No Graphics: No Name: Olivetti JP101 Rec. Retail Price: £265 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £40 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Ink jet Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 7x7 Characters Per Sec.: 80 Time For Test (secs.): 67 Max. Paper Width (inches): 9 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Name: Epson RX80 Rec. Retail Price: £286 Centornics Port: No RS232 Port: £69 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 9x9 Characters Per Sec.: 100 Time For Test (secs.): 80 Max. Paper Width (inches): 8.5 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Name: Star Gemini 10X Rec. Retail Price: £286 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £80 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 9x9 Characters Per Sec.: 120 Time For Test (secs.): 69 Max. Paper Width (inches): Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Name: Mannesmann Tally MT80 Rec. Retail Price: £299 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £57 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: 80 Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 7x8 Characters Per Sec.: 80 Time For Test (secs.): 92 Max. Paper Width (inches): Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Name: Canon PW1080A Rec. Retail Price: £367 Centornics Port: Yes RS232 Port: No Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Dot Characters Per Line: 80 Dots Per Character: 11x9 Characters Per Sec.: 160 Time For Test (secs.): 48 Max. Paper Width (inches): 10 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Name: Dyneer DW16 Rec. Retail Price: Centornics Port: £378 RS232 Port: £413 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: P Printing Method: Daisy Characters Per Line: 101 Dots Per Character: N/A Characters Per Sec.: 14 Time For Test (secs.): 330 Max. Paper Width (inches): 10 Line Feed Button: Yes Escape Codes: Yes Different Type-styles: Yes Graphics: No

Sinclair User

GETTING INTO PRINT The decision to buy a printer to complete your computer system will be one of the most difficult and certainly one of the most expensive which you as a Sinclair user will have to make. The variety of printers available tends to confuse rather than facilitate your choice and many of them are likely to cost than the rest of your system. Yet if your are intending to use a Sinclair machine for something other than games playing, you will, sooner or later, need to make a permanent copy on paper. With that in mind Sinclair User looks at 11 printers, from the inexpensive to those suitable for small business. The first consideration must be the purpose for which you intend to use a printer. All the printers reviewed will produce listings of programs, some faster than others and some more legibly. If you intend to do some word processing the type-style and method of printing is also important. Most of the machines reviewed are dot matrix printers. That means that, just as characters on the screen are composed of a number of dots - pixels - the printer has a number of little pins which are pushed on to the paper, through the ribbon, to form the character. The greater the number of dots the better the definition of the character. Just as user-defined graphics are made by changing the arrangement of the dots, dot matrix printers can easily change the type-style or the character. The printer holds those definitions in ROM and by telling it which set you want to use it can print in different type-styles and use different national characters, in some cases even Japanese. Some of the printers use different methods. The Alphacom 32 and the Brother EP44 are thermal printers. That means they use special, more expensive paper although they are still dot matrix types. The pins become hot and cause the paper to change colour. The Brother can also use plain paper with the addition of a special ribbon. The Dyneer DW16 is a daisywheel printer, using a wheel which has each character, like those on a typewriter, at the end of a spoke. To change type-styles the wheel has to be changed. The Olivetti JP101 has a small cartridge which fires an ink-jet at the paper. As there are few mechanical parts the printer is quieter than most. The Tandy CGP-115 has four ball-point pens which form characters by moving the pen horizontally and the paper up and down. The speed of a printer normally is measured in characters per second; in theory the higher the number the greater the speed. To test that we used a standard body of text, the first chapter of Genesis, and timed how long it needed to print. The text was prepared using Tasword 2 and printed via a Kempston E interface, where suitable, a total of 796 words over 77 lines. The results were surprising. The Microline 80, with a quoted speed of 80 cps, took nearly twice as long as the Mannesmann Tally MT80 and three times as long as the Olivetti. The answer would be to take such quoted figures only as a very rough guide. Another thing to consider is how you want to drive the printer. Two of the machines reviewed connect directly to a Sinclair computer, the Alphacom 32 and the Seikosha. While that is undoubtedly the cheapest method, when and if you upgrade your computer you are left with a printer you may not be able to connect to your new machine. There are two standards by which printers normally are driven, Centronics and RS232. Roughly speaking, Centronics interfaces have eight wires so that the bits of each byte travel to the printer at the same time along each wire. Serial interfaces have one wire and the bits travel along it one after the other. Whether you use Centronics or RS232 does not make much difference so long as you do not try to mix them. On many of the printers Centronics is fitted as standard and RS232 is available as an add-on at extra cost. Your future plans must be taken into consideration. Users with a Microdrive can use the RS232 port fitted. If you are thinking of buying a QL it also has an RS232 port fitted as standard. Other add-ons such as modems also tend to use RS232 and so the system has advantages, despite the extra cost. The width of paper the printer can handle may also be a consideration. Normal listings may use only 32 columns but if you like to add REM statements at the side or for word processing, 80 is the minimum. It is often necessary to indicate to the printer what you want it to do, whether changing the type-style or feeding paper through it. There is a standard for it known as ESCape codes, i.e., codes which escape from normal printing to do something different. Those codes were originated by Epson and are now used by most other makes of printer. To help you each printer is now considered, briefly, in turn. The Sinclair printer has not been included as it has been discontinued and will be available only while stocks last. Alphacom 32 is the cheapest on the market at the moment. It has reasonable print quality and is easy to use. It has only a ZX-81 size connector, so Spectrum users must use it as the last add-on. From Dean Electronics or Prism. Seikosha GP50S is an inexpensive plain-paper printer, not particularly fast and rather noisy but easy to use. It has a Spectrum-size edge connector, so ZX-81 users will need an extender card not yet available from Seikosha, so try Eprom Services. From Dean Electronics or Prism. Tandy CGP-115 is the cheapest colour printer; it is very slow but can do pleasant graphics with the appropriate software. From retail shops. Microline 80 is supplied with roll paper holder as standard. It uses ordinary typewriter ribbons. It has only one type-style. From X-Data. Brother EP44 is a portable typewriter with RS232 connection. It is not really suitable as a computer printer but as a typewriter it is amazing. From local typewriter shops. Olivetti JP101 is a quiet ink-jet printer; it has slightly blurred print but is reasonably fast. Epson RX80 is the standard by which other printers are measured. It is versatile with clear print and all the facilities you are liable to need. Star Gemini-10X was caught by a recent price reduction for the Epson which it mirrors. It may be discounted further. From London Computer Centre or Micro Peripherals. Mannesmann Tally MT80 is a good looking printer, also heavily discounted. Canon PW1080A is very fast and has a good range of facilities, including programmable characters. It is slower in near letter-quality mode. From London Computer Centre or Micro Peripherals. Dyneer DW16 is a business users' daisywheel printer. The code is compatable with Diablo printers. From X-Data. British Olivetti Ltd, [redacted]. Dean Electronics Ltd, [redacted]. DRG Business Systems Ltd, Peripheral Division. [redacted]. London Computer Centre, [redacted]. Mannesmann Tally Ltd, [redacted]. Micro Peripherals Ltd, [redacted]. Prism Microproducts Ltd, [redacted]. X-Data Ltd, [redacted].

Alphacom 32

Brother EP44

Canon PW1080A

Dyneer DW16

Epson RX80

Mannesmann Tally MT80

Microline M80

Olivetti JP101

Seikosha GP50S

Star Gemini 10X

Tandy CGP-115

Alphacom 32 Rec. retail price: 70 Centronics Port: No RS232 Port: No Sinclair Port: Yes Plain/Thermal: Thermal Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 32 Dots per character: 8x8 Characters per sec.: Not Known Time for test (secs.): 50 Max. paper width (inches): 4.25 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: No Different type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Seikosha GP50S Rec. retail price: 138 Centronics Port: No RS232 Port: No Sinclair Port: Yes Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 32 Dots per character: 7x7 Characters per sec.: 40 Time for test (secs.): 152 Max. paper width (inches): 5 Line feed button: No Escape codes: No Different type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Tandy CGP-115 Rec. retail price: 149 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: Yes Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Pen Characters per line: 40/80 Dots per character: N/A Characters per sec.: 12 Time for test (secs.): 483 1440 Max. paper width (inches): 4.25 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: No Different type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Microline 80 Rec. retail price: 229 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £68 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 9x7 Characters per sec.: 80 Time for test (secs.): 170 Max. paper width (inches): 8.5 Line feed button: No Escape codes: No Different type-styles: No Graphics: No Brother EP44 Rec. retail price: 253 Centronics Port: No RS232 Port: Yes Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Thermal/Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 24x18 Characters per sec.: 16 Time for test (secs.): 383 Max. paper width (inches): 8.5 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: No Different type-styles: No Graphics: No Olivetti JP101 Rec. retail price: 265 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £40 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Ink Jet Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 7x7 Characters per sec.: 80 Time for test (secs.): 67 Max. paper width (inches): 9 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Epson RX80 Rec. retail price: 286 Centronics Port: No RS232 Port: £69 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 9x9 Characters per sec.: 100 Time for test (secs.): 80 Max. paper width (inches): 8.5 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Star Gemini 10X Rec. retail price: 286 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £80 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 9x9 Characters per sec.: 120 Time for test (secs.): 69 Max. paper width (inches): Unknown Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Mannesmann Tally MT80 Rec. retail price: 299 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: £57 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 7x8 Characters per sec.: 80 Time for test (secs.): 92 Max. paper width (inches): Unknown Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: No Graphics: Yes Canon PW1080A Rec. retail price: 367 Centronics Port: Yes RS232 Port: Unknown Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Dot Characters per line: 80 Dots per character: 11x9 Characters per sec.: 160 Time for test (secs.): 48 Max. paper width (inches): 10 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: Yes Graphics: Yes Dyneer DW16 Rec. retail price: Unknown Centronics Port: £378 RS232 Port: £413 Sinclair Port: No Plain/Thermal: Plain Printing method: Daisy Characters per line: 101 Dots per character: N/A Characters per sec.: 14 Time for test (secs.): 330 Max. paper width (inches): 10 Line feed button: Yes Escape codes: Yes Different type-styles: Yes Graphics: No

Personal Computer News

Ian Scales

PRINT POWER: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW If you're looking for hard copy Ian Scales has the answers - and the all-important questions. Printers are one of the first things most users hook up to their micros. Choosing the right one, however, is a fairly demanding business requiring a cool head and a firm grasp of your likely requirements. All printers are not the same. The field can be broadly split into three catagories. At the bottom of the price range there are the alternative types like the ZX printer, at the top of the heap are the letter quality daisywheels, and occupying a large chunk of middle ground are the dot matrix. The first category includes printers like Sinclair's ZX or Apple's Silentype and represent computer manufacturers' attempts to enhance their products with comparatively priced printer offerings. The ZX Printer remains cheap at the expense of paper width, paper quality and print quality. It is useful only to people who want hard copy listings of programs and this is all it is really designed to provide. The problem is that printer prices have refused to descend in pace with the computers they serve. A computer is composed mostly of microchips and the cost of manufacturing them has been steadily coming down over the past ten years. Conventional printers, however, have the handicap of crucial mechanical components and it has not been possible to radically cheapen their manufacture without making them flimsier and less reliable. Electrostatic printers introduce technology with fewer moving parts but at present compromise on print quality to such an extent that they suffer severe limitations. RELEASES Although dot matrix printers are stuck with lots of moving parts they do seem to be experiencing benefits from their mass production. As everyone knows, the more you produce of one thing, the cheaper it becomes per unit. The Japanese manufacturers haven't wasted time in virtually cornering the low-cost printer market and expansion of this market is starting to have a lowering effect on UK prices. The past couple of months have seen some notable releases - especially Epson's new and relatively cheap RX80. At under £300, it and its competitors are viable printers for users with micros in the £300 to £450 price range. Even lower priced matrix printers are available at around £200, although these tend to lose points on quality and flexibility. The dot matrix printer sends a print-head back and forth across the paper. On the head is a row of (usually 7 or 8) pins. The pins are punched through an ink ribbon onto the paper and build up the characters as a matrix of dots. It's a popular method and there is a wide variety of matrix printers on the market in every price bracket, so picking a dot matrix printer is not an easy matter. Potential buyers must arm themselves with a proper understanding of the things before venturing forth with a fistful of notes. The first thing to work out is interfacing. Most printers could really be described as purpose-built computers in their own write. A printer will usually have a small volatile memory (buffer) and a processor to manipulate it and control the print head as it goes over the paper. Far from being directly under the control of the micro, they deal as equals-obeying and interpreting text code. This computer to printer communication is carried out through an interface. INTERFACES An interface is a small group of electronic components which takes the signals from the computer and converts them so they can be sent down a cable to another compatible interface waiting at the other end to convert them back. There are two main types of interface. The first is known as a serial interface - the most common of which is the RS232. This sends pulses one after the other, rather like a one lane roadway. Its alternative is a parallel interface and the most popular of these is the Centronics. The Centronics sends its signals in ranks over a multi-lane roadway rather like tanks in a Russian May-day parade. The advantage here, of course, is speed - you can get more individual bits down in a given time. So the first thing to work out is what interface your computer has and attempt to match this to interfaces on offer on available printers. It is important to distinguish between interfaces available as standard on a printer and those available as extra cost. Some manufacturers give you a choice - either one or the other or the basic price. It may turn out that you have no standard interface on your computer. If so get interface prices before making a purchase, as the expenditure can radically alter the economics of the whole exercise. The Spectrum, for instance, is cheap partly because it has no interfaces. These then have to be added at extra cost before a reasonable printer can be configured. Kempston does a Centronics interface for the Spectrum. But having the right interface unfortunately doesn't guarantee compatibility. Some computers recognise different character codes and this can lead to major problems - always get an assurance from the dealer or, if possible, see the printer running with your model computer feeding the text. SPEED Another criterion that must be considered is print speed. Although 100cps sounds fast, it can still take some time to get through a length of text. Like all features, speed is generally a direct trade-off against price. If you plan to use your printer for business try and work out how much text you are likely to want to put through in a given time in determining your requirements. Remember too that manufacturers' speed claims tend to err on the optimistic side. It seems to be a convention not to take account of the time involved in carriage return. As a rough guide it is wise to knock 20 to 30 cps off the claimed speed. Many users will be interested in graphics capability. This is often very dependent on supporting software - make sure you get all the details sorted out before getting too enthusiastic. Print flexibility is another quality the importance of which will differ from user to user. Do you really need a full European character set or need to run different typefaces on the one page? (it can often look rather gross anyway). The same applies to different pitches and print positions (the maximum number of characters that can be printed on one line by the smallest character set). FEEDING TIME Feed methods are another problem. The dot matrix works best with a tractor feed. The paper is pulled under the print head by a sprocket which marries with a line of perforations on the fan-fold paper. Once the paper is out of the printer the strips of paper down the side of the sheet with the tractor holes can be torn off. Alternative feed methods - sheet feed for instance - tends to increase the price quite dramatically. Unless you want to use letter-head paper sheets, fanfold tractor feed will probably be quite satisfactory. PRINT QUALITY Perhaps the most important consideration, however, is print quality. On the face of it, a dot matrix printer is an ideal method of putting what appears on a screen onto paper. It really uses the same method as the cathode ray tube building up characters from a matrix of dots. The dot matrix printer is conventionally supposed to come underneath the daisy-wheel printers in terms of print quality. Instead of a matrix, the daisywheel uses moulded characters which strike the paper through a ribbon using the same principle as the typewriter. The daisywheel is really a con-job designed for people who want the convenience of computer-generated text but wish to retain the illusion that every letter sent is the result of half an hour's slave labour on an electric typewriter. it is interesting to note that the early typewriters sometimes featured a script-type which was supposed to resemble 'joined-up writing'. The idea was the same - it was designed to appease correspondents used to pen and ink. My guess is that the days of the daisywheel printer are probably numbered. Eventually people will get used dot-matrix text which they already receive in gas bills, circulars and even, sometimes, books. Good dot matrix printing is just as easy to read as that from a daisywheel and it has been completed faster, quieter and comes from a machine that on average costs half the price. When it's finished doing letters, the printer can output graphics in its spare time. One alternative to dot matrix is ink jet. The odd man out in this round-up is Olivetti's JP101. This printer uses a spark to fling ink out of a capsule directly onto the paper. The JP101 does only one line of dots at a time, but does them very fast - this makes it particularly good at graphics. PCN COMPARES THE RECENT CONTENDERS Over the past two months PCN Pro-Tested a representative sample of printers. Below we take a look back. The PCN Printers Pie roughly indicates the trade off between the four major variables. Price is represented by economy so excellent value for money will close up the price/performance gap. THE APPLE Dot matrix Pro-Test: PCN, March 18, 1983 Price: £489 Speed: 100 cps Interface: Parallel Centronics General Features: Seven different character widths and variable proportional spacing. Characters can be printed standard, bold or elongated. Tractor and friction feed are standard and carriage width is 10.5 inches. Contact Apple [redacted]. FACIT 4510 Dot matrix Pro-Test: PCN, April 1, 1983 Price: £498 Speed: 80 cps Interfaces: Parallel Centronics, Serial R5232. General Features: Full European character set. Has proportional spacing and characters can be printed at 10, 12 or 17 per inch. Characters can be printed standard, elongated or underlined. Block graphics plus high resolution graphics. High res densities of 70, 62 and 100 dots per inch. Friction and tractor feed standard. Contact Access Data Communications [redacted]. OLIVETTI JP101 Ink jet Pro-Test: PCN April 29, 1983 Price: £359 inc VAT Speed: 67-80 cps Interfaces: Centronics, RS232 £55 extra General features: Uses spark jet. Perhaps its main advantage is almost no noise. Provides ten, 12 or 18 characters per inch. Has full European character sets, and three types of underlining and bit graphics. Its graphics capabilities are extremely good. Tractor and friction feed is standard. Contact Micro-Peripherals [redacted]. EPSON FX80 Dot matrix PRO-Test: PCN, April 29, 1983 Price: £438 inc VAT Speed: 160 cps Interfaces: Parallel Centronics, IEEE optional extra. General features: Definable proportional spacing. Subscripts and superscripts are good quality - has double strike giving close to daisywheel quality. Provides normal condensed and double-width characters. You can define your own character set and double and even quadruple density bit graphics are available. Tractor/pin and friction feed standard. Contact Epson UK [redacted]. EPSON RX80 Dot matrix Pro-Test: PCN, May 6, I983 Price: £250 to £300 plus VAT (the dealers tend to set their own retail prices - shop around). Speed: 100 cps Interfaces: Parallel Centronics, IEEE and RS232 optional extras. General features: Alternative character set available plus double strike, bold strike and a full range of widths and pitches. Modes may be turned on and off within a line. Bit graphics are available in a wide variety of modes. Tractor feed is standard. Contact Epson UK [redacted]. STAR 510 Dot matrix Pro-Test: PCN May 13, 1983 Price: £289 plus VAT Speed: 100 cps Interfaces: Parallel Centronics General features: A 9x9 matrix provides either 10, 12 or 17 characters to the inch while the line pitch is programmable. Pitch changes may be made within a line. Superscripts and subscripts are generated in unidirectional mode. Bit graphics come in single or double density in a 480 or 960 dot matrix. An interesting feature is the printer's use of a normal typewriter ribbon instead of the usual printer cartridge. Tractor and friction feed is standard. Contact Miro Peripherals [redacted]. QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK PCN Checklist - arm yourself with the right set of questions before you put yourself on the printer market. What do I want to print? Think carefully about print quality and graphics. Will you really print a lot of letters and do you want graphics hard-copy? How important is time? Is it worth £100 to save the odd minute or so in printing time? Compatibility: Will it run properly with my computer? How much will it cost to make it do so? Speed: What is the real speed? . Ribbon: How much do they cost and how long will they last? Feed method: Is the standard tractor adequate or is it worth the extra money to buy a sheet feeder? Carriage-width: Will it take the paper? Flexibility: How many different character sets and graphics modes are available for the money? What will extra features cost? Noise: Make sure you hear it first. Support: Will the dealer fix it if it breaks and how long will he continue doing so? Are there maintenance schemes available?

Personal Computer News

Drew Athol

MACHINE: Olivetti JP101 PRICE: £359 (parallel only) INTERFACES: Centronics parallel (standard), plus optional RS232 and 20ma current loop SPEED: 67-80 CPS or greater INK CARTRIDGES: £6 per box of four OUTLETS: Micro Peripherals, [redacted]. A SPARK OF GENIUS The JP101 is the first printer Olivetti has produced for the micro market. Drew Athol reviews it. Sooner or later Olivetti was bound to produce a printer aimed at the personal computer market. The new JP101 (about to be marketed by Acorn as the JP1) is that printer - a non-impact spark-jet machine that prints text and graphics using ordinary paper. It falls in the medium price range of printers. The JP101 is a state-of-the-art machine, made in Singapore. The test print poses the cheeky question: "Don't you think JP101 is the ideal printer for micro and personal computers." This naturally made me itch to put it to the test. SETTING iT UP The printer arrives in the inevitable cardboard box, which seemed adequate for the weight. For your £359, you get the printer (packed in styrofoam end cheeks) with a 13 amp mains plug fitted to its fixed mains lead, a box of four ink cartridges, a dust cover (now why doesn't everyone do that?), paper roll supports (another nice touch), a test'print, and a manual. But after so many signs of attention to detail, the manual was a disappointment. It is badly produced. with several misprints, a few downright errors, and the occasional poor translation - for example: 'In this way the blocked print can be relaunched.' It would also be difficult for beginners to understand. Physically, the printer is pure sleek high-tech, with no ugly knobs or tractors protruding to spoil its clean lines. All the components are mounted on the sheet metal baseplate, which fixes to the black plastic cover by means of four chunky captive screws. Internal DIP switches set default language set and form length (11 or 12in). The hinged frosted plastic lid includes a tear bar for use with paper rolls. In its standard version, the JP101 has only a parallel (Centronics) interface through a 36-pin Amphenol connector, but a version with a serial board, which allows RS232 and 20ma current loop connections as well, is available at a cost of £414. The JP101 is controlled by an internal Z80A processor which manages a 1K character buffer. That means you can print a full 24x40 page of text without tying up the computer while it prints out. Printing is bi-directional and logic-seeking. Everything possible seems to have been done to make this a fast printer, and it is. Paper width is restricted to 8-9in for paper rolls. or 8.5-9.5in for sprocketed paper. Paper rolls are driven by grooved sections on the tractors, which are solid plastic cylinders mounted under, not above, the platen. Only the righthand tractor moves; it is held in place by pressure when the platen is closed. I found the tractor placement and the lack of a paper advance knob made paper loading a me-versus-it affair. Setting the paper physically to top-of-page is accomplished by pulling the paper by hand while pressing the release lever at the left of the platen. IN USE I had one false start when I connected the JP101 to an Osborne 1, using the parallel cable for an Epson printer. About every thousandth character (I didn't actually count) printed twice. Olivetti diagnosed an incompatible cable, and when I checked the Olivetti and Epson MX80 manuals against each other, I found a couple of minor differences. Moral: always use the proper cable. No problems, though, when I hooked up the printer to a BBC Model B. This was not surprising, since the Beeb uses a somewhat sawn-off parallel connection. There are very few controls on the JP101. The mains power switch is at the rear, and three large push-buttons on the front panel provide the usual linefeed, formfeed, and local/online functions. Four LEDs, also on the front panel, indicate (mains power) on/off, error, ink (low) and local. Print density is easily adjusted with a thumb-wheel at the bottom of the lefthand side of the machine. This control varies the voltage applied to the plate. If you open the hinged lid while mains power is on, power to the plate is cut, the printer is put into local mode, the 'error' LED lights, and an awful, nasal bleep sounds. The term 'audible alarm' is particularly apt in this case. Since the JP101 prints text a line at a time, rather than a character at a time, speed is quoted as 50 lines a minute for full 80-character lines, using ten characters to the inch. This works out at almost 67 characters a second. Program listings print rather faster, due to the shorter lines. I achieved a typical speed of about 80 lines a minute, or about 80 characters a second, for program listings. But there is one advantage this machine has that makes it well worth the wrestle of paper loading, and that is the noise it doesn't make. To simulate the noise it does make, scrape a finger nail along the sides of the teeth of a comb; it really is as quiet as that. However, the myriad sparks produced while printing generate lots of ozone. Whether this will become a selling point in these ecological times remains to be seen. With no ribbon to fade or wear out, print density is consistent right to the very end of an ink cartridge. Cartridge life is claimed to be roughly 150,000 characters, which seemed to be fairly accurate, although I didn't count exactly. Software features are fairly standard, with a choice of ten, 12, or 18 characters to the inch (giving 80, 97, and 147 characters to the line. respectively), six or eight vertical lines to the inch, variable line spacing, a choice of eight extra language sets (USA, British, German, Spanish, Danish, French, Italian, Swedish/Finnish and Norwegian), three types of underlining, and bit-image graphics. Horizontal and vertical tabs are supported. and graphics can be inverse (white-on-black) and/or 'zoom'. 'Zoom' doubles the image size, both horizontally and vertically. Text print quality is adequate, but the 7x7 matrix (7x5 at 18 characters to the inch) makes lower-case letters look ragged. Except for rough drafts, the JP101 couldn't be used for word-processing, especially since backspacing and overstriking appear to be impossible. Graphics quality, on the other hand, is marvellous and I found the graphics flexible and fairly easy to program. I did miscalculate the image size at one point, whereupon the JP101 converted program listings into abstract dot-patterns until I switched it off and on again. When you use the graphics mode, carriage returns and formatting into lines are handled by the printer. All you need to send it is the actual hex characters for the pattern, uninterrupted by control codes. VERDICT The JP101 will appeal to those seeking a fast, quiet, reliable printer whose print quality need not be brilliant. I am told that solicitors buy these printers because they are quiet, and can print rough drafts of lengthy documents relatively quickly. The graphics are more flexible and easier to program than on many dot-matrix printers. This feature will definitely appeal to the home user. Would I buy one? On balance, I found the low noise, high speed and versatile graphics far outweighed the mediocre text quality, awkward paper loading, and shoddy manual, and I would recommend the JP101 to those with about £350 to spend on a printer.

Output from the versatile JP101 spark-jet printer. Text quality is only 'adequate' but graphics quality is excellent - flexible and easy to program.

The PCN Printer Pie roughly indicates the trade-off between the four major printer variables. We assume more speed will mean less of a couple of other variables - eg print quality and price (price is represented as its negative value - economy). Excellent value for money will therefore close up the price performance gap.

THE INK-JET PRINCIPLE The spark ink-jet printing principle is a new idea loosely based on laser printing technology. One of the major advantages is a drastic reduction in the number of moving parts. A spark-jet printer does not contain a ribbon or a conventional print-head; instead, an ink-jet cartridge is propelled across the paper inside a small plastic carriage. The cartridge is a narrow glass tube with a pinhole-sized nozzle at one end; the other end is sealed. Inside the tube is a rod of compacted ink powder which is held against the nozzle by a spring. When the cartridge is clipped into place in the carriage, the nozzle travels just above a metal plate which runs the full width of the paper. To print a single dot, an instantaneous high voltage (about 4-7 KV) is applied to the plate. The voltage discharges through the cartridge, causing a spark which fragments a tiny quantity of ink from the rod. The pressure of the spring forces the now-powdered ink out as a jet through the nozzle, printing as a dot on the paper. Unlike thermal or electrostatic printers, ordinary paper is used. However, several passes (seven, in the case of the JP101) are required to produce a single line of text, so alignment of the 'elementary' lines with each other is crucial to acceptable print quality. Graphics are particularly flexible, since the image size is not bound by a matrix and both horizontal and vertical dimensions are user-programmable.