Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 UW 5/3/83; site uw-beaver Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!grkermit!masscomp!clyde!burl!hou3c!hocda!houxm!ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!uw-beaver!laser-lovers From: laser-lovers@uw-beaver.UUCP Newsgroups: fa.laser-lovers Subject: Re: Cheap laser printer reported Message-ID: <805@uw-beaver> Date: Fri, 27-Jan-84 19:56:29 EST Article-I.D.: uw-beave.805 Posted: Fri Jan 27 19:56:29 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 1-Feb-84 01:24:07 EST Sender: root@uw-beave Organization: U of Washington Computer Science Lines: 44 From reid@Glacier Fri Jan 27 16:56:23 1984 Re: Terminology I have always preferred to use the term ``laser marking engine'' to describe something like the LBP-CX; it is not usable as a printer without the addition of a fairly complex controller. I like to use these terms: * marking engine: something that makes marks on paper, controlled by a fairly complex set of digital signals. There exist several marking engines that cost less than $2000 each, of which the Canon LBP-CX is one. * laser printer: a marking engine combined with a controller that can input the description of an image and some font prototypes and produce a printed page. Imagen showed a laser printer built out of the LBP-CX at a recent trade show. They asked me not to disclose its price. * laser printing system: a laser printer combined with appropriate fonts, font width tables, network spoolers, image file editors, and so forth. Re: Cheap laser printers The San Jose @i[ Mercury-News ], Silicon Valley's newspaper, in an article dated 25 January 1984, quoted Apple's John Sculley as saying that Apple would soon be introducing a laser printer for ``under $5000''. It stands to reason that such a laser printer would be based on a low-priced marking engine such as the LBP-CX. It also stands to reason that such a laser printer would be compatible with Apple computers, which is to say that it would not necessarily be compatible with other computers; Apple does not have a history of building industry-compatible computers or software. Re: Image quality The image quality from the LBP-CX is absolutely breathtaking. It is quite visibly better than the image quality from the Xerox XP-12 (a.k.a. QMS 1200, a.k.a. DEC LN01). I have some sample output from the LBP-CX that I was given by a European colleague, which was printed by Canon as part of a sales push for this device in Europe. It is difficult to imagine that a xerography-based 300BPI raster printer could be made to produce better output than this. Brian Reid Stanford