[ale] Need Tractor Feed Dot Matrix printer

James P. Kinney III jkinney at localnetsolutions.com
Wed Dec 8 21:20:34 EST 2004


On Wed, 2004-12-08 at 20:50, Parker McGee wrote:
> Forgive me for my ignorance and off-topicness, but what is the benefit
> to these printers over say a normal inkjet printer?

They are quite reliable and inexpensve to use. Ink-jet and laser
printers are measured in pennies per page. Dot-matrix, pin-feed is
measured in pages per penny. 

Most support direct ascii output. If you type:
echo "Hi there printer" > /dev/lp0 

the letters "Hi there printer" show up on the paper on the printer
connected to lp0 :)

Downside: they are noisy and rather slow and the print quality can be
crappy on the really older 9 pin jobs. The newer 24 pin looks pretty
good. Fonts are a issue as they only understand a few. To do more
requires a conversion to graphics.

But if you need to print multipart forms, there is no other way. 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 16:26:03 -0500, Nathan J. Underwood
> <ale1 at cybertechcafe.net> wrote:
> > I've got some Okidata's lying around that I've not gotten around to
> > putting on ebay yet.  They're black and white only (no color).  Email me
> > off board if you're interested.
> > --
> > registered linux user # 73046
> > 
> > Nathan J. Underwood
> > Cyber Tech Cafe' <><
> > http://www.cybertechcafe.net
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Allan Neal wrote:
> > > I have an old ALPS (Epson compatible) 24 pin color dot matrix.  Not sure the
> > > exact model anymore, but I believe it will do everything you require.  I even
> > > have about a reem worth of tractor feed paper for it.
> > >
> > > Let me know if you are interested.
> > >
> > > Allan
> > >
> > > On Wed, Dec 08, 2004 at 02:58:39AM -0500, Bob Toxen wrote:
> > >
> > >>I'm looking for an inexpensive Dot matrix printer that has
> > >>Tractor Feed and Friction Feed that will work on both 8.5 x 11 paper
> > >>(actually 9.5 inches wide including the tear off parts with holes)
> > >>and "1 up address labels" and has parallel port support.
> > >>
> > >>(My old one finally died after a measly 18 years and it's time to spit
> > >>out labels for monthly billing.)
> > >>
> > >>I don't care whether it's used or new but looking for impact rather than
> > >>ink jet (due to cost of refills).
> > >>
> > >>Anybody want to sell me one or point me at a store?
> > >>(I know about MicroSeconds, Freys, and MicroCenter)
> > >>
> > >>THANKS!
> > >>Bob Toxen
> > >>bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for email to me]
> > >>http://www.verysecurelinux.com        [Network&Linux/Unix security consulting]
> > >>http://www.realworldlinuxsecurity.com [My book:"Real World Linux Security 2/e"]
> > >>Quality Linux & UNIX security and SysAdmin & software consulting since 1990.
> > >>
> > >>"Microsoft: Unsafe at any clock speed!"
> > >>   -- Bob Toxen 10/03/2002
> > >>_______________________________________________
> > >>Ale mailing list
> > >>Ale at ale.org
> > >>http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > >
> > >
> > > 
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> > 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
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