========================================================================= (C) 1994 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt.Type XTX99437,GENIE and press [RETURN]. The system will prompt you for your information. ========================================================================== ************ Topic 5 Thu Jun 18, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 00:43 EDT Sub: Canon Bubble Jet Printers Q's and A's about the Canon Bubble Jet Printers. 200 message(s) total. ************ ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 1 Thu Jun 18, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 00:43 EDT I am considering getting a new printer. My old, reliable MX80 is just too slow and loud. I am seriously considering one of the Cannon Bubble Jets but I'd like some information. 1) What is the difference between a BJ10e and a BJ10eX? 2) Will the BJ printer drivers work with the BJ300? 3) Is anyone out there using a BJ300 and if so how do you like it? Is it worth the extra $120+ over the BJ10ex? Any other comments, pro or con, on the Cannon BJs would be appreciated. Thanks, Mike Allen ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 2 Sat Jun 20, 1992 S.JOHNSON10 [Steve] at 01:25 EDT M.ALLEN14 - I believe the BJ10ex is an Epson FX-80 compatible version of the BJ10e. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 3 Sun Jun 21, 1992 G.NORTON [G.NORTON] at 14:41 EDT The Bubblejets' print quality is excellent I highly recommend them. The BJ300 will work under its own driver, an IBM proprinter X24E, and an LQ850 so you should not have any problems with drivers. Unless you need the portability or can't afford the 300, go for the 300. For one, the 10 is around 100cps vs the BJ300 at 300cps so there is quite a speed difference. Also the BJ300 can take single sheets or continuous feed paper, the BJ10 only single sheets (the sheet feeder is a MUST have for proper use). Also I seem to recall the 300 has a larger buffer, although you might want to check that out. I also find the controls on the 300 somewhat easier to use. Graham ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 4 Sun Jun 21, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 18:43 EDT Graham, Thanks for the info - I'd kinda figured I wanted the 300. If you add the cost of the sheet feeder to the 10 the cost difference isn't that great. Besides I'm still kind of partial to pin-feed paper. Mike P.S. What is the cost of replacement ink carts for the 300 and how long do they last? m. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 6 Sat Jul 25, 1992 ICDINC at 10:42 EDT This is the first I have heard of the 300. I have a 10e with sheet feeder but don't use it much because I need a forms tractor. What does a 300 cost? - TOM - ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 7 Sat Jul 25, 1992 G.NORTON [G.NORTON] at 12:58 EDT Tom, The Canon BJ300 can be had in Canada for around $600. I think the current exchange is about .80 cents to the US$. So you should see it for around $480US. One thing the speed is VERY nice compared to the 10E...around 3x faster! and it does have a tractor feed. Graham @ Quay Computers ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 8 Sat Jul 25, 1992 AD-VANTAGE at 16:45 EDT I'm using a BJ300 on a PeeCee at work that was recently purchased for around $440. Speed is comparable to the DJ500 and the tractor feed seems very reliable. // Ron @ Atari Advantage Magazine // ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 9 Mon Jul 27, 1992 S.GILBERT5 [Steve] at 19:14 EDT Tom, Others have answered your questions about cost but I thought I would let you know about some of the other options available for the BJ300. You can add ( 2 ) sheet feeders to the 300 suggested retail price for sheet feeder #1 is $119.00. Font cards are also available but I have not seen them advertized. Some other specifics are 300 CPS high speed mode, 150 CPS high quality mode, and 360 x 360 DPI graphic resolution. Steve ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 11 Tue Aug 04, 1992 R.WOODBRIDG1 [Rob] at 23:17 EDT There is also a StarJet printer (from Star Micronics, I think) which uses the Canon engine. I saw one at the MIST Fest 2 weekends ago and was impressed with the speed, quality and darkness of the print on normal green-bar computer paper. Not to mention the silence! I think it can be found in the $400 range. Probably have to check the PC mail order outfits or something. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 12 Wed Aug 05, 1992 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 23:10 EDT I own an SJ-48 StarJet Printer (Star Micronics) and it's really quite nice. As far as I can tell, not only does it use the Canon engine, it is the Canon printer labelled as a Star Micronics printer. The only different is in the keyboard. The SJ-48 uses membrane-type switches (in the same layout as the Canon) as opposed to the Canon's actual switches. Quite honestly, I prefer the membrane switches...easier to clean and less likely to fail or get dirty. The SJ-48 uses the exact same bubble-jet cartridge as the Canon. I think you can purchase these printers for around $300 mailorder. John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 13 Wed Aug 05, 1992 A.VALENT [Mike] at 23:48 EDT See July/August 1992 Current Notes review of the Starjet. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 14 Sun Aug 09, 1992 R.WOODBRIDG1 [Rob] at 18:44 EDT John T., Thanks for the info on your SJ48. I mentioned this here only because you showed me yours at MIST (and you demo'd your printer initializer software to me also ). Thanks for correcting me on the price; $300 is better than $400!! ~~~ Mike, Thanks for the word on the Current Notes review. Now why did I cancel that subscription?? Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 15 Mon Aug 10, 1992 A.VALENT [Mike] at 20:17 EDT Rob - so you could buy it at your local dealer's. :-) That review was more confusing than anything else. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 16 Tue Aug 18, 1992 R.BROWN30 at 03:01 EDT Having been lambasted in the HP Deskjet area due to my comments on the Bubblejet, I thought I'd see what's what here. I am a multi-printer owner and user, from 3,000 to 300 dpi PostScript - to Deskjet 500C - to Bubblejet BJ-10e - to 24 pin Toshiba. I have tremendous experience on these various systems, going through paper by the case, rather than by the sheet, in my many and various projects filling very busy 100-135 hour weeks. Regarding price, I believe you can find the BJ-10ex for _under_ $300 in most areas, $279 being a price I remember from recent ads. That's without the requisite sheet feeder. Additionally, as an owner of the HP 500C and BJ-10e (the original model) I can report that after more than 12,000+ miles of traveling with the BJ, it still hands-down outperforms the HP, which never left the desk, for black ink printing, absolutely every time and in every way. Line weights on the BJ-10 vastly outperform the HP, especially in sub 1 point weights. It is very easy to see a difference between .1 and .2 points on the BJ, with the HP giving up at about .3 point, which is itself a misnomer, as the Deskjet line weights are about twice as heavy as the BJ in all weights under 1 point. Where the BJ prints a .1 point line, the DJ is lucky to do .5 or so. Gray scale photos print with decisively more grays than the HP, this being due to the added gray handling ability of the 360 dpi resolution of the BJ. Additionally, photographs have to be lightened significantly (40-50%) when going from the BJ to the HP. This I do in PhotoShop on the Mac via the Spectre GCR. Photos also tend to have better contrast on the BJ. Deskjet photos tend to look "muddy." Large black areas print with far greater uniformity on the BJ than the HP, as the HP's ink supply leaves a tell-tale mottling not unlike dichroic fog within the photographic process. Additionally, the HP's ink is not uniform in glossiness. However, the single greatest difference between the BJ and the HP is in the uniformity of the printed page through the life of the cartridge. While the BJ tends to exhibit absolute uniformity from the first to last drop of ink in the cartridge, the DJ cartridge tends to clog easily and otherwise degrades in quality so significantly as to warrant replacement long before the ink supply runs out. I have run both machines dry, though, and can report a tremendous advantage in the BJ's ink supply, which far outstrips the DJ cartridge in longevity. Additionally, the DJ cries out for "corrective maintenance" very regularly, while the BJ is a "set it and forget it" environment. On my last trip to L.A., BJ in tow as luggage, I actually had to replace pages in an otherwise PostScript laser printed document. The BJ, running PageStream, was able to sufficiently match the laser printed output as to _completely_ fool everyone who viewed even direct "this is laser - that is Bubblejet" side by side comparisons. To accomplish laser-grade results, you must use the right paper: Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper Product Number 01-075 Premium Quality, 24 pound, white 250 sheets, 8.5x11, about $8.95 Pricey, yes. Laser grade results? Yes. None of the capillary bleed or other problems associated with virtually _all_ other papers. BTW- Pen Plotter Paper does _not_ work _at all_ on the HP Deskjet. Totally wrong (different) ink composition. On the BJ, when the ink dries (more slowly here as it does _not_ soak in), the printout will actually feel similar to a laser printed page, where the ink (carbon) rests on the _surface_ of the page, giving a 'bas-relief' tactile effect. Strathmore Legacy is a division of Hammermill Paper Company, which also makes a popular long grain laser printer paper, which, by the way, is comparatively awful on the BJ. Sorry for the long post. I've just gotten tired of the narrow-minded status quo over on the HP DJ category, and this was a nice venting. Th-that's all for now... --Richard Brown GEnie Lamp ST Columnist Read it! It's a free download! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 17 Tue Aug 18, 1992 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 20:01 EDT There is a store in my area selling a BJ-5. Is anyone familiar with this printer and how it differs from the BJ-10 which has been discussed in this Cat? Thanks, Mike T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 18 Sat Aug 22, 1992 R.WOODBRIDG1 [Rob] at 16:26 EDT R.Brown30, Thanks for the post on the BJ-10. I assume there would be no reason to expect different results from say the BJ-300 or whatever the desktop model number is. (On the other hand, why buy the larger one..) Thanks again, Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 19 Sun Aug 23, 1992 J.PATTERSON3 [Ted] at 11:55 EDT Yeah, I like my BJ-10ex too. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 20 Sat Dec 19, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 20:19 EST Well all, the Cannon BJ-300 finally dropped to under $400 so I went and got one. Thought some of you might be interested in my initial impressions. First off, the documentation is scary! It comes with two approximately 200 page manuals. The first is a trilingual Users Manual. The second is an English only Programmer's Manual. Programmer's manual? Geez, I didn't want to program my printer, I wanted to print with it! Actually, the Programmer's manual probably isn't required for most users. It is one handy reference. I, for one, am glad they included it. Secondly, the thing is big! Aproximately 18"x13-5/8"x4-1/4". Just barely fit where my ancient MX-80 had room to rattle. And this is without the sheet feeders. (I don't have them.) It can take two sheet feeders. As it comes it will use either fan fold (pin feed), fed from the rear, or single sheets (or envlopes) fed from the front. The fan fold path is easy to load and they kept the centronics cable path and the power cord clear of the feed path. The fan fold paper can be parked so that single sheets can be fed from the front. I've only used this feature to print envelopes and it seems to work fine although care must be taken to make sure that the envelope feeds squarely. I have been using el cheapo Memorex 32020024 fan fold paper and have been really happy with the quality. It comes with 3 built in fonts, Courier, Prestige and Gothic. Each font can print at 10, 12, 17 or 20 cpi or proportional spaced. There are all sorts of 'highlights' available such as italic, shadow, outline, shaded and reverse. Underline, overline and strikethrough are also there with your choice of single or double line. Of course double high, double wide, sub and superscript, double strike and emphasized are there too. There are two slots for other fonts and/or ram for downloaded fonts. Oh, it prints either in High Speed or High Quality mode. HS mode is about 300 cps. HQ is 150. There is a very handy (to me) 'hex dump' mode which is handy when trying to debug drivers . The ink cart is easily accessable from the front and easy to change. Cannon claims a 1 million character life in the HQ mode. It has two emulation modes; IBM Proprinter X24E and Epson LQ850. These modes are only selectable from dip switches on the back and cannot, as far as I can tell, be switched by software. The true 360x360 graphics resolution seems to only be available through the X24E mode. The X24E mode has two 'Code Pages' (what character is mapped to what ASCII code) available, USA (page 437) and Multilingual (Page 850). Given the 'multilingual' character of Ataris, the 850 pages seems more approriate. The LQ850 mode has the Epson Italics Character Set and Extend Grpahics Character set both available. The confusion, of course, was what GDOS driver to use and what mode should the BJ-300 be in. I assumed (hoped) that I could use the BJ10e drivers that are floating around. After some experimentation (thank goodness for the hex dump mode) I found that the graphics commands being issued by the BJ10 drivers are those contained in the X24E mode. All of my following comments refer to the X24E mode. I haven't played with the LQ850 mode. So what plays (so far) with the BJ-300? Calligrapher, of course. (My main drive for a better printer.) Both text and graphics modes. I've mapped the text mode to the 437 page, but it appears that I will get fuller mapping out of the 850 page. The down side is that the BJ10 GDOS driver supplied with Calligrapher only outputs in the 360x180 dpi mode. I've asked the CodeHeads about this and I assume that they are dinging WT UK about the same. .XIC Print from SDS. Used the BJ10 driver from FontGDOS and the SANS08NP.FNT font from WordUp 3.0 This driver does output in the 360x360 mode. Award Maker Plus. So far I've only got it working in 180x180. Looks like 240x240 is going to be the best I can do. WordWriterST. Text mode of course. So far I've not had any luck with WordUp 3.0. I'm still working on it, though. The screen dump from the Atari works fine. Actually it seems that most Epson MX/FX drivers will work UNLESS they use the ESC * m n1 n2 command. Of course you are limited to what an MX/FX can do. In conclusion ('finally!', they say) I am quite happy at this point. If there is interest, I will continue my saga as I learn more. Mike Allen ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 21 Sat Dec 19, 1992 D.SEBERG [IceBerg] at 23:25 EST Mike, Congratulations, on your new aquisition!! While I am a HP DeskJet 500 user, I that the BJ's are quite a nice printer. I was wondering if the BJ's have an HP emulation mode, or Epson, or do they have their own printer language? I'm just a bit curious. :^) Have Fun! Dave ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 22 Sun Dec 20, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 03:33 EST Dave, As far as I can figure out , the BJ-300 only has emulation modes! There is no mention that I can find in the docs of a 'native' mode. Maybe a BJ10e user can tell us about them. The two emulation modes explainied in the docs are IBM Proprinter X24E and Epson LQ850. The two BJ10 GDOS drivers I've tried so far seem to like the X24E mode. No mention of a HP emulation mode. Mike Allen ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 23 Sun Dec 20, 1992 R.BROWN30 at 12:18 EST D.SEBERG: The Canon Bubblejets added Epson compatibility shortly after their initial production run. I believe all current models support Epson. Some programs, like PageStream, fully support the Bubblejet's native mode with an appropriate driver. I myself uploaded a driver for First Word Plus that accurately registers all printable characters in the ASCII window that 1stWord users are accustomed to seeing on boot-up. The driver was written by an ST guru, Barry Ober. In addition, aside from their inherent mode, Bubblejets also have IBM Proprinter emulation, so this driver will also work. I own both an HP 500C and an _old_ pre-Epson compatible Bubblejet BJ-10e portable. (I also have 300 and 400 dpi PostScript laser printers, and regularly output to imagesetters at up to 3,000 dpi). To wit: The 500C always edges the Bubblejet in throughput, though the Bubblejet always edges the 500C in quality (black ink). That's the _portable_ BJ beats the _desk model_ 500C. I can't vouch for the desk model BJ's excepting for seeing one printing straight text off an IBM - it was _VERY FAST_. Using the available and preferable Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Product No. 01-075 in the Bubblejet can deliver output from a program like PageStream that will actually fool a knowledgeable observer into thinking the BJ is a 300+ dpi laser. This will _never_ happen, using _any_ paper, on the Deskjet, as far as my experience with some half dozen HP's has proved, printing in all sorts of conditions from low to high humidity, temperatures, etc., from coast to coast in the U.S. The BJ-10e also has a straight-through page option, allowing oddball papers, like cut up grocery bags, to be used. On the HP side, try the Laseredge line from Schoeller papers. Especially in color mode you will find a striking improvement in print quality. I have worked with the inventor of these papers (the secret is in the coatings), and can hands-down say that Laseredge brings the HP up to a very satisfying quality level, but, still, not quite up to Canon black-ink quality. You have to remember that the Deskjet prints at 300 dpi, or at about 70 percent of the Bubblejet's 360 dpi resolution. Therein lies the quality difference. For either printer, to obtain maximum quality, you need to find papers that do not bleed the ink through soak-in or capillary action. Each machine has vastly different ink formulations: HP even changes formulation between its color and black inks (papers good for color on the HP500C, including HP's own brand, are not necessarily OK for HP black ink printing). The Legacy Pen Plotter Paper has a caveat: the ink does not soak in _ AT ALL _ , rather, it lies 'in a hi-res puddle' on the surface of the paper. Handling the paper at the bottom of a just-printed page can cause smearing. Drying time (about 15-30 seconds) must be allowed for prior to handling. Though it may seem a hassle, you immediately get used to it because the quality is a couple orders of magnitude better than your best expectations for an-ink spraying printer. Bubblejets are also compatible with Macintosh computers through products like the "Grappler", which provides the software and hardware necessary for regular printing. My BJ is now on loan to a Mac user - I've seen the results and they look very good. --Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 24 Sun Dec 20, 1992 D.SEBERG [IceBerg] at 13:54 EST Mike and Richard, Thanks for the info concerning the Canon printers. I'd like to include support for these printers in the programs that I'll be writing "Next Year". Makes it sound like a long time that way. Thanks Again, Dave ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 25 Sun Dec 20, 1992 M.ALLEN14 [Mike Allen] at 23:25 EST Richard, I can find no mention of the Canon 'Native Mode' in my BJ-300 docs. Wonder if you could give me a little more information the 'Native mode.' thanks Mike Allen ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 26 Fri Dec 25, 1992 R.BROWN30 at 16:26 EST Mike: I think you're right. I haven't seen a BJ Manual in more than a year, and it probably is that IBM ProPrinter is the basic mode. I've noted several IBM name brand printers with the Canon BJ cartridge inside at the discout stores. Perhaps you could ask Soft Logik what they're doing, as they have a perfecto driver for the BJ. I'm going to query the guy that wrote the 1st Word driver for the BJ that I uploaded onto GEnie. He actually paid for the complete tech manuals, etc., but is now 250 miles away working on heavily modified Mac Quadras. (He tells me parallel processing 68040's are quite nice, even on a Mac). I don't mean to add confusion here. Sorry for any mix-up. I still like my BJ- 10 way more than my now defunct HP 500C for black ink. Will advise... Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 27 Sat Dec 26, 1992 R.WOODBRIDG1 [Rob] at 18:31 EST Mike and Richard, I have read your posts with interest as I am in the market for a new printer in the $400 range, and have been considering the Canon bubble jets. Are there any other significant differences between the model 10e and 300 (other than portability and a comment about 'very fast')? Thanks, Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 28 Sat Dec 26, 1992 B.WOOLF1 [WOOLF] at 19:40 EST I recently purchased a Cannon Bubblejet 330. I had a problem at the beginning, getting it to print consistently, it would work in the evening and the next morning, I would get a error message, your printer is off line or not connected. Since I was turning the system on and off a lot, trying different DIP switch combinations, it took me two weeks to realize that the printer had to be turned on first or I could reset the computer, warm reboot. The Cannon docs tell you to do the opposite - computer on first, printer on second. Of the two modes on the printer, I think Mode 1, the IBM Proprinter X/XL24E, is the native mode, Mode 2 is Epson LQ 850/1050 and there is no mention of any other mode. I have not opened the programmer's manual, except to briefly glance thru it, so I can't say if there is more info in there. In IBM mode, the ASCII text dump to the printer is very fast, under 30 seconds for a full page of type, and the quality is excellent on the HQ setting, with premium bond. As for printer drivers, I tried both the Epson driver and the Bubblejet driver supplied with Calamus SL. The Epson driver POURED ink on the page, I was afraid that if I held the paper up vertically, the ink would run right off the letters and on to the floor. BTW, the ink would dry, eventually. The supplied Bubblejet driver did not work very well, I can't remember why, but don't worry. The printer driver generator in Calamus SL produced a excellent driver and it only took me two tries. The output is excellent, it approaches the printing quality in the Calamus manual, with crisp type and clean graphics, something my Panasonic 1124 could not come close to. Even though I do benifit a lot in SL from this printer, the real reason that I bought the 330 was to output large EasyDraw files. Since the driver that I have for EasyDraw is an Epson compatable 360x360 dpi, I put the 330 into Mode 2 - Epson emulation, and the printout was excellent, with even the fill pattern coming close to what I see on the screen, the light ones light and the darker ones dark. Of course, who wants to change the DIP switches every time that I want to change programs. So I called Migraph and asked if they had a Bubblejet driver that used the IBM mode. They said yes and I ordered it. It came as two drivers, a 180dpi, a 360dpi and a modification program to get better quality from both drivers. The 180dpi driver printed out my sample well, it matched the screen fine, but at 180dpi, with jaggies and all. On to the 360dpi driver, the quality was better, smooth circles, but the putput was so fine - light, that is looked like a 25 percent gray. Next to usless, unless you needed this effect. This is a great printer and I can live with changing the DIP switches as I don't really switch programs on the fly. The output is excellent, the speed is excellent and its much quieter than a 24pin. It does shoot out single sheets, so be prepared to catch them or go looking all over the floor. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 29 Sat Dec 26, 1992 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 21:34 EST My darling wife gave me a Canon BJ-200 for XMAS (she plans to use it a lot too) but I'm not sure we'll keep it - we have 14 days to return it to Best Buy Co if we're dissatisfied. We plan to use it mostly with PageStream and WordPerfect and would keep our old 9 pin printer for other things. I think the BJ-200 is basically just another variation on the BJ-10 although I've never seen the BJ-10 other than in adds. It has a built in 100 sheet feeder and it uses a different cartridge. But most of the documentation refers the the BJ-10. For example it has two modes, 1. The BJ-10 mode and 2. the Epson LQ-510 mode. So far, using the best paper we could find around the house we've been able to get print quality somewhere between a 24 pin and a laser printer - I have a PgS test file that I've printed on a Laser printer using PostScript and samples of 24 printing. On poorer paper the print quality is hardly better than a 24 pin printer in general and worse on straight line graphics. I note Richard Brown's comments here, suggesting the Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper (thank you Mr. Brown) and we'll try to get that or something similiar before we make a final decision. Well, now to my problem One of the appeals of the Canon BJ-10 was its Epson LQ-510 emulation which we hoped would permit us to use the nice LQ-510 fonts with WordPerfect. However we find ourselves without a WP printer driver that does the trick. Do any of you Canon BJ users have one? If so, where do I get one - I suppose there might be something in Genie Files somewhere - or could I get one from WP corp.? I'll keep you all posted on our BJ-200 testing. Thanks, Will Haider ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 30 Sun Dec 27, 1992 R.BROWN30 at 00:42 EST Relative to drivers, I have used the PageStream BJ130 driver on the BJ-10e with positively outstanding results. My BJ-10e does not feature Epson emulation, as it preceded the "10-ex" by a few months. I cannot stress the need for proper papers enough. The Legacy Pen Plotter Paper is _coated_, and it is the _no bleed_ nature of the coating that allows the BJ-10e to optimize its performance. However, as I've mentioned, you must allow for drying time and avoid smearing. From PageStream, BJ-10e output should look basically equal to 300 dpi PostScript laser output. I have a wide assortment of printers at my avail, with 300 and 400 dpi PostScript lasers on my desk as I type this, and, in that I deal in professional level typography nearly every day (1270 to 3000 dpi), that's just how it looks to my jaded but particular eyes. My Bubblejet usually remains on loan to my production manager (I'm in the film biz) and he usually leaves it at his machine shop under positively the worst conditions. He runs it off a Mac Powerbook. I reclaim it for travel to the west coast, and on every occassion, I have bugged my eyes at the amazing consistency of print quality, especially given the seemingly "flimsy" construction. This has yet to prove a problem over countless air miles. I just throw it in with my clothes in a suitcase. The hassle is packing up my Mega 4, HD, and various accessories in a big Haliburton case. Heavy! With Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, I would venture a guess that PageStream output from the Bubblejet would fool, at normal viewing distance, about half of all experienced _laser printer owners_ into thinking the BJ, like my little portable BJ-10e, was in fact a laser device. I was wowing people two years ago at the Glendale Show with PageStream and the Bubblejet. All were amazed. As for overspraying, I find that a problem on my Hewlett Packard 500C in graphic mode (black ink), but have yet to see this on the BJ. The big difference between the two also extends to cartridge life: the BJ definitely outlasts the DJ under the same work load and by a wide margin. Additionally, as I've mentioned, I work directly with a paper developer, and have had access to the very best papers for ink jet printing. To wit, nothing I've tried on the Deskjet has yet compared to the Bubblejet on Legacy, and it basically boils down to the _big_ difference in dpi resolution (BJ at 360 vs. DJ at 300 dpi). The Deskjet at its best, printing on the best paper, will not compare to the BJ at its best. I would confess to not printing a great deal of regular text, maybe only 200- 300 pages to date, but even in text mode, the BJ has always outperformed my Toshiba P321 24 pin dot matrix and again is much more akin to my laser printer output. Cleaner, sharper. In fact, it always outperforms my NEC Silentwriter Laser for pure blacks. All problems I've ever seen on the BJ have been cartridge related, and they have been very few, much less than the totally inconsistent DJ which changes from morning to night from day to day. You should expect the Bubblejet cartridge to perform with exceedingly high consistency of quality, and, again unlike the DJ, should work at 100% until the last two or three printhead passes where it should fail "all at once." DJ carts fail over _pages_. With the BJ, always remember to CLEAN a new cartridge prior to printing the first page, and of course, to remove the shipping clips and tapes before installation. Anything less than eye-popping quality suggests a problem to me. It should blow away all but a good 400 dpi PostScript printer. *** If anyone is having trouble finding the Legacy product, I happen to have quite a lot of it, and would be happy to send out a reasonable sample of the paper to a few of those interested. Just e-mail me a mailing address. I'm curious to hear about results on other BJ models other than the little portable. Obviously, this offer will be limited to, well, my mood, I suppose. NOTE: the Legacy Pen Plotter Paper does _not_ work on the Deskjet (except for color mode where it's O.K.). The BJ ink is far more consistent in color than DJ ink, which is often mottled in appearance and of a totally different formula. BTW, and finally, here's one DEFINITE source of Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Product # 01-075: Bush's Stationers 6440 Bellingham Avenue North Hollywood, CA 91606 818-766- 7117 They're maybe 10 minutes from the famous Chinese Theatre. They do usually have to order it in: a few days at most. I don't know how they feel about shipping. -Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 31 Sun Dec 27, 1992 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 13:34 EST Richard Brown: Thanks for the info again. I'll check this area, Central MN, before calling Bush's Stationers. I'm anxious to the the BJ-200 in action on good paper! Will Haider ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 32 Wed Jan 13, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 19:02 EST Just got a BJ-200. They were on sale at BEST BUY, an electronics superstore/discounter. The screen dump(alt/help) seems to work ok in the BJ- 10 mode but doesn't in the Epson mode. Is this normal? Also, any suggestions for the most appropriate Dip switch settings? I really appreciate any help those with more experience with the Cannons can provide. Thanks Mike T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 33 Sat Jan 16, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 09:31 EST Reporting on my BJ-200 as promised: I kept the BJ-200 my wife gave me for an Xmas present. I am very pleased with the print quality, about as good as a 300 dpi laser on the best paper I've found so far, although straight lines are a bit fuzzier. I haven't had much opportunity to search for paper yet, the stationery stores I've checked had very little selection and there are no paper suppliers in this town. I live about 75 miles from the Twin Cities but have not had a chance to look there yet. It has two modes: The BJ-10 mode and the Epson LQ-510 mode. I am using the Epson LQ 510 mode for my word processing (Word Perfect) and PageStream. I have been using Epson LQ-1500 drivers in Word Perfect but would prefer an LQ 510 driver because the BJ-200 offers 7 type faces in that mode which are not available with the LQ-1500 driver (although I can get them with print strings). Mike, on the WP round table, thinks he can get one for me - so I've got my fingers crossed. I can't compare the BJ-200 with the BJ-10 since I've never used one but I suspect they are about the same print quality. The BJ-100 comes with a 100 sheet feeder built in and is a bit faster. A friend just bought a BJ-10ex on a closeout sale for $200! New too! They got the last one or I'd have returned the BJ-200 ($350). Once I have a chance to compare the print quality on the same paper I'll post. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 34 Sat Jan 16, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 15:10 EST Will, Which PGS driver are you using with the BJ-200 in Epson mode? Also, are you able to do screen prints(Alt/Help) in the Epson mode? mine don't seem to work, although they are fine in BJ-10 mode. Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 35 Mon Jan 18, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:36 EST Mike: I just read your Jan. 13 posting, No, My BJ-200 (My wife got mine at Best Buy too) screen dump doesn't work either, in the Epson mode anyway, I've haven't tried it in the Canon mode however. I seldom if ever use the screen dump, so I can live with it though. What are you using for paper and where do you get it? Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 36 Mon Jan 18, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:49 EST Mike: I use the Epson LQ-2550 driver for PageStream and the LQ-1500 for WordPerfect although, if you've read my earlier post you know, I'm looking for an LQ-510 driver for WP. I really like the fonts offered in the LQ-510 mode. So far I don't see any reason to use the BJ-10 mode unless to dump the screen as you've pointed out. As for the dip switches, I just left them all off (up) except for 12 which switches BJ-10 to LQ-510 mode and it seems to work fine - of course, I really haven't put it to a thorough test yet either. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 37 Tue Jan 19, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 19:25 EST Will, I've tried the LQ-2550 driver with PGS and get good output, but I get an extra page. That is, the printer finishes a page, ejects it, loads another, and does a couple of line feeds. It doesn't do this with the Cannon BJ-10e driver. Do you get this? I don't use WP. I use either Write-On or Word Writer St. On occasion I get the extra page thing with these to. It's really to bad because the Epson mode does have all those extra fonts built in. Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 38 Tue Jan 19, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:56 EST Mike: I haven't had the extra page problem with either WP or PgStream. I (nearly) always print PageStream one page at a time - I have noticed that it will start to feed a second page with Word Perfect occasionally but have attributed it to feeding to the first line on the anticipated next page. I have not had any problem when I've printed multiple pages. I'll let you know if I experience the problem. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 39 Wed Jan 20, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 00:52 EST Regarding the BJ and PageStream. There are several Bubblejet-specific drivers that deliver absolutely outstanding results. I've never used an Epson driver with my BJ-10e (it was built before the 10-ex, and therefore no Epson mode), but the BJ-10e driver for PageStream 2 delivers _laser_, not near laser quality, but only when (**NOTE**) printed on: Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Product # 01-075, which is a coated, premium, extra white, bleedproof (_no_ fuzziness, _ever_) paper which I've tested personally in 20% and 99% humidity climates (same results either case). Caveat 1: This paper is premium, 250 sheets sell for about $9.00, but then, other coated papers, like LaserEdge, sell for 2.5 to 3 times the price. BTW- Legacy Pen Plotter is better than LaserEdge on the BJ. Caveat 2: This paper is coated, meaning _don't touch until dry_! The ink takes +/- 5 to 25 seconds to dry, but you will _instantly_ get used to it, as your PageStream output will, for the most part, fool any observer, even laser printer owners, that you printed via laser. You may, in fact, have you spit on the page or otherwise try to smear the ink to prove it's a BJ to a laser owner! Caveat 3: This paper is no good for Deskjets, except color mode on the HP500C. For Deskjets, LaserEdge HR-10 and HR-20 are better choices. *** A DEAL *** If anyone wants to drop me an address via e-mail, I'll send out a Legacy Pen Plotter sample for you to try on your BJ, but please post your results here! (Offer expires at my discretion, but I've had few takers as of yet, so feel free for now.) If you're using _any_ other paper (I know a BJ10 will print on cut up grocery bags- I've done it) you are probably missing the boat, at least by a little. In California, you can get Legacy Pen Plotter Paper via special order at: Bush's Stationers < I don't know if they'll ship... 6440 Bellingham Avenue but it's worth asking, I suppose. North Hollywood, CA 91606 818-766-7117 Some of this is repetitious, sorry, but it's important! --Richard Brown Read GEnie Lamp ST! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 40 Wed Jan 20, 1993 EXPLORER.1 [] Ron [] at 23:40 EST Richard, I have a BJ 300 at work that is prone to intermittent "streaking" (looks like a dot not firing). Cleaning procedures described in the manual didn't work. Replacing the cartridge did not help either. Any ideas what to try next? The plotter paper idea is a great tip, I'll try it - thanks! Ron @ Atari Explorer Magazine ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 41 Tue Jan 26, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 19:36 EST R.Brown: The Legacy Pen Plotter paper arrived yesterday. Excellent! On a sample PageStream document, it compares favorable to a PostScript version of the sample printed on a NEC PS laser (400 DPI?). It exceeds the print quality of a 300 DPI laser. Its performance shines most on straight lines, which comeout very clean compared to some fuzziness on the best paper I could previously find. Now to find a local source. Thank you, Will Haider ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 42 Wed Jan 27, 1993 J.MILEWSKI at 22:15 EST Just purchased BJ200. I can't get a clear copy. Have cleaned the head about 15 times but all I get are l white lines through the type. Is it the head, the paper or me? Any suggestions? John ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 43 Thu Jan 28, 1993 J.MILEWSKI at 20:41 EST If you read message #42, I guess I got the answer myself. I called the 1-800 number for cann Canon and after a few tests they asked me to preform I found out I had a by ad unit. They adviosed me to return the unit and get another one. Turns out the BJ200 I had did niot t ot have the proper driver, or a bad driver for the print head. If you run into problems with a Bubble Jet , call the 1-800 number. These people are real knowledgeable about the machines. E even on the phone. Mine works great and it's almost a Laser printer. Manmy y thanks anyway. John ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 44 Fri Jan 29, 1993 S.JOHNSON10 [Steve] at 01:07 EST J.MILEWSKI - Sounds like some of the nozzles aren't printing correctly. Have you read the troubleshooting section of your printer's manual (if it HAS such a section)? If you can't get it to work right, you may have a defective ink cartridge. It could also be that the contacts between the cartridge and 'cartridge holder' in the printer may be dirty. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 45 Tue Feb 02, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:28 EST To all: Well, I didn't win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweeps as I had almost expected (I was a finalist!) but serendipidy here: I stopped at my local closeout merchandiser on a whim tonight and found them stocking shelves with paper they had just acquired from a bankrupt stationery. I bought a ream of "Sharp Copybond SF-70NA" for $1.29 and voila! It works great: no bleading and definitely laser quality. I have no idea what it normally retails for. Is it as good as Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter? No, but very, very close and it would take a most discriminating eye to tell the difference. I'm going back to buy them out tomorrow. I really like my BJ-200 now. The 7 type faces in Epson mode with all 8 Word Perfect fonts look really nice on the better paper. It's fast, relatively quiet and the only problem is an occasional feeding of more than one sheet of paper at the same time. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 46 Wed Feb 03, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 19:44 EST All: More info on Sharp Copybond SF 70NA paper. Eight test files with WordPerfect were nearly indistinguishable from a good laser. With PageStream the results were also laser quality in HS mode and HQ mode but degraded in super high quality mode as the ink bled through the paper. I'd rate it an eight with ordinary paper a one and Strathmore Legacy pen Plotter a ten on a ten point scale. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 47 Sun Feb 07, 1993 ROBW at 21:38 EST I have come across a paper that is now my second best behind only Legacy Pen Plotter. It is Pen-Tab Industries "Laser/Typing Paper" Item #4497. The package states that it is 25% Cotton Bond, 20 lb. 91 brightness white paper "Professional Quality for Electronic Printers and Reproduction Devices" and specifically mentions Ink Jet Printers. It cost me about $6.00 at COSTCO (a membership warehouse type store) for 500 sheets. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 48 Fri Feb 19, 1993 B.BILLJONES2 [BILL JONES] at 21:10 EST Gads! I just imported a 256 color GIF file into Pagestream and printed it out on my new BJ200 printer. I don't know what dithering scheme Pagestream uses for such things, but the result is incredible! Much better than I expected... Has anyone come up with an estimation of how long an ink cartridge lasts if you print nothing but huge graphic files? ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 49 Sun Feb 21, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 02:16 EST Huge graphics files and graphics mode is virtually all I use, albeit on the little bitty BJ-10e. All I have to report is that it truly outlasts by a W - I - D - E margin the same sort of printing done on my DeskJet 500C. (In color mode, the 500C comes out to almost $.80 A PAGE in ink cost alone!) In black mode, the DJ is cheaper, but still far costlier than the BJ: I've had the DeskJet 500C for well under a year, the BubbleJet for almost two years, and, lo and behold, I've bought more DeskJet carts, _including_the "double capacity" model, than BJ carts. Going on 2:1! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 50 Mon Feb 22, 1993 O.CONTRERAS1 [Olivo] at 21:22 EST Does anyone know what the proper settings are for ST Writer for a BJ10ex? The printouts on my Canon BJ10ex don't come out quite right. If I set it to emulate an Epson, the printouts are fine. I'd like to use the Canon BJ-130e mode since the characters seem to come out a little larger and darker. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 51 Tue Feb 23, 1993 B.REEVES2 [Alter Ego] at 22:20 EST Hi, Which Cannon Bubble Jet is the best model, price/performance wise? Where can I find the best price on this printer? Thanks Barry ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 52 Wed Feb 24, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 00:33 EST Barry: I love my BJ-200. With the right paper it does laser quality 360 dpi. The paper sheet feeder is very convenient and does envelopes too. $359 at Best Buy Stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Chicago, Missouri, Texas and maybe a few other states. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 53 Wed Feb 24, 1993 R.SNYDER6 [Roger] at 02:25 EST A friend of my is looking for a printer and saw a BJ-5 in a catalog for $230. How does this model compare with the others, and is this a good price? Thanks--Roger ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 54 Wed Feb 24, 1993 B.BILLJONES2 [BILL JONES] at 22:00 EST Olivo, I don't know what font sets are present on the BJ10ex, or how many there are. But, I might be able to put together a basic driver for you. I have the BJ-200 and the manual does have some driver codes listed. I'm hoping that I can find my copy of STwriter... it's been a while since I've used it. I'll let you know... But, It just occurred to me that I recall seeing someone mentioning that they uploaded a driver for First Word a while ago... I _think_ the printer drivers are somewhat compatible. Anyone else recall this? Bill Jones ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 55 Fri Feb 26, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 00:33 EST Well, I uploaded the FirstWord driver. It should still be up here. It was written by a guru named Barry Ober and calls itself "Bubble Brain". It also displays every BJ-printable character in the ASCII window on the FirstWord "desktop". It also works, as I remember, with Wordwriter (a very similar program). For those worried about fonts, think of getting PageStream or Calamus. I use PageStream, and have hundreds of fonts working just fine on my old BJ-10e, even at 800 points tall or more! There's nothing like the punch of a good PostScript font printing on the BJ! --Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 56 Sun Feb 28, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:15 EST Roger, I bought a BJ10ex last week. While I was shopping around, _many_ salespeople tried to get me over to the BJ5e. No one seemed to know too much about it though. Other than to tell me it was "the same as a BJ10e only with Epson compatability. No one explained what the difference was between the 10ex and the 5e. I called Canon in Ca. to ask someone in Product Information... The first person I spoke with didn't even know of a BJ5e, then she said she would put me onto her supervisor. Got his voice mail, left a message, no response. Then spoke with someone in Tech help, he never heard of a 5e, switchwed me to his supervisor, I got voice mail, etc., etc. I since spoke with a printer salesman who told me that while he has no lit. on it, the 5e is "between the 10e and 10ex" I don't quite know what this means, except that it does have Epson compat. mode. (so does 10ex) _very_ strange!! I paid a few dollars more for my 10ex than you stated you saw the 5 for. Really, less than $10. more. Shop around. BTW, I love it! It gives Great Output! Hope this helps, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 57 Mon Mar 01, 1993 R.SNYDER6 [Roger] at 20:05 EST Thanks for the info Matt. I think it is safer to go with one of the other models. I don't think I fell secure with a product that even the company that makes it isn't sure what it is. Thanks again--Roger ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 58 Tue Mar 02, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 22:10 EST Very curious! I tried test printout on the BJ10ex today. I laid out a new doc is PgS (2.2) with four 1 inch square columns (one aligned to each corner). Then changed the fill color to black. When I print out, I get the expected 1/4 inch loss from the upper left edge, and some loss from the top left. The strangeness occurs at the bottom of the page. I get a little more than 1/2 of the box in each corner when the paper runs out. (set to manual feed) When I insert another sheet I get the rest of the box! Why is this happening when the sheet is 8.5 x 11? I would think it would just print out what it does and end after. Maybe I need to set paper size to 11.25 to ensure I get the last bit to print? Any of you Bubble Jet (10ex) users out there care to hazard a guess? Thanks, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 59 Tue Mar 02, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan] at 22:37 EST Is it possible that the BJ is set to expect an A4 size page by any chance? Nathan@DMC ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 60 Wed Mar 03, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 18:59 EST Matt, I'll bet you are using the Epson emulation setting. I have a BJ-200 and it does the same thing with PGS Epson drivers. Try the BJ-10 driver with the printer in BJ-10 mode and PGS should print fine. It works for me anyway. Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 61 Wed Mar 03, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 22:14 EST Nathan@DMC- Thanks but I don't think so. The only place I know of to set paper size on the printer is at the dip switches and the appropriate one is set to the OFF pos. (= 279mm or 11") If there is another hardware switch I am unaware of it. Of course in PgS the page is set to 8.5 x 11. Mike- Thanks for the reply but no, I'm set on BJ10e mode and driver. Oh, the 10ex also does BJ130e emulation. There's a driver for that in PgS too. Maybe I'll try that mode. ==================--------------- Matt ---------------===================== ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 62 Thu Mar 04, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 00:08 EST What is the differeence between the quality of output of a BJ and a BJ10EX? *******Brian********* Written on Wednesday 03 March 1993 at 10:06 p.m. AST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 63 Thu Mar 04, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 21:07 EST BRIAN.H- >What is the difference between the quality of output of a BJ and a BJ10ex?< If this is the start of a joke: I give up If this is a search for a punchline: Can I say that on-line? If this is a serious question: to the best of my knowledge, BJ stands for Bubble Jet. Comparisons would be based on different model numbers. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 64 Fri Mar 05, 1993 STEVE-J [FunkPopARoll] at 02:24 EST BRIAN.H - There's no difference in quality (360x360dpi) -- the differences are in emulation modes available and speed. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 65 Fri Mar 05, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 19:14 EST Thank you Matt. Your reply was very informative. NOT!! I left out the number five. It should have read BJ-5 and BJ 10ex. I read your previous messages and thought someone might know the difference. I guess I shouldn't have asked. Thanks FunkPopARoll, Your answer was informative. So it is like buying a car? More bellsa and whistles . *******Brian********* Written on Friday 05 March 1993 at 07:06 p.m. AST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 66 Fri Mar 05, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 20:44 EST BRIAN.H - Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. Thought I was being funny. I appreciate your having asked the question. Hey, don't stop helping people, there's few enough people in the world who care enough to help. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 67 Fri Mar 05, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 20:51 EST I am sorry too. I read mine and it was harsher than I thought. That is the problem of writing online --> you never know how serious someone is. Back on topic, I remember where there was only one bubble jet. Time has changed real quick. Brian ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 68 Fri Mar 05, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 22:00 EST Ah, the paper length quandary: Trying to print the last smidgen of a page but the page flies out, loads another, and finishes the bottom of the last page on the top of the new one? If this happens to you, here's the explanation and the fix: The Bubblejet printer has a paper sensor that signals the end of page to the printer, whence it spits out the page. PageStream, however, has spooled the page out as a bitmap, and this data is still in the BJ's buffer, hence the loading and printing to the top of following page. Now my experience relates to the BJ-10e and BJ-10ex, where this "problem" has occurred for me. THE FIX: You must keep the paper sensor covered to print to the maximum extent of the page. Now, the need to print that last 1/4 inch or so is a reasonably rare event, but to accomplish it: 1. Use the single sheet feed option (the fold down shelf that is also used for envelopes) and feed in the page to be printed. This takes a bit of getting used to, as it _is_ different than the cut sheet feeder in its mode of operation. Note which side of the platen has the sensor. You will see the paper out light go off when the sensor is covered, and this is important to know should you need to print on oddball size papers (like cut up paper grocery bags which make for great box labels). 2. Begin printing as normal. When the page has printed 2 inches or so, slide a second page UNDER the first from the feed side 'til it catches on the rollers. You've now added length to the 8.5 x 11 page so that the sensor will be covered for the ENTIRE duration of PageStream's bitmap dump. No, the "bump" won't distort the printout noticeably (at least with common 20-24# papers). Interestingly, with this technique you can generally print WAY down the page on the BJ, sometimes within a sixteenth inch or less of page end. By way of comparison, I also own a DeskJet 500C which also has a paper sensor problem EXACTLY like the BJ, excepting there is no workable fix: you just have to live with NOT printing to the last HALF INCH (!) or so of an 8.5x11 sheet. BJ rules here! -Richard Brown read all about this kind of stuff in GEnie Lamp ST! Remember: Legacy Pen Plotter Paper is hands down best for the BJ! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 69 Sat Mar 06, 1993 ROBW at 11:14 EST Here's how I've solved the 'won't print on the last 1/4" at the bottom of the page' problem on both a BJ-10e and a BJ-300: Make the printer think you're using longer paper. Take a sheet of 11" paper and cut it down to about 3" x 11". Stick a 2" long piece of Scotch REMOVABLE Magic Tape near each end of the 11" edge. Butt this extension against the bottom edge of your document paper as it goes through the printer. Be sure to stick the tape to the non-printing side of your document or you'll have the last 1/4" of your document printed on the tape. The paper extension and tape are reuseable. I keep mine stuck to the printer table when I'm not using it. Be sure to use REMOVABLE tape. It doesn't leave any residue or damage your document paper. --- Bob Weidner --- ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 70 Sat Mar 06, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 22:53 EST Richard Brown to the rescue! Thanks! I _knew_ you would have an answer, but didn't want to keep bothering you directly. As for the Pen Plotter Paper... We'll see! Thanks again, Matt ROBW- Thank's to you too. I now have two weapons in the fight to gain the last 1/4 inch! Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 71 Sun Mar 07, 1993 J.TOWLER1 [John] at 02:40 EST >M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] > >I bought a BJ10ex last week. While I was shopping around, _many_ salespeople >tried to get me over to the BJ5e. No one seemed to know too much about it I was looking at a BJ5 recently and was told the difference was it used pressure sensitive membrane pads instead of buttons which physically depress for its controls. Otherwise all specs, including emulation modes were the same. - John ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 72 Mon Mar 08, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 19:38 EST Thanks John- Ya' know, it's possible. I saw them both together. I don't seem to remember any physical differences, but I have to admit that I didn't pay that much attention to the buttons. I was too busy trying to find out what was on the inside! Thanks again, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 73 Sun Mar 21, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 02:27 EST To any interested parties: Just compared the output from my BJ10ex to that of a TI Laser. Used the BJ driver from PgS from my Atari, and made a PostScript EPS file to print on the Laser via a friends Mac. Well... even though the laser output was a deeper black, most evident in the 8 pt. type, the 11 and 12 pt. type were much cleaner from the bubble jet. Copy with text-effects were _MUCH_ nicer from the BJ. I was using a laser paper, by the way. From what I'm told, using an ink-jet specific paper would dramatically improve the BJ's output. That's the next test! MCR ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 74 Sun Mar 21, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 16:00 EST Thanks for the information Matt. The bubble sounds like the better pick everyday now. *******Brian********* Written on Sunday 21 March 1993 at 03:31 p.m. AST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 75 Tue Mar 30, 1993 DAVESMALL at 00:40 EST Question from someone who looked at a Cannon BJ, but couldn't find a salesman that knew where the manuals were ... How programmable is this thing? I've heard of the 360 x 360 dpi and low cost, and it sounds excellent for a school application I know of. In specific, does it only have Epson emulation modes (which have become sort of the least common denominator in printer drivers ... tell me about it with my Panasonic KXP P-1180 that the Atari thinks is an MX-80 or something), or can you get down to the bitmap and really rock and roll? I thoroughly enjoy programming printers to do all sorts of things (wallpaper? posters?), but need bit-level access at 360 dpi to do this. Let's see. 360 dpi, at (let's round off) 8 x 11 11 is 88 sq inches is 129,600 bits of data (16,200 bytes) X 88 sq inches is...1.4 meg of data -- 1,425,600 bytes of data, assuming they map it straight. (I am no fan of interleaved 24-pin printer programming). I guess Apple buys this and calls it a StyleWriter, and released a newer one recently. Anyway ... if someone could fill me in better than the guy at the Big WareHouse Computer Store, I would sure appreciate it. Do the owner's docs tell you anything? Examples in BASIC, like the old EPSON manuals? I'll drive it fast, not to worry; a meg of data doesn't bother me the way it did in the 8- bit days. Thanks to anyone for your help. -- thanks, Dave / Gadgets p.s. I apparently skipped some notes at the start accidentally. With MY luck, this subject has probably been talked to death! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 76 Tue Mar 30, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 14:32 EST Dave, I have the BJ-300. I got it because it was the only Ink/Bubble Jet I could find that took fan-fold paper. It has 2 emulation modes - IBM ProPrinter X24E and Epson LQ850 - As far as I can tell the true 360x360 is only available in the X24E mode. It comes with 2 manuals, one of which is a 200 page "Programmer's Manual" which is pretty complete although I've found a couple of errors in it. Minor. It has a 30k buffer, which isn't really much when outputting in the 360x360 mode. For each 1/360 of an inch horizontaly you send 6 bytes that maps to individual jets vertically which is 48/360s of an inch. In this mode, if you can feed it data fast enough, it prints just under 1 page-per-minute. I posted a rather lengthly message in this cat/top back on Dec 19 on my initial impressions. If it isn't still here, I can EMail you a copy. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 77 Wed Mar 31, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:15 EST Dave, I'm afraid I don't know quite as much as Mike-Allen but the BJ10ex I have is very nice. Epson LQ-510,850,500,2550,800 modes; IBM Proprinter X24E/XL24E, X24/XL24; Canon BJ130e; IBM Proprinter; IBM graphics Printer emulations. All setting is done via dip switches and though this one didn't come with a programmers manual, there are lists of Hex and Dec control codes in the manual. I don't know if they are what you are looking for, but they are there. I think the 360x360 here is only available in the BJ10ex or 130e modes. Re: down to the bitmap... Sorry, don't know enough to help with that. I do seem to remember that the spray head is 64 nozzle if that helps you any. I get _very_ clean output even on some laser papers. I'm told that with certain ink-jet paper the output can match some lasers. I havn't matched graphics, but text output against a TI laser was very close. Only saw a difference at about 8 pt. type. That was on a finished laser paper. I can see the demarkations of the spray head passes on large solid black areas when using some papers. Hope some of this was useful Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 78 Thu Apr 01, 1993 DAVESMALL at 17:42 EST Thank you, it tells me exactly what I need to know. Now, I have to figger out the phone number of Comp*USA here in town to pick one up... [You know, we found a Mac IIsi 4/40 for $700 in their "demo/used" rack?!] It's very nice to have a community of people that are willing to take the time to answer a question like this. Thank you. -- Dave Small / Gadgets ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 79 Tue Apr 06, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 18:42 EDT ***** A paper report ***** Well, I am _still_ unable to find the Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter paper praised so highly here for BJ10ex output, but I did find one ink-jet specific paper this afternoon. YEAH! I find plenty of Laser specific stuff, but this is the first ink-jet paper I have found in months! The good news is I found it. IJ Technologies Bright White. "Specially coated for ink-jet printers"! The bad news is it isn't very good. Clarity of output is nice, and no bleeding but the characters print out too light. The Hammermill copy paper I do roughs on looks better. A deeper black. (I tested with many fonts and pt. sizes and outcome was same) The large black areas in B&W .IMG clip art look OK, though also a bit lighter than one might like. I guess "I just gotta keep searchin'.. searchin'....." Matthew R. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 80 Fri Apr 09, 1993 O.CONTRERAS1 [Olivo] at 21:39 EDT I'm going to school in a town in the middle of the cornfields of Illinois. Is Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter paper available through mail-order? Who might have it? Later, Olivo ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 81 Fri Apr 09, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:56 EDT Olivo, Other papers work nearly as well as Strathmore Legacey PP. I'm using Sharp CopyBond SF-70NA which I found a discount store for $1.28 a ream and it is nearly indistinguisable from the perfomance of Legacy in most applications. If you can't find Sharp try another non-absorbant or coated paper. Visually it will have a smother and slightly more shiny surface than noncoated papers. By the way, I love my BJ-200 and get better results with the Sharp paper than I do at work with our IBM laser! Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 82 Sat Apr 10, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 18:49 EDT Just got a BJ-200 and I think it's great. Really nice looking output. What I need now though is to get GDOS fonts to use with Easy Draw. Any ideas on how to go about getting 360 dpi fonts for ATSS##, ATTP10, and ATTR##? The BJ-10ex driver with FontGDOS works great on the graphics. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 83 Sat Apr 10, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:58 EDT Olivo- I know R.Brown knows where you can mail order the Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter paper. I've seen him post here, so I believe he frequents it, when he's got time. Perhaps try posting a msg. to him here. I may have the address and $ in a GEnie Lamp or AEO somewhere. Will try to find it for you. Matt Will/Mar-MN - Having only heard reports about the Strathmore paper I can't say first hand about it, but I will definitely try to find the Sharp paper. Thanks for the suggestion. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 84 Tue Apr 13, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 00:48 EDT To Richard Brown. Thank you for your post last August 18th. One need never aplogize for a lengthy post that contains so much wheat and so little chafe! 'Dig you later, \\\\ o-o Damian. ~ (R.JANSSEN1) \_/ [X] ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 85 Sat Apr 17, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 03:01 EDT Is there a "Y" cable or switch box that will allow me to keep both my new BJ- 200 and old KXP-1091 printers hooked up to the ST? Will throwing the switch kill my ST the way fooling with the connectors with the power on would? I would love to leave them both on and select printers *and* not have them *both* respond. I found a BJ-10 .SYS file with the Font GDOS package available in the library. Is this one that has not been covered in our discussion here? I buy alot of my Office supplies through Viking because they do everything right the first time and they pay for your shipping if the order is $25 or more. They have bubble jet specific paper so I ordered some to try and will post my results here. Wow! Could this be the supplier we have searched for? :> 'Dig you later, \\\\ o-o Damian. ~ (R.JANSSEN1) \_/ [X] ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 86 Sat Apr 17, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 10:46 EDT Damian, I use that kind of printer switch. It won't hurt your ST. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 87 Mon Apr 19, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 23:39 EDT Well, the last four packs of Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Strathmore Product No. 01-075 (Strathmore being a unit of Hammermill Paper Company) that I bought (in person, though, and it was a special order) was at: Bush's Stationers 6440 Bellingham Avenue North Hollywood, CA 91606 818-766- 7117 I have heard from others online that Bush's has given them problems- it could be they do not do shipping. Maybe I can get a friend of mine who lives 5 minutes from there to go and give them a talk. Furthermore, tomorrow, I'll call up Strathmore and get the line on where to get the stuff- look for it right here tomorrow night! BTW- to those turning blue waiting on their Legacy samples............ finally, out the door they go tomorrow!!!!!!!!! First class!!!!! Hints on checking out coated papers: any paper specially "coated" actually does have a coating over the paper surface, and this coating is scrapable with an Exacto blade (it will show up as a fine white dust, DIFFERENT than paper scrapings). The best coated papers are coated on both sides. Ones that are single coated will usually curl slightly, and towards the coated side. Regarding other papers with very good results: I find MANY papers, including cut up brown paper grocery bags (makes for a nifty label with a little spray glue for brown cardboard boxes) deliver outstanding results on the BJ. It is far more consistent than my DeskJet 500C in that respect. Still, with probably 25-30 paper stocks within 8 feet of my keyboard, including experimental stocks that will never be sold (but those who haven't received their Legacy samples: you'll get to try one of 'em), I haven't DUPLICATED the Legacy with any stock. Close, yes. What a pleasure it is to have such a premo-printer, eh? Mine, of course is on loan to a Mac user... drats, it's the DeskJet for a while. More than twice the price and all of half the quality. (Well, maybe 60-65%). -Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 88 Tue Apr 20, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 08:40 EDT Damian: You need an A-B switch. They're very common and should be available just about anywhere computers and printers are sold for under $20. I use my BJ-20 and an old Epson LX-80 through an A-B switch and it works great. The LX-80 is great for drafts and tractor feed lables and the BJ-20 for final copies. Will ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 89 Thu Apr 22, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 01:23 EDT Ah, a day late -- how time did fly... Well, I called them: The Legacy Company, once a division of Strathmore, which is a unit of Hammermill which is a division of International Paper. Of these, I talked to both Legacy and Hammermill. The Legacy folks had actually seen my GEnie Lamp article on Legacy done some time ago, but indicated the Pen Plotter Paper as being a very exotic and hence low priority item. I did speak at length about the need to remarket the stuff as Bubblejet Paper. The Legacy folk were also kind enough to lead me to one of their biggest customers, a wholesaler in Portland, Oregon. So, I called them. I discussed the possibility of mail order, but this is a company that likes to deal in case quantities. They are going to have a manager call me - perhaps they'll be willing to experiment. Now, Hammermill is a different story. They were most helpful, and even have sent me a sample of their newest inkjet papers to test, perhaps inclusive of a pen plotter paper - not Legacy - that they apparently have in production. Tic- toc, tic-toc. Hammermill is also sending me a NATIONAL list of distributors and suppliers. This could prove most useful... you'll see it here should things pan out. So, for now, the paper thing continues unsolved.... --Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 90 Thu Apr 22, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan] at 09:15 EDT This is great information Richard. Thank you for posting. I hope they come through with that National list and wonder if it will include Canada? Nathan @ DMC ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 91 Sat Apr 24, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 16:32 EDT Nathan: We'll soon see... I might ring them back if Canada is excluded. -Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 92 Sat Apr 24, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan] at 21:19 EDT Thanks Richard. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 93 Sun Apr 25, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 02:09 EDT I've recently, as in tonight, purchased the BJ-200. I also downloaded the previous 92 messages to refresh my memory and to get some of the questions answered. Here is one that I haven't seen covered. Why use the IBM PRO (BJ-10e) emulation rather than the Epson LQ-510 mode? The Epson mode give you better native fonts, IMHO. But I am wondering if there is a better print quality in the GDOS drivers. John E. Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 94 Sun Apr 25, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 03:29 EDT John Gn, I don't believe that the Epson LQ mode will give you 360dpi. At least on my BJ-300, which does LQ-850 emulation, you can't. The IBM X24E emulation allows for full 360x360 dpi graphics printing. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 95 Mon Apr 26, 1993 R.GREGORY4 [Rob] at 21:31 EDT Does anyone have the Canon BJ-200. I can get one for $349 Canadian, and was looking for any suggestions. Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 96 Mon Apr 26, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 22:16 EDT Mike, I took a look in the m9 \ &) $V- X y difference in the resolution - so I'm guessing it is a factor of the driver itself. I'm going to do some experimenting with the NECP6 and EPS360 drivers I have and see if they work. John E. Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 97 Mon Apr 26, 1993 R.GREGORY4 [Rob] at 22:27 EDT Just caught up with the last several hundred messages here, including lots of helpful stuff on the BJ 200. Thanks to all for posting this info! For the benefit of Canadian STers, I saw the Canon BJ 200 at Costco in Calgary this afternoon for $350. Cdn. Sounds like a good price to me! Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 98 Mon Apr 26, 1993 W.HAIDER [Will/Mar-MN] at 23:06 EDT Rob: Read some of the messages up topic. Several of us have BJ-200 and all seem very happy. It does great 360 graphics and nice built in fonts. The paper is important as you'll see when you read the earlier messages. I don't know what the exchange rate is but $350 is about the list U.S. dollars and Canon is offering a $50 rebate off of that! Will. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 99 Tue Apr 27, 1993 R.GREGORY4 [Rob] at 21:10 EDT Thanks, Will. I made a slip... appears that the $350 price was on BJ-20. The BJ 200 is going for $430 Cdn. at most places. I don't need a portable unit, so I guess the 200 would be the best choice. Lots of helpful stuff in this Cat.! Rob ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 100 Tue Apr 27, 1993 J.REYNOLDS26 [James] at 22:43 EDT Question for BJ-10ex users: How come I always get a "x" in the top left hand most part of my page? James. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 101 Thu Apr 29, 1993 J.PATTERSON3 [Ted] at 19:29 EDT I noticed that 'x' too, at least when I print from ST-Writer. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 102 Thu Apr 29, 1993 B.BILLJONES2 [BILL JONES] at 23:07 EDT Hiya all, I was wondering if anyone anyone ever experiences white streaks in their output. Offically this problem is pegged as a partially clogged ink head, but it appears at widely spaced increments down the page. Some passes are completely clean. I'm curious if it might be a build up of dry ink that's accumulated somehow on the bottom of the print head after a very "wet" graphic dump. I run the cleaning process 4 or 5 times and it helps very little. Is anyone familiar with this problem? The machine is a BJ-200. Bill Jones ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 103 Fri Apr 30, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 18:07 EDT Rob: I just got a BJ-200 at Future Shop for $430 including sheet feeder. If you can get one for $349, go for it. I'm very happy with the quality of the print. The only problem I encountered was getting 360 DPI fonts, finally ordered them from Migraph. The GDOS driver for the BJ-10 supplied with FONTGDOS works fine. Will: Canon claims the BJ-200 doesn't need anything other than plain paper with a weight of 17-24 lbs for automatic feed or 17-28 lbs for manual feed. (Other bubble jets might be more picky, the 200 uses a special ink cartridge.) I'm still using 40 lb fanfold paper which I bought for my old dot matrix. Just tore off the perforations and burst it. You'd have to be a real artist to require better quality. I haven't tried transparencies yet; they are picky about which of those you use. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 104 Fri Apr 30, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 21:47 EDT Richard- My system is _still_ being worked on but I bought an old 1040 for my neice and am using it to go online until further notice Just read your msg re: turning blue waiting for samples. Blue? BLUE? Blue was easy, it's the other shades that have had me worried! I noticed that the msg was written on the 19th. Just so you know, it is now the 30th, and still no sign of the package! I know, I know, the mail is very slow. I don't remember waiting this long for my divorce papers to go through! Still holding my uh... well _not_ my breath, anyway! Matthew R. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 105 Fri Apr 30, 1993 B.BILLJONES2 [BILL JONES] at 22:46 EDT My friend just picked up a BJ200 at Service Merchandise on sale for $369, and that included a $50 rebate good till the end of May. The coupon is from Cannon itself so I'm guessing no matter where you buy it the offer is good. Bill ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 106 Sun May 02, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 20:06 EDT I was talking to my club prez on the phone last night and he was looking at Canons (BJs) yesterday. On edealer stated the BJ-20 is no longer being manufactured and the new unit is the BJ-200. It is twice as fast as the BJ-20 and a 100 sheet paper feeder is built in. the price for this new technology is (are you seated?) ~$550.00 (Canadian)! Is the above correct. That's a $200.00 difference in price! Brian ... Written on Sunday 02 May 1993 at 09:02 p.m. ADT ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 107 Mon May 03, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:35 EDT Brian.H - I'm not up on my exchange rates, but yesterday I saw the BJ-200 advertised here in New York at $299.95 after $50.00 rebate. I think I read here the other day that this rebate is from Canon, so it might be offered everywhere. Hope this helps, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 108 Tue May 04, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 00:16 EDT Brian: >manufactured and the new unit is the BJ-200. It is twice as fast as the BJ-20 and a 100 sheet paper feeder is built in. the price for this new technology is (are you seated?) ~$550.00 (Canadian)! >Is the above correct. That's a $200.00 difference in price! Don't pay that much. I got mine for about $430 Canadian at Future Shop. If they don't have an outlet in your area, you should still be able to get one for a similar price down east from one of the large national chains. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 109 Tue May 04, 1993 J.GNIEWKOWSK [GE-Lamp ST] at 00:28 EDT Cliff, Could you give me some more information about the fonts you've purchased from MiGraph. I thought I was the only one having trouble finding the 360DPI fonts! Bill Jones, I bought mine at service merchandise for $369 also. Tell your friend to find a Circut City circular and bring it to Service Merchandise for a $20.90 credit! (CC is selling for 349.97) John E. Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 110 Tue May 04, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 05:34 EDT Thanks Matt, Cliff. I will look into it. Brian ... Written on Tuesday 04 May 1993 at 06:34 a.m. ADT ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 111 Fri May 07, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 01:21 EDT Today, for the first time, I tried to pass a straight ASCII file to my BJ10ex. BTW, I am using the automatic sheet feeder. As usual, the output was beautiful, but it lost 2 lines between the ejecting of the first page and the loading of the 2nd. (2 pg. doc) My guess is that it has something to do with the last 1/4 inch thing, but of course, when I imported it into PageStream and printed it out all was OK. The problem is that even PgS' own fonts don't print as fast as straight ASCII using the printers built in fonts. Any ideas on what happened or how to fix it? Thanks, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 112 Fri May 07, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 19:58 EDT John: I tried out the MiGraph fonts and can only say I'm disappointed. They did send a set of printer fonts for the NEC P6 which has different point sizes than the screen fonts in their standard package. Of these, the Swiss 12 and both Dutch sizes aren't. I printed a standard test page to show examples of each kind of type with disappointing results. Since then I have managed to borrow these three sizes as generated for a NEC P6 by the old Timeworks Publishing Partner. These fonts work just fine but I don't want to use them until I can get a legal copy. The only option may be to try SpeedoGDOS. Since the 7-year old 1040 and rather sick MegaFile are on their last legs, I may replace them with a Falcon if it is ever released in Canada (which I rather doubt). I'll likely just buy a cheap 486 and leave Price Without The Power behind. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 113 Fri May 07, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 20:14 EDT Matt: Send a skip over perforation command before you print straight ASCII. I use (decimal) 27 78 6 which causes a 6-line skip in BJ-10 mode. You'll have to look up the command for LQ mode if you use that. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 114 Sat May 08, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:57 EDT Cliff, Thanks for the reply. Just one problem. I don't work in ASCII to often and, I'm embarrassed to say it but I don't know how to send such a command. I presume that I would send this from a command line.(?) If you think this is too basic to post the response here you can respond via Email. Whatever you like. It sounds like just what I need to do. Hope I can get to use it! And yes, I use BJ-10 mode. Thanks again, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 115 Sat May 08, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 14:03 EDT Matt: I'm using a desk accessory that was published on a Compute!'s ST disk back in Dec '87. Unfortunately, the program is copyrighted so I can't send it to you. You can accomplish the same thing by printing a file with those codes in it before you print your ASCII file. If you know how to do that in a program like BASIC or a word processor, that's the easiest solution. If you don't, let me know and I'll build a little file and E-mail it to you. Problem is, GEnie might think something that small is line noise and delete the file. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 116 Sat May 08, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:54 EDT Cliff- Thanks once again. I am going to try to create the file in a word processor and save it in ASCII. If I then send that file to the printer, will that do it? How will the printer recognize it as a command, rather than just something else to print? (Excuse my ignorance) Anyway, I will try this. If I can't manage it I will take you up on your offer. Thanks again, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 117 Sun May 09, 1993 B.BILLJONES2 [BILL JONES] at 15:57 EDT Cliff, A copyrighted program doesn't necessarily mean you can't distribute it. There may be other reasons not to, but basically a copyright is put on a product to prevent other parties from claiming it as their own. Many shareware products have copyrights. Regards, Bill Jones ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 118 Sun May 09, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 23:49 EDT Matt: Yes! Just printing the file will do it. As far as the printer is concerned, any time it receives that sequence of characters, it will interpret it as a command. That's what makes it possible for a word processor to change fonts, print bold, &c. The word processor just imbeds character sequences beginning with (the decimal 27) or a character you get when you press the control key while typing. If the printer recognizes the string, it does the appropriate thing. Bill: That's true. However, in the absence of a clear statement that the program can be redistributed, I must assume that it cannot be. A copyright means that the copyright holder is the ONLY person who can decide how, or if, the material can be copied. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 119 Mon May 10, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 00:10 EDT Thanks Will. Sounds like you and I have almost the same set-up! 'Dig you later, \\\\ o-o Damian. ~ (R.JANSSEN1) \_/ [X] ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 120 Mon May 10, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 03:23 EDT Matt, By using an ESC command. The printer intercepts it and treats it as a command rather than as an ASCII text string. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 121 Mon May 10, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 21:11 EDT Cliff and (of course) Al- Thanks! I'll try it again tonight. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 122 Sun May 23, 1993 M.ERSOFF at 10:35 EDT Hello Everyone, I have a few questions concerning the Atari ST and the Canon BJ 320 bubble jet printer. 1) Does the BJ 320 work with the FONT GDOS BJ10 printer driver? 2) If it does, which fonts does it use? (300 dpi laser fonts?) 3) If the BJ 320 does not work with the BJ10 printer driver, does it emulate anything that will work with GDOS, FONT GDOS, or G+PLUS ? 4) If it does work under emulation, which driver and fonts does it use? and at what resolution does it print? 5) Has anyone gotten the BJ 320 to work with Word Flair II? If so, what GDOS printer driver and fonts work? I will appreciate any and all responses. Take Care ........ Mayer ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 123 Sun May 23, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 16:10 EDT Mayer, I've not heard of the BJ-320. I've heard of the BJ-330 which is the wide carriage version of the BJ-300. I have a BJ-300 which works fine with the FontGDOS BJ10 printer driver. It requires 360 dpi fonts. The BJ-300 emulates the IBM ProPrinter X24E and the Epson LQ850, although I don't believe you can get 360x360 dpi graphics mode in the Epson emulation. I don't Have WFII, so I can't help you there. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 124 Sun May 23, 1993 M.ERSOFF at 17:47 EDT Mike, I guess the next question I have is ... where does one get 360 dpi GDOS fonts? and will the 300 dpi fonts that I have for my laser printer work with the BJ10 driver with a bubble jet printer? (300 dpi on a 360 dpi printer) BTW - thanks for the info Take care ....... Mayer ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 125 Sun May 23, 1993 T.MCCOMB [=Tom=] at 23:57 EDT Sometimes it seems like theres as many new BJ models as there are Stephen King novels. And new ones get released just about as often. -Tom McComb {11:11 pm} Sunday, May 23, 1993 ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 126 Mon May 24, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 01:18 EDT Just a note to the BubbleJet crowd: FontGDOS is an item of historical interest only! A passing fad... SpeedoGDOS is the new animal. It uses Bitstream VECTOR fonts, meaning laser quality, at ANY size with just ONE font with NO bitmap necessary for 100% WYSIWYG display. I have played with Speedo on both STe's and TT's, and can vouch for it. Amazing stuff. Ultra fast, NO redraw time, comparatively (it's Calamus fast, but more akin to PageStream, as there should be no problem in supporting PostScript directly at some point). It has a printout quality comparable to PageStream but MUCH, MUCH faster. It is completely awesome. Speedo will DRAMATICALLY improve WordFlair 2, Easy Draw, or any GDOS based program (as in, GDOS is finally something for Atarians to be proud of and boast about, as it strides in step with Adobe Type Manager any day of the week) and also works wonders _in color_ in True Paint, a new paint package (I bought it, but found some "needs a quick, new revision" type problems. I reviewed it for my column in GEnie Lamp ST.) More than a font manager, Speedo also brings bezier technology to the ST, improving GEM metafiles tremendously. Fonts in Speedo can feature a number of effects. Due to the outline technology (a la PostScript, if we recall), the font can be filled or not, for example, for beautifully thin outlines. Speedo comes with drivers for ALL common printers, including the BJ, and is a stunning value with quite an assortment of fonts as standard. Check it out! Call Oregon Research Associates 16200 SW Pacific Highway Suite 162 Tigard, OR 97224 (503) 620-4919 (503) 624-2940 fax I know they will sell Speedo with True Paint, but they may also have a separate price as well. --Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 127 Mon May 24, 1993 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 15:51 EDT Richard, Better yet, just EMail to Bob here on GEnie at: ORA.TECH Compo is also selling. ~~~~Brian ... Written on Monday 24 May 1993 at 03:58 p.m. ADT ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 128 Mon May 24, 1993 M.GATES4 [Steve&Mindy] at 20:40 EDT Hello, all, are you ready for a _rank_ novice? Here I come! I've got a BJ10ex, on loan, and I can't get it to respond at all... I know that the printer is good, I just don't know what I'm doing, AT ALL! I've gotten two printer drivers, BJ180.prt and BJ360.PRT, but I have no idea where they go nor how to install them. I'm using a 1040ST with one meg, plain vanilla, not goodies, and some- times WordPerf 4.1. The ST's main function is a BBS, and logging on here and on PAN. I obviously need a BIG tutorial... Can I get some help, please? If this is too far behind ya'll, just get with me via email... Thanks, Steve V Johnson ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 129 Sun May 30, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 12:52 EDT Steve-- Were you sure to have everything turned 'off' when you hooked up your printer cable? All your BJ's dip switches should be in the 'off' position. Have you tried the printer with another system, or vice-versa? Are the *.prt drivers you mentioned specifically for word perfect. Also, from the desktop, hold the Alternate key and press the Help key to print what's on your screen. Make sure the BJ's 'On line' is toggled to show the green light above it. 'Dig you later, \\\\ o-o Damian. ~ (R.JANSSEN1) \_/ [X] ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 130 Sun Jun 06, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 19:17 EDT Well the InkJetters aren't the only ones with refill kits any more. I stopped by the local WaldenSoft today and found on the wall refill kits for the BJ- 300! It is from Pelikan and the part number is Z621. It was $8.74 plus tax here in New Mexico. They also had a double kit, Z621X, for twice the price. It says it will work on the BJ-130, BJ-130e, BJ-300, BJ-330 and the IBM 4072. I'll let you know how it works when my present cart runs dry. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 131 Thu Jul 01, 1993 M.WHEELER4 at 21:00 EDT I have a Canon BJ200 and I cannot get PageStream *OR* Calamus to print larger than 8.5"x11". How can I get 8.5"x14" or 11"x17" ? Also in Pagestream, *ONLY* when I try to print a file sent to me by my friend friend, It will print small horizontal thin lines, almost like a thin hyphen throughout text on the page. Any suggestions? ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 132 Mon Jul 05, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 22:01 EDT M.WHEELER4: Dip switch #4 on your printer toggles between 11" and 12" paper lengths (see page 75 in your manual). The BJ-200 does not handle 11' x 17". For that you need the Canon (BJ-300 I think) wide carraige printer. As for the thin lines, I dunno. Best bet is to post your message in the Softlogik roundtable for that one. Good luck! 'Dig you later, \\\\ o-o Damian. ~ (R.JANSSEN1) \_/ [X] ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 133 Fri Aug 13, 1993 D.BRANKLEY [Duane] at 21:12 EDT I just got a Canon BJ-300 and looking for the printer drivers for it... I use Pagestream, Calamus, Touch Up, MVG, Image Cat.... any help would be very much welcome and appreated very much!!!! Duane Brankley... Richmond, Va BTW... I have a 4 meg STe with tos 2.06 ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 134 Sat Aug 14, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 01:15 EDT Duane - I've got the BJ-20 and I use the Standard BJ-10 driver with Pagestream. You may consider getting Outburst to speedup printouts if you find the the printer pauses with every pass. With Outburst it doesn't pause it just passes continually till finished,saving time when your in a rush. Make sure you read the manual about setting the dip swithces for correct emulation. Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 135 Sat Aug 14, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 09:35 EDT Duane, For normal GDOS (bit mapped) fonts, the BJ10.SYS driver from the FontGDOS file here in the GEnie ST libs. For SpeedoGDOS, the BJ10.SYS file that comes with SpeedoGDOS works fine. In general, the BJ10 drivers work fine with the BJ300. Your BJ300 must be in the IBM Proprinter X24E emulation mode. I believe that there are BJ drivers for PageStream and Calamus. I use my BJ300 with AtariWorks and Calligrapher3. It gives lovely output. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 136 Sun Aug 15, 1993 M.CONVERY1 at 12:59 EDT Hi Does anyone know if there is a printer driver for Pagestream 2.2 for either the cannon BJ-200 or Epson Stylus 800? I need to know quick...I have a chance to get either tommorrow nite cheap thru a wholesale friend $259.00 for the EPSON!! HELP!!! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 137 Sun Aug 15, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 15:13 EDT M.Convery, In the Soft Logik RoundTable (page 385) libs there is a file (#1331) which includes all the latest printer drivers. There are three for the BJs. I assume the BJ10 driver will work fine with the BJ-200. There are also several Epson drivers. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~SysOp ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 138 Sun Aug 15, 1993 POTECHIN [Nathan @ DMC] at 16:47 EDT Calamus has drivers for both if that helps at all. Nathan ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 139 Sun Aug 15, 1993 M.CONVERY1 at 18:49 EDT Thanks guys, I'll let you know what happens. I was worried when I started reading about 'ink all over the page...' and other such comments in th RT's Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 140 Tue Aug 17, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 01:17 EDT Mike, If you go with the Bubble Jet (or any printer using the Canon 360 dpi cartridge), see if you can find yourself Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Product. #01-075. It will maximize your output quality beyond your wildest expectations. My lowly BJ-10e easily outperforms my NEC Silentwriter PostScript printer for black type. This is not to say you can use the Bubble Jet to PROOF a future Linotronic job out of PageStream: there are slight position and shape differences evident, but each taken singly, the BJ-10e easily matches the laser, but with a better consistency over large areas of black. The Legacy Pen Plotter Paper allows zero soak-in of the Canon ink, so it needs a longer drying time, but for personal DTP, the crispness it provides is something special to behold. --Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 141 Wed Aug 18, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 03:36 EDT Mike, I'll second Richard Brown's opinion re: Legacy Pen Plotter Paper. After trying it, and many others, I must also agree with what the fellow who 'turned me on' to Pen Plotter paper said when he sent me the sample.... " Print, and say Ah!" Don't misunderstand. Many papers give an excellent finish. I've even got great looking output from my 10ex using standard photocopy paper. The Legacy is just well, a cut above! Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 142 Tue Aug 31, 1993 D.BRANKLEY [Duane] at 19:38 EDT Bob... thanks for the info .... I looked at the BJ-20 before I bought the BJ-300... THe BJ-300 has a few things that not other Ink/BubbleJet don't have... that is the ablity to use Fanfold paper.... Sorry about being a while for the responce... but thank any way!! Mike... thanks for the info ... I did not know if the BJ-10 driver would work with the BJ-300... I have been using the beta version driver for the BJ-330 in Pagestream... I just might change then... It was the glowing reports from Robert Brown (R.BROWN30) that tip it in Canon's favor and the the Fact that can use the Fanfold/pinfeeded paper... and I still have a lot of that type of paper from the old 9-pin printer!! I just love the output... now if I could get a driver for Image Cat/MVG instead of having to change into Epson LQ mode... Matt, I have not been able to get the Legacy Pen-Plotter paper paper local but they do have the Legacy Ink-jet paper and is sold only as Fan-folded paper not sheets... and only Bubble/INkjet printer that I know that takes that type paper is the Canon BJ-300.... Thanks again all.... Duane Brankley... Richmond, Va ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 143 Sun Sep 12, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 06:54 EDT Duane: Today I visited a CompUSA near the Los Angeles Airport, and saw both the Legacy Ink Jet fanfold paper _as well as_ Legacy Ink Jet Paper in (single) sheet feeder mode (in separate package styles). This paper is therefore viable on the regular BJ's (but my old BJ-10e finds it a bit hard to load) as well as the BJ-300. As I construe above, I bought some, but my first impression is that it is not as nice as the Legacy Pen Plotter paper, which is a coated stock. I plan to demo both in my sample book I'm preparing for Glendale. The paper nod for the BJ still goes to Legacy Pen Plotter Paper Product # 01- 075. Find it and reap the rewards! -Richard [ not Robert! ;^) ] Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 144 Fri Sep 24, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 23:15 EDT A local store to me has a BJ-200 on sale for $299.99. should I jump on this price? They also have an HP DeskJet 500 for $279.99. Any advice or things I should know about the 200? Thanks, ~Chris ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 145 Sat Sep 25, 1993 M.WHEELER4 [Mike] at 01:09 EDT $299 is a very good price for the BJ 200. It is CLEARLY better output than the HP DeskJet 500 (360dpi vs 300dpi), but it is a slower printer. If you use Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper you will get BETTER than laser quality ! (300dpi laser , that is.) I have had a BJ 200 for 8 months and am very satisfied. (of course I would rather have a 1200 dpi PostScript 12"x19" Unity printer but I'm about $9000 short of funds!). ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 146 Sat Sep 25, 1993 L.MCCLURE at 01:10 EDT Does anyone have any information on Canon's recently announced new lower- priced (vs. the BJC-8xx series) color inkjet, the BJC-600? About all I know is that like the other BJ-series printers, output is to be at 360dpi. The suggested retail price I saw was $899 (which will likely put its 'street' pricing on par with the H-P DJ550C. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 147 Sat Sep 25, 1993 L.MAZZERI [Cybey] at 11:24 EDT How exactly would I get a BJ 200 or Desk Jet 500 to work with my Atari ST 1040 v 1.0? ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 148 Sun Sep 26, 1993 GENIELAMP.ST [John G] at 01:05 EDT Chris, I second Mikes opinion of the BJ-200, it beats the HP hands down (IMO). I think you'll be surprised with the speed of printing - it's a speed demon compared to my Panasonic KX-p1123! Buy it, you'll like it! Cybey, Plug it into the parallel port and your off and running. If you use SpeedoGDOS for your font/graphics I think you'll be pleased with the BJ-10E print driver that comes with SGDOS. I notice you have v1.0 (TOS v1.0 I assume). This will have no effect of the printer functions, although I would encourage you to upgrade to a newer version (faster, some of the bugs removed, etc.) John Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 149 Wed Sep 29, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 21:49 EDT I just purchased the BJ-200 for $269 at Walmart. I had been shopping around for a Laser Printer, the looked at the HP Deskjets for about a month. I never heard of the BJ series until I saw it in Compu USA, but they were asking $320 for it. I played around with it and basically felt that it was the best Bubble Jet (Desk Jet same difference if you ask me) on the market. I find it MUCH more noise free, smaller footprint (but does just as much as the DeskJET 500 series, if not more) it seems faster, and the BJ10e driver for Speedo GDos works great with it. (Is there gonna be a BJ-200 driver for Speedo GDos anytime soon?) It emulates Epson to a tee. I highly recommend it. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 150 Thu Sep 30, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 00:30 EDT Well, I finally picked up my BJ200. I'm completely satisfied with it, except that Rodney got a better price. ;) ~Chris ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 151 Thu Sep 30, 1993 R.KING53 [Ron] at 18:59 EDT Has anyone seen the output of the new Epson Ink Jet printer? It won most of Byte magazine's awards in their last printer special. The Bubblejet 200 came in 2nd most times. I just wondered if anyone has actually seen the output in person. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 152 Fri Oct 01, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 00:23 EDT Hi Chris, I got very lucky on the $269 BJ-200 at Walmart. They just got them in, and as I was walking in, they were unpacking one to put on the shelve. They had it advertised for $269 in the Sunday paper so the Wife and I grabbed at the deal after seeing it for $326 at Compu-USA. The price on it is now $289 at Wal-Mart, they sold out of them that week! Rodney ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 153 Sun Oct 10, 1993 M.BILINSKI at 18:08 EDT I just purchased a BJ-200 myself, and what I'd like to know is where I could find the necessary drivers to use it with Easy Draw 2, Firstgraph, etc. Since I've been using an Epson 9 pin for the last 10 years, I've never bothered looking for other drivers (I'm using G+Plus, not quite up to SpeedoGDOS yet). Marek ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 154 Mon Oct 11, 1993 R.BENNETT7 [Rodney] at 04:34 EDT M. BILINSKI (Marek) If Easy Draw 2 and Firstgraph tie in with GDOS, I'd highly recommend that you buy SpeedoGDOS or better yet buy the Falcon030 which includes it... :-) since it has the BJ-10e driver which is 100% compatable with the BJ-200. Otherwise, I'm not sure of any drivers for GDOS that supports the BJ-200, although if you have the driver for GDOS for the IBM PRO Printer, it will drive your printer in BJ-200/10 mode. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 155 Mon Oct 11, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 19:04 EDT Marek: You can use the BJ-10 driver fro FontGDOS. It works just fine. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 156 Tue Oct 12, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 00:02 EDT Marek, What Rodney said. The BJ-10 driver from SpeedoGDOS should work fine. If you are using the regular Atari GDOS or G+PLUS, the BJ-10 driver from the FontGDOS package (available in the GEnie ST libs) will work. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~Sysop Written: 9:24 PM Mountain Time Monday, October 11, 1993 ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 157 Tue Oct 12, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 19:22 EDT I come accross a problem with a BJ-200 that , hopefully, someone can help with. Prior to the Cannon, I was using a dot-matrix type printer. All of my programs that have printed output use a 'Lprint CHR$(12)' to eject the page when done. On the Cannon, this causes the page to eject OK; but, it also causes another sheet of paper to be loaded. Is there a command to eject the paper but not load another sheet into the printer? Thanks for any suggestions, Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 158 Tue Oct 12, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:04 EDT Mike- I'm having a similar problem with my BJ_10ex. Although _not_ from PageStream. (v 2.2b) I _have_ noticed that if the printer is set for BJ_130e emulation, (some drivers expect it)it tends to eject the page it printed and feed another, even if not needed. When I set it for BJ10ex mode, and use the 10ex driver, it works fine. Ejects the last page and stops there. Sooo, I don't know much about the BJ-200, but it couldn't hurt to check if it's been set for BJ130(e) emulation. I hope someone knows of a printer code to just eject page! Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 159 Wed Oct 13, 1993 M.TETZLAFF [ Mike ] at 21:30 EDT Matt, The BJ-200 has BJ-10 mode and an Epson LQ(requires a LQ-510 driver which have have not seen provided with ANY programs). Pagestream's BJ-10 driver works fine. Other programs, such as printouts from UIS 3, Aladdin, AtariWorks, etc work fine. It just seems to be the FormFeed character (CHR$(12)) in my GFA programs that causes the next page to load. There must be a way if all these other programs do it! Mike ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 160 Sun Oct 17, 1993 D.BRANKLEY [Duane] at 23:49 EDT I went out several months ago and got the BJ-300 the one that looks more like a dot matrix printer.... the reason that I got it over the BJ-200 is that I thought the BJ-300 could stand up to the more use and it also takes Fan folded paper (which I still have a lot of!!) and of course the cut sheet paper!!! it cost $329 from Office America (a chain office supply store) also it was easier to get it on the house without others noticing I had a different printer!!! ;-) Although I having problem finding the printer plotter paper... I have found the Ink-Jet paper by the same company! a friend that is a Graphic Designer was blown away by the quality that I was able to produce! I love my new printer!!! and no regrets on not getting the mighty HP. Duane Brankley.... Richmond, Va ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 161 Mon Oct 18, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 10:26 EDT DuAne- Wait till you see the new Canon Color Portable ink jet. They finally got one out that is in the the same ballpark pricewise as the Deskjet 550C. Their previous one was about $1200.00 Plus. And at 360x360 DPI color takes on a new meaning for Atari users. The Starjet-144 Color is actually a thermal ribbon transfer like the Citizen PN-48 which has good quality printouts also. You know you can scan pictures with Migraphs new color scanner directly into Falcons add text and print it out in color just like IBMs. So until Microsoft ports Windows NT to Atari like C.Smeton suggests there are some tasks that Ataris can also do now like proofread color layouts vividly. Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 162 Mon Oct 18, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:39 EDT Bob S - What's this about a Canon Color Portable???!! First I've heard, guess I'm out of touch! Is it available now? Model # ? Can you fill in any blanks for me? Thanks, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 163 Tue Oct 19, 1993 J.TRAUTSCHOL [jtrautschold] at 10:25 EDT Wow! A portable Canon Color Bubblejet????? Really??? Details PLEASE! John T. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 164 Tue Oct 19, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 21:10 EDT Matt- I think it's the Model Canon BJC 600 or BJ 600. I think the older one was the 1200. It was advertised in the Los Angeles Times Sunday for between $600.00 and $699.00. A couple of stores had them. Wordperfect just uploaded the printer drivers for 5.1 and 6.0. I couldn't find the ad so I assume that was the model. Happy Hunting Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 165 Wed Oct 20, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:42 EDT BOB S, Thanks for the info, but I hope that's _not_ the one. Why? Because I had heard that it was priced about the same as the HP 550C. I've seen that advertised for under $300. Oh, well. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 166 Wed Oct 20, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 02:18 EDT UNder 300 for the 550C? I don't think so... The lowest I've seen the 500 (not c) for is 279. At the same sale the 550- C was about $700.00 ~Chris P.S. I could be wrong.... ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 167 Wed Oct 20, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 18:39 EDT Chris, Yes, but you could be right, too! I just saw the BJC600 advertised (N.Y.Times) for $599. Shucks! I know my cousin just picked up a 550C for under $300, but he bought some rediculous DOS system at the same time and he is like The Donald (Trump) in one respect... he's also a master at 'the Art of the Deal.' (he may have wangled a hot price out of them) Well, looks like I'll be waiting a while before I get a color printer. Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 168 Fri Oct 22, 1993 GENIELAMP.ST [John G] at 01:01 EDT Speaking of good prices of BJ200s, thery are going in the Washignton DC area for $239 (with the $30 rebate)! What a price!! John Gniewkowski Editor, GEnieLamp ST ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 169 Mon Oct 25, 1993 L.MAZZERI [Cybey] at 19:10 EDT I know this is the ATARI BB, but I need to find a printer driver program for my dad's 286 clone. It would be for a BJ-200. Thanks! ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 170 Sun Oct 31, 1993 D.BRANKLEY [Duane] at 23:39 EST Bob, Thanks for the info!!!! I have seen the Canon BJC-600 the new Color bubblejet... I saw it at a chain office supply store "Office America" and if I am correct it was priced around $650 range... What I say is way to go Cannon!! Duane Brankley.... Richmond, Va ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 171 Mon Nov 01, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 22:52 EST When I print straight text files from the desktop to my BJ200, I lose about 3 lines at the bottom. Is there any way around this? ~Chris ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 172 Wed Nov 03, 1993 C.COOK7 [Cliff] at 19:49 EST Chris: You need to set your printer to skip perforations. Cliff ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 173 Thu Nov 04, 1993 C.OATES2 [Chris] at 00:51 EST and how do I set the BJ200 to skip perforations? is it just a case of RTFM? ~Chris ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 174 Sat Nov 13, 1993 B.WOOLF1 [WOOLF] at 19:17 EST Gentlemen, I am having a problem with my BJ-330 that I had solved a while ago, but I have now forgotten the exact solution and can't find my notes. The problem: on a tabloid size page(11x17), I create an 8.5"x11" box. When I print out this box, the 8.5 side is correct, but the 11" side is 10and7/8". I lose 1/8" and it's driving me crazy. I remember fixing it by setting the dip switches, but can't find the right combo now. I am also having the same problem with a use BJ-10e that I recently purchased. Thanks, Woolf ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 175 Sun Nov 14, 1993 D.GLISH [DAVE GLISH] at 09:02 EST I live in Milwaukee WI and have seen the new Canon BJC-600 at COMP-USA for $599. It looks like a great printer. I like the fact that it has seperate cartridges for each color. If you are doing alot of printing using one color you don't have to replace the whole three color cartidge to renew that color. er the info sheet, the black ink cart. will last 700 pages (1500 char/page) in draft mode and half of that in high quality mode. The color graphics are listed as 210 pages (30% coverage). ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 176 Sun Nov 14, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 12:08 EST Dave - The best thing to do is try to take a file of the documents you will be printing the most and compare the output on the HP 500/550C then the BJ 600. I saw a Tiff or Pcx picture from the HP on regular paper at CompUSA and it looked fair but the same picture on special HP ($1.00 a sheetpaper) and it looked like a photograph. Perfect for presentations. I haven't seen the same test at CompUsa with the BJ 600 but they do sell the "special" Canon BJ paper there now at about $19.95 a box of maybe 100. It seems that 360x360 dpi ought to give it and edge. The HP1200 uses the same type of rowed cartridge. Let me know what you find. Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 177 Mon Nov 15, 1993 M.BILINSKI at 20:21 EST Does anyone know what Dip switches do I need to set on my BJ 200 so that it'll "skip perforations" when I print stuff on it from the desktop? Marek ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 178 Sat Nov 20, 1993 R.JANSSEN1 [DAMIAN] at 13:08 EST Has anybody found a mail oreder source for the Strathmore Legacy Pen Ploater paper yet? Let us know, we seek the Holy Grail of papers! -Damian. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 179 Sat Nov 20, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 17:55 EST Damian- I haven't seen a mailorder source; but here in Los Angeles ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 180 Sat Nov 20, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 18:40 EST Sorry for the incomplete post. Americal Group has the Legacy plotter paper a little over $20.00 at their Sherman Oaks,CA store 1800-288-8025 orders only/ Fax 818-765-3887. They will mail order for you. They don't recommend it for Color printing because the colors might merge. For that they recommend HP Deskjet color paper. I have seen the HP paper with a color tiff or pcx photo print out and the difference is easily seen. Canon has their inkjet paper available now at comp usa but I haven't checked the quality.($19.95) Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 181 Wed Nov 24, 1993 M.SWANSON5 [MARK] at 20:23 EST Hi everyone, Today I went and looked at some Canon printers, - we need to replace the old Panasonic- and we looked at the BJ-10, is it a good machine? What do you folks recommend? Thanks a lot ! Mark Swanson ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 182 Wed Nov 24, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 22:17 EST Mark- The BJ 10e is good BJ 20 better BJ 200 a little better. I just picked up some legacy pen plotter paper(24 lb) to see what all the fuss was about and it wasn't bad. I seems to improve the graphics more than text especially grays the dots are tighter with less feathering and bleeding. Good for master pages. Pc magazine has good reviews on a lot printers this month. Don't forget to consider the tractor version of BJ's I think it's the 230 good for labels etc. Bob S ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 183 Thu Nov 25, 1993 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 00:50 EST M.SWANSON5 (MARK)- I use the Canon BJ_10ex daily. It is a teriffic little printer. At 360x360 dpi resolution, printout looks awfully like a laser printer, especially when output to a good paper. ie, one that doesn't soak up or bleed too much ink. Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter paper is an excellent choice, but the BJ will give you great output to anything, even cut up brown paper bags! I love mine. The only caution I would offer is to make sure the program you want to use it with has a driver for it. (the 10ex emulates the epson 24 pin and IBM proprinter as well as the BJ130e) I purchased Calamus SL recently, and the BJ_10e driver they have is not very good. Nathan is working on getting a new one, but for now, it doesn't look too good. In short, if your looking for a really good and inexpensive printer, I heartily reccommend the BJ_10e(x) Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 184 Tue Nov 30, 1993 C.KERNS [Craig] at 00:26 EST I bit the bullet about a week ago and picked up the new Canon BJC-600 color printer. First let me tell you that it is a real nice printer and the output is excellent. One of the features that swayed me over the Deskjet 550C was that the Canon has Epson LQ-2550C and BJ-10 emulations built in besides the Canon native mode. I figured if I needed compatibility with a program I'd be able to use either the LQ or BJ-10 driver and everything would be okay. So begins the tale..... The BJ-10 mode works fine with everything I've tried, but the LQ mode seems to be flawed. The simplest example of this to explain is that a straight ASCII file sent to the printer in the LQ mode only prints 61 or 65 lines (with a dip switch set) as opposed to 63 or 66 as covered in the documentation. I do not lose text but for example a READ.ME type file that has been formatted for 66 lines has the last line of the first page printed at the beginning of the second page and so on. The BJ-10 mode works fine, but of course no color is available there. Printing using Pagestream exibits a similar problem using the LQ mode, but works fine in the BJ-10 mode using the appropriate driver, but of course there is no color available there. I'm hoping that Soft Logik will write a Canon BJC600/800 driver for the ST to solve that problem. I spent quite awhile on the phone with Canon Tech-Support today detailing the problem, but was unable to convince them that this was a real problem, and was "guaranteed" that this was not the printers fault. At various times my BIOS and/or printer driver was to blame, even when I tried to tell him I wasn't even USING a driver, I was just dumping straight text to the printer. He could even duplicate the "effect" by using the printers built-in font pattern tests. The LQ mode printed 61 or 65 lines of fonts and the BJ mode printed 63 and 66! I think the explaination was that the printer driver controls the top of form and that would fix the problem (I'M NOT USING A PRINTER DRIVER TO RUN THE PRINTERS OWN SELF TEST!!!) Oh well, about halfway through the call he told me that I have two strikes against me. The first is that I am using an Atari computer and then I cut in with more questions/statements and never did get to find out what the second strike is. Basically it boils down to the fact that the Atari is not supported by Canon, that it's a Windows World and everything is working as advertised. Hey, I've got eyes and know it's a Windows World out there, but I still have the feeling that the LQ mode is not quite right. The tech did point out quite proudly that the BJ mode worked perfectly. Big deal, if I wanted black and white, I'd have bought black and white. So what does this boil down to? Except for this problem the printer is fantastic and if Soft Logik writes a driver for Pagestream I will be quite happy with it. Would I recommend it to other Atari users on GEnie? What do you think I told the tech support fellow from Canon? -Craig ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 185 Tue Nov 30, 1993 T.AKERS4 at 01:18 EST Craig, Congratulations on your new printer, nice post, way to go. I've experience the 61/63/66 line problems on the Canon BFC-600's little brother, the BJ-200. I, like you, am still pleased with it though. It's small, compacted, prints real nice on just about any kind of paper. I use it mostly with Calligrapher which is compatible with the Canon BJ-10e. Think printer drivers are the real key to the problems that you are experiencing. Speedo GDOS has some later version drivers for various types of printes. Maybe this might be the way to go with a more powerful printer. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 186 Tue Nov 30, 1993 J.MEEHAN3 [>> Joe M << ] at 06:06 EST Message 184, Tue Nov 30, 1993 C.KERNS [Craig] Craig, The Cannon man was just a little frustrated to find that his product was not perfect (what is?). The easiest thing to blame were the two things that were not his, you and your Atari. Too bad, he really ended up making himself and Cannon look bad. I don't have much experience with the Cannon products, but from all I know they are fine products. The real advantage of HP (and some of their tech reps don't know a TT from an 8 bit) is HP already has a great deal of support in the Atari community. In general you can find drivers already there. There are enough of the Cannons out there however, to encourage most developers to add Cannon drivers. I would not stop at hoping Softlogic will write a driver, I would write to them and request it, also you might offer to supply them with all the technical information on the 800 you have or can get from Cannon and offer to test the result of their effort. >> Joe M << ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 187 Tue Nov 30, 1993 B.SALDANA1 [BOB S] at 09:13 EST Craig- Try it with other programs that you have that support color. There is a Protext demo recently uploaded that works with color I heard. I don't know how to write control codes call Soft Logic. My LQ mode Bj20 doesn't work that well it is different than the BJ driver. the text is bigger and less fits onto the page. Image Copy Colour has about the best drivers I've used. It is also the fastest drivers I've used bar none about 2 seconds to start printing an IMG file. I heard they may eventually write a prg that can override and be used as the default driver in any program. Thats what it said in my manual for future projects. If it is not working for you, take it back to the store and get a DJ 550. I think Softlogic has drivers for that; they are just a little slow in enhancing Atari products they maybe thinking of going IBM I guess instead of sticking with what they know. Comp Usa gives you thirty days. If you have Speedo Gdos see if you can call Compo. Bob S . ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 188 Wed Dec 01, 1993 K.OLSON10 [KenO.] at 07:11 EST Hi! Craig: Well what did you tell the tech support fellow from Canon? BTW I have a BJ 200 and love it. Perhaps I should have bought a color. If I did have color tho I would really want to use PS with it. KenO. :) ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 189 Wed Dec 01, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 23:14 EST Thanks, Craig. I would not buy a Canon with that kind of non-support. Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 190 Wed Dec 01, 1993 C.KERNS [Craig] at 23:43 EST Hi Ken, Mainly I was just asking the Canon tech support fellow about the BJC600's LQ emulation mode, and where I felt it was lacking. Actually he was quite patient with me as I brought up each point to support my opinions, but near the end of the conversation I got the feeling he was just making it up as he went along rather than giving me good answers. I think he was anxious to get back to the more mundane world of Windows tech support. ;-) -Craig ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 191 Thu Dec 02, 1993 MIKE-ALLEN [NM~SysOp] at 00:37 EST Al, I don't know about the Canon tech support, 'cause I've never had to call them. However I can say that the manuals (yes, plural) that came with my BJ-300 are heads and shoulders above most that I've seen with printers. Too many printers come with a manual that assumes you are either using a Mac or a PC and give you very little information other than how to set up for those environments. Canon's docs were very complete and not platform specific, although there were some examples for the PC. Mike Allen ST HelpDesk~Sysop Written: 10:21 PM Mountain Time Wednesday, December 1, 1993 ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 192 Thu Dec 02, 1993 A.FASOLDT [Al Fasoldt] at 07:52 EST Mike, That's a plus. I suppose the advent of the PowerPC and such platforms as the Indigo will give us hope that companies that make peripherals will stop assuming that everyone out there is either using Windows or will use Windows soon. :) Al ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 193 Fri Dec 03, 1993 C.KERNS [Craig] at 00:12 EST Mike, The manual for the BJC600 is pretty good but the chapter called "Using the Printer With Software" is about 80% Windows material and about 20% Other. It was interesting when I was shopping around for this printer at different stores. Since it is a brand new model, availability and pricing varied widely. I used the different stores price of the HP550C as a guideline as well as the price of the HP ink cartridges. The BJC600 was usually priced about the same as the HP ($575-650), but the Canon ink cartridges at one store were $14.95 and at Computer City were $7.95. At Sears they had the printer but didn't have any replacement carts there for me to price. The disinterested salesman suggested I go mail order because it was cheaper and that's the best way to do it. He even suggested checking Computer Shopper and noted that alot of the places would be able to use one day express delivery because the cartridges were so small. :) -Craig p.s. Can you change this TOPic name so that Canon is spelled right? I thought I was going crazy the first time I did a topic search to send a message. ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 194 Fri Dec 03, 1993 R.BROWN30 at 05:15 EST Yet more notes on Legacy Pen Plotter Paper: Regarding using it for color: on the "other" platform, the HP500-550C, Pen Plotter is second only to LaserEdge HR and IJ series, and does an exceptional job. HP's own paper is definitely second fiddle next to Laser Edge: HP designed its 51630Y paper to compensate for the original 500C's inadequate handling of blacks while in color mode. In other words, 51630Y is coated, but it's also YELLOW, not white, to "fool" you into thinking the 500C's dark green- for black is black... HP tends to fool people when it suits them. BTW - 51630Y should be COMPLETELY incompatible with the 550C until HP changes the formulation of its black ink. HP apparently uses a "dye" based color formulation and an "ink" based black formulation. I accidentally ran 51630Y with black ink. I've never seen so much bleed... ever. FYI: I own both a 500C and a BJ-10e (the original, non-Epson emulation model). I'm also the one who started the Legacy Pen Plotter craze. To this day, I'll take my BJ-10e (which now has more than 15,000 travel miles as luggage) every time over the HP, even after the abuse. Much, much cleaner, sharper, better - on Legacy, of course... In the interest of our general knowledge, if anyone using the BJC600 would like to run some Legacy Pen Plotter through in color mode, drop me a mailing address in E-Mail. I still have some to spare. BTW- I called Hammermill's Legacy Division and they in fact were aware of our hoopla over Pen Plotter - but they haven't DONE anything. I told them they were mismarketing the stuff, and that Canon Bubblejet users would kill to have it marketed as a high-end "laser quality" paper for their machines. So far, I don't think they've listened. So, I also faxed Paper Direct, discussing the same issue. They have yet to reply as well. Paper Direct is a paper REMARKETER, and they could pull Legacy into the limelight if they chose. It happens that I know the developer of the Schoeller LaserEdge line of papers, and I'm told Paper Direct remarkets a couple of the LaserEdge papers as InkJet Ultra and InkJet Color. I believe InkJet Color is actually LaserEdge IJ-30, for which I produced the first sample advertising pieces in Atari PageStream (HP500C, oh well), but, this paper has something unique to offer - INTENSE color saturation. REALLY intense. So much so that we had to turn down the color in our sample TIF using PhotoShop (in Atari Mac emulation, of course) to make it work. Someone might want to give it a try on the BJC600. InkJet Ultra (LaserEdge IJ-30) is product # CJ1001 at LaserEdge 1-800-272- 7377. In their catalogue, they do not recommend InkJet Color for the HP550C - once again, that black ink problem (I'll bet it bleeds no end), a problem I doubt exists on the Canon. RE: Prices The last Strathmore Legacy Pen Plotter Paper, Product # 01-075, 24#, White, 250 Sheets, that I bought was $8.50 a pack. If you want to bug Hammermill (which apparently owns Strathmore which makes Legacy) about Pen Plotter, their (toll free!) number: 1-800-323-4193. They pick this line up as "Legacy." My fear is that this product is close to being discontinued... To bolster the troops, anyone who's unconvinced about Legacy Pen Plotter - send me an address in E-mail. I'll convince you with a sample. I am unaware of ANYONE who has EVER found anything better. Just remember- when you print, allow for some dry time, say 20 seconds per page after it exits. After it dries, you often can feel the type sitting on top of the paper - just like a laser printer. Other numbers: Hammermill Paper Advertising Company - 1-800-242-2148 - and they happen to make a pen plotter paper as well - not as good as the Legacy Pen Plotter - the secret's in the coatings... Hammermill will send you a sample pack (of a whole mess-o-paper products) if you give 'em a jingle and ask for it. That's how I came to test "their" version of Pen Plotter. In other Pen Plotter news - I found yet another computer products company claiming to have a Pen Plotter product. I will advise upon testing. - Richard Brown ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 195 Sat Dec 04, 1993 G.NORTON [Falcon Systm] at 15:23 EST Mark, The other printer you may want to take a look at is the new Lexmark Execjet II 4076. It can do 300cps draft and 165cps LQ. It can also do 600*300 dpi (through software) and emulates the HP DJ500 and IBM Proprinter X24e. The sheet feeder can hold up to 150 sheets. Overall a very nice printer. Price in Canadian $ is around 500, so take off around 35% for the approx. US price. BTW Lexmark is the company that makes the printers for IBM. Graham @ Falcon Systems ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 197 Sun Feb 06, 1994 T.DUNBAR2 [Tommy] at 14:54 EST Hi - Does anyone know of a printer driver for Notator (the midi sequencer\score printout program) for a BJ200? Thanks - Tommy ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 198 Sun Feb 06, 1994 M.RIVMAN1 [MATT] at 23:59 EST Tommy, I'm not too familiar with the BJ200, (I use the BJ_10ex) but I think they have the same engine and emulations. If they do, your BJ200 should be able to emulate the IBM Proprinter, and/or the Epson LQ series. (I think) Check your manual. It might be easier to find a driver for one of those more 'standard' printers, than for the newer, BJ200. Good luck, Matt ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 199 Mon Feb 07, 1994 BRIAN.H [ST~SysOp] at 05:33 EST It does Matt; emulate both. ~~Brian..Written on Monday 07 February 1994 at 06:18 a.m. ADT ------------ Category 4, Topic 5 Message 200 Sat Feb 19, 1994 R.BODEN [Rick] at 16:39 EST I just picked up a fairly beaten-up Canon BJ-10e at a good price. It doesn't have a manual, but hopefully I will be able to order one from Canon. If anyone has any suggestions on using it with the Atari, (dip settings, etc.) I would be most grateful. One thing I've noticed is that the noise level is very low compared to my dox- matrix, but when I turn the printer on line, or switch it on, their is kind of a grinding noise and the head moves jerkily to the right a couple of inches and then back again. Is this normal? Thanks, Rick ------------