From: blc@med.ge.com (Brett Chapman  x7-4391)
Subject: SUMMARY: Looking for a Color Printer (VERY LOOONG)
Keywords: color
Organization: G.E. Medical Systems - Ultrasound
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 22:09:35 GMT

	Here is my slightly delayed summary.  It is VERY LONG.  I had an
enormous response.

	There were several recommendations.

	The Cannon CLC copier/printer had mixed reviews.  It's quite expensive,
but does serve a dual purpose.  I appears to have only a serial interface,
which means it is quite slow.

	Tektronix printers also got mixed reviews.  The biggest complaint
was about the lack of permanancy in wax prints.

	Xerox has just announced a color copier/printer combo.  It's worth
a look if you are leaning this direction.

	Cannon has also announced a small color bubble-jet printer that is
being bundled with NeXT systems.  There were several recommendations for
this unit.

	We have come to the conclusion that Dye Sublimation is generally
too expensive.  The printers are not too bad, but the cost of ~$5/page
is a bit too high.  You also can not do overhead transparencies.

	There have been a number of reviews of color printers in the
PC magazines as of late.  Tektronix has come out well in these.  They
are probably the most popular choice at this time.

	I have come to no conclusion as of yet.  I will be trying to
look closer at the new Cannon bubble jet (360dpi).  We have too many
choices.

  GG	EEEEEE	M    M	  SS
 G  G	EE	MM  MM	S    S		Brett Chapman
G	EE	M MM M	 S		G.E. Medical Systems
G  GGG	EEEEEE	M    M	   S		Ultrasound Systems Administrator
G    G	EE	M    M	    S		chapmanB@med.ge.com
 G  G	EE	M    M	S    S		sun.com!sunbrew!gemed!chapmanB
  GG	EEEEEE	M    M	  SS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
	I am looking for a good color printer.  Here's a few considerations.

	Will be used from a network of Sun computer systems.

	Input will be from a variety of sources, but PostScript is a must.  Any
format converters would be of interest as well.  I have pbmplus.

	Print speed is not a primary consideration, but connectivity is.
Some of the images we want do download are 6Mb/page.  A serial link is a
bit slow for this.

	Applications are from presentations to internal technical manuals.
The worst requirement is the fact that many of these pages will contain
medical images, so good grey scale is a must.  Quality should be in the
300 dpi 24bit color range.  Some of these presentations are for V.P.'s.

	Plain paper and transparency capability is needed.  I have
considered dye sublimation, but the special media needed is a definite
turn-off.

	We have considered the Tektronix Phaser IIIPXi.  This looks o.k.,
but is not the best.  Printing is somewhat slow.  This becomes a factor,
when I start to think about the fact that some people will want 30 copies
of a page(s) for a presentation or manual.  We do not have a color copier.

	I have also considered the Cannon Color Copier alternative.  They
now have a PostScript interpreter available.  This sounds like a good
solution, because it offers the ability to make copies and print.  This
is a faily expensive solution, however.

	I would appreciate ANY information/experience/advice anyone can
offer up.  No information will be rejected.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: togood@roger.lerc.nasa.gov (Chris Miller)

We have a Canon and are using Freedom of the Press as the PostScript
rasterizer.  FotP uses way too much space while rasterizing, but it does
the job.  The Canon is very nice.  We have 24 bit images (flow field vis.)
that for the most part come out well.  The only complaint is color balance.
Especially in gray scaled images (hence I mention it!).  They usually come
out slightly green.  Sometimes in the copier mode there is the same effect, so
it may be internal.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Also take a look at the new Xerox 5775 color copier and the Postscript interpreter available for it (should be available now). Listens to Appletalk on the Ethernet (ie. EtherTalk phase 1 or 2) and can be driven from a Sun (via the Columbia Appletalk Package-public domain software, for instance), (which we have done) or from a Mac directly.
	As a copier runs at 7.5 ppm color or 30 ppm b&w for 8.5 x11".


Needless to say, we like it very much but we don't have an unbiased viewpoint!

We have pushed big images at it regularly.

Check with your local Xerox sales staff - we could do a test for you with an ftp'd PostScript file over the internet.

Michael Slade
slade.wbst128@xerox.com
Xerox Webster Research Center
800 Phillips Road
Webster, NY 14580

(716) 422-5346

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: schorsch@phoenix.ts.go.dlr.de (H.G.Pagendarm)

Hi,
we are looking for a color printer as well.
we checked the CANON Color copier with postscript. works fine.
high resolution, good greyscales. good color.
we could not yet test for overhead slides. might be less good
because copier ink tends to be opaque.

This solution is not really an expensive one, since the costs
per sheet are about 1/10 of the Tektronix thing.

Tektronix is really sloooow and about 5 $ per sheet for the wax

So far we did not check other printers. We own an old Tektronix Thermo-Wax
printer: expensive, bad half-tone colors.

On the big CEBIT exhibition running in germany presently Canon shows
a new technology ("bubble-jet" or something like that they call it).
This was presented in german TV to be the break thru.
Unfortunately I was there one day before the TV show, So I did not
stumble over that beast. I will have to find out more about it.
They did not tell if it understands postscript.

Anyway whatever you find, I am interested. We have the same requirements.

schorsch <Hans-Georg Pagendarm, german aerospace research establishment>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: ronp%jomby.cs.wisc.edu@cs.wisc.edu (Ron Peterson)

NeXT computer is offering a 4 color inkjet printer for $3,500 based on
the Canon BubbleJet. I have seen one page of output which compares favorably
with our oce' printer. It has 360 dpi resolution and a low printing cost
per page. It does require the NeXT computer to drive it.

	Ron

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: damouth@wrc.xerox.com (David E. Damouth)

Take a look at the Xerox 5775 with the EFI Fiery controller on the front for postscript.  It's an announced product, but isn't being delivered quite yet - rather soon I think.  It's probably a little cheaper than the Canon CLC-based printers, and is also a little faster.  I'm not sure what the connectivity specs will be.  We've had a prototype directly on the Ethernet, but all the prototype features don't always make it into the product.

/Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: John_DiFonzo@next.com

Brett,

NeXT now offers a version of the Canon color printer for, I think,  
$3500.  When hooked up to a NeXTstation it produces true postscript  
at 360 dpi on plain paper and, since the postscript engine is the  
NeXTstation which runs at 25 MIPS, it's quite fast.  And since the  
NeXT lives on the net, data transport is not a bottleneck.

But you have to buy a NeXTstation.  That's not so bad.  They're  
pretty cheap, ~$6K for B&W, $8K for color.  If you buy a NeXT with a  
color printer, your outlay could be under $10K (you didn't say what  
you considered cheap--  does that meet the criterion?) and you get a  
new workstation into the bargain which can act as the color  
printserver on the net (yes, NeXT speaks NFS), and which can run nice  
applications like Adobe Illustrator and which bundles Pantone into  
the operating system.

Might be worth a look.

J.

P.S.  Yes, I work for NeXT, but I'm not a salesman.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Elliott_Clarkson.Van_Branch@xci.xerox.com

Brett,

Check with your local Xerox office.  We can offer a solution similar in
purchase cost and image quality to the Canon laser copier ie. a color
copier/printer.  The model number is 5775.  The 5775 is TWICE as fast as the
Canon, and has a lower operating cost and higher reliabilty.

Elliott Clarkson
Xerox Canada Ltd.
Service Training
Vancouver

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brett:

Here's an alternative you may want to consider, though it won't be
available until June or July:  if you're going to buy a color printer,
buy a basic NeXTstation Turbo and NeXT color laser printer, which will
probably be just as cheap and you'll get a workstation with it.

The NeXTstation turbos are currently shipping, but the color laser
printers won't be available until the 3.0 update of the NeXT OS is
shipped, which is expected to be June or July.  The color printer is
fully PostScript, is made by Canon, and will cost about 3500 retail.
(The printer itself is so cheap because the PostScript RIP is in the
computer, not the printer.)

The printer uses a new color bubble-jet technology developed by Canon, so
the materials are cheap inkwells and it prints on plain paper.  Reviews
I've read claim the average cost-per-page in terms of *materials* is
about 12 cents.  It's expected that for transparencies you might have
to buy Canon brand transparencies, but that remains to be seen.
Additionally, the NeXT has ethernet built in, so all you need is ethernet
cable to connect to your Suns.  The printer itself runs on one of the
NeXT's serial ports, and speed ranges from 30 seconds per page to 2-1/2
minutes per page, depending on whether draft mode or high quality (at
360 dpi).  The high quality output I've seen is very comparable to the
monster Canon Color Copiers, and considerably better than Tektronix,
QMS, etc.

If you'd like more info the latest issue of NeXTworld has a big feature
on the color printer and the new NeXT turbos.

Just another option.

-Don DeLand
 President/Managing Editor
 Integre Technical Publishing Co., Inc.
 deland@unmvax.cs.unm.edu

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a pretty good review of the available options for printers in a recent MacWeek review. We've been looking for about two months now for a printer for similiar images and I think we have settled on a RasterOps CorrectColor 300. It is dye sublimation, but the quality is excellent at 300 dpi and 32-bit (CMYK). If you don't like the material that dye-sublimation uses, why not print on dye-sub and then take it to a local print shop with the Canon Copier and copy it for mass production. I don't think you


 will find a better quality image than Dye-Sub at 300 dpi. The cost is also not bad at $10-11K with Appletalk, Ethernet, Centronics, and Serial interfaces. Of course you could always buy a $126,000 Iris printer or get a Linotronic and do your own color seps.

As a biological imaging lab, we probably have similiar types of images. 

Paul Goodwin
FHCRC
pgood@inson.fhcrc.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Jon Junker <junker@pogo.den.mmc.com>

You might consider the SeikoPro.  It is a 300 ppi (pixels per inch, not
dots) and it may be what you are looking for.  I'm not sure of the tech.
qualification of the printer (we have a demo unit, no books :-( ),
whether or not it is a Postscript printer, but I do know that it
generates very good output.  Output is expensive, and so is the printer
for that matter, but it is good.

Sorry, I don't have any more pointers at this time.

Jon
junker@pogo.den.mmc.com


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: steve@next-s.lanl.gov (Steve Smith)

Brett -

I don't know what your exact requirements are but I have some
experience in this area and can point out a few choices.  I think 

that for the most part, Laser/Led with fused dry toner are the only
reasonable choices.  I would be happy to discuss my own experiences
and impressions if you like.

Thermal Wax			
Ink/Bubble Jet
Dry toner (Laser or Led)
Dye sublimation
Electrostatic
Photographic

I have had some experience with all of the above but am happiest
with the Textronix Phaser (Wax Jet) and the CLC-500.

Only the Laser/Toner (CLC-500/Colorocs) or Dye Sublimation (Kodak,
Seiko, Mitsubishi, et alia) or Photographics (Ilford DPI, Fuji, ???) are
likely to meet your image quality needs.

I can't promise anything but if you send me a sample file I can try to 

get something back to you from our CLC-500.

Engines... Kodak is picking up the CLC family and Canon has out
the CLC-300 which is in the $20-30k range.    Colorocs is using
laser-toner and should have a full color version available with
much wider range of paper stocks allowed.

RIPS - EFI's Fiery rip is a good off-the-shelf solution... Don't mess
with the Canon one.  NeXT DPS and a German product known
as DOTS or NeWSPrint would also work well.  I have a custom
interpreter from Adobe but the expense would probably not work
for you.

If your applications are few, one of the Clone RIPS are probably
OK but if you have a wide variety of input sources, they will drive
you knuts.

Steve Smith
Los Alamos National Lab
sas@lanl.gov
(505) 667 6771

I have a generally broad background in this area so holler if you
need more input.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

One curious approach you might wish to consider is adding a single NeXT machine to your  
network, with the color printer that NeXT has announced specs for and demonstrated, but  
is not shipping quite yet.  The printer, as I recall, with the help of the computer, does  
360 dots per inch, full color on plain paper using PostScript Level 2 (the new thing).   
Because the PS rasterizer is software in the computer, you cannot use the printer without  
the computer.  But for the same reason, the printer is extremely inexpensive for the  
quality: $3,500 list, I think.

We use NeXTs now for black & white desktop publishing (and preparing color to send out to  
a service bureau for negatives for printing).  They're pleasant, reliable machines.  I  
intend to get the color printer as soon as it is available this spring.  The b&w 400-dpi  
NeXT printers we use now have been very satisfactory.

Unlike the major companies, which have high list prices and offer big discounts under  
dollar-value purchase agreements, NeXT keeps its list prices low, so it is reasonable to  
buy just one or two machines and printers to add to an existing network.  You might ask  
them for some literature if you'd consider this approach.  


 - Irving
-- 

 Irving_Wolfe@Happy-Man.com      Happy Man Corp. 206/463-9399 x101
 4410 SW Pt. Robinson Rd., Vashon Island, WA  98070-7399  fax x108

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

We just went through an evaluation of color printers for Sun environments.
We found the Calcomp Colormaster Plus printers to provide the best quality
output among thermal wax transfer printers--far better than Tektronix
Phaser II's, in particular, which seem to get all the press. The Tektronix
is somewhat faster, but that advantage was dwarfed by the quality
difference. The Calcomps run circles around QMS Colorscript's both in terms
of quality and speed. 

Using any such printer you definitely need a parallel, SCSI, or direct
Ethernet interface. We have been very happy with Milan's FastPort printer
server, which attaches to an Ethernet and offers both serial and parallel
interfaces for the printer.

Cheers,

Keith A. Lantz                          Voice:  +1 415-324-8073
VICOR Inc.			        FAX:    +1 415-324-1408
525 University Ave., Suite 1307         E-mail: lantz@vicor.com
Palo Alto, CA 94301

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solution:

NeWSprint 2.0.  Sun have recently announced enhancements to
their PostScript-based printing system which give good connectivity
to PCs and Macs.  It uses the Sun's SPARC engine to RIP from
PostScript (forgive sloppy use of language).  You can print to a
largeish number of printers, and it sounds like you wouldn't mind
dedicating a Sun CPU to printing when you have to dump 6Mb.

Sun could give you a list of printing engines.  You might even do
worse [silly suggestion] than get a bunch of cheap inkjets, if they
will give you acceptable quality.  This would combine flexibility
with capacity, maybe -- you'd have to investigate the parameters.

Hope this helps.  If it does, please tell your colleagues in England,
who bought Frame internally and so don't get our technical support ;-)

regards
 Steve

+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+
| Steve Holden, Managing Director   | Desktop Connection Limited        |
|             steve@desktop.co.uk   | Manchester Science Park           |
|-----------------------------------+ Lloyd Street North                |
| Electronic Publishing Specialists | Manchester England M15 4EN        |
|     Communication is Sharing      | Tel: +44 61 227 9055 Fax: 226 4922|
+-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: nesteggs!crawford@moe.rice.edu (crawford)

Consider the NeXT color printer.
PostScript Level II
360 x 360 dpi
postcard through tabloid sizes
plain paper
bubble-jet with CYMK inks
SCSI - I connection
~0.5 ppm ( depending on image complexity )
made by Canon
somewhere around $3500.
yes, thirty-five hundred

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cindy_Larson@next.com

Brett,

Irving Wolfe mentioned that you might be interested in NeXT and our newly  
announced color printer.  If you send me your mailing address, I'd be happy  
to send out some information to you. 


Cindy Larson
Regional Manager
NeXT Computer, Inc
415-780-2700


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Marsha_E._Williams.ES_AE@xerox.com

The 5775 was announced yesterday in Today at Xerox (copy of text follows).

Today at Xerox	3/16/92
	4564

	

XEROX ADDS POSTSCRIPT, NETWORK PRINTING CAPABILITY TO DIGITAL COLOR COPIER

The launch of an Adobe PostScript interpreter that enables the Xerox 5775
Digital Color Copier to print laser-quality color documents from personal
computers and connected workstations was announced today by Xerox.

When equipped with an optional Fiery controller from Electronics For Imaging
(EFI) and a digital Xerox interface, the 5775 can be used as a full-color Adobe
PostScript printer as well as a copier.

Xerox will offer single-vendor sales and service for two customized PostScript
interpreters manufactured by EFI and developed in partnership with Xerox: the
fully featured EFI Fiery and EFI Fiery lite.

Linked to either device, the 5775 produces multiple color pages at 7.5 prints
per minute from electronic input, making it 50 percent faster than comparable
full-color PostScript copier/printers.  Black-and-white documents are produced
at 30 prints per minute.

In its printing mode, the 5775 produces color pages from PostScript masters and
TIFF files created on Apple Macintosh, IBM PC and PC-compatibles with software
packages such as Aldus Pagemaker, Adobe Illustrator, Quark XPress, Ventura
Publisher, and others.  The 5775 can be connected to computer networks via
EtherTalk and LocalTalk.  It also will support Novell Netware 3.11.

"By integrating the 5775 with the EFI Fiery controllers, we are extending the
productivity, reliability, and operability of Xerox color document production
to the desktop," said David T. Erwin, Vice President, Worldwide Reprographics
Marketing.

The fully featured EFI Fiery Controller equips the Xerox 5775 to print
electronic files containing scanned photographic input with virtually
continuous tone quality.  The system is designed to produce full-color photos,
tonal sweeps, and gradations with resolution quality formerly associated with
offset printing.

The EFI Fiery lite is suited to color document applications such as business
graphics that do not require continuous tone printing.

The U.S. price of the full EFI Fiery Controller from Xerox is $37,500.  The
U.S. price of the EFI Fiery lite from Xerox is $20,000.  The base-unit price of
the Xerox 5775 Digital Color Copier is $46,500.  The Fiery Controller for the
Xerox 5775 will be available in the third quarter of 1992.  Fiery lite will be
available in the fourth quarter of 1992.  Order taking begins in the second
quarter of 1992 through the Xerox sales force.

Contact:
Edward Gala
Ed Gala:rochx4:XEROX


Thanks, from Marsha (8*333-7437)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: FNOTMAN%ESTEC.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu

 Missed 1 "small" point on my posted reply, so I'll you direct. On the Cannon,
The transparency quality is VERY bad as they have to be "washed" in an oil
to fix them which inevitably leaves "water" marks.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Russell_Temple.XSIS@xerox.com

Brett Chapman,
I am located at Xerox Special Information Systems in Pasadena, Ca. and obtained
a copy of your request for a color printer.  Please call me at 818-351-4473 or
forward your phone number to me by E-mail.  I would like to discuss your
requirements and a possible Xerox offering to satisfy your needs.
Russell Temple

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: latter@isis.cshl.org (Jerry Latter)

 Why not consider NewsPrint with a Seiko color printer.

 Sun NewsPrint converts postscript to bitmap on the Sun, so you can get 
 any color printer supported by NewsPrint and not get the postscript option.

 No postscript makes the printer cheaper and makes prinying faster because 
 all of the conversion to postscript is done on the SParc.


 Good Luck.

 Jerry Latter 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Margaret_Motamed.El_Segundo@xerox.com
Subject: Re: Looking for a Color Printer
To: blc@sol.med.ge.com
Cc: publish@chron.com
Reply-To: Margaret_Motamed.El_Segundo@xerox.com

Recently Brett Chapman asked about color printers for office presentations,
technical manuals, etc with high quality and good gray scale too. I am
forwarding this new product announcement which I think should be of interest to
anyone considering using a color copier as a printer(yes I know it's expensive-
but isn't this the year of color- or is that supposed to be next year:-)   I
would also recommend that you look at hardcopy before buying any color printer
and that you try to get a print of one of your own source files (if that's
possible- maybe we need a 1-900-printtest  service???). If transparencies are
required get a sample of that too- note that the 5775 is handles tranparencies
well!

		Thanks,
		Margaret Motamed
	margaret_motamed.el_segundo@xerox.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tektronix has been designing, manufacturing, and selling color printers
for 10 years.  We offer a complete line of color PostScript printers.

Our most recent announcement was the Phaser III PXi.  This product will
print on any kind of paper.  It can print page sizes ranging from 4x6 inches
to 12x18 inches.  This product uses an AMD 29000 RISC processor and comes
standard with serial, parallel and AppleTalk interfaces.  The Phaser III PXi
sells for $9,995.  The Phaser III PXi has won a number of awards including: 

	PC Magazine 1991 Editor's Choice Award 
	  (see the 26 November 1991 issue)
	MacUser Magazine 1991 Editor's Choice (Eddy) Award
	  (see the March 1992 issue)
	Presentation Products Magazine 1991 Reader's Choice Award
	  (see the December 1991 issue)

The biggest problem with the Phaser III PXi was delivery.  We just couldn't
keep up with the demand we had for the product.  This, however, has changed.
Delivery for a Phaser III PXi is now one to two weeks.  We plan to be in 
a stocked position in about two weeks.

When we announced the Phaser III PXi, we also announced the Phaser II PXi.
The Phaser II PXi is a thermal-wax color PostScript printer that is 
excellent for creating stunning overhead presentations.  It also uses an
AMD 29000 RISC processor and comes standard with serial, parallel and 
AppleTalk interfaces.  The Phaser II PXi sells for $7,995.  The Phaser II PXi
has won a number of awards including:
	
	Windows Magazine 1992 Win Award: 100 Best Windows Products
	MacWorld Magazine 1992 Editor's Choice Award
	     
Tektronix also offers an Ethernet interface for both the Phaser III PXi and
Phaser II PXi.  This Ethernet interface is compatible with lpr and requires
no host based software for printing.

If you would like more information send me email and I promise not to 
copy it to the group.

Jerry Call
Tektronix
jerryc@pogo.wv.tek.com

P.S.:

Helpful hints when shopping for color PostScript printers:

	You don't need to pay an outlandish sum of money to get
	a high quality color PostScript printer. 

	Just because a vendor says they support PostScript doesn't
	mean they are using PostScript from Adobe.

	Be sure and test performance.  If you are going to buy a 
	color PostScript printer, ask for a demo.  Print a number
	of files and monitor the print times.  

	Be sure and look at color quality.  Select a few of your
	most challenging files and have each vendor print them     
	on their printer.  All color printers are not created equal.

	Make sure the printer is shareable.  It had better be able
	to connect to your network easily.  It had better have good
	enough performance to keep up with the needs of all the 
	users on your network.

	Make sure the interpreter is based on current technology.  Why
	would you want to buy a PostScript level 1 printer (1987 technology)
	when you can buy a PostScript level 2 printer (1991 technology)?

	If the printer offer's multiple I/O ports make sure they
	can all be active simultaneously.

	Consider cost per copy when making your purchase decision.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: nesteggs!crawford@moe.rice.edu (crawford)

Canon Bubble-Jet  360 x 360 dpi
PostScript Level II
4 independent ink cartridges, CYMK
plain-paper, post card to tabloid sizes
      or coated paper or transparencies
~.5 pg/min
SCSI - I  interface
less than $3500
available from NeXT or Canon

my two cents
Michael

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Bob Taylor <robertt@hp-vcd.vcd.hp.com>

If I'm not mistaken, this is the Canon BJC-820, which is !not! PostScript.
It only can print PostScript from a Next, which does the PostScript
rasterization using it's Display PostScript driver.  It will not
print PostScript from the Mac, UNIX, etc.

Bob Taylor
HP Vancouver

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

We have a CLC 300 connected to our SUN network which I procured last September.
It produces very good copy quality and works well. So far we have printed
around 10,000 copies and only had an engineer out twice to the machine -
once for an acetate jam behind the drum and once for a problem with the toner
hopper not moving back to the start position correctly. Despite Canon
insisting that this machine required maintenance every 4000 pages I don't
think that ours has had one.

Our machine is connected via a serial link running at 38400 bps and you
are right about the time taken - around 30 mins for 6Mb if my memory
serves me correctly. Larger files have been transmitted to it - I sent
a 19Mb file last week. I don't have a parallel port and I am not sure if
the IPU (PostScript engine) returns status messages down the serial port
if you are using a parallel connection.

I have had several problems with the PostScript interpreter, even though
it is an Adobe. There was a colour fringing problem with dark colours in
the early release of 52.3 of PostScript. This has now been fixed but I am
presently having problems printing from the manual feed tray. I have got
Canon Europe in the Netherlands looking into this as there is insufficient
expertise in the UK. I suspect that my problem is down to the fact that I
have a beta release of 52.3 in my machine.

I am unable to comment on the Phaser III. The older wax devices (we also
have a Tektronix 4693DX) are very poor and lack permanency - the wax comes
off very easily. From what I have seen the Phaser III also shows this to
some extent.

Phil

-- 
Phil Jeffcock (phil@bradford.ac.uk)
Computer Centre, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK. +44.274.383317.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: duis@bent.wpd.sgi.com (David Duis)

PostScript is pretty slow for this, regardless of the image.
Seriously consider a faster workstation running a host-based
PostScript renderer if you're going to be doing many pages like this,
or you'll hate yourself. 

You're not going to get 300dpi 24 bits per pixel from anything except
dye sublimation, sorry.

Cheers,

Dave

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: paul goodwin <pgood@inson.fhcrc.org>

I don't know which article Gregory refers to but there have been several
review articles lately (this being the "year of color" and all). MacWeek
Apr 1992 had an article that reviewed several major technologies for color
printing including samples from about 12 or so vendors. MacUser, apr92,
does the same type of thing. Electronic Photography had a recent review of
Continuous Tone printers, including examples. There have been many reviews
of individual less expensive printers (thermal transfer, phase change, etc)
in PC Computing, Byte, and InfoWorld lately.

Paul Goodwin
pgood@inson.fhcrc.org

------------------------- END OF SUMMARY -------------------------------

Xref: sparky comp.periphs.printers:1454 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:13761