16 Jun
2015
16 Jun
'15
1 p.m.
[Centronics belt-grabbing printer]
Is that the same screwball printer that has a metal
platen spinning behind the paper with horizontal raised lines on
it, and a single vertical striker in the printhead that strikes at the moment when the
platen and striker intersect at
the desired X/Y location of the dot to be printed? I've considered buying one just to
hear what it sounds like.
No. That sounds like a Seikosha (?spel) Unihammer printer. Radio Shack sold it as the
DMP110, I think
Amstrad and Commodore sold them too (probably with different firmware). From what I
remember
(I have a DMP110, but haven't used it for many years) they produce a fairly
high-pitched buzz.
Then of course there is the Olivetti sparkjet printer. A really crazy thing that blasts
solid toner from a
rod of same by producing a spark from said rod to a fixed electrode. The toner doesn't
all end up
on the electrode, some goes on the paper. Or at least that#s the idea. Setting one up is
an interesting
job (I turned a pointed pin to make things a little easier) and the quality is
non-existant even when it is
working properly.
-tony