30 Jan
2008
30 Jan
'08
4:36 p.m.
> I find it interesting that the general consensus
is that no one collects
> printers. IMHO a vintage computer collection is not complete without
> peripherals for I/O. How can the usefulness (or even the limitations) of
> a vintage computer be demonstrated without a printer? (ignoring game
>
Sorry for the delayed response. I collect CBM printers.
I would assume there is less interest in collecting printers, since we
didn't get all teary eyed at the first printout, etc. But, I have a CBM
1526/MP802 here I would never part with, mainly because I did get all
teary-eyed over it. Well, let me explain:
When the Commodore VIC-20 and C64 came out, your choices were the VIC
1515 (through some micommunication with EPSON or SEIKO or whomever made
it, it was a 7.5" wide paper printer. Someone thought 8.5" meant the
entire width of the paper, including sprocket holes) and the VIC 1525,
which were both 7 bit printers without true descenders. For my part, I
had a Gorilla Banana, which was the same mech and case as a VIC1525, but
with Centronics port. I think both were a SEIKOSHA GP-100. I wanted to
upgrade to an 8 pin printer, but I detested the issues of using a
Centronics printer with the CBM, so I wanted a CBM model. I bought a
MPS802 (same as 1526) printer, and I was happy for a while.
Then came GEOS, and I decided to print out a paper with it. Then is
when I realized the 1526/MPS802 has no graphics mode. Yes, a dot matrix
printer of early '80s vintage with no graphics mode. However, it did
have 1 redefinable character and you could define it once per line.
Someone wrote a device driver for GEOS that made printing work, at great
cost.
To print graphics, one must redefine the 8x8 char, print it, do a CR
without LF, redefine it, tab over, print, repeat 80 times.
I wanted to return it, but it was too late, and I did not have funds to
replace it.
I was teary eyed watching my final term paper in 1989 slowly emerge from
the MPS802, one agonizing character after another. You got in the habit
of printing your papers in 1 page increments so you could oil and rest
the printer in between. Luckily the mech was smart enough not to return
to home after each CR, it just stayed in the same place.
I should have done a better job researching, as the MPS802/1526 was just
a CBM 4023 printer with the IEEE board swapped out for a IEC-based one.
It has the same issues.