Author: Galen (140.144.132.94)
Date: 06-14-2008 00:23
Hello,
Printer drivers substantially changed in the 1990s.
For HP, the change was from PCL5 (which is backwards compatible) to PCL6 (which has nothing to do with PCL 1 - 5). Most deskjets ran PCL 3.
A few rare HP printers will still work with Atari/NVDI. The Deskjet 9800 and Business Inkjet 2800 will work, and although most HP Laser printers understand PCL5, I don't think they make one anymore with a parallel port.
Epson completely changed formats from ESC/P2 to ESC/P Raster, which isn't compabible except for its dot matrix printers. Although the idea of printing on a dot matrix may appear quaint, printers like the FX-890 will work on the Atari, and remain the cheapest way to get text on a page.
Finally, a number of other printer manufacturers have provided PCL or ESC/P compatiblity. For example, the Brother HL-5240 offers "Epson FX" emulation, meaning that it certainly understands ESC/P and possibly ESC/P2. I am confident that it will work on an Atari.
If I were buying for an Atari ST/Falcon today, I'd suggest the HP Deskjet 9800. If you don't need color, then consider the Brother HL-5240 laser. Note that while an Atari is pretty peppy at 300 dpi, the wait for the computer to compile that page at 600 dpi can be annoying.
Galen, who uses an HP610CL deskjet, an Epson 740 Stylus Color deskjet, and a Brother Hl-1440 laser on his fleet of Ataris.
|
