CAN WE INTERFACE?
 by Greg Rogers, Commodore Users
 Group of Springfield

 Reprinted from Scottsboro Commodore
 News

 Recently, in the last Computes's Gazette, there is a series of
 articles on Commodore Ready printers.  The Gazette review is a good review, and provides a great deal of information.  I think that it fails the user on an important piece of information.  This is about the printer interface, used with a 'Standard' centronics parallel printer, and what kind of choice that you have there.  Of course, the articles were about 'Commodore Ready printers', so this was not mentioned.  This brings up a question that was asked of me a great deal when I was an educator, and still is now, by many members. I would like to offer another view.

 "Should I get a printer that is 'Commodore Ready', or one with a standard printer interface, and add a Commodore printer interface?"
 
This is a valid question.  There are the obvious reasons that one would want a printer that has a 'Commodore Ready' interface. The most obvious one is that a printer is connected to Commodore Serial Bus  computers such as the C-64, C-128, Plus 4, Vic 20 and C-16 through the daisy chained 'Serial Bus', in much the same manner that the disk drives are connected to the computer.  Most other models of other computers provide the user a connection to a printer through a Centronic interface, and this has become much the standard of connection printers to computers.  A Centronics connected printer cannot be connected to the Commodore Serial Bus computers without the use of a special interface, instead of a standard cable, and this is more expensive.  The purchase of a Commodore Ready printer allows for connection directly to a Commodore Serial Bus computer, without this interface.  This could save you $30 to $70 over the price of buying a printer.  Also, as the Gazette article mentioned, the newer models provide for more access to the special features of the newer printers, such as Near Letter Quality, and condensed modes, to name a few.  At first, this appears to be the way to go, if you are considering a printer.

 So, should you get a printer like this?  I do not recommend it! Here are some of the reasons:

 First, do you think that you might ever want to sell your 64/128 (Heaven forbid!) and purchase another computer, or at least one to go with your 64/128?  Get something besides these two models, and your new 'Commodore Ready' printer is USELESS with your new machine! Also, you will find it much harder to sell, as you have less of a market of people who have a need for this type of printer.  This problem can be somewhat eliminated, in all fairness, by some of the newer printers, which have both a Centronics connection, and a Commodore Serial Bus connection. Even then, if you want to use the Centronics connection with your 64/128, you will still need an external interface.

 Second, many of the 'Commodore Ready' printers provide a built in interface that will basically emulate the Commodore model 1525 printer with the exception of a few additional features.  That makes it where you can use it with all of the programs written for the 1525, (which are less popular, and less available now) but it provides a drawback.  The 1525 provided a 60 dot per inch printout.  This used to be good, but has been left behind by the newer standard of 80 dots per inch that the Centronics Printers have available.  Now, many of the graphic programs written for the C-64/128 are based on the standard of 80 dots per inch.  Most of the Commodore Ready printers are not capable of this, because of the strict compliance with the 1525 emulation.  A good example of this is Print Shop, (copyright by Broderbund) a program that prints signs, and other things.  You will notice that there are two different sets of graphics and two different programs on the disk.  One is for a 1525, or Commodore Ready printer, and the other is for 'Other' printers.  The 1525 side provides a 60 dots per inch resolution, while the other side has 80 dots per inch available. If you have ever seen the difference between the output of the two sides, I feel that there is no comparison.  The 'other' side produces much better, more distinct, output.  GEOS (Copyright by Berkeley Softworks) is another program that is based on 80 dots per inch printout.  Yes, it does support these Commodore Ready printers, but you can print out only the first 3/4 width of a page, working in a program like geoPaint.  Not too handy, eh?

 The third advantage that you can have by using a printer connected with an interface, instead of a Commodore Ready printer, is more features.  These external interfaces have a wide range of extras, from 1525 emulation, that works as well as a Commodore Ready Printer, to extra downloadable font styles that you can print on just about any printer, as well as extra buffer size.  I own a Xetec SuperGraphix interface, from Xetec, and along with the LIFETIME warranty that I enjoy, (Yes, LIFETIME!!) it allows me to do things with my STAR NX-1000 that IBMMusers of this same printer can not do! Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for, and remember, you will probably be using this printer many, many hours, so a bit extra is a small price to pay, considering the time that you will spend with your printer. There are SEVERAL other good brands, and models, of external interfaces which might provide the features at the price that you need, other than the Xetec. Cardco still makes a good one, the Super G+, and other models so that you can pick the features that you want. There are also the PPI, MW-350, and other fine interfaces as well, in the price range of $30-$70. 
 
In all fairness, if you get a daisy wheel printer, you will not have to consider the graphics limitations of an interface, as daisy wheel printers are designed for typewriter quality text output, and have no ability to print graphics.  All that you have to consider there is the fact that they can be used only on a Commodore Serial Bus Computer.

 Also, the price of a 'Direct Connect' printer is usually cheaper, and if you just want to print mailing labels, or only text correspondance, the Direct Connect printer might by the way for you to go.

 I hope now that you are armed with this additional information you will be able to make the printer choice that is right for you.  Happy Printing!



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