Plain SPool Printers

Guest
I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons? I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs. I only had to replace a
gear once. I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate. I've heard that supposedly in Russia folks are afraid of toner dust
and like dot matrix. So I wonder if such printers don't sell somewhere in the
world. ANyone know?


- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
 
vjp2.at@at.biostrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons? I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs. I only had to replace a
gear once. I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate. I've heard that supposedly in Russia folks are afraid of toner dust
and like dot matrix. So I wonder if such printers don't sell somewhere in the
world. ANyone know?
Click to expand...
I think the correct answer is in russia they can't afford laser printers,
or power them, or have computers fast enough to even send graphics to them
in the first place.

lots of businesses still use dot matrix printers for multi part forms.

at the one supplier I use, they actually replaced some gigantic dot matrix
printer with another that's clearly new as it's not shitted up with dirt
and smudgy hand prints. It's a Tally as I recall, so it's probably some
cutting edge 1990s technology from Genicom. All it does is print
white/yellow/pink copies of invoices all day long.

Those ones don't use the generic typewritter ribbon, but those things are
still for sale on the internet. I've not seen a typewritter ribbon in a
store in years.
 
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:30:21 +0000 (UTC),
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons?
Click to expand...
No. They were replaced by ribbon cartridges in the mid 1980's. You
can still get dot matrix printers that use ribbon cartridges.

I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs.
I only had to replace a gear once.
Click to expand...
Yep. Slow, noisy, ugly, heavy, prints badly, rips ribbons, and has
ocassional mechanical problems (usually from internal crud buildup).
The parallel port would not hand EPP or ECP. I vaguely recall that
the serial port would only do hardware flow control and not xon/xoff,
but am not sure. I used to service those dinosaurs.

I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate.
Click to expand...
Really? The 82A would frequently jam when it came time to change
ribbon direction. The usual result was that the ribbon was torn at
one end. It was easy to fix, but irritating. Getting it to print
dark black was a problem, because the ribbon would wear so quickly.
Great for its day, but not useful today. Get a laser printer.

I've heard that supposedly in Russia folks are afraid of toner dust
and like dot matrix.
Click to expand...
Dunno. Toner dust is allegedly toxic and flammable. I wouldn't want
to breath, eat, or smoke the stuff, but it's not going to kill you.

I have about a dozen Okidata 320 and 320 turbo printers in service at
various customers. They do have their problems, but seems to hold
together well enough. If you're going to want dot matrix, one of
these might be suitable. There are plenty for sale on eBay.

So I wonder if such printers don't sell somewhere in the
world. ANyone know?
Click to expand...
<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190477199650>
$95 plus $28.50 shipping or best offer.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
 
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:16:59 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
<presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:

Those ones don't use the generic typewritter ribbon, but those things are
still for sale on the internet. I've not seen a typewritter ribbon in a
store in years.
Click to expand...
At an Office Depot near me, they have an entire aisle of printer
ribbons for panasonic, Okidata, etc dot matrix and other impact
printers. Every time I see them I laugh. It makes me wonder who would
still buy those. The store is in a highly commercial area, and there
are a lot of businesses around (including several clinics and a
hospital). I bet the medical industry might have equipment that still
uses ribbons.

Within a couple miles of that store is one that specifically does
typewriter repair and maintenance. I'm sure they also stock the
ribbons.


Thanks.


Remove the BALONEY from my email address.
-----------------------------------------------------
Matthew Fries Minneapolis, MN USA
freeze@baloneyvisi.com

"Quit eating all my *STUFF*!" - The Tick
 
Matthew Fries wrote:
Within a couple miles of that store is one that specifically does
typewriter repair and maintenance. I'm sure they also stock the
ribbons.
Click to expand...
Although I have not used them in 10 years, I keep two Apple ImageWriter II
printers around. They are about the only thing that will reliably feed
continous form catalog cards.

My wife is a teaching librarian (K-12), and still uses the cards. I keep
the printers around in case she asks for them to do one last run of
cards from their computerised catalog before going 100% to computers.

While many libraries have computerized catalogs, I'm sure there are small
ones that still maintain cards.

Not much use for them here for medical printers, the last time I was in
a hospital, the clerk on the way out scanned all of the papers and printed out
copies for me to take to my doctor and insurance company. I expect that
they were shreded in a few days.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to misquote it.
 
Matthew Fries wrote:
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:16:59 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:

Those ones don't use the generic typewritter ribbon, but those things are
still for sale on the internet. I've not seen a typewritter ribbon in a
store in years.

At an Office Depot near me, they have an entire aisle of printer
ribbons for panasonic, Okidata, etc dot matrix and other impact
printers. Every time I see them I laugh. It makes me wonder who would
still buy those.
Click to expand...

Anyone who needs multiple copies of forms. My credit union still has
several dot matrix printers for printing transactions.


--
For the last time: I am not a mad scientist, I'm just a very ticked off
scientist!!!
 
I used an Oki 92A for about 7 years; I bought one of them when they were new
on the market, and a model 192 a couple years later. Never a moment's
trouble from either. The only issue was having to vacuum paper dust out of
them occasionally. Yeah, the ribbons weren't as durable as I would have
hoped, but the printera were a workhorses.

The dot matrix printers were life savers for customers that needed to print
multi-part forms. The Mannesman-Tally DMP printers were in heavy use in
military installations where muli-part forms were a standard in almost every
area. They were much more sturdy and were built for heavy, constant use.

--
David
dgminala at mediacombb dot net

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:30:21 +0000 (UTC),
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain
spool ribbons?

No. They were replaced by ribbon cartridges in the mid 1980's. You
can still get dot matrix printers that use ribbon cartridges.

I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs.
I only had to replace a gear once.

Yep. Slow, noisy, ugly, heavy, prints badly, rips ribbons, and has
ocassional mechanical problems (usually from internal crud buildup).
The parallel port would not hand EPP or ECP. I vaguely recall that
the serial port would only do hardware flow control and not xon/xoff,
but am not sure. I used to service those dinosaurs.

I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate.

Really? The 82A would frequently jam when it came time to change
ribbon direction. The usual result was that the ribbon was torn at
one end. It was easy to fix, but irritating. Getting it to print
dark black was a problem, because the ribbon would wear so quickly.
Great for its day, but not useful today. Get a laser printer.

I've heard that supposedly in Russia folks are afraid of toner dust
and like dot matrix.

Dunno. Toner dust is allegedly toxic and flammable. I wouldn't want
to breath, eat, or smoke the stuff, but it's not going to kill you.

I have about a dozen Okidata 320 and 320 turbo printers in service at
various customers. They do have their problems, but seems to hold
together well enough. If you're going to want dot matrix, one of
these might be suitable. There are plenty for sale on eBay.

So I wonder if such printers don't sell somewhere in the
world. ANyone know?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190477199650
$95 plus $28.50 shipping or best offer.
Click to expand...
 
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:30:21 +0000 (UTC),
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons?

No. They were replaced by ribbon cartridges in the mid 1980's. You
can still get dot matrix printers that use ribbon cartridges.

I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs.
I only had to replace a gear once.

Yep. Slow, noisy, ugly, heavy, prints badly, rips ribbons, and has
ocassional mechanical problems (usually from internal crud buildup).
The parallel port would not hand EPP or ECP. I vaguely recall that
the serial port would only do hardware flow control and not xon/xoff,
but am not sure. I used to service those dinosaurs.
Click to expand...
have you ever worked with Florida Data printers, by chance?
 
On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:18:51 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
<presence@MUNGEpanix.com> wrote:

have you ever worked with Florida Data printers, by chance?
Click to expand...
Nope. I never even heard of Florida Data (and have only visited
Florida once). Google found a type BNY dot matrix printer, but I know
nothing.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
 
On Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:04:04 +0000 (UTC), "Geoffrey S. Mendelson"
<gsm@mendelson.com> wrote:

Not much use for them here for medical printers, the last time I was in
a hospital, the clerk on the way out scanned all of the papers and printed out
copies for me to take to my doctor and insurance company. I expect that
they were shreded in a few days.
Click to expand...

I wasn't really thinking of them being used for clerical work in
medical facilities, but rather for logging for medical equipment like
maybe ekg or sonogram or some such thing.

Thanks.


Remove the BALONEY from my email address.
-----------------------------------------------------
Matthew Fries Minneapolis, MN USA
freeze@baloneyvisi.com

"Quit eating all my *STUFF*!" - The Tick
 
My oki82a ran like a tank.
Never had the ribbon jams you describe.
I even used film ribbons for slightly better print.
I gotta admit, at the time i had it, a lot of other folks had the same
printer, so I had an informal support network.

I finally did get a panasonic dot matrix to replace it, and i even bought a
ribbon reinker. And I reink my inkjet by syringe (cartridge costs $25, ink
costs $1). But in the end, I just go to Staples or Kinkos and haven't used
any of my own printers in two years. THanks in large part to the ability to
generate and mail PDF files.

- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
 
I've bene in ICUs where the EKG is stored online. When my dad wa sin the ICU
in 7/99 they were able to go back several days on the computer without paper.



- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
 
BTW, I was just looking for a 1965 ad for my house and came across $39.95
manual typerwriters and $3.95 leather brief bags (the kind lawyers now pay
$500 for)



- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
 
On 17/12/2010 02:05, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:30:21 +0000 (UTC),
vjp2.at@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons?

No. They were replaced by ribbon cartridges in the mid 1980's. You
can still get dot matrix printers that use ribbon cartridges.

I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs.
I only had to replace a gear once.

Yep. Slow, noisy, ugly, heavy, prints badly, rips ribbons, and has
ocassional mechanical problems (usually from internal crud buildup).
The parallel port would not hand EPP or ECP. I vaguely recall that
the serial port would only do hardware flow control and not xon/xoff,
but am not sure. I used to service those dinosaurs.

I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate.

Really? The 82A would frequently jam when it came time to change
ribbon direction. The usual result was that the ribbon was torn at
one end. It was easy to fix, but irritating. Getting it to print
dark black was a problem, because the ribbon would wear so quickly.
Great for its day, but not useful today. Get a laser printer.

Back in the early 90s I worked for a fire brigade that had them as
Click to expand...
turnout printers (so they printed out where to send a fire engine to).
They were pretty reliable, but we had to change PSU capacitors in lots
of them as they were on 24x7.
 
On Dec 16, 7:30 pm, vjp2...@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:
I wonder if anyone has seen new printers for sale which use plain spool
ribbons? I doubt it, but I used to have an Oki 82a which used ordinary
typewritter ribbons and it ran like a tank for 15yrs. I only had to replace a
gear once. I kick myself for throwing it away because it cost s little to
operate. I've heard that supposedly in Russia folks are afraid of toner dust
and like dot matrix. So I wonder if such printers don't sell somewhere in the
world. ANyone know?

                                    - = -
 Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
   http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm http://www.facebook.com/vasjpan2
  ---{Nothing herein constitutes advice.  Everything fully disclaimed..}---
   [Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
 [Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]
Click to expand...
In about 95/96 I looked into the feasability of using dot matrixes for
volume printing, on the basis that they were so cheap to run. At the
time ribbons were being cleared out en masse, sometimes for 10p,
sometimes free, ink can be bought by the pint, and people were giving
the printers away.

The main issues IIRC were the noise of a stack of such machines (one
was far too slow), plus the fact that used continuously they
overheated a lot. Then there was the need for a lot of ongoing
reinking. Some of them could produce quite good quality print, thanks
to overlapping dots or 24 pin mechanisms, and some were terrible.


NT
 
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