Page 1 of 1 [ 12 posts ] 

FireFox
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl

User avatar

Joined: 17 Feb 2008
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 138

18 Sep 2008, 9:18 am

You know, those ones where the paper goes down into a box. My teacher had one that I sat right next to and it annoyed the heck out of me.



WurdBendur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Dec 2007
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 648
Location: Indiana

18 Sep 2008, 1:55 pm

Oh yeah, the old dot-matrix printers with an ink ribbon and and a whole box full of paper with the wholes in the edges? We used to have one of those, and an ancient Commodore 64. They're so loud, and the print quality is terrible, but they're still cool.


_________________
"If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them." - Isaac Asimov


TheSpecialKid
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 30 Aug 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 432
Location: Denmark

18 Sep 2008, 3:41 pm

Which reminds me of a youtube video i saw... :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KsHuPSCRIM&fmt=18



18 Sep 2008, 8:07 pm

My Dad had an old printer that also made noise. The paper had holes on the side. The noise never bothered me. In fact I enjoyed the sound.



PrisonerSix
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 15 Jul 2004
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 689
Location: The Village

19 Sep 2008, 9:06 am

WurdBendur wrote:
Oh yeah, the old dot-matrix printers with an ink ribbon and and a whole box full of paper with the wholes in the edges? We used to have one of those, and an ancient Commodore 64. They're so loud, and the print quality is terrible, but they're still cool.


I had a Commodore computer many years ago. I started with a Vic-20, then a 64, then the 128. I also had a Star SG-10 dot matrix printer that was noisy and slow as anything. Still, the print quality wasn't too bad. That thing ran for 10 years and was still running when I finally sold it for around $20. I bought a Deskjet printer for HP which had better print quality, color, and printed faster. It was also getting harder to find ribbons for it, but I did find a typewriter ribbon that worked in it that only one store sold. Up until recently, I still had a partial box of tractor feed printer paper that I was using as scratch paper. I rarely throw anything away and use it as long as I can.

Now I have a printer/scanner combo from HP that I paid less for than either of the printers I described. It also has slots for camera cards. It's amazing how far we have come.


_________________
PrisonerSix

"I am not a number, I am a free man!"


Keith
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2008
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,321
Location: East Sussex, UK

19 Sep 2008, 9:42 am

Oh, you mean "Impact Printers" with tractor feed and a manual individual sheet feed, I had an old one where I discovered code for letter quality and I could disable the paper detection switch.

I am sure there where 3 types ...
9 pin
24 pin
and colour - uber rare ...



2ukenkerl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,231

19 Sep 2008, 4:57 pm

Keith wrote:
Oh, you mean "Impact Printers" with tractor feed and a manual individual sheet feed, I had an old one where I discovered code for letter quality and I could disable the paper detection switch.

I am sure there where 3 types ...
9 pin
24 pin
and colour - uber rare ...


9 and 24 were merely the most common. That reminds me, that is ANOTHER thing people casually "FORGOT" on my move. I had a NEC printer that was one of the top of the line. WIDE platen, 24 pin, color, etc....



Keith
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2008
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,321
Location: East Sussex, UK

19 Sep 2008, 5:17 pm

I'm amazed they are still used, but when I think again, it makes perfect sense. What else can print in triplicate using carbon copies 8) You'd have to use more ink to make another duplicate...



Tim_Tex
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Jul 2004
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Posts: 45,472
Location: Houston, Texas

19 Sep 2008, 5:18 pm

Those are cool to look at and listen to.


_________________
Who’s better at math than a robot? They’re made of math!

Now proficient in ChatGPT!


Drakilor
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Age: 177
Gender: Female
Posts: 186

19 Sep 2008, 6:06 pm

FireFox sagged over his keyboard as he pondered his loneliness. His mom's basement was dark and damp; it was a perfect location for consuming his daily dose of midget pornography.
Five seconds later, he felt a little bit better, but the emptiness of his soul suffused any other emotion. He had no girlfriend and would probably never get one and neither did he have any friends.
He connected to Wrong Planet where he was greeted by the familiarly soft but abominable mix between green and blue. He went immediately for the General BS section where he proceeded to click the "New Thread" button.
His mouth, fattened from Coca Cola, began to perform subtle movements as his internal monologue started repeating the results from browsing the wormeaten archive of his mind. After about five minutes he found a suitable but still arbitrary memory of his arch nemesis, That Printer.
His bony fingers responded to this with a twitch. He began typing, spending two processing cycles per sentence. After four cycles, he was exhausted and could feel the splitting pain in his brain. He pressed "Submit" and the thread was made.
After a brief period of unconsciousness, FireFox woke up to what he considered the shittiest thread he'd made all week. With smug pride, he walked over to the Coke fridge and popped open a bottle, which he subsequently gulped without a single breath.


_________________
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind."


2ukenkerl
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,231

19 Sep 2008, 6:54 pm

Well, I haven't used it in a while, but there ARE some ways in which they are BETTER! For one thing, ink jets can't stay dormant for long periods. Of course, as you said, some things require pressure, etc... Paper registration can be better.



Carbonhalo
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Posts: 178
Location: Musoria

20 Sep 2008, 3:14 am

I used to love the sound of a matrix printer..for a few years..
Then the mystery was eroded by the tedium of waiting.

What used to impress me most were the old line printers.

The majestic thunder of thousands of huge sheets of paper spewing in a graceful arc.

Even if I could find one I haven't got three phase to run it.

I've still got an ASR33 teletype... now there's a bizarre unit... still have reels of paper tape for it too.