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Troubleshooting Printing

I want to buy a printer. What's a good one?

If one one area on the display is out of focus, or if you see some odd color spotches, then you might need to degauss the monitor.

If price is your primary concern buy either a StyleWriter or a DeskWriter. Both provide excellent black and white and grey scale output at a reasonable price (under $200). The StyleWriter occupies less desk space and costs a few dollars less while the DeskWriter has higher resolution. Neither is a speed demon.

If you want a faster printer with better quality but don't want to pay a lot, or if you want a minimum cost PostScript printer, the TI MicroWriter and the DEC 1150 are both good buys. Each includes 2 megabytes of RAM, PostScript Level II, 300 dpi 4 page per minute output and costs around $550 street. The MicroWriter also offers auto-switching between PostScript Level II and HP PCL 4. Either one should be plenty for personal use.

If you do heavy graphics or desktop publishing work, you need a 600 dpi printer. Apple's LaserWriter Select 360 at $1400 street is an excellent printer with 600 dpi resolution, 7 megabytes of memory, upgradeable to 16 megabytes, auto-switching between PostScript Level II and PCL 4, and a built-in TrueType rasterizer. Plus it doesn't have the paper curl problem associated with the other competitor in this price range, the HP LaserJet 4M. Unfortunately the Select 360 doesn't have Ethernet or a SCSI port for external font storage so it's not ideal for workgroup use (unless your workgroup's on LocalTalk). If you want Ethernet and a SCSI port then consider Apple's LaserWriter Pro 630 ($1800 street) instead.

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My printer is not printing. What am I doing wrong?

First, let's look at laser printers. Ask some of these questions and see if the problem solves itself. Do you need to have Appletalk on? Do you have the right printer driver? (for most any Apple laserprinter, use Laserwriter 8, available from Apple's web site) Does your printer show up in the chooser? If not, you need to install the driver software for the printer. Has the laserprinter had a chance to warm up yet? Check the lights on the printer, and make sure it is able to work - no paper jams, enough toner, etc. Did you turn on Appletalk and forget to restart your Mac? Do you have paper in the printer? Although it seems obvious, one problem is as simple as not being plugged in or connected to a computer. Usually your Macintosh will tell you what the problem is.

Next, let's look at inkjet printers. The vast majority of ink jet printers don't use Appletalk, so don't worry too much about that. Check the applicable approaches above, especially printer drivers. Because of the inexpensive nature of inkjets, they are not able to say "hey, I'm out of ink!" If the printer is buzzing away and nothing shows up on the page, try handling the ink cartridge carefully to determine if it is still "with ink." If it feels like it might be, carefully fold a paper towel several times over. Place it gently on the ink heads. Pat the towel lightly on your leg - enough to stir things up a bit. If you're brave, lightly wet the towel and dab the heads. After periods of unuse, they can become clogged. Check the paper path for foreign objects. Remember that the majority of inkjet printers have little or no built-in memory. This means that it relies on the computer to send it the data. The slower your Mac, the slower your inkjet printer will print.

When all else fails, or maybe even before that, excercise the old standby: RTFM, or Read That (Funny?) Manual!