HX20 (was: Re: Just bought this . . .)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Fri Dec 11 02:55:01 1998

Roger wrote, regarding the printer in the HX-20 and AIM-65:
> As to five heads versus one, you can print five characters at once. Faster
> printing.

Disregarding the time spent moving the paper, it is slower (5/8 the speed),
since you are only printing five dots at a time rather than eight. But
speed wasn't the point.

When you include the time spend moving the paper, it is even slower. For a
line of text you have to move the paper the same amount with either method.
But with the five separate single-pin heads, you have to move the paper
precisely eight times, which typically takes longer than a single
less-precise move of 8x the distance.

The real win was just that the mechanism was cheaper than the more common
eight-vertical-dot mechanisms.

Eric
Received on Fri Dec 11 1998 - 02:55:01 GMT