Electrostatic Plotters

From: Huw Davies <H.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au>
Date: Tue Apr 27 06:50:07 1999

At 02:20 23/04/99 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:

>An amazing-ish machine that does 200dpi (before there were desktop laser
>printers, this was a high resolution). The problems are that the toner
>feed system/pump often blocks (and unblocking it is a pain - the toner
>tastes horrible, so the old suck-it-and-see method isn't pleasant), and
>the solvent fumes given off as the toner dries seems to fill the computer
>room...

Another drawback is that the plots fade with time. I did all the graphs for
my Masters thesis on our DEC-10. The plot files were then transferred via a
home grown network to our PDP-15 which had a Gould Electrostatic plotter.
Looking back I'm surprised this ever worked!

Recently I decided to replot the graphs using one of our VAXes. Pity
regenerating the data gave completely different results - I've been too
scared to check if this is just different floating point representations
causing "minor anomalies" or whether the original plots and/or data are
just plain wrong. Fortunately, no one else has noticed...

 Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies_at_latrobe.edu.au
 Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
 La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
 Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
Received on Tue Apr 27 1999 - 06:50:07 BST