Updated 1-1-96
ISSN 1068-9109
The Goleta Publisher
Dana Trout editor
October 1995 Contents
The Seybold 95 show in San Francisco gave me hope. The last several
shows I attended (such as Comdex 94, Digital World, and Siggraph)
all were exercises in monologs conducted at high volume and with as
much visual distraction as possible. Seybold was (thankfully) different -- many
booths were manned by people who could actually answer questions and
discuss the merits of their own and competitors products. Also, relatively
few booths went for amplified sound, although Apple was one big exception.
Their booth was not only large, but the sound pressure was so high
that I had only two questions: what was the fastest way to escape
and could I survive that long.
Seybold San Francisco is, of course, focused on publishing, in any
form. In keeping with the current excitement and hype about the Web
a lot of vendors were displaying products that would ease the burden
of creating and maintaining Web pages. Some were really quite exotic:
several were able to meld information from databases and put it up
on the Web almost live, so as the data changed the Web pages would
change to suit. Very handy for such things as interactive reservation
systems.
But the Web was not everything. Print-on-demand systems, direct-to-plate,
imposition systems, electronic delivery, and online and interactive
systems were there too. As were monitors, printers, color-matching
systems, cameras (mainly digital), magazines, tabloids, stock photo
houses, font vendors, and other publishing camp followers.
Some of the dynamics between us and the vendors were amusing. For
instance, Wayne McCall had bought (what was then) a very high-speed
disk array from MicroNet only a few months ago. They had just announced
a much faster array and Wayne really didn't want to see it -- he
couldn't afford it. I wasn't particularly interested in talking to
them because when I asked them last year how much life I could expect
out of my MicroNet magneto-optical drive, they were very interested
to learn it was still running and wanted to know if I would like to
do an endorsement. Made me feel like I was already on borrowed time,
and I didn't care to think about that, so Wayne and I just sailed
right past their booth.
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Another funny one was Iomega, which was showing off their Jaz 1GB
removable cartridge drive. I was struck by several things, but mostly
by the carny who was hawking their wares. First he denigrates Syquest
(evidently on the theory that if you pull everyone else down, you
appear taller). The drive itself, of course, is not plugged in and
we have to take his word about how great it is. He is waving around
a Jaz cartridge that is obviously broken. He tells us that the Syquest
hub and index system is sloppy and doesn't always align properly (no
news there) and the Iomega Jaz is much better because when you shake
the cartridge you can't hear a sound. Of course when he shakes the
broken cartridge it rattles, but that's just because it's broken,
he assures us. There are several things wrong with his argument, not
the least of which is why isn't he showing us a working system? Maybe
Iomega doesn't have one yet? The real clincher for me was after he
had been expounding on how he was in the technical department and
knew the beta testers (who were major corporations) were dancing on
their desks about what a great product this is, which meant that the
design would be released to manufacturing the first week of October -- anyway,
this man who claimed to be an insider who knew all the dope -- was
completely non-plussed when asked what a reflective knob on the bottom
of the cartridge was for. He turned to me (can you believe it?) and
asked me if I knew. Come on, when the demonstrator has to ask
a member of the audience about his product's features, we're not learning
anything worthwhile.
It's a real shame, too, because I've really liked Iomega in the past.
They put out excellent products and had superlative customer support.
Every item they shipped has their 800 number on it, so the moment
you have a problem you have the toll-free tech support number right
in front of you. And it was always answered by the second ring
with a living, breathing human who was courteous, well-informed, and
effective. But things really hit the skids with the Zip drive -- the
demand has so far outstripped supply that Ingram Micro's (a major
distributor) Los Angeles warehouse is backordered to the tune of nearly
10,000 drives, and today they claim the next scheduled delivery is
in November. The other warehouses have similar backorders. Unfortunately
Iomega has oversold a product (the Zip) they cannot produce in sufficient
quantities, and for the past half year has been selling/hyping a product
(the Jaz) they aren't producing at all. This is not good customer
relations, guys.
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Ah, the things you learn at trade shows. When dye-sublimation printers
first began showing up in any quantity three years ago we were stunned
by their photorealism. Well, it was a lot better than ink-jet or wax
transfer. And the "conventional wisdom" was that the colors
would be pretty stable because they were actually transferred into
the paper instead of just sitting on top. At each show we ask the
various printer manufacturers about the archival quality of the output
and usually get some off-the-cuff reply like "pretty good."
That's from the smaller manufacturers who haven't considered liability
issues. Larger manufacturers, like Kodak and Fuji, initially say they
don't know because the technology is too new, then at succeeding shows
start to quantify (as in say actual numbers) the longevity of the
prints on the basis of accelerated testing. At this show we learned
that dye-sub prints commonly have a very short lifetime (how long
depends primarily on the amount of UV exposure). The commonly suggested
solution was to just reprint the piece when the previous copy had
faded too much. And, it was pointed out, dye-sub printers are often
used for color proofing where the longevity of the print is not an
issue. The problem is that some artists are now doing their work on
the computer and selling the prints. Dye sub, like all the other technologies,
has improved substantially, and is still the most photorealistic print
process which is affordable by an individual (Fuji has a very nice
photographic process that is head and shoulders above dye-sub, and
the prints are long-lived, but the printer costs over $20,000). So
these artists are using dye-sub printers and selling the prints for
noticeable sums of money. But how will the collector feel in a year
or two when the print changes color or fades? And what can he do to
protect his investment?
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We stopped in to look at the Epson Stylus ink-jet printer and learned
that it has evolved into three models: the Stylus Color II ($500),
Stylus Pro ($800), and the Stylus Pro XL ($2200), a tabloid version
of the Pro. The Color II uses the same ink cartridges and technology
as the original Stylus but offers some updated features, like 720x720
dpi resolution, Win95 driver, etc. The Pro uses new ink cartridges
(one for the three colors, another for black) which cost a little
less than the ones used by the original Stylus and Color II, partially
because the color head has only 16 nozzles per color instead of 20.
However the dot size is smaller, making for crisper images and longer
print times (the head has to be repositioned more times per line).
The rated life of the cartridges is larger, too, with the Pro color
cartridge rated at 670 pages vs. 320 pages for the Color II (5% coverage
each of cyan, magenta, and yellow at 360 dpi for both printers).
Digression: we need to distinguish between dot size and how many dots
can be laid down per inch. The dpi measures the number of dot positions
that are possible in an inch. If the dot size is 1/720" and the resolution
(as Epson uses the word) is 720dpi, then the dots would just touch.
However, if the dot size is 1/360" and the resolution is 720dpi, then
each dot would halfway overlay its neighbor. Now you need some
overlap because the dots are round, not square. If you want a solid
color the dots must overlap enough so that no white shows through
between them: a perfect fit would be the dots are 41% larger than
the escapement, or 1/500" for 720 dpi. Unfortunately Epson does not
show the dot size in their specs, so I cannot quantify how much crisper
the Pro is compared to the Color II.
Epson is positioning the Pro as suitable for photgraphic images and
photo and color art proofs. It is definitely better at reproducing
photographic images than the original Stylus or the Color II, but
is not as good as a dye-sub. I guess another digression is needed
here because the Epson ink jet at 720 dpi sounds like it has better
resolution than a dye-sub with 300 dpi. The difference is that the
ink jet can only either put down a dot of color or not, so you get
only eight colors at 720 dpi (the colors are white, cyan, magenta,
yellow, cyan-magenta {red}, cyan-yellow {green}, magenta-yellow {blue},
and cyan-magenta-yellow {muddy black}). To get the appearance of a
range of intensity the ink jet has to dither or halftone a color,
just like a laser printer. The result is that for 64 levels of intensity,
it has to group a 8x8 array of dots into one spot, which means
the spatial resolution is 720/8 or 90 spots per inch. The result is
a mushy-looking image, just like a newspaper photo (although the color
is much better). In contrast, the dye-sub printer can vary the intensity
of each dot, so its continous tone resolution is still 300dpi
which makes for a much crisper image. Whether the difference is important
to you depends on how closely you are going to look at the pictures.
I picked up some Stylus Pro samples at the show that are quite acceptable
if held a foot or more from the eye (yes, you can see the dithering
at that range, but for most images it's no worse than a lithographed
color postcard), and is nearly as good as the best dye-sub I was able
to pick up three years ago at Comdex. For more critical work a current
dye-sub will win out. The Stylus Pro seems to have the most difficulty
with a dark sky that shades from medium blue to gray-brown. Epson's
sample print of the Seattle Space Needle at sunrise/set (I don't know
which) clearly shows the limitations of the Stylus Pro printer. However,
the other pictures, which include a ocean sunset, mountain scene at
midday, and a bridge (lots of sharp edges that you want to stay sharp)
came out quite nicely. Sure would spiff up this newsletter...
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There are other printer problems and issues to watch out for too.
One is posterization, which shows up in broad areas where the color
changes gradually. This can be a portrait of a person's face, or even
the sky. If the printer has too few colors you can see the change
from one color to the next as a very distinct transition, putting
in a hard edge where none exists in the original. Another problem
is banding: if the paper movement is uneven there will be bands where
a color printed twice and other bands where it did not print at all.
This problem shows up to varying degrees in all kinds of printers,
ink jet, dye sub, wax transfer, laser -- it's one place where
quality design and construction shows through regardless of the printing
technology. Similarly, if one jet, nib, or part of the drum (for ink
jet, dye-sub, or laser printer) is slightly different than the rest,
you will get bands running the length of the page. Again, quality-control
is something worth paying for.
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Entertainment
Oh yes, some demos were more fun than others. One vendor was showing
their new thermobinding system. When I asked if it was hot-melt glue
based, he replied that it used a thermoplastic. Ok. I asked about
how well it held the pages in, so he grabbed a book which he said
had 500 pages and proceeded to demonstrate how well the binding worked.
He opened the book flat, then forced it a little further so it really
laid flat. Looked good. Then he grabbed the right hand page
and proceeded to lift and shake the book by that page. Of course after
the manhandling the page came out, so John told him he now had 499
page book to demonstrate!
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In years past one of my favorite font houses has been Bitstream. I
haven't bought much from them recently because the Corel Draw package
has most of their fonts, and I now needed so-called expert collections
which have ligatures, small-caps, and old-style figures. And Bitstream
didn't do that. Well now they do -- the MasterWorks CD has 300
fonts, with ligatures, small caps, and old-style figures for Bitstream
Arrus, Bernhard Modern, Bitstream Cataneo, ITC Charter, and Bitstream
Chianti. The only problem is that it is available only for the Mac.
I'm tempted to see what their current license agreement is like -- maybe
it will allow me to use Ares Font Fiddler to transfer the fonts from
the Mac to the PC, which would allow me to use the same font on either
platform. The suggested list is $399, or $199 for the TypeShop Pro,
which has all the same new fonts but forgoes the classics which you
got with Corel Draw anyway.
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Man, was there a ton of stuff for making your own CD-ROMs. Not only
the drives themselves, but the software to take your current documents,
databases, whatever, and turn it into interactive online info. Some
would take scanned documents, others would take Word, WordPerfect,
Excel, etc, others would take any PostScript files -- the list
goes on and on. CD-ROM writers also covered the range from simple
double-speed drives that you had to manually load and unload to full-on
jukeboxes that would have made Seeburg (I think I have that right)
proud with 500 platters and four drives. We're talking some serious
stuff here. You can now buy a simple ROMwriter with software for $999.
Which just goes to show that it's about time for the new standard
to hit and we get to buy new gear all over again next year.
Oh yes, there are now printers to print CD-ROM labels and jewel case
inserts. So there you are in your home office spitting out custom
CDs complete with a colorful label printed directly on the disk, custom
jewel case booklet, and tray bottom and spine insert. Now this
is downsizing!
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Of course I was looking at laser printers to replace my aging LaserMaster
1000 printers. Now that I've downsized from a 550 square foot office
to a 220 square foot room that I share with my wife at the house,
there just isn't room for three of these things. The new printers
are nearly as fast, have better toner control, and can be put on a
network so I can use just one printer from any of the computers,
including the Mac. HP, LaserMaster, Lexmark (IBM), NewGen, QMS, and
Xante were all there struttin' their stuff. Of course when you look
at the sample sheets critically you notice two things: they look absolutely
stunning, and they often choose images that don't show up weak points.
Pricing you have to approach carefully. For instance, the Optra comes
with just enough RAM to print text, even though the printer is (justifiably)
touted as being suitable for good black and white photo reproduction.
So I need to cost out the various printers with the necessary options
installed. And the pricing of consumables is an issue, too. Somehow
the true cost of ownership needs to be calculated for each printer,
then reviewed in light of the printer's unique features and shortcomings.
I'm going to have to decide someday soon or I won't have any room
to work...
.
.
Note: The following articles which appeared in the printed newsletter were reprints from other clubs. They are available on-line from the originating clubs.
The Text Falls Mainly in the Twain reprinted from the Houston Area League of PC Users
Learning PageMaker 5.0/PM5.0 Advanced a training
tape review reprinted from Bits & Bytes, the newsletter of the Tampa Bay Computer Society
October 1995 Contents
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Copyright 1995 by the Goleta DeskTop Publishing UG
email to: Dana Trout, Web author