Apple IIe - Manual (Page 44)

Page 44 of 74 IIe
Printed: Tuesday, March 4, 2003 10:40:15 AM
produced with a good dot matrix printer and text produced with a daisy wheel printer.
Daisy Wheel Printers
Daisy wheel printers, also known as letter quality printers, are essentially high speed, high
quality typewriters.
They are slower and more expensive than dot matrix or thermal printers,
but if the appearance of your correspondence is important, a daisy wheel printer may be a
necessity.
Most daisy wheel printers use a circular print wheel (they look something like a
daisy) to produce fully formed characters.
Choosing a Printer
Whether you decide on a thermal, dot matrix, or daisy wheel printer, make sure the printer you
buy works with an Apple IIe get a demonstration, preferrably with the programs you'll be using
before you leave the store.
You should also ask your dealer how to attach the printer to your Apple IIe and to help you set
the switches on the printer interface card. The switches control things like the speed at which
information is sent from the computer to the printer, the way in which information is sent to
the printer, and whether the computer, the application program, or the printer generates things
like carriage returns.
Don't rely on the printer manual! Printers are designed to work with a wide variety of
computers and an even wider variety of application programs, so printer manuals are necessarily
vague ask your dealer for specifics on how to make your printer work with your Apple IIe and
the application program you have.
Another consideration in choosing a printer is the type of paper you'll use. Most printers give
you a choice of using pin-feed paper or single-sheet paper.
The advantage of using pin-feed
paper, which comes in a stack of attached, perforated sheets, is that you can leave the printer
unattended while it prints 20, 30, and 40-page documents.
The advantage of using single-sheet
paper is that you can print on company letterhead, personal stationery, or anything else.
Serial or Parallel Interface
When you're shopping for printers, you'll hear the phrases serial interface and parallel
interface.
These terms refer to the way information is sent from the computer to the printer.
With serial printers, the computer sends information one bit at a time. With parallel
printers, the computer sends information eight bits at a time.
You'd think that sending information eight bits at a time would be eight times faster than
sending information one bit at a time, but either mode of transmission is faster than most
printers can print, so speed shouldn't be a consideration in whether you get a serial or a
parallel printer.
Decide on the printer you want, then get the appropriate interface card to
connect it to your Apple IIe. If you get a serial printer, get a serial interface card. If
you get a parallel printer, get a parallel interface card. (Don't assume that the interface
card comes with the printer.)
Apple Devices are Serial:
All of the Apple devices discussed in this section are serial devices.
Plotter
Plotters can reproduce graphs, charts, floor plans, and other graphics you create with your
computer.