Apple Introduced the LaserWriter 40 Years Ago Today

[Razorpit]

Atari and Commodore werent that far back, but their GUI had to be modified in horrible ways thanks to Jobs and Apple frivolous lawsuits.
Both of those companies died due to horrible management.

That correct but they really needed a fan and one of the first Mac accessories was the Kesington System Saver. Jobs simply hated fans and one of the reasons why the Apple III failed was because it absolutely needed a fan but Jobs forbade the inclusion of one.
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Agree on Atari and Commodore. While I always wanted an Apple, our house was a Vic 20 then later C64 home. Apple's were just too expensive for us at the time. It's amazing though how many years CBM was able to get out of the 64. And lets not forget Amiga. In the long run they all lost out to the x86 monster. 😔

 

[sparkie7]

I had a C64. It was games mainly

 

[neomorpheus]

Agree on Atari and Commodore. While I always wanted an Apple, our house was a Vic 20 then later C64 home. Apple's were just too expensive for us at the time. It's amazing though how many years CBM was able to get out of the 64. And lets not forget Amiga. In the long run they all lost out to the x86 monster. 😔

Actually, Commodore had a chance but the last ceo they hired was a psychopath.

Dude killed the company on purpose!

 

[AlumaMac]

..but the highlight was a giant laserprinter, not by apple, but by some company from Minnesota if I recall. It was not 300dpi, but 600dpi. It was the grand master of laser printers. It was around $10K for that printer, and $25K for everything.

That was Lasermaster…I never used any of their laser typesetters but had a couple of their wide format printers in the mid 90’s.

One issue with laser printing is long term durability, which is impacted by a number of factors; so if you need archival copies you need to use the right materials.

I’ve been using laser printers since the early 90’s and have never had any issues with long term durability.

 

[jlc1978]

The LaserPrinter + Adobe Postscript + Aldus Pagemaker = Desktop Publishing, saved Apple!

We did our grad school newspaper completely in such as setup, although we used PowerMacs cause they were cheaper.

Lot easier than teh old cut and paste/rubber cement/hours in darkroom...

 

[jlc1978]

That thing was the loudest tank in the world, but good grief, did it perform well and last.

You never heard the old chain printers attached to IBM mainframes; by printing the right strings you could make them sound like a machine gun or fire all the hammers at once...

I had to get Vuescan

Anyone with a scanner should have Vuescan, one of the best programs around for scanning. I've had it for years and the developer keeps updating it for free.

I’ve been using laser printers since the early 90’s and have never had any issues with long term durability.

It's more an issue of archival copies where you need what you've printed to last, such as legal documents. Of course, most paper is acid based so it will deteriorate as well over time. Of course, probably 99.9% of all printing needn't last very long (and probably 90% of that need not be printed in the first place).

 

[iMac The Knife]

Ahhhh the ole LaserWriter. Good times, good times!

 

[jakey rolling]

I bet someone here has 1 as their daily driver for their work.
They'll say there's nothing wrong with it and has no reason to upgrade.

The operator of a small print shop bought a B&W G3 when they first came out and I had sold him a Farallon LocalTalk to Ethernet bridge so that he could connect the new machine to a LaserWriter he had previously networked to a couple of other older Macs via LocalTalk (an 8500 and an LC475). That was in 1999. In 2006 when I moved on, he was still running that LW as his main printer and had a closet shelf full of replacement toners for it. I would not be surprised if he were running it still today.

The consulting firm I work at now had a couple of 1990's era LaserJets still running on the network when I started (an HP 2100n and a 4000tn). I printed the entire set of manuals for an ERP system we work with in one sitting off of the 4000. That was a total of about 1800 pages. Only time the printer complained was when I had to add some paper. Both of those printers continued to be used until we finally shut our permanent office down last fall, and they were both claimed by employees and are in use today.

Other than the really low-end models (models like the HP11xx or Lexmark E3xx series), black-and-white lasers of the mid to late 90's were built like tanks. The only two "issues" is lack of replacement supplies (can still get toner for many of the old HP LJ's) and the perceived slowness compared to more modern lasers.

 

[Ad47uk]

You never heard the old chain printers attached to IBM mainframes; by printing the right strings you could make them sound like a machine gun or fire all the hammers at once...



Anyone with a scanner should have Vuescan, one of the best programs around for scanning. I've had it for years and the developer keeps updating it for free.

I have seen a chain printer working on You Tube, amazing really and the speed. i presume you mean the old Lineprinters.

I never knew Vuescan worked with modern scanners, but it does, it sees the scanner on my Epson printer, that is good to know, not sure how often I will use it as theHP one, while older is a better scanner and have adocument feeder

 

[jlc1978]

I have seen a chain printer working on You Tube, amazing really and the speed. i presume you mean the old Lineprinters.

Yea, I called it a chain printer becasue of how it moved the letters, and after ~50 years memories get a bit foggy...

I never knew Vuescan worked with modern scanners, but it does, it sees the scanner on my Epson printer, that is good to know, not sure how often I will use it as theHP one, while older is a better scanner and have adocument feeder

The developer is amazing how well he keeps up with printers. I can run my Nikon slide scanner as well as a much newer Epson photo scanner with auto feed.

 

[FoxyKaye]

You never heard the old chain printers attached to IBM mainframes; by printing the right strings you could make them sound like a machine gun or fire all the hammers at once...

Oh, my earliest experience in tech was working with mainframes, I actually do remember that particular cacophony... That said, aren't there whole YouTube channels now dedicated to using these printers, floppy drives, and other ancient and loud components (I'm looking at you 8" floppy drives) to re-create entire songs powered by Arduino boards? I'm always amazed at the longevity of these components!

 

[jlc1978]

Oh, my earliest experience in tech was working with mainframes, I actually do remember that particular cacophony...

The ImageWriter was downright quiet by the standards; although the zrrrip - chink of my IWII was annoying after a while.

That said, aren't there whole YouTube channels now dedicated to using these printers, floppy drives, and other ancient and loud components (I'm looking at you 8" floppy drives) to re-create entire songs powered by Arduino boards? I'm always amazed at the longevity of these components!

Yea, it is amazing how tech can still function; and we're still living with how they functioned (I'm looking at you CR and LF)