HP 1200C (was Re: [SunRescue] What Gem did I find?)

[Patrick Giagnocavo]

On Sat, Mar 24, 2001 at 11:11:40PM -0500, Dave McGuire wrote:
> On March 24, Ken Hansen wrote:
> > What Dave, you don't have a Docucenter "on-demand" printing press/bindry system in the living room? ;^)
> 
>   Nope...but my Linotronic phototypesetter arrives next week. :)
> 
>   I'm having crazy thoughts about OCRing and re-typesetting classic
> computer docs.  Think high-density print, acid-free paper, delivered
> shrink-wrapped and three-hole drilled, put it in your favorite binder,
> that sort of thing.  You see, I find those little DEC handbooks
> absolutely invaluable.  They're packed with great information.
> Problem is, they're printed on really shitty cheap-ass paper that is
> starting to disintegrate on the 20-30 year old books.  I'd love to
> have that stuff better preserved.
> 
>   Just a thought.

For REAL docs you need the one that actually has a VAT of hot lead,
then it casts all the type needed a line at a time.

The quality of this kind of imprint blows away the current
made-for-convenience paper plate or aluminum plate technology.  You
can see the depth of the printed letters, and it comes out really
black.

I read of a company that interfaced an old Mac SE to one of these and
then they printed to the device as a network printer.

Come on, Dave, you don't strike me as a "half-measures" sort of
person.  Do it right - with hot lead.

(Just think, you could program the matrices needed for the hot lead in
MetaFONT, then control a CNC machine to produce what you needed, if
you wanted a different font.  Computer Modern with the depth of hot
lead...wonderful! )

Cordially

Patrick Giagnocavo
patrick at zill.net