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  The Need For Speed: High-Volume Network Printers Setup, via PrintWatch, of the various Typhoon 30 interfaces is anything but a 10-second process. The software, which is Windows-based and runs on Windows 3.1 and NT, does not provide the ability to set an IP address under NT--only under Windows 3.1. We found the Windows utility slow and problematic. We performed our configurations via the remote console facility (RCF), which we accessed via telnet (or a serial interface). The Olympus unit we tested also uses this type of RCF; we found that the commands are the same for both printers. We did have one configuration issue with the Typhoon, but to be fair, it had to do more with NT than with the Typhoon 30. When configuring an LPR printer under NT 3.51, you are prompted for the IP address and host name of the printer. When configuring the Typhoon 30, the host name must be the name of a virtual printer--we named two of ours "pcl5" and "postscript." For some reason, NT displayed the entered host name in uppercase, but apparently sent the name as typed to the printer. Subsequent jobs to the printer were rejected. To make matters worse, NT only logs an error indicating the printer refused connection. Dataproducts' technical support staff was stumped, and it was only after using our Network General Sniffer that we were able to find this anomaly. The Typhoon 30 offers a good selection of paper-handling features comparable to the other printers. It supports up to 11" x 17" paper, like the Konica and HP printers, and has a maximum paper input capacity of 2,500 sheets. But the Typhoon 30 fails our input-greater-than-output tray-capacity rule--it can hold up to only 2,000 sheets of output using an optional 1,500 sheet stacker. The printer's 400-dpi resolution, supported only under PostScript, is adequate but not as sharp as the HP 5000 or the Konica 7050, which both offer up to 600-dpi resolution. PostScript Level 1, PCL5e and Line Printer emulation are standard, allowing the Typhoon 30 to fit into most environments. PCL5e is supported using the HP III Si driver. When using the Microsoft Windows NT driver we ran into a problem. We found that our Word 7.0 PostScript test document printed significantly faster using an Apple LaserWriter II NT driver than with the Dataproducts PostScript driver. We noticed that the print job stayed in the NT Print spooler much longer with the Dataproducts driver than with the Apple driver.
Olympus America PagePlex 32
With a total input capacity of 2,500 sheets (with an optional 2,000 sheet feeder and two 250-sheet paper trays), the PagePlex 32 had the lowest total input capacity of the printers tested. Even though it's a small annoyance, the small 250-sheet paper trays are inconvenient. It is our belief that a tray on this type of printer should be at least 500 sheets--the size of a ream of paper. Unique to the PagePlex is an optional 10-bin "mailbox" output stacker, convenient for environments where the printer will be shared among a group of users. But lacking in the base unit is a job offsetting (or paper jogging) tray. This feature is offered by Dataproducts, Konica, GENICOM and HP and can be added to the Olympus via its high-capacity output bin. Page offsetting allows for print jobs to be shifted either to the left or right of the previous job, making sorting of multiple print jobs easier. To help keep down the initial cost of the printer, the PagePlex supports industry standard 72-pin SIMMs for additional print memory. Although other printers tested use 72-pin memory, Olympus encourages users to use standard memory. This can keep upgrade costs to a minimum. For example, current street price on a standard 8-MB SIMM is ab out $100. Dataproducts' proprietary 8-MB memory module lists for $556. The PagePlex offers strong networking, supporting a range of Unix platforms, as well as NetWare 3.x, LPD/LPR, Lan Manager via TCP/IP and AppleTalk over Ethernet. Other protocols can be supported by attaching an external print server to its parallel port. Like the other printers in the review, with the exception of HP, NDS is not supported and Bindery Emulation must be used. We didn't encounter any problems with this. However, we did have some initial configuration errors when printing from many of our tested platforms, including our NetWare 3.12 server and NT and Macintosh clients. We also locked up the printer on several occasions by printing multiple jobs, both PostScript and PCL, from our NetWare, NT a nd Macintosh clients. Unfortunately, we were never able to consistently reproduce the problem during our testing.
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by Dan Backman with Jeremy Impson Updated Februayr 7, 1997 |
