On Sat, Feb 06, 1999 at 09:09:17PM -0500, Sean Breheny wrote:
> Thanks to Reg and Bob for their prompt responses,
>
> I don't think that the OL400e is still available, or at least,it isn't
> listed on Okidata's current products list on their website. The particluar

Sometimes I think that manufacturers do this just so that
no one can make purchase decisions based on long-term
experience. I know that this isn't true, but it still
seems that way sometimes.

> model I was looking to buy was the OKIPAGE OP4W. It sounds basically the
> same as what you are describing,Bob, except for one thing that concerns me
> a bit, it is a GDI-based printer, which as far as I can decipher, means

UGH! Actually, I think that the OL4xx series may have
been the last low-end Okidatas to not require GDI
drivers. In fact, I recall now that, at the cost of a
small disagreement with my wife, I had rushed out to buy
the OL400e when I saw that the new models had no control
buttons on the top. I knew that I wanted to drive the
printer with DOS and Linux, and I knew that no buttons
was a *bad* sign.

> that the software on the computer does the translation from the format in
> which you are prining into the bitmap raster which the printer's LED array
> needs. So, you have to have winvirus 95 running at the same time for it to
> work. I'm a bit concerned that certain DOS-based programs may not like
> this(although, they claim it will work with most DOS programs if running in
> a win95 dos shell). It's memory is also listed as being only 128k, I guess
> that this is because it is GDI based and the  computer's own memory is used.

Bad, bad, bad. Avoid at all cost. I can see it now...
You: "Customer support? I'm having trouble printing on my
Okidata Printer." Them: "Have you tried re-installing
Windows?"

You might take a look at Electrified Discounters,
http://www.electrified.com. I haven't dealt with
them, so I can't vouch for them, but they are big
into selling remanufactured Okidatas. Right now
they're running a special on Electrified-remanufactured
OL410e printers for $99 with a 90-day warranty.
The OL410e is virtually identical to the 400e (it
still has the front panel), but it uses an image
enhancement mechanism to interpolate the 300dpi out
to an effective 600dpi. I recall wanting to get that
one when I got my 400e but I just couldn't afford it.

--Bob

--
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Bob Drzyzgula                             It's not a problem
bob@drzyzgula.org                until something bad happens
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