Chapter 9

Introduction: Printing Terminals and Printers

Introduction

Digital offers a variety of quality printing terminals and printers. Table 9-1 summarizes the many features of Digital's KSR and RO printers, while Table 9-2 summarizes the key features of Digital's system printers. Further details on these products can be found in the following chapters and appendices.

Chapters

Chapters 10 through 17 describe the following products.

Chapter 10, Letterprinter 100/Letterwriter 100 (LA100) – Discusses similarities and differences between these products.
Chapter 11, LQP02 Letter-Quality Printer
Chapter 12, LA50 Personal Printer
Chapter 13, DECwriter Correspondent (LA12)
Chapter 14, DECwriter III/DECprinter III (LA120) – Discusses similarities and differences between these products.
Chapter 15, LN01 Laser Printer
Chapter 16, LP25, LP26 and LP27 System Printers – Discusses the similarities and differences of these products.
Chapter 17, LXY Family of Graphics Lineprinters – Discusses the similarities and differences between these products.

Table 9-1 Printing Terminal and Printer Selection Chart

Feature

Receive-only

KSR

Letterprinter 100

LQP02

LA50

DECprinter III

DECwriter Correspondent

Letterwriter 100

DECwriter III

Mounting¹

Desktop

Pedestal

Desktop

Print Technology

Dot matrix

Daisywheel

Dot matrix

Draft Print Speed (char/s)

240

100

180

150

240

180

Memo Print Speed (char/s)

80 - Opt

Letter-quality Print Speed (char/s)

Paper
	Office Stationery
	Fanfold
	Roll

Std

Opt²

Std

Characters per Line
	Standard Print
	Compressed Print

132

217

132

158

132

217

132

217

132

217

Number of Selectable Character Widths

Maximum Paper Width (inches)

8.5

Parts per Form

9³

National Character Sets

25⁴

User-selectable Typefaces⁵

Opt

Bit-mapped Graphics

Std

⁶

Std

VT100 Line-drawing Set

Std

Buffer Capacity

0.4 K
4K – Opt

0.4 K

0.4 K
1K – Opt

0.4 K
4K – Opt

Communications Interfaces
	RS232
	20 mA
	Parallel

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Std

Opt

Integral Modem⁷

LA12-AB, Std

Acoustic Coupler⁷

LA12-AB, Std
LA12-CB, Std

Legend:

Std

Standard Equipment

Opt

Options

Not Available

Footnotes for Table 9-1

¹ All desktop models can be mounted on stands.

² Tractor/pinfeed mechanisms are standard on all printers except the LQP02. For the LQP02, an optional tractorfeed is available. See Chapter 11.

³ LA120-RB only.

⁴ Daisywheels are available in a variety of national character sets, typestyles, and two character sizes.

⁵ With the LA100 Series you can select a number of typestyles and character sets as either a field-installable ROM or a plug-in cartridge. National character set overlays are also available. See Chapter 10 of this handbook for more details. With the LQP02, select the daisywheel for your application. See Chapter 11 of this handbook.

⁶ DaisyAids, a new software package, gives the LQP02 graphics capabilities.

⁷ Optional modems and acoustic couplers are available for all RO and KSR printers.

Table 9-2 System Printer Selection Chart
Feature	LN01	LP25, LP32-A, LP32-B	LP26, LP32-E	LP27	LXY12	LXY22
Print Speed	12 pages/min	300/215 l/min	600/450 l/min	1250/800 l/min	300/240 l/min	600/465 l/min
Character Set	2 sets of 188 characters each	64/96	64/96	64/96	64/96	64/96
Print Technology	Non-impact laser	Band	Band	Band	Dot matrix	Dot matrix
Paper Type	Office stationery	Fanfold	Fanfold	Fanfold	Fanfold	Fanfold
Multipart Forms Capability	—	6	6	6	6	6
Graphics	—	—	—	—	Yes	Yes
Paper Slew Speed (cm/s)	Not applicable	37.5	37.5	50	20.3	40.6
Line Advance Time (ms)	Not applicable	25	25	14	8.5–10	8.5–10

Appendices

Appendices A and G through L contain supplemental information for Digital's printing terminals and printers.

Appendix A – ASCII codes.
Appendix G – Programming information for the Letterprinter 100/Letterwriter 100.
Appendix H – Programming information for the DECwriter Correspondent (LA12).
Appendix I – Programming information for the DECwriter III (LA120).
Appendix J – Register information for the LP25, LP26 and LP27 system printers and the LXY12 and LXY22 graphics lineprinters.
Appendix K – Brief description of Digital's traditional printers, the DECwriter IV/DECprinter IV (LA34/LA38), the DECwriter II (LA36) and the DECprinter I (LA180).
Appendix L – Programming information for the DECwriter IV (LA34)/DECprinter IV (LA38).