setting up Epson LX-800 dotmatrix on FC4

Gene Heskett gene.heskett at verizon.net
Sat Dec 31 19:23:06 UTC 2005


On Saturday 31 December 2005 12:45, Navneet Kumar wrote:
>hi,
>Thanks
>doing this browser localhost:631 sets it up right and
>printing quality is a bit better, but leaves a lot to
>be desired.
>the CUPS test page lists a dpi of 120x72. Is there a
>way to increase print dpi.
>
>Or any other way to increase print quality?

Probably not.  The limiting factor is the physical size of the pins in 
the printhead.  Quality can sometimes be improved in terms of laying a 
blacker image, but that requires multiple passes of the head.  In the 
24 pin models, the pins were arraigned in two vertical rows that were 
offset half a pin width vertically, and this helped.  But the smaller 
pins were quite a bit more fragile, and broken pins from their getting 
caught in a used up, ragged ribbon became commonplace.  I ran probably 
200 reams of paper thru an oki 24 pinner way back then, but the 
ceramic guides for the pins eventually wore to the point of the pins 
swapping places vertically, leading to some 'interesting' output.

By then the handwriting was on the wall in 96 point type for pin 
pounders, so I bought one of epsons first Stylus Pro's, writing a 
check for over $700 at the time & ran it till I couldn't buy ink for 
it anymore.  For the last 6 or so years I've been trying to wear out 
(and have failed so far) an Epson C82, which on matt paper does color 
photos as well as I can goto the chemical darkroom and do.  And 
slightly cheaper per finished 8.5x11 print too, in about the same 
total time per print as I can do an 8x10 in chemical stuff.  The 
latest version of that printer can be had for about a hundred dollar 
bill & most of another hundred for a full set of spare ink tanks.  
Archival quality, color accurate inks.

I also messed around with a epson photo 820, but that was, for a 6 
color, a POS I returned the first 2 of because of plugged nozzles & 
eventually donated it to the trash bin at the curb.  Cost of knowledge 
& all that rot.  Meanwhile, this C82 soldiers on, a bit creaky 
sounding in its old age, but still putting out absolutely splendid 
copy. :)

>--- Gene Heskett <gene.heskett at verizon.net> wrote:
>> On Saturday 31 December 2005 12:02, Navneet Kumar
>>
>> wrote:
>> >HI,
>> >I have googled a lot about this but didnt get a
>> >satisfactory solution. so please help me.
>> >I used kde gui utility to setup my printer but
>>
>> LX-800
>>
>> >doesnt show up in the list.
>> >trying generic and evrything else gives a
>>
>> unreadable
>>
>> >print quality.
>> >
>> >I'm a newbie to linux so please give steps. I don't
>> >know what is cups etc.
>> >\
>>
>> Cups=Common Unix Printing System.
>>
>> If you've got httpd running, send your browser to
>> either localhost:631,
>> or to the machines FQDN:631.
>>
>> There you should see the front page of the cups
>> system which should
>> allow you to fully configure and test the system
>> using this gui.
>>
>> Is that LX800 still functional?  I may be confused,
>> but ISTR thats at
>> least a 10-15 year old dot matrix model, and by now
>> the head may be
>> suffering from worn pin guides and or broken pins.
>> A quick google
>> search turns up only ribbons for it.
>>
>> Modern ink sprayers are quieter, and many times
>> faster, usually
>> offering photographic quality color with a takehome
>> price includeing
>> spare inks of around $200 USD.  The epson9 drivers
>> in the usual gs
>> installation which cups will use as the rendering
>> engine, should be
>> able to make it function ok.  Those drivers are so
>> old that recent esp
>> ghostscript builds compatible with cups usage may
>> not include then.  I
>> remember using them back when ghostscript was at
>> about version 3.56 or
>> so, built it myself on an amiga in later versions up
>> to about 5.10
>> when it could handle up to pdf-1.2 internally.  GS
>> is up to
>> 8.something now and pdf support is now a seperate
>> pdf->gs conversion
>> program.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>> >__________________________________
>> >Yahoo! for Good - Make a difference this year.
>> >http://brand.yahoo.com/cybergivingweek2005/
>>
>> --
>> Cheers, Gene
>> People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me
>> should add the word
>> 'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which
>> bypasses vz's
>> stupid bounce rules.  I do use spamassassin too. :-)
>> Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note,
>> additions to the above
>> message by Gene Heskett are:
>> Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights
>> reserved.
>>
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>
>__________________________________________
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
People having trouble with vz bouncing email to me should add the word
'online' between the 'verizon', and the dot which bypasses vz's
stupid bounce rules.  I do use spamassassin too. :-)
Yahoo.com and AOL/TW attorneys please note, additions to the above
message by Gene Heskett are:
Copyright 2005 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.




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