Re: Stylewriter original

[et472@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Michael Black)]

"Michael J. Mahon" (mjmahon@aol.com) writes:
> carbide@egine.com wrote:
>> golfrock wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>>I put alcohol on the print holes and let it soak for a while.  That
>>>doesn't help.
>> 
>> 
>> Don't use alcohol, use water. I don't remember the details of the
>> Stylewriter, but I've revived many hp inkjets by soaking the
>> cartridge/printhead in a little water- 1 cm in a glass mug, just enough
>> to cover the printhead.  I've fixed Canons using a folded paper towel
>> saturated with water. I place that in contact with the printhead and
>> let it sit for a while so capillary action can work to dissolve the
>> dried ink which is causing the problem.
> 
> I've also had good success with this technique.
> 
>>>Is this just a lost cause?
>> 
>> 
>> An Imagewriter II will be a lot more reliable. If the ribbon dries out
>> you can revive it with a few drops of WD-40 or similar. You'll still be
>> able to print with one in 30 years. Not likely with a Stylewriter I...
> 
> Yes, I was just struck the other day by the huge difference in strength
> between dot matrix printers (especially the C. Itoh engine) and inkjet
> printers.
> 
But of course, the dot-matrix printers generally date from a time
when you paid a lot for them.  My first, in 1982, cost me $500 Canadian
and didn't do lowercase (it barely did uppercase).  I paid $400 for a
low end daisy wheel in 1984, and then a second dot-matrix to replace
both of those printers (because "near letter quality" had become
good enough) in 1989 for about $200.

I suspect the Stylewriter is still in that category, since it must
have cost hundreds of dollars new.  The flimsiness in part can
be explained by the carriage return being a far softer return, so
you didn't have to build it to withstand major force.

> The people who made dot matrix printers were in the printer business,
> not the ribbon business; but the people who make inkjet printers are
> *clearly* in the cartridge business!  Minimizing the cost of the
> printer so it can be "given away" is key to their success.
> 
Another reality would be that people want cheaper things, so the
manufacturers follow.

I paid a hundred dollars, twice, for a 1200baud and then a 14.4K
modem, yet few would consider paying more than about thirty dollars
now for a modem.  The manufacturer has to cut costs some way, so
with modems they make it little more than an interface, and then
the computer it plugs into does most of the work.

We've gone in thirty years from where computers were for hobbyists
and businesses with money, to something terribly common place.  
In order for that to happen, prices had to drop.

And while making more of something can cut costs, because one
can buy in larger quantity and move to automated production lines,
there is a limit on that, especially when people want something
that is better than the old.  So they have to start taking things
out, going with plastic rather than metal, and so on, to get
those prices.  Which of course in turn means higher sales.

  Michael