European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 16, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Printers How to find the right Type Jerry Kidder our browsing through monitors memory and input outputs has been fun. Now we have to put the computer to real use and get the information we have put into the system out in some useable form. The Printer is a key link in making the computer a useful tool in preparing letters resumes schoolwork newsletters and other documents. Everyone is familiar with the computer printout where each letter is visibly made up of lines and rows of dots. This is Fine for a list of addresses or videos or other things for personal use but How does it look when you Are preparing a business letter or club newsletter in the ism world there Are two types of connections to consider. The Printer can be attached to the serial input output port or the parallel port also called a Centre sonics port. The majority of printers Are parallel but Many Are also offered with serial connections. What does that mean you really did no to think that you could just take the plug and put it into the right connector and away it would go printing letter after letter. The Printer needs a piece of software called a Driver to work with a certain program. This is where the user must know what he or she wants and Check before buying something that is not going to work. If you already own a Printer you should use film that suits your purpose Carl Kramer Check to see if the program you Are going to buy has a Driver for your Printer. If however you already have a program that you like Check to see that the Printer you want to buy is supported by software. It is almost like the Chicken and the egg which do you do Host its up to you just be careful. Many printers will use their own Drivers but will also emulate other types of printers. This allows the user to use the Driver that is most i in be been advised to Stop using negative color film and use slide film. My Friend says photographers a a serious about improving use slide film because its an inherently Superior format and prints which Are my main interest from slides Are better than prints from negatives. Is he right a computers suited for getting the final desired output. A warning sometimes the emulation will not support a certain function that you like on the Printer you bought because some software will not run the emulation in the same Way it would have driven the original Printer. It can Lead to a lot of frustration so try to find out in Advance if the combination you Are planning to use will work. Computer user clubs Are a Good source for this kind of information. The Quality of the characters that your Printer puts on paper depends on the method used to produce the print. The Dot matrix Printer produces print by striking a ribbon with a set of Needles. The cheapest form of the Dot matrix Printer uses nine Needles called pins. The character is formed by striking a pattern matrix. The matrix photography size depends on the amount of characters that Are to be produced per Inch. This is normally referred to As the character pitch. Another important term used is the number of characters per second that the Printer will produce. This number is normally divided into two parts. The first number is for the Dratt Mode which produces a rough copy dots Are very visible and is normally much higher than the second number. The letter Quality characters per second number is much lower because a higher density of dots is used to produce the character. On a nine pin Printer the letter Quality is produced by double striking the character. Some printers strike the second time slightly off Center to till the character pattern More thoroughly. Most printers will also print in a graphics Mode. This method of printing is to produce figures pictures larger than Normal characters maps and so on. The graphics Mode is also described by a matrix. An example would be 180-by-360 dots per Inch. Instead of producing a character matrix which is defined in the program the program can direct the Printer to go to a specific Point on the paper and print one Dot. This is called Dot addressing and allows the Printer to produce pictures. The second Type of Dot matrix Printer has 24 pins and can create a More dense character matrix. It also costs More Money. Done to forget that although two printers arc produced by the same company they will not necks shrilly use the same Printer Driver. The 24-pin Printer will produce More readable characters and will come much closer to producing letter Quality typewriter print. The graphics Mode for a 24-pin Printer also can produce much higher Quality pictures and graphics. Since the subject of printers is a lengthy one and the Choice of the right Printer can make or break a computer we will continue the discussion in the next column. Slides while prints Are easier to look at. Its also often easier to get prints processed More quickly than slides so it that s your preference stick with your film. _ a Ai would like to find out How to enlarge to poster size an approximately 25-year-old slide from an old Kodak Carousel viewer. The negative has disappeared and i done to know whether it is 35mm.a / x i not entirely. I firmly believe that each person should pursue the kind of photography that pleases him and not be forced into something else because someone says its the corrects thing to do. You like prints a then stick with prints. There a no question that slides appear to be brighter and to have Fuller color. That a because you see All of the color As Light passes through it while in a print you see color reflected from the surface. But the average person needs to have a viewer or projector to get the most from Jerry Kidder is a computer technician at the stars and stripes. I first you will not need a negative to have a slide printed. The larger labs makes these prints routinely. In a in doubt about that a old Kodak Carousel viewer. I associate that name with the Modem Kodak projectors with circular trays. These projectors Are 35mm some of the forerunners however were 110 size smaller than 35mm. Poster size prints can be made from 35mm but not 110. I suggest taking the slide from the tray turning the inner ring half a turn to the left will make it accessible and taking it to a major camera store. Washington Post suit sales Greet digital tapes booming business and a lawsuit greeted the debut of Sony  digital audio tape deck late last month. Within Days Many stores were sold out of the biggest item to hit the recording Industry since compact discs. At the same time the National music publishers association filed a class action lawsuit against Sony that claims the machines promote illegal Home taping of music and attempts to halt sales. Sony is the first company Selling popularly priced digital audio tape or Dat machines in the United states. Its introduction to the . Market had been held up by opposition from record companies fearful that the tapes ability to make near perfect recordings of cd would encourage pirating and Cut into disc sales. An agreement earlier this year settled that dispute but now the lawsuit raises a new Legal hurdle. Associated press