Aucbvax.2620 fa.printers utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!MILLER@MIT-AI Tue Aug 11 09:35:50 1981 Diablo Models, Request for Info From: Mark L. Miller o The new model 630 (this may be the Xerox model #) -- the one with the ability to use EITHER plastic OR metal wheels interchangeably -- is out. It is currently only in RO form (no kbd). However, there are rumors that it is unreliable. I have heard this both from an individual user who has had problems with its touch-sensitive button pad (the controls are similar to a McDonalds cash register), and from the service center of a local vendor. Can anyone else confirm or deny this rumor? o Our lab has a 1750, which uses metal wheels, and have found that they get chewed up rather quickly. Hence we are leaning toward plastic wheel models in the future, since they are much cheaper, appear to last nearly as long, and (because they are cheaper) allow you to stock a larger library of variety fonts. The "nearly as long" is based on crude information, e.g., individual usage at home (obviously not as demanding as lab use). Other opinions on this tradeoff? o I have decided to lease a 1640 (plastic wheels) for home use and spent a fair amount of time trying to decide whether to get the "HyPlot" option. I **THINK** the only "con" is additional cost (but for all I know it may also, e.g., break some software or something...). The "pros" seem to be ease/speed of creating vectors with a resolution of 1/120th inch per dot. However, none of the reps could answer any of my questions about this. Does anyone have any experience with this feature? Is it worth getting given a need to occasionally mix simple graphics (e.g., block diagrams) with letter-quality text? Thanks, Mark ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.