One of the first peripherals that most Timex/Sinclair owners purchase for their computers is a printer. Because the TS2068 as well as the older TS1000 and ZX81 did not come with a printer interface built-in, the Timex 2040 printer was an especially attractive purchase since it required no other interface, and fully supported LPRINT, LLIST, and COPY on both series of computers. Its disadvantages were the use of thermal roll paper and only 32 characters per line.
To allow users to go beyond the TS2040, various suppliers have introduced centronics parallel interfaces either as stand alone units or as part of another piece of hardware, such as a disk drive or microdrive interface. Current popular interfaces for the 2068 include the Tasman, Aerco, A & J, and Wafadrive.
Here at SUM we use, or have used, a variety of full size printers with our T/S machines. As the prices of printers continue to drop, it becomes more and more practical (financially) for users to add one or another of the printers available. Here are a pair that we have some experience with, and are somet imes advertised in the pages of SUM.
BROTHER DM-5 DOT MATRIX PRINTER. This little printer is a marvel. It has one of the smallest “footprints” of any full-page printer I’ve seen. It is about 13″ wide by 7″ deep and less than 3″ tall. Compare this to a Gemini 10X at 13″ by 12″ by 6″, typical for Epson type printers. This means that the DM-5 is almost portable; I say almost since it is not battery powered (though a battery powered version does exist). However, small size does not mean lack of quality.
SUM obtained our DM-5 from Foote Software for about $150. The printer has BOTH a parallel and a serial port, selectable by a set of dip switches. It comes standard with a typewriter style friction paper feed though a snap-on tractor feed is available as an option (adding the tractor increases the height). The ribbon is in an easy-to-install snap-in cartridge rated at about 1/2 million characters. Speed in normal pica (10 cpi) is rated at 50 characters per second. In addition to pica, the DM-5 can print double-sized, condensed, underlined, bold, and super and subscripts. Using standard Epson software commands the DM-5 runs happily with Tasword II, Quill, OCP Word Manager, and BASIC.
I enjoyed very much the friction feed. It is one of the easiest I have ever used on a dot matrix printer, perhaps because friction feed is an afterthought on most printers of this kind, but standard on the DM-5. Standard 9 1/2″ tractor tractor feed or 8 1/2″ letter size paper feeds happily through with little shifting from top to bottom.
The Brother DM-5 belongs to the same family as the Brother M-1009, M-1109, and Centronics GLP. Consequently, ribbons should be commonly available at office supply stores and others which stock computer supplies and printer ribbons. Certainly if you must travel with your computer, or have a very limited desktop, or must constantly be putting away your computer to make room for other things, the DM-5 is an excellent choice.
SINCLAIR QL PRINTER. The printer which many purchase when they obtain their QL, the QL Printer is a serial interface, all black dot matrix printer with a very nice NLQ (near letter quality) printout in addition to its standard dot matrix out put. In NLQ the print head goes over each line twice, the second time filling in the spaces between the dots which make up each letter.
Like the Brother DM-5 above, the QL Printer basically acts like an Epson so it runs well with most software. As the QL computer comes standard with an RS-232 Interface, the printer can be used immediately without having to worry about dip switch settings, interfaces, etc. T/S users with a Sinclair Interface I may also use the QL printer with suitable cable. I have heard of some who have connected it to the RS-232 port available on the back of the Zebra disk drive interface, though I don’t know if they have gotten Tasword Il to output to that port yet. (Perhaps some of our readers can share their experiences with that particular serial port.)
More traditionally sized, the QL Printer is rated at 100 cps in standard print mode, and 20 cps in NLQ mode. A pleasant surprise is the addition of an italic font to the standard fonts as listed with the DM-5 above. Opening the printer case reveals a tightly packed package with Seikosha SP80 plainly imprinted on the circuit board. This reveals what simple observation confirms–the Radio Shack DMP-130 is basically the same computer though the Radio Shack is a different color and includes a parallel interface. Therefore, additional ribbons are as near as your local Radio Shack Computer Center.
SUM readers who wish to see what the NLQ looks like are referred back to December 1985 SUM in which most of the first 17 pages of that issue were all done on the Sinclair QL Printer. We purchased our printer from the English Micro Connection though most QL dealers should be able to supply the same printer for $300-350.
Loading the QL Printer is a little difficult when using the tractor feed, but it feeds fine once loaded. The friction feed also is a little tricky. A feed table on the back of the printer helps line up single sheets. A special lever on the right side of the computer will automatically advance a single sheet of paper into the printer so that the printhead is positioned about 1″ down the page for beginning printing.
We hope to review additional printers In future issues of SUM, including a 20 cps daisy wheel printer and the Panasonic 1080, each of which sell for $250-300 and provide excellent value.