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Thewikifox/sandbox3
PresentazioneMarch 1, 1985
DismissioneFebruary 1, 1988
ProcessoreMotorola 68000
Frequenza12 MHz
RAM minima1.5 MB
RAM Massima1.5 MB
Slot RAM{{{slotram}}}
ROM512 kB
PorteSerial, LocalTalk
TipologiaLaser
Colori1
DPI300
Velocità8 Pages Per Minute
Linguaggio{{{linguaggio}}}
Potenza760 Watts Watt
Peso77 lb Kg
DimensioneA L P (H × W × D) 11.5 × 18.5 × 16.2 in cm

La LaserWriter è stata una stampante laser che utilizzava come linguaggio di descrizione di pagina il PostScript immessa sul mercato dalla Apple nel 1985. È stata una delle prime stampanti laser disponibili sul mercato. Assieme al programma PageMaker, la LaserWriter ha avuto un ruolo fondamentale nell'avvio della rivoluzione del desktop publishing[1][2]. La stampante era progettata per essere utilizzata in congiunzione con un Macintosh; Apple non ha mai rilasciato driver per altri computer.

Storia

Sviluppo della stampa laser

L'inizio dello sviluppo della stampa laser risale al 1969 ed al lavoro di Gary Starkweather alla Xerox, che portò alla produzione della Xerox 9700 nel 1977[3]. Parallelamente, l'IBM portò avanti la ricerca nel settore, arrivando nel 1976 all'elaborazione del sistema IBM 3800[4].

Intorno alla metà degli anni 70 anche la Canon cominciò ad investire sulla produzione di stampanti laser, avviando una partnership con la Hewlett-Packard; così, dieci anni dopo, fu prodotta la HP 2680[5]. Il primo modello desktop di stampante laser fu introdotto dalla HP nel 1983 e lanciato sul mercato al prezzo di 12800 $, ma le vendite furono pochissime[5]. Sempre nel 1983 la Canon mise a punto la LPB-CX, una stampante laser dotata di un diodo laser che stampava con una risoluzione di 300dpi[6]. Nel 1984 la HP lanciò sul mercato la prima stampante laser commerciale basata sulla LBP-CX: la HP LaserJet[4].

Lo sviluppo in casa Apple

Steve Jobs vide la LPB-CX mentre trattava per delle forniture di floppy disk da 3.5" per l'Apple Macintosh. Nel frattempo John Warnock aveva lasciato la Xerox per fondare la Adobe Systems e mettere in commercio una stampante laser basata sul PostScript. Jobs era al corrente del lavoro di Warnock e riuscì a trattare con lui ed ottenere la licenza d'uso del PostScript dalla Adobe per produrre una stampante laser in casa Apple. Le trattative tra Apple ed Adobe si conclusero nel dicembre 1983, appena un mese prima che venisse annunciata l'uscita del Macintosh[7]. Steve Jobs alla fine fece comprare alla Apple 2.5 milioni di dollari di azioni della Adobe.

Rilascio

Il rilascio della LaserWriter fu annunciato all'incontro annuale degli azionisti Apple il 23 gennaio 1985[8], lo stesso giorno in cui Aldus rivelò PageMaker[9].

Le vendite iniziarono nel marzo 1985[10] al prezzo di 6.995 dollari, molto più alto rispetto al modello della HP. Comunque, la LaserWriter aveva una peculiarità: il supporto AppleTalk, che permetteva di condividere la stampante con ben sedici Mac.

Caratteristiche

Hardware

PostScript is a complete programming language that has to be run in a suitable interpreter and then sent to a software rasterizer program, all inside the printer. To support this, the LaserWriter featured a Motorola 68000 CPU running at 12 MHz, 512 kB of workspace RAM, and a 1 MB frame buffer.[11] At introduction, the LaserWriter had the most processing power in Apple’s product line—more than the 8 MHz Macintosh. As a result, the LaserWriter was also one of Apple's most expensive offerings.

Networking

Since the cost of a LaserWriter was several times that of a dot-matrix impact printer, some means to share the printer with several Macs was desired. LANs were complex and expensive, so Apple developed its own networking scheme, LocalTalk. Based on the AppleTalk protocol stack, LocalTalk connected the LaserWriter to the Mac over an RS-422 serial port. At 230.4 kbit/s LocalTalk was slower than the Centronics PC parallel interface, but allowed several computers to share a single LaserWriter. PostScript enabled the LaserWriter to print complex pages containing high-resolution bitmap graphics, outline fonts, and vector illustrations. The LaserWriter could print more complex layouts than the HP Laserjet and other non-Postscript printers. Paired with the program Aldus PageMaker, the LaserWriter gave the layout editor an exact replica of the printed page. The LaserWriter offered a generally faithful proofing tool for preparing documents for quantity publication, and could print smaller quantities directly. The Mac platform quickly gained the favor of the emerging desktop-publishing industry, a market in which the Mac is still important.[12]

Design

The LaserWriter was the first major printer designed by Apple to use the new Snow White design language created by Frogdesign. It also continued a departure from the beige color that characterized the Apple and Macintosh products to that time by using the same brighter, creamy off-white color first introduced with the Apple IIc and Apple Scribe Printer 8 months earlier. In that regard it and its successors stood out among all of Apple’s Macintosh product offerings until 1987, when Apple adopted a unifying warm gray color they called Platinum across its entire product line, which was to last for over a decade.

The LaserWriter was also the first peripheral to use the LocalTalk connector and Apple’s unified round AppleTalk Connector Family, which allowed any variety of mechanical networking systems to be plugged into the ports on the computers or printers. A common solution was the 3rd party PhoneNet which used conventional telephone cables for networking.

Modelli

  Lo stesso argomento in dettaglio: List of Apple printers § Laser printer series.

Building on the success of the original LaserWriter, Apple developed many further models. Later LaserWriters offered faster printing, higher resolutions, Ethernet connectivity, and eventually color output in the Color LaserWriter. To compete, many other laser printer manufacturers licensed Adobe PostScript for inclusion into their own models. Eventually the standardization on Ethernet for connectivity and the ubiquity of PostScript undermined the unique position of Apple’s printers: Macintosh computers functioned equally well with any Postscript printer. After the LaserWriter 8500, Apple discontinued the LaserWriter product line in 1997.

LaserWriter II

In 1988, to address the need for both an affordable printer and a professional printer, the LaserWriter II was designed to allow for complete replacement of the computer circuit board that operates the printer. Across all the different models, the print engine was the same.

  • For low-end users, there was the LaserWriter II SC,[13] a host-based QuickDraw printer connected via SCSI that did not use PostScript and did not require a license from Adobe. It had two SCSI ports to allow daisy-chaining of the printer with other SCSI devices such as hard drives. It did not support AppleTalk.
  • For midrange users, the LaserWriter II NT[14] provided PostScript support and AppleTalk networking.
  • For high-end users, the LaserWriter II NTX[15] also included a SCSI controller for storage of printer fonts on a hard drive dedicated for use by the printer.

Three years later in 1991, two updated versions of the LaserWriter II were produced.

  • The LaserWriter IIf[16] had a faster processor than the IINTX, a newer version of PostScript and also HP PCL, and included the SCSI interface for font storage on an external hard drive
  • The LaserWriter IIg[17] had the capabilities of the IIf, and was also the first LaserWriter with a built-in Ethernet network interface.

Note

  1. ^ (EN) H. A. Tucker:Desktop Publishing. In: Maurice M. de Ruiter: Advances in Computer Graphics III. Springer, 1988, ISBN 3-540-18788-X, P. 296.
  2. ^ (EN) Michael B. Spring: Electronic printing and publishing: the document processing revolution. CRC Press, 1991, ISBN 0-8247-8544-4, Page 46.
  3. ^ (EN) Personal Recollections of the Xerox 9700 Electronic Printing System, su digibarn.com. URL consultato il 30-05-2013.
  4. ^ a b (EN) Benji Edwards: Five Most Important Printers. macworld.com, December 10, 2009.
  5. ^ a b (EN) Jim Hall,"HP LaserJet – The Early History"
  6. ^ (EN) Canon LBP-CX Engine, su fixyourownprinter.com. URL consultato il 23 settembre 2009.
  7. ^ Errore nelle note: Errore nell'uso del marcatore <ref>: non è stato indicato alcun testo per il marcatore pfiff-2003
  8. ^ (EN) Jim Bartimo, Michael McCarthy:"Is Apple's LaserWriter on Target?", InfoWorld, Volume 7 Issue 6 (11 February 1985), pp. 15-18.
  9. ^ (EN) Aldus Announces Desktop Publishing System ... BusinessWire, January 23, 1985.
  10. ^ Macintosh Timeline
  11. ^ "LaserWriter: Technical Specifications", Apple
  12. ^ http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2009/04/cnbc_on_the_mac_vs_pc_fight.html
  13. ^ http://support.apple.com/kb/SP474
  14. ^ http://support.apple.com/kb/SP475
  15. ^ http://support.apple.com/kb/SP476
  16. ^ http://support.apple.com/kb/SP477
  17. ^ http://support.apple.com/kb/SP478

Template:Apple printers Template:Apple hardware before 1998


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