Subject: New color printer Tektronix Phaser 360 in Computer Lab 2105 NW
 
 We have installed a new color printer for general use that replaces a much
 older Tektronix model that was expensive to operate and difficult to access.
 
 The following description is largely "borrowed" from the Physics Department,
 which operates a similar printer.
 
 Color printing has always been complex and expensive. We believe that the
 Phaser 360 is a reasonable compromise among quality, speed, simplicity of
 use, and cost per page. It remains more difficult to obtain good color images
 than good black-and-white images, however. Some important information for
 potential users follow.
 
 The Phaser 360 is a wax jet offset printer, rather than a laser printer. This
 type of printer produces especially good transparencies for overhead
 projection. Its dot resolution (300 by 300 dots/inch in standard mode, up to
 600 by 300 dots/inch in enhanced mode) is lower than our laser printers' (600
 by 600), but its blending of wax "crayons" on transparencies produces good
 line drawings and continuous-tone images.
 
 The printer was more expensive than a Deskjet ($3.5k), but has a cost per page
 for supplies and maintenance of about 10-15 cents (depending upon amount of
 color on the page). This compares with "cheap" color printers (which cost
 less than $500 to buy, but cost about $1 per page to operate). Nevertheless,
 any color printer is considerably more expensive than black-and-white laser
 printers (which cost about 3 cents per page), and should not be used for
 black-and-white printing.
 
 This printer has different operating characteristics than a laser printer. If
 it has not printed recently, it must "melt wax" in order to get started,
 which takes several minutes. After this, it prints fairly rapidly; a color
 page of some complexity takes 30 seconds to a minute.
 
 The Phaser 360 will print well on ordinary laser printer transparencies
 (about $23 for 50 at OSU bookstore). Slightly better images are produced on
 high-quality transparencies purchased from Tektronix for about $1 each. Do
 NOT use ink-jet or thermal-wax transparencies, which will jam the printer.
 Transparencies can be fed using the transparency tray, which replaces one
 of the two paper trays, or the bypass tray. More information on how to do
 transparencies will be made available soon. 
 
 WARNING: the printer must not be moved without a 30 min cooling period after
 power-down so that the wax can solidify. Failure to wait 30 min will likely
 result in an ink spill that will damage the printer's internal components.
 
 To print from the chemistry server, use the command
 
    lp -d 2105nw_phaser filename
 
 To print from a PC, browse the network by clicking on 
 
   Network Neighborhood --> Chemistry --> Chem-nt
 
 and select "2105NW Tektronix 360". 
 
 The Phaser 360 is a "color PostScript" device, but will accept other forms
 of input as well. 
 
 Other formats can be turned into PostScript before printing. Some hints:
 
 GIF and JPEG images can be converted to color PostScript with "xv".
 
 GNUPLOT generates color if you say "set terminal postscript color". Plot
 commands then generate different colors for successive curves on simple line
 plots.
 
 Modern LaTeX (2-Epsilon) contains a "color package", as described in Leslie
 Lamport's LaTeX book (2nd edition). DVIPS generates PostScript.
 
 The graphical Web browsers (Netscape and Mosaic) generate color printing by
 default, but the user must select PostScript in some cases.
 
 If you plan serious use of color printing, you should learn more about
 printing and about the visual perception of color. For example, many people
 are surprised to discover that no color printer can exactly reproduce the
 appearance of a color monitor, and vice-versa: there are colors in each
 unit's color gamut that simply are not in the other's. We suggest reading
 "The Underground Guide to Color Printers" by M. David Stone, published by
 Addison-Wesley.
 
 Please do not abuse this printer by wasteful, expensive printing. We do not
 wish to restrict the use of the printer by various technical means, but will
 do so if the printer becomes too costly to operate. The printer should be
 used for University purposes, not private purposes. This printer is not an
 invitation to print every colorful web page or JPEG that you encounter.
 
 The Computer Support staff will be happy to help you use this printer
 effectively. We believe it is a very useful addition to the Department's
 facilities.