Its 2016. Is it feasible to own and operate a dot matrix printer

>>56505896
Yes

>>56506027
I cant even find an online community of enthusiasts.

That Panasonic is pretty based. Not quite Oki-tier, but those goddamn things will print on unrolled Coke cans.

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>>56505896
I have a tally genicom I use on a consistent basis to piss off my roommate.

I print asci art on it and post it on our fridge

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I recently bought this ibm proprinter for five bucks and will use it for some simple text stuff here and there, also as backup printer in case one of the others decides to fuck up right on time

>>56506165
>>56506295
>>56506190
And you can get drivers?

>>56506366
in case of really popular printers like the proprinter you can actually find drivers or test compatible drivers like in this case by lexmark.

but of course you won't probably able to get this to work in W10. XP and older is easy, lunix works probably too

>>56505896
Why would you want to?

Haven't used mine in a good bit because I got a full sized copier, mine last ran on a Windows 7 machine, Panasonic that made sonic booms as it printed! They are great always keep one.

I've still got my Star NX-1000C.

>>56505896
We have these at work, they are great at printing lots of simple text. Real workhorses.

I've had this printer since 1995. I can even get new ribbons for it. So yes, it's feasible.

>>56505896
Yes, I have an old okidata that can even work on a modern computer with a USB to centronics adapter and lpr. Considered printing your post but it's hella loud and would wake the neighbors. A company even manufactures new ribbons for it.

>>56506102
Why would a printer that just works and has almost zero downtime require a "community", scratch that, why would any printer require a community? The drivers are universally available on any OS, just look for IBM compatible printer, what else do you need?

>>56509298

microsoft are fucking with LPT support at the moment.

>>56509317
How so exactly?

The one thing that literally just worked since DOS, which did not require a single driver, what the fuck are they doing to the print spool service?

Is there any reason someone would use this over a laser printer?

>>56509412
Cheap ribbons, longer work life of the machine

If you're a business you may need the "impact" for forms, also continuous paper feed

>>56509412
Tattoo artists use them to create the stencil if they're not tracing them by hand. I'm sure it would be nifty outside of tattooing, for other art faggy things

>>56509412
The only real advantage it has is being cheap to run if all you need is plain text. A priority for a number of business uses, but not all that useful for personal use.

>>56506553
Have a requirement for physical, multicopy forms.

>>56509578
Just curious why you say it's "not at all useful for personal use"? Is it the upfront cost or the functionality?

>>56509619
Which is pretty much exclusively a business thing.

>>56509661
Functionality, when compared with a more easily available cheap laser printer. You CAN use a dot matrix printer at home, certainly, but you'll generally have to go further out of your way to get one (and its supplies), and it's not well suited to the typical home use cases.

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>>56506102
>dot matrix printer community

>>56509810
>out of your way to get supplies
Hmm anon, literally all and any office supply stores will carry ribbon cartridges for dot matrix because they're so ubiquitous in the field. I don't know about walking in a staples and buying one off the shelf that may not be as easy but you surely can find the ribbon, there are no more supplies.

I have a dot matrix printer that was made in communist Russia and it still works with 64-bit GNU/Linux out of the box.

>>56509810
In the future I may actually get a dot matrix because of the cost of cartridges for laser is so high when compared to dot matrix, and since I don't have much of a need for high quality texts and picture, matrix will be pretty good.

>>56505896
back when printers had a manual that had a full protocol specification.

>>56509870
Well, ribbons might not be as hard to come across as I'm making them out to be. But there's still no advantage over a cheap laser for home use.

>>56509900
I suppose you're right in a way. Lasers run around what? $100? What's the price of a cartridge run you? $20 maybe? You're looking at a... Two year life cycle for the laser printer?

Dot matrix, will run $200+ up front, ribbons less than $7 and will work for over twenty years with hard use.

It is really a matter of personal preference

Which models are the best to get at the moment? I have one for my c64 but it's not really good.

>>56509958
Two years if you really use the shit out of it, longer with a moderate load.

But my point isn't so much cost effectiveness, but the kind of printing it does. Dot matrix doesn't look as good, which can be an issue for use cases like printing a resume, letter to someone, that sort of thing. They're slower, not a big deal to everyone, but who wants to wait longer than they have to?

I'm in SEA at the moment and most small shops will print you a giant receipt with one.

>>56509989
Go for 24 pin over 9 pin, you'll really see a difference in print quality.

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>>56505896

Yes.