Mobile Assistant

For a long time I have been a reader of Habrahabr, but somehow there was no reason to write an article in the sandbox. And recently, after reading about the Stick Pop Pocket Printer , I remembered that there was such a box in the closet a long time ago:



(diskette for size estimation)



If someone doesn’t understand, this is a starship printer, and if it’s more accurate, then “A color portable bubble-jet printer with the ability to install a Canon BJC-80 scanning head”.



Main characteristics:

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Printing Method: Bubble Jet Printing



Color print:

Color Printing Cartridge VS-11e

Ink colors: Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow

Printhead: 64 nozzles for black and 24 nozzles for each color

Black ink cartridge: BCI-11Bk - approximately 40 pages (7.5% coverage)

Color ink cartridge: BCI-11C - approximately 35 pages (7.5% coverage)

Print speed: Approximately 0.3 to 2 pages per minute (color printing)

Approximately 4 pages per minute (black and white)



Black and white print:

BC-10Bk cartridge

Ink color: Black

Printhead: 128 nozzles

Ink cartridge: BCI-10 - approximately 120 pages (7.5% coverage)

Print speed: Approximately 4 pages per minute



Resolution: 360x360 dpi (720x360 dpi with anti-aliasing)



Paper Size: Standard sizes up to A4 / Legal



Interface: 8 bit Parallel, IrDA 1.0



Noise level: 45 dB or less



Energy consumption (maximum):

Standby mode: 5 W

Printing: 30 W



Weight: 1.4 kg



Dimensions: 300x157.6x57 mm



Options:

Battery NK-300 (50 pages resource)

AD-360 Universal Adapter

IS-12 Color Scanning Head







The device was brought from Germany and for at least 5 years it has been idle. I could not find the year of release on the case, but judging by the fact that there is a driver only under Windows 95/98, it is about 97-98 years. It was not possible to print it, cartridges already dried up. It was back in the days when equipment for export was produced in Japan. This printer is no exception, everywhere the label Made in Japan, even on cartridges and power supply!

Of course, by the standards of today, the speed and quality of printing is low, but at the time of release I think it was very good, especially for a mobile printer.



As is clear from the characteristics of the printer is connected to a computer either via LPT or infrared interface. The latter provides printing and scanning at a distance of one meter.





This is how it looks ready for work:





In the depths of the printer found a chest with gold cartridge for black and white printing:





Also included were a cartridge for color printing and a scanning head:







The Canon IS-12 Color Scanning Head allows you to use the printer as a full-color, continuous scanner. The transition from printing to scanning is quite simple - the cartridge is pulled out and the head for scanning is installed in its place. To return to printing, the process is performed in the reverse order.



Scanning head specifications:

Light Source: LEDs

Scan method: In 3 passes (R, G, B)

Resolution: 360 x 360 dpi

Scan speed:

Black and white: A4 format - 0.45-0.59 min / p. (LPT-ECP)

Color: A4 format - 3.16-6.58 min / p. (LPT-ECP)





The battery, declared in the options, was not included. Perhaps already thrown out.

The printer works quite loudly, at least the process of preparation for work. Although probably looking to compare, the dot-matrix printers widely used in those times in Russia were much more noisy.

I have never seen such devices anymore, I think the device was not cheap. Yes, and probably was in operation gold. Found on eBay used at a price of ~ $ 20-25, for connoisseurs.

The price in those years can only be guessed.