afandian 11 hours ago

The original Apple LaserWriter had a 68000 chip that was more powerful than the Mac it was attached to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68000_series#Main_use...

  • TMWNN 8 hours ago

    The Commodore 1541 and related drives use the same 6502 CPU as the C64, VIC-20, and other computers they connect to. It is possible to, for example, run a disk duplicator program on a Commodore computer connected to two drives, which executes code on both drives so that they can be disconnected from the computer but continue to copy disks from one to another.

0_____0 12 hours ago

I would love to know what business niche these have been filling in Japan - TFA states that this series of machine has been offered since 1984.

Does it have an operating system like Win/*nix? Or something more bespoke? Does it offer the user an experience free of internet related distractions?

  • LegitShady 11 hours ago

    dot matrix printers use impact printing - it physically strikes the paper to push an inky ribbon against the paper, like an old school typewriter ribbon.

    for areas where carbon copies are required a laser or inkjet printer won't replace a dot matrix printer because they can't activate the carbon layer by physically touching it - you'd have print the form again and sign each one, or something similar.

netsharc 12 hours ago

After yesterday's retro-look case https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42180217 I was expecting someone got an old dot matrix printer, gutted it and put in a modern PC into it.

Let me check eBay for printers...

  • justsomehnguy 11 hours ago

    ~> Got an old dot matrix printer, gutted^W it^W and put in a modern PC into it

    attached a keyboard and run ed like it's '73 again?

throwaway81523 10 hours ago

As article alludes, this is basically an industrial or point of sale device. I imagine it in something like a car repair shop, where your order and estimate gets printed on a 3 part carbonless form. More compact than a PC with a separate printer, but I bet it's expensive. Still cool.

snvzz 9 hours ago

Inkjet printers come and go, whereas dot matrix are still reliable workhorses.

Our Fujitsu DL1100 from the early 90s (DPL24C+ command set) is still as good as ever.

ClassyJacket 13 hours ago

I thought I was about to read about a cool old computer from the late 80s, not something from 2024

  • kazinator 4 hours ago

    Same here it's because of the way the subject is written. The emphatic word "entire" suggests that it is impressive to be able to stuff a PC into that form factor, which it has not been for at least two decades. Before clicking on it I was like, surely this is some retro material, not current?