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| Seiko Epson (known as Shinshu Seiki until 1975) entered the market for ]s with the ], a miniature ], in 1968. In early 1978, the company introduced their first ], the TX-80. The product of only three months of development, the TX-80 was the first sub-US$2,000 dot matrix printer on the market.<ref name=scique>{{cite book | editor1-last=Kelly | editor1-first=Jan Seaman | editor2=Brian S. Lindblom | date=2006 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Scientific_Examination_of_Questioned_Doc/jCUwEQAAQBAJ | title=Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents | publisher=Taylor & Francis | page=174 | edition=ebook | isbn=9781040080757 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=cdpt>{{cite book | editor1-last=Rosen | editor1-first=Mitchell | editor2=Noboru Ohta | date=2004 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Color_Desktop_Printer_Technology/E-rKBQAAQBAJ | title=Color Desktop Printer Technology | publisher=CRC Press | page=89 | isbn=9780367391126 | via=Google Books}}</ref> It was also Epson's first printer marketed in the United States.<ref name=getting>{{cite book | last=Kater | first=David A. | author2=Richard L. Kater | date=1986 | url=https://archive.org/details/getting-the-most-out-of-your-epson-printer | title=Getting the Most Out of Your Epson Printer | publisher=McGraw-Hill | isbn=0-07-033385-8 | via=}}</ref>{{rp|8}} Despite its relatively low cost, as well as a lucrative contract with ] to market the printer for users of their ],<ref name=scique /><ref name=cdpt /> the TX-80 sold slower than Epson had anticipated and ultimately failed to achieve a large market share, being pulled from the American market not too long after its introduction.<ref name=cdpt /><ref name=getting />{{rp|8}} | Seiko Epson (known as Shinshu Seiki until 1975) entered the market for ]s with the ], a miniature ], in 1968. In early 1978, the company introduced their first ], the TX-80. The product of only three months of development, the TX-80 was the first sub-US$2,000 dot matrix printer on the market.<ref name=scique>{{cite book | editor1-last=Kelly | editor1-first=Jan Seaman | editor2=Brian S. Lindblom | date=2006 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Scientific_Examination_of_Questioned_Doc/jCUwEQAAQBAJ | title=Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents | publisher=Taylor & Francis | page=174 | edition=ebook | isbn=9781040080757 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=cdpt>{{cite book | editor1-last=Rosen | editor1-first=Mitchell | editor2=Noboru Ohta | date=2004 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Color_Desktop_Printer_Technology/E-rKBQAAQBAJ | title=Color Desktop Printer Technology | publisher=CRC Press | page=89 | isbn=9780367391126 | via=Google Books}}</ref> It was also Epson's first printer marketed in the United States.<ref name=getting>{{cite book | last=Kater | first=David A. | author2=Richard L. Kater | date=1986 | url=https://archive.org/details/getting-the-most-out-of-your-epson-printer | title=Getting the Most Out of Your Epson Printer | publisher=McGraw-Hill | isbn=0-07-033385-8 | via=}}</ref>{{rp|8}} Despite its relatively low cost, as well as a lucrative contract with ] to market the printer for users of their ],<ref name=scique /><ref name=cdpt /> the TX-80 sold slower than Epson had anticipated and ultimately failed to achieve a large market share, being pulled from the American market not too long after its introduction.<ref name=cdpt /><ref name=getting />{{rp|8}} | ||
| Epson then spent three years devising their next dot matrix printer. During development, the company pioneered a number of features, such as logical bidirectional printing to maximize throughput; and disposable printheads—the latter an industry first.<ref name=getting />{{rp|4}}<ref name=throwaway>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=December 8, 1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mD4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT27 | title=Throwaway Printhead Launched | work=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=2 | issue=22 | page=27 | via=Google Books}}</ref> The resulting MX-80 was released October 1980, amid a period of explosive growth in the ] industry.<ref name=getting />{{rp|5}}<ref>{{cite journal | last=Valigra | first=Lori | date=January 1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_MiniMicroS_206762522/page/187/ | title=A look at the Japanese printer industry | work=Mini-Micro Systems | publisher=Cahners Publishing | volume=XV | issue=1 | pages=187–204 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|191}} Epson supported the rollout of the MX-80 with an extensive print marketing campaign, produced by Ripley-Woodbury Advertising.<ref name=getting />{{rp|4–5}} The company meanwhile hired David A. Lien, a prolific computer writer at the time, to write the printer's manual in a user-friendly manner, eschewing the jargon and otherwise terse technical language ubiquitous in contemporary printer manuals.<ref name=getting />{{rp|6–7}} Epson also partnered with the retailer ] for the latter to sell and service MX-80, supplementing Epson's own national service centers.<ref name=getting />{{rp|7}} | Epson then spent three years devising their next dot matrix printer. During development, the company pioneered a number of features, such as logical bidirectional printing to maximize throughput; and disposable printheads—the latter an industry first.<ref name=getting />{{rp|4}}<ref name=throwaway>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=December 8, 1980 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mD4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT27 | title=Throwaway Printhead Launched | work=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=2 | issue=22 | page=27 | via=Google Books}}</ref> The resulting MX-80 was released October 1980, amid a period of explosive growth in the ] industry.<ref name=getting />{{rp|5}}<ref name=mms>{{cite journal | last=Valigra | first=Lori | date=January 1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_MiniMicroS_206762522/page/187/ | title=A look at the Japanese printer industry | work=Mini-Micro Systems | publisher=Cahners Publishing | volume=XV | issue=1 | pages=187–204 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|191}} Epson supported the rollout of the MX-80 with an extensive print marketing campaign, produced by Ripley-Woodbury Advertising.<ref name=getting />{{rp|4–5}} The company meanwhile hired David A. Lien, a prolific computer writer at the time, to write the printer's manual in a user-friendly manner, eschewing the jargon and otherwise terse technical language ubiquitous in contemporary printer manuals.<ref name=getting />{{rp|6–7}} Epson also partnered with the retailer ] for the latter to sell and service MX-80, supplementing Epson's own national service centers.<ref name=getting />{{rp|7}} | ||
| ==Specifications== | ==Specifications== | ||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
| The MX-80's printhead is a 9-pin design, allowing for a maximum vertical resolution of nine dots per line.<ref name=getting />{{rp|52}} Across an eight-inch space, the MX-80 can print lines in densities of 40, 66, 80, or 132 columns.<ref name=throwaway /> While textual characters are normally laid out in a 6 by 9 dot grid, the printer's ROM can have the printhead impact the paper in half-steps horizontally, allowing for slightly smoother letterforms.<ref name=getting />{{rp|52–53}} The miniscule printhead is good for roughly 50 million character impressions; after its end-of-life, the printhead can disposed of and replaced by the end user without needing tools. The MX-80 was the first printer on the market with disposable, user-servicable printheads, with replacement heads costing roughly US$30 in 1980.<ref name=throwaway /> | The MX-80's printhead is a 9-pin design, allowing for a maximum vertical resolution of nine dots per line.<ref name=getting />{{rp|52}} Across an eight-inch space, the MX-80 can print lines in densities of 40, 66, 80, or 132 columns.<ref name=throwaway /> While textual characters are normally laid out in a 6 by 9 dot grid, the printer's ROM can have the printhead impact the paper in half-steps horizontally, allowing for slightly smoother letterforms.<ref name=getting />{{rp|52–53}} The miniscule printhead is good for roughly 50 million character impressions; after its end-of-life, the printhead can disposed of and replaced by the end user without needing tools. The MX-80 was the first printer on the market with disposable, user-servicable printheads, with replacement heads costing roughly US$30 in 1980.<ref name=throwaway /> | ||
| The MX-80 is capable of printing all 95 printable ] characters.<ref name=getting />{{rp|11}} The printer also supports printing ] characters from a set of 64 characters (corresponding to the ]). This allows for the creation of low-resolution graphical prints. A set of ]es on the back of the MX-80 can be flipped to switch out the stock ASCII character set with ones for other languages, including a Japanese '']'' character set. By sending certain escape characters to the printer, text can be formatted in a multitude of ways, including varying the width and ] of each character.<ref name=getting />{{rp|13}} Weight can be increased by ] each letter in one of two modes: "emphasized mode", in which the character is doublestruck after advancing the printhead the length of a half-dot; and "double-strike mode", in which the paper is advanced 1/216th of an inch and doublestruck.<ref name=getting />{{rp| |
The MX-80 is capable of printing all 95 printable ] characters.<ref name=getting />{{rp|11}} The printer also supports printing ] characters from a set of 64 characters (corresponding to the ]). This allows for the creation of low-resolution graphical prints. A set of ]es on the back of the MX-80 can be flipped to switch out the stock ASCII character set with ones for other languages, including a Japanese '']'' character set. By sending certain escape characters to the printer, text can be formatted in a multitude of ways, including varying the width and ] of each character.<ref name=getting />{{rp|13}} Weight can be increased by ] each letter in one of two modes: "emphasized mode", in which the character is doublestruck after advancing the printhead the length of a half-dot; and "double-strike mode", in which the paper is advanced 1/216th of an inch and doublestruck.<ref name=getting />{{rp|80–82}} | ||
| ==Sales and reception== | |||
| The MX-80 was an immediate critical and commercial success for Epson, the company selling tens of thousands of units within two months of its introduction. Over 200 thousand MX-80s were sold throughout the entirety of 1981, with monthly production ramping up from 10,000 units a month in January 1981 to 40,000 units a month in October that year.<ref name=mms />{{rp|191}} By 1982 the MX-80 had captured half of the global market share for 80-column printers, with a 35-percent share in the United States, a 60-percent share in Europe, and a 70-percent share in Japan.<ref name=mms />{{rp|191}} It was the best-selling dot-matrix printer for much of the 1980s, its global market share peaking at 60 percent.<ref name=null>{{cite journal | last=Null | first=Christopher | date=April 2, 2007 | url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/id%2C130207-page%2C10-c%2Ctechnology/article.html | title=The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time | work=PC World | publisher=IDG Publications | page=41–45 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510192512/http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130207-page,10-c,technology/article.html | archivedate=May 10, 2007}}</ref> By the end of the MX-80's lifespan in the late 1980s, Epson had sold well over one million units of the printer.<ref>{{cite book | last=Webster | first=Edward | date=2000 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Print_Unchained/FZ09AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22MX-80%22+%22epson%22+%22over+one+million%22&dq=%22MX-80%22+%22epson%22+%22over+one+million%22&printsec=frontcover | title=Print Unchained: Fifty Years of Digital Printing, 1950–2000 and Beyond, A Saga of Invention and Enterprise | publisher=DRA of Vermont | page=180 | isbn=9780970261700 | via=Google Books}}</ref> According to the '']'' writers David and Richard Kater, the widespread adoption of the MX-80 was down to a mixture of the printer's low price, ease of use, and smart design, as well as Epson's marketing push and the meteoric growth of the personal computer market.<ref name=getting />{{rp|5}} | |||
| ==References== | ==References== | ||
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| Manufacturer | Seiko Epson |
|---|---|
| Introduced | October 1980; 44 years ago (1980-10) |
| Type | Serial dot matrix printer |
| Connection | Serial |
The MX-80 is a serial dot matrix printer introduced by Seiko Epson in 1980. The MX-80 is capable of printing a maximum of 132 columns per line, while its 9-pin printhead was the first disposable, user-servicable printhead on the market. The MX-80 was a massive commercial success for Epson and soon became the best-selling dot matrix printer in the world, selling over well one million units over the course of its market lifespan. It enjoyed a high level of popularity in the personal computer marketplace for much of the 1980s and was the progenitor of the ESC/P printer control language, which became a de facto standard for manufacturers of inexpensive dot matrix printers. Epson released a number of succeeding revisions of the MX-80 before replacing the entire line with the FX-80 in 1983.
Background and development
Seiko Epson (known as Shinshu Seiki until 1975) entered the market for computer printers with the EP-101, a miniature drum printer, in 1968. In early 1978, the company introduced their first serial dot matrix printer, the TX-80. The product of only three months of development, the TX-80 was the first sub-US$2,000 dot matrix printer on the market. It was also Epson's first printer marketed in the United States. Despite its relatively low cost, as well as a lucrative contract with Commodore to market the printer for users of their PET microcomputer, the TX-80 sold slower than Epson had anticipated and ultimately failed to achieve a large market share, being pulled from the American market not too long after its introduction.
Epson then spent three years devising their next dot matrix printer. During development, the company pioneered a number of features, such as logical bidirectional printing to maximize throughput; and disposable printheads—the latter an industry first. The resulting MX-80 was released October 1980, amid a period of explosive growth in the microcomputer industry. Epson supported the rollout of the MX-80 with an extensive print marketing campaign, produced by Ripley-Woodbury Advertising. The company meanwhile hired David A. Lien, a prolific computer writer at the time, to write the printer's manual in a user-friendly manner, eschewing the jargon and otherwise terse technical language ubiquitous in contemporary printer manuals. Epson also partnered with the retailer ComputerLand for the latter to sell and service MX-80, supplementing Epson's own national service centers.
Specifications
The case of the MX-80 measures roughly 12 by 15 by 4 inches (300 by 380 by 100 mm). Its pin-feed platen is adjustable, supporting tractor-feed paper between 4 and 10 inches (100 and 250 mm) wide. The original version of the MX-80 printer requires the use of tractor-feed paper and lacks a friction-feed platen; later variants of the MX-80 come with both a tractor-feed platen and a pin-feed platen, with the latter as a removable piece. The printer's electronics contain a sufficient data buffer to allow the printhead to print bidirectionally—printing in the opposite direction immediately after reaching the end of one line—in order to minimize the printhead's seek time and maximize throughput. In addition, the MX-80's firmware ROM takes count of the length of each line printed as well as the position of the printhead on the paper in order to calculate exactly how much and in what direction the printhead needs to move to reach the start (or end) of the next line. This logical bidirectional printing increases throughput further. The MX-80 also detects special escape characters as part of its printer control language, allowing the printhead to be tabbed over to specific areas on the page, useful for automated form filling.
The MX-80's printhead is a 9-pin design, allowing for a maximum vertical resolution of nine dots per line. Across an eight-inch space, the MX-80 can print lines in densities of 40, 66, 80, or 132 columns. While textual characters are normally laid out in a 6 by 9 dot grid, the printer's ROM can have the printhead impact the paper in half-steps horizontally, allowing for slightly smoother letterforms. The miniscule printhead is good for roughly 50 million character impressions; after its end-of-life, the printhead can disposed of and replaced by the end user without needing tools. The MX-80 was the first printer on the market with disposable, user-servicable printheads, with replacement heads costing roughly US$30 in 1980.
The MX-80 is capable of printing all 95 printable ASCII characters. The printer also supports printing block graphics characters from a set of 64 characters (corresponding to the TRS-80 character set). This allows for the creation of low-resolution graphical prints. A set of DIP switches on the back of the MX-80 can be flipped to switch out the stock ASCII character set with ones for other languages, including a Japanese katakana character set. By sending certain escape characters to the printer, text can be formatted in a multitude of ways, including varying the width and weight of each character. Weight can be increased by doublestriking each letter in one of two modes: "emphasized mode", in which the character is doublestruck after advancing the printhead the length of a half-dot; and "double-strike mode", in which the paper is advanced 1/216th of an inch and doublestruck.
Sales and reception
The MX-80 was an immediate critical and commercial success for Epson, the company selling tens of thousands of units within two months of its introduction. Over 200 thousand MX-80s were sold throughout the entirety of 1981, with monthly production ramping up from 10,000 units a month in January 1981 to 40,000 units a month in October that year. By 1982 the MX-80 had captured half of the global market share for 80-column printers, with a 35-percent share in the United States, a 60-percent share in Europe, and a 70-percent share in Japan. It was the best-selling dot-matrix printer for much of the 1980s, its global market share peaking at 60 percent. By the end of the MX-80's lifespan in the late 1980s, Epson had sold well over one million units of the printer. According to the Byte writers David and Richard Kater, the widespread adoption of the MX-80 was down to a mixture of the printer's low price, ease of use, and smart design, as well as Epson's marketing push and the meteoric growth of the personal computer market.
References
- ^ Kelly, Jan Seaman; Brian S. Lindblom, eds. (2006). Scientific Examination of Questioned Documents (ebook ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 174. ISBN 9781040080757 – via Google Books.
- ^ Rosen, Mitchell; Noboru Ohta, eds. (2004). Color Desktop Printer Technology. CRC Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780367391126 – via Google Books.
- ^ Kater, David A.; Richard L. Kater (1986). Getting the Most Out of Your Epson Printer. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-033385-8.
- ^ Staff writer (December 8, 1980). "Throwaway Printhead Launched". InfoWorld. 2 (22). IDG Publications: 27 – via Google Books.
- ^ Valigra, Lori (January 1982). "A look at the Japanese printer industry". Mini-Micro Systems. XV (1). Cahners Publishing: 187–204 – via Google Books.
- Null, Christopher (April 2, 2007). "The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time". PC World. IDG Publications: 41–45. Archived from the original on May 10, 2007.
- Webster, Edward (2000). Print Unchained: Fifty Years of Digital Printing, 1950–2000 and Beyond, A Saga of Invention and Enterprise. DRA of Vermont. p. 180. ISBN 9780970261700 – via Google Books.