Color version of "The Print Shop" for Commodore machines?

[Brandon Taylor]

I had an Apple //e growing up, but looking back on things from today, sometimes I wish it were a Commodore 64.

My Apple //e had a nice app called "The Print Shop" that could print to my ImageWriter II which had a CMYK ribbon. I have a few questions:

1. Was there ever a color version of "The Print Shop" available for the Commodore 8-bit family of computers?
2. Or was everything printed in monochrome?
3. Are there any .D64 images of "The Print Shop" graphics disks which are compatible with the Commodore 8-bit family of computers?

[Merman]

I personally do not remember any colour version.

There were very few directly-compatible colour printers for C64. There was an Okimate printer with the IEC port, and a couple of models of Star printer.

There would have to be a printer driver especially written.

One solution would be to transfer the graphics to GEOS and use its printer drivers, as there are several ways to convert PrintShop/PrintMaster graphics to a GEOS format.

[Brandon Taylor]

Post by Merman
and a couple of models of Star printer.

Those wouldn't include the NL-10, would it? That's the only Star printer that VICE is able to emulate.

Post by Merman
One solution would be to transfer the graphics to GEOS and use its printer drivers, as there are several ways to convert PrintShop/PrintMaster graphics to a GEOS format.

Such as how? I unfortunately cannot get GEOS's Convert utility to work on any of the graphics that I found on some Print Shop graphics disks.

[r***@iglou.com]

FWIW, there was a color-printing version of Print Shop for the Apple II. It worked with the Apple Dot Matrix Printer. IIRC, graphics were printed out in 4 colors.
It was great to see such color print-outs at the middle school.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

[Ron Lauzon]

-=> Brandon Taylor wrote to All <=-

BT> 1. Was there ever a color version of "The Print Shop" available for the
BT> Commodore 8-bit family of computers?

I don't believe so. I used to work for a Commodore reseller back in the day,
and I don't recall there being a color printer option for the C64.

There probably were color printers at the time, but they would have been priced
far above what a C64 user could have paid.

So there would have been no demand for a C64 color Print Shop.

[J.B. Wood]

Post by Ron Lauzon
-=> Brandon Taylor wrote to All <=-
BT> 1. Was there ever a color version of "The Print Shop" available for the
BT> Commodore 8-bit family of computers?
I don't believe so. I used to work for a Commodore reseller back in the day,
and I don't recall there being a color printer option for the C64.
There probably were color printers at the time, but they would have been priced
far above what a C64 user could have paid.
So there would have been no demand for a C64 color Print Shop.

Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
available that would use it, though. Sincerely,

[Computer Nerd Kev]

Post by J.B. Wood

Post by Ron Lauzon
-=> Brandon Taylor wrote to All <=-
BT> 1. Was there ever a color version of "The Print Shop" available for the
BT> Commodore 8-bit family of computers?
I don't believe so. I used to work for a Commodore reseller back in the day,
and I don't recall there being a color printer option for the C64.
There probably were color printers at the time, but they would have been priced
far above what a C64 user could have paid.
So there would have been no demand for a C64 color Print Shop.

Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
available that would use it, though. Sincerely,

The VIC-1520 plotter. Not the same as a conventional colour printer,
but fun (possibly more fun) anyway:
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/peserial2.html

Looking further through the printer listing on that site, a few
other Commodore serial printers with colour support are described
there:

MPS-1224c:
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/plserial2.html

MCS-810 (I've got one of these! But never had a ribbon for it and
the head's worn out (probably from me printing on heat-sensitive
paper as a solution to the ribbon problem)):
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/pmcs810.html
- Rebadged Okimate 10 printers, so there's an entry point for
researching colour printers from other manufacturers.

MCS-801:
http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/pmcs801.html

[Brandon Taylor]

Yeah, well, as J.B. Wood just said, even if you had a color /printer,/ you couldn't really use it to its full potential on an 8-bit Commodore machine, as there wasn't any /software/ that printed in color. No, I think the best bet would have been an Apple II series machine, or else an "IBM-compatible" PC. On the other hand, a Commodore enthusiast would have to wait a little while for the Amiga series to show up. In that case, what was the best software for color printing on an Amiga?

[Ron Lauzon]

-=> J.B. Wood wrote to Ron Lauzon <=-

JW> Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
JW> pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
JW> available that would use it, though. Sincerely,

Yes, I have the Radio Shack version of it (several printers used the same ALPS
mechanism - including my TRS-80 PC-2).

They weren't ball point, but rather stiff markers and it was closer to a
printer/plotter than the color printers that we know today. They are really
nice for printing some text and doing plotting-style drawing, but aren't very
good at making nice, full color printers.

But they would have worked out well with Print Shop. But, again, I don't
believe that something like that was commonly used by the C-64 users and, so,
Broderbund wouldn't have seen much market for a color Print Shop.

[Ron Lauzon]

-=> J.B. Wood wrote to Ron Lauzon <=-

JW> Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
JW> pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
JW> available that would use it, though. Sincerely,

I know the printer. It was made for many computers by ALPS and it didn't use
ballpoint pens, but you're close.

It was more of a simple plotter device and worked really good for relatively
small prints with lines. So big banners would have used up your pens pretty
quick (seeing how small they were).

So it worked, but it wasn't a big seller.


... You can turn ANY conversation into one about sex!
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52

[Jim Brain]

Post by Ron Lauzon
-=> J.B. Wood wrote to Ron Lauzon <=-
JW> Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
JW> pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
JW> available that would use it, though. Sincerely,
I know the printer. It was made for many computers by ALPS and it didn't use
ballpoint pens, but you're close.
It was more of a simple plotter device and worked really good for relatively
small prints with lines. So big banners would have used up your pens pretty
quick (seeing how small they were).
So it worked, but it wasn't a big seller.
... You can turn ANY conversation into one about sex!
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52

It was the Commodore 1520. Actually, I think it did use ballpoint pens.

Jim

[Silver Dream !]

Post by Ron Lauzon
JW> Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
JW> pens. Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
JW> available that would use it, though. Sincerely,
I know the printer. It was made for many computers by ALPS and it didn't use
ballpoint pens,

Didn't it? According to all known to me definitions of a "ballpoint pen"
it actually did.

[Silver Dream !]

Post by J.B. Wood
Hello, and IIRC there was a C-64 color printer that used 4 ballpoint
pens.  Don't know what commercially-available apps might have been
available that would use it, though.  Sincerely,

It was marketed as "printer/plotter", which was true. From certain point
of view :-)

It was good for plotting line graphics and it had the ability to plot
text, with a nice vector font...

http://e4aws.silverdr.com/hacks/6500_1/

You can find the font about mid-page down there.

But I would not recommend to use the plotter to colour-fill any sizeable
paper area. Or "print" longer BASIC listings (as I myself tried back in
the days :-)