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Can anyone identify this dot matrix printer next to a Neo-Geo?

Chuck(G) said:
It's kind of hard to figure out from your description, but perhaps a Seikosha GP-500?
item-350High.jpg
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Very close, but there's too much white to the left of the smoked plastic, plus it has wording on it . From my pic, it looks like it's just an inch on the left side. I also don't think it was a non-household brand name like Seikosha.

Plasma said:
I don't think the printer is sloped that much in the front. It appears to be an optical illusion. If you back the video up to 0:11, you can see the left corner.
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I think you're correct, good eye! Like another poster suggested, I'm gonna search eBay with some booze. :biggrin:
 
Possibly Radio Shack DMP110. I don't see the badge on yours, but maybe it fell off.

desc-cat-rs-26-1271.jpg


There are some print examples in the manual if you want to compare to your printouts.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some were close, but it wasn't it.

Update: I found the best picture yet. It is right behind the Neo-Geo and you can see the right panel. Hope this gives away some clues!Mystery Printer cropped.jpg
 
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From that angle it looks like the most generic printer ever? Broadly speaking its size, profile, and the position/layout of the control panel are a *lot* like an Epson MX-80, IBM Graphics (relabeled MX-80) or early FX-80-series printer. I don't think it necessarily *is* one, because:

A: Epsons usually had a promenent badge on the left front side, and
B: The shape of the case isn't quite right for an MX/FX-80...

But I wouldn't rule out it being a later model? Even within the same model Epson would vary details like the shape and transparency (or lack thereof) of the plastic cover on top. It's probably an just an "Epson knockoff", but unless you can dig up some illustrated catalogs you're going to have a heck of a time figuring out which one. By the mid-80's there were at least a dozen manufacturers making or rebranding similar printers; Star Micronics, Mannesman Tally, Brother, Olympia, Panasonic, Seikosha, NEC, Toshiba, Fujitsu... the list literally goes on and on.

PC Magazine ran an annual printer review issue from the mid-1980's onward and their whole archive is on Google Books, so if you're really dying to know you could go through that and look at all the pictures until you find it, your chances are pretty decent. But... gotta be honest here, does it matter? I positively guarantee it's not an "interesting" printer.
 
It's hard to see, but looking at the pic it appears to have four buttons, with the top one being blue or possibly green. This rules out a lot of those printers that were mentioned.

As for it mattering, absolutely. I am very nostalgic and I must have my childhood printer back. :)
 
There are several runners-up in my "first printer list" and, honestly, I can't say for certain which was first. I guess the one I most vividly remember was an Okidata Okimate 10, and, man, I'm glad that thing is long dead and gone from my life forever. I am in fact vindictive enough about that printer to sincerely hope that none of them have survived to the present day.

Probably the one I had the most *fun* with was a Tandy CGP-115, an adorable little pen plotter that printed on 4" paper. Wrote a lot of BASIC programs to make it do crude and pointless things. Unfortunately those things didn't seem to age well. (The plastic gear train for moving the paper fell apart when it was a couple years old.)
 
I'm seeing 3 white buttons and a blueish area which may be some led indicators. The general shape is reminiscent of Epson, but there is absolutely nothing where a brand badge should be on the front.

Can you provide us with more information about the computer and peripherals?

Also, can anyone recognize this CPU
 
Chuck(G) said:
That little XL isn't a difficult saw to maintain, you can get carb rebuild kits for peanuts (pretty much standard Walbro fare)
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I had to replace the carb on a Stihl AV011, got the correct Walbro carb, the Stil dealer told me he'd install it and adjust the screws, but he couldn't warranty it. Turns out Stihl went with non-adjustable carbs...
 
I've got a Ryobi pole pruner like that. Ran like crap until someone suggested using the vinyl end of a crimp connector to grab the end of the adjustment screws. That fixed everything. :)
 
rittwage said:
Agree it looks like some kind of Epson with the button controls like that.
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And I'm sure an Epson would sound exactly like it, which really, is all you need to get your dot matrix nostalgia fix(*). Heard one printer's ear-splitting "SCREEEEEEWWWWOUCH!!!" you've pretty much heard them all.

(I get mine from an Apple Imagewriter. They're a pretty good choice if you're going to only have one retro printer because they're *dirt common*, serial ports are *slightly* more universal than parallel ports, and they still make new ribbons for them. Using them on a PC is a *little* awkward because they're not "Epson Compatible", but they are just a rebadged C.ITOH 8510, which was popular enough that most DOS programs had drivers for it.)
 
Eudimorphodon said:
And I'm sure an Epson would sound exactly like it, which really, is all you need to get your dot matrix nostalgia fix(*). Heard one printer's ear-splitting "SCREEEEEEWWWWOUCH!!!" you've pretty much heard them all.

(I get mine from an Apple Imagewriter. They're a pretty good choice if you're going to only have one retro printer because they're *dirt common*, serial ports are *slightly* more universal than parallel ports, and they still make new ribbons for them. Using them on a PC is a *little* awkward because they're not "Epson Compatible", but they are just a rebadged C.ITOH 8510, which was popular enough that most DOS programs had drivers for it.)
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And you can connect them up to any modern pc since its serial. And I think someone released NEW windows and mac drivers for them.. Not sure about linux but how great would that be?
 
syzygy said:
I'm seeing 3 white buttons and a blueish area which may be some led indicators. The general shape is reminiscent of Epson, but there is absolutely nothing where a brand badge should be on the front.

Can you provide us with more information about the computer and peripherals?
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The computer in the pic was a 1040 STe, purchased in 1991, around the same time as the printer. Peripherals? Well, it was attacked to an SC1435 Monitor and I had a Zoom 2400 baud modem and a Migraph Hand Scanner, but that's about it as far as I recall. I produced a newsletter from September, 1991 to January 1993 with that setup.

Note: The Neo-Geo could be obscuring the badge if it's low. The printer also appears to be tall, maybe even 2" higher than the Neo-Geo at its highest point. There appears to be a badge on the far bottom left, unless it's an optical illusion. The smoked plastic also goes almost all the way to the front, and appears to go far back while the shape stays the same.
 
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