Okidata 110 printer info?

[bzotto]

I frequently run across references to the early "Okidata 110" line printer in mid/late 1970s material I'm looking at. Appears to have been an early, rather popular consumer dot matrix printer (110cps, 80-columns) often paired with early micros. Image from a 1977 advertisement below. Given how common this printer seems to have been, I'm having some difficulty locating any primary sources for it: actual surviving units, documentation/interfacing info, etc. Does anyone out there have one of these, or have paperwork or other associated material connected to it? Haven't found anything on bitsavers or the other usual spots I dig in. Also interested if you remember using one of these in the time period and have any recollections about it.

Thanks!

 

[Chuck(G)]

Wasn't the CP110 a 5x7 dot matrix printer? I seem to recall that it was uppercase-only and unbelievably noisy. The problem is that these old dot-matrix heads gum up or wear out and there are no replacements available. People tend not to hang onto printers in general.
You might have better luck locating an ML80.

 

[bzotto]

Yes, I believe it's 5x7 uppercase only. I'm not surprised that people junked them and moved on to better models but I am a bit surprised that I see so much apparent ecosystem around them (advertisements from retailers, printer driver code, plenty of references in magazine editorial and letters) but no documentation scans, or manuals, or parts/junk on ebay.

By contrast, the SWTPC PR-40 was a competing early printer at that time useful for the same sort of user, and those are also scarce today but there exists plenty of e.g. preserved paperwork for them and findable examples in museums and collections. (Being a kit branded by a "computer" company vs a peripheral mfgr, as well as being associated with the early Apples, is probably a factor for that one.)

@Chuck(G) , did you have one of these Okidatas? The fact that it was super loud is actually a useful tidbit.

Thanks.

 

[Chuck(G)]

We had one in for evaluation, but eventually settled on the Microline.
However, the noise from the Oki was nothing compared to that of the high-speed Diablo dot-matrix printer we had.