XL's printers:1025 or 1029?

[+Philsan]

Which printer is better, 1025 or 1029?

[+orpheuswaking]

If you can find a 1029 go for that, they are neat little printers and match the XL perfectly. It was released through Atari Europe (out of the Ireland headquarters) so being in Switzerland it should be easier for you to find than someone looking in the US (although it was released in 110v and 220v versions).

 

I used to have one when I lived in the UK and regret not bringing it with me when I moved to the US, I have a couple 1025's but I still miss the 1029

[qix_maniac]

you have a pic of those 2 printers, can I get one boxed somewhere and how much? ...thanks in advance.

[spookt]

I have a 1029 but am struggling to find good ribbons for it. If anyone knows where to find them I'd be grateful. Love to use my printer again.

[qix_maniac]

I have a 1029 but am struggling to find good ribbons for it. If anyone knows where to find them I'd be grateful. Love to use my printer again.

 

just did a google search...looks like Commodore ribbons can be used on atari 1029...

 

http://www.oldsoftware.com/Commodore.html#anchor171295

 

"Commodore 801 ribbons Commodore MPS-801 printer ribbon. Also fits the Comrex CR220 printer and the Atari 1029 printer. $12 ea. "

[spookt]

Yeah - I've bought MPS-801 ribbons in the past but the last couple were duds. I hasten to add that they were from eBay sellers and not the vendor you linked to. Perhaps I'll give them a try and see what happens.

 

A company called Ko-Rec-Type actually still list a 1029 compatible ribbon on their website. I tried to contact them to see if they were still available but unfortunately got no response.

[OldAtarian]

Any ribbons for these printers will probably be very old. Even if you can find them NIB they will probably still be dried out after all this time.

[UNIXcoffee928]

 I remember a lot of 1025s but I don't remember the 1029 at all. Were they limited production?

 

I did an image search on the 1029, and it seems that there were two variants... one had a very slanty front, and the other had a slightly slanted front.

 

The very slanty one looks very cool.

 

There are ways around printer ribbon problems. If the ribbon is intact (not all frayed & torn up) then you can re-use the ribbon and the housing. It will be messy, though... best to wear surgical gloves. When I was a teenager I routinely re-used ribbons, over & over 10-15 times, until the fabric of the ribbon, itself, was beyond use.

 

I had a Panasonic KX-1090 & a 1091, but the procedure should be the same for all cartridge-based ribbons.

 

You need black "Speedball" brand ink, from an art store. Carefully slide a very thin flat-head screwdriver/ butter knife/razor-blade into the seam of the plastic ribbon cartridge casing. Slowly work it around, then pull up to separate the upper & lower casings of the cartridge. Be very careful not to jiggle it, or parts will fall out, and give you headaches trying to get them back in.

 

Inside you will find a little circular sponge on a spindle. Put a few drops of the Speedball ink into the sponge, then carefully close the cartridge back up. Print a few test sheets at bold/NLQ, to get rid of any excess ink. If necessary, you can clean your platen with some Isopropyl alcohol. Done.

 

If your ribbon was completely munged, then, you will need to do the above procedure AFTER putting a good ribbon into the cartridge. Since you have a few that were bad on arrival, this should be trivial to do, unless the spools themselves are different, then it will be not so trivial, and even more messy... but it still can be done, if you have an hour, patience, & no other option. This will require the same steady hand & level of patience that was required with opening & fixing an audio cassette tape... BE WARNED... lol.

 

Now, THERE'S a Lost Art, ha!

[MEtalGuy66]

The 1025 is a workhorse, tough as a brick, has GREAT support in most printing software, and the Ribbons are still commonly available..

 

Doesnt look nearly as kewl as the 1029.. But if you want is a solid dot matrix printer for the ATARI, you can't go wrong with the 1025.

 

The other option is to get a printer interface and get a printer that supports the Epson FX/MX command set.. This is about eually well supported, and they still make printers to this day that fall into that category. Some are damn fast too. I have a couple of Epson FX980s that do over 500cps and work great with the ATARI.

[spookt]

Yeah, I love the look of the 1029 since it matches my other XL era stuff but now that the MIO is part of my setup it might be time to pick up an Epson.

[+Stephen]

If the ribbon is not too dried out, the WD-40 trick should work. We used to do that to the Apple printers at school. A few "seconds" of spray will basically re-ink them. It usually worked 3 or 4 times before the ribbons were shot. As a bonus, I would "accidentally" get the WD-40 all over the floor by the entrance

[Bryan]

I was so disappointed to when I learned that the 1025 didn't have a bitmap mode. My buddies with Star and Epson printers were able to print out all kinds of stuff I couldn't.

 

BTW.. best lists the 1029 ribbon here:

 

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/laser_printers.htm

Edited December 11, 2010 by Bryan

[UNIXcoffee928]

...

 

As a bonus, I would "accidentally" get the WD-40 all over the floor by the entrance  

 

 

 

LOL, computer lab humor!

 

 

----

 

Ya know, looking at that 1029, I can totally see it looking awesome with some reflective silver Limo-Tint on the Plexiglas.

[+Philsan]

I have a 1029 but am struggling to find good ribbons for it. If anyone knows where to find them I'd be grateful. Love to use my printer again.

Perhaps Best Electronics has them.

I found these links too:

http://www.iowacomputing.com/commps801bla.html

http://www.intlribbon.com/commodor.htm

[spookt]

Thanks for the replies guys. I didn't realise Best still listed them but they're in the addendum so perhaps they still have stock. I need to grab a couple of things from them in the New Year so I'll ask about ribbons then.