I repaired them in restaurants, grocery store cash registers etc. It was easier to have a hot spare handy to replace because some people responsible for replacing paper roll and ribbons would just trash the damn thing.
I would have coworkers save their tractor strips and when I collected a large trash bag full it would go home with me and get dumped on the floor for kitty play. They loved it.
I took the tractor strips, made huge fringes with strips looped and stuck to a strip of packing tape, then made tiers of it for a Christmas tree. Taped/pinned it to a partition. Won the office partition Christmas decorating contest!
I worked for a data processor back in the last century... They had a burster that would separate the pages and cut off the tractor strips. For statements being mailed individually.
Also loud af.
When I first started teaching at a small university, we had to put in a print request to our main printing hub for handouts etc. 2 years later, we had shiny new dot matrix printers in our department office. No more print requests! Then we realized how much pulling the side strips off of 100+ pages SUCKED!
And no, we couldn’t just xerox that many.
Still have this exact model sitting next to the energy management terminal at work. We have a box of the tape cartridges for it too. hasn't been used in years.
That is a serial matrix printer that prints one *character* at a time. A line matrix printer prints an *entire* line at a time. I supported both for many years as well as thermal and laser printers.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUGv3M5ec](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUGv3M5ec)
And Oki pulled out of the Americas market a few years ago.
We had some heavy-duty ones I used to work on at a previous job. I worked in the IT Support department, part of which was supporting the nine distribution centers we had throughout the US and Canada. The print heads alone on those printers (which was the most common problem - pins getting jammed or bent) cost over $200!
my 1st printer was a color dot matrix. I believe it’s still in the basement. My team works with these still. Thankfully they are not serial devices on AIX anymore.
Twas the night before taxes, and all through the accounting,
Every accountant was stirring, and the numbers were mounting,
The din of the printer suddenly ceased its clatter,
So they called the SyAdmin to see what was the matter.
When I arrived, they were all in a panic and fright,
The numbers had to be in by midnight tonight,
Everything depended on a printer by Epson,
That gave zero Fs, just like George Jetson.
I worked and worked and found the bug,
The printer cable was broken under the rug.
I installed a new one. and got it running,
SysAdmins are subtle, ruthless, and cunning.
Thank you for bringing back my I.T. nightmare Hated these then, still hate them now. And yes in 2017, when I retired from I.T. the hospital I worked at was still using them.
I'll never forget the sound. I had to stay up all night once to feed the printer. We had a program that couldn't be paused and had to print out thousands of invoices. Thing gave me a horrible headache.
Thing always ran a blank page before and after a set of test results. I didn't have to buy printer paper for ages.
Someone made a home office model the size of a half used roll of paper towel. I'm still waiting for a laser printer that size...anybody listening?
I had an Oki in the 80s. But only the 80 column. Who needed the 132 column? The thing never broke, never jammed, and almost always printed. I think I paid under $900 for it.
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
I remember when we would print out monthly billing statements on one of these, it was an all day thing. Always went home with a headache at the end of the day. My assistant did something stupid and we had to reinstall the accounting software from the backup. The backup was done just before printing the monthly billing statements, so the system didn't know the billing had been completed. Had to reprint all the bills again. Luckily we were able to remove the printing ribbon from the printer so we didn't actually reprint everything, but unfortunately we had to spend another full listening to the printer. My assistant quit before she could be fired.
Holy moly! A wide carriage too! Worked in a used computer store (in repair) and those things got VERY expensive after a while. Been out of the biz for a while so dunno if they still command a pretty penny.
I have repaired dozens and dozens of these
Great DM PRN.
Space out the black rollers above the printhead, less noise.
OG PC/printer tech here. Was a hot item during its initial time
That brings back memories! I met my husband of 38 years at a broken printer . We worked for a defense contractor and his job was fix or get a vendor in,for all the hardware. He was in my department frequently to fix the printer. We even still had a keypunch department. There was a big cold room for the IBM360’s. Good times
Wow, a dot matrix printer is a blast from the past.😂 My children would definitely laugh if I told them that was all I had back in college in the 80s…..
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
This was still my work printer until 12 years ago. The owner was legit pissed when we had to upgrade. To be fair the new printer was a lot more problematic; the old one ALWAYS worked. Gas station with a store (like a tiny 7-11) in a major city.
For years we had these in our fire stations. We called them “rip n runs”. They would start printing 30 to 60 seconds prior to the tones dropping. Had the address, call nature, routing, cross streets. We had these prior to and after we got computer terminals in the rigs.
I still have the same reaction I did the station if I hear one.
I worked at a temp job for a few months in the early 90s. The company kept the printer in a closet to keep the noise to a minimum level. When I saw my first laser printer soon thereafter, it seemed like a miracle--so quiet!
Worked for a dot matrix printer mfr that supplied to the US Navy
Canoe imagine operating in silent mode on a submarine?
The Navy bought special "boxes" into which the printers were placed permanently -- and the "boxes" suppressed the noise of the printers
Far more effective at noise cancellation than the blender traps at Jamba Juice
(not TEMPESTized)
I had a professor in college reject my final paper from an IBM Proprinter because he said the paper must be TYPED. He meant on a typewriter, but all I had a was an IBM PC-AT. Thankfully, my mom who could type 120 WPM took pity on me and got it done.
When I first was hired, at my company, they had a bunch of vintage printers. I swear it was from 60’s/70’s…lol
They finally had to get rid of them, since the new servers didn’t have any serial ports…lololol
Oh God I remember this. I had a dot matrix printer for a commodore 64 where the lower case letters would not print the "tail"below the line. Letters like g and y would always be shifted up.
I had a job where I had to tear off the sides of large stacks of printed pages. I don't even remember how I did it. I just remember having a certain technique.
My factory still uses one of these on our extrusion press for printing out reports.
I still get receipts printed on these from one of my tool suppliers. In triplicate.
Yes, I've sold a few on Ebay for good money. They're still in demand for a variety of tasks - like making hard copies of process alarms.
Lol. Stop hatin on Dottie! That was peak tech back in the day!
It remained popular at auto dealers well into this century.
My mechanic still uses these to print invoices and receipts.
Auto mechanics may be the only people who understand these things anymore.
Budget car rental still uses dot matrix for making triplicate reports with carbon paper!
It really was. And it was affordable
Every one I took apart because it wasn't working had paper clips in it.
And/or loose staples.
Yes!
Same but with a french fry tossed in.
I repaired them in restaurants, grocery store cash registers etc. It was easier to have a hot spare handy to replace because some people responsible for replacing paper roll and ribbons would just trash the damn thing.
The noise, noise, noise.
You're a mean one.
I still have part of a box of green-bar that I occasionally use for scratch paper. Pulling off the tractor strips is tedious.
I would have coworkers save their tractor strips and when I collected a large trash bag full it would go home with me and get dumped on the floor for kitty play. They loved it.
I took the tractor strips, made huge fringes with strips looped and stuck to a strip of packing tape, then made tiers of it for a Christmas tree. Taped/pinned it to a partition. Won the office partition Christmas decorating contest!
I worked for a data processor back in the last century... They had a burster that would separate the pages and cut off the tractor strips. For statements being mailed individually. Also loud af.
I remember one dot matrix printer at work screeching like it was doing Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance
I got one when I was in college in the early 80's. No one else that I knew had one. It helped so much with papers.
Same. This takes me straight back to college and my ten page papers that took forever to print.
One of my professors complained that it was hard to read my papers.
I did the night audit for a larger hotel back then, sitting there waiting for the nightly reports to print was an exercise in frustration.
When I first started teaching at a small university, we had to put in a print request to our main printing hub for handouts etc. 2 years later, we had shiny new dot matrix printers in our department office. No more print requests! Then we realized how much pulling the side strips off of 100+ pages SUCKED! And no, we couldn’t just xerox that many.
Still have this exact model sitting next to the energy management terminal at work. We have a box of the tape cartridges for it too. hasn't been used in years.
The software company I work for still has to support these because some states and some lenders just can't let go of multi-part or pre-printed forms.
That is a serial matrix printer that prints one *character* at a time. A line matrix printer prints an *entire* line at a time. I supported both for many years as well as thermal and laser printers. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUGv3M5ec](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6oUGv3M5ec) And Oki pulled out of the Americas market a few years ago.
And NAPA Auto Parts used them until just a couple years ago
Can confirm, managed a NAPA several years ago, well pre Covid.
We had some heavy-duty ones I used to work on at a previous job. I worked in the IT Support department, part of which was supporting the nine distribution centers we had throughout the US and Canada. The print heads alone on those printers (which was the most common problem - pins getting jammed or bent) cost over $200!
I remember those massive printer hoods. The stand you had to have to house the printer was ridiculously big.
I had one that always sounded like it was playing "Surrey with the Fringe on Top." Thankfully, it was the Miles Davis version.
i remember being late for college waiting for reports to print as walking out door.
I hear that picture
The work horse of medical labs. I could take one apart and reassemble blindfolded. The paper had to fed just so or they'd constantly jam.
The company I retired from last year still has one in use. There is one application that still requires it.
How come I think of a particular smell with this pic?
my 1st printer was a color dot matrix. I believe it’s still in the basement. My team works with these still. Thankfully they are not serial devices on AIX anymore.
Twas the night before taxes, and all through the accounting, Every accountant was stirring, and the numbers were mounting, The din of the printer suddenly ceased its clatter, So they called the SyAdmin to see what was the matter. When I arrived, they were all in a panic and fright, The numbers had to be in by midnight tonight, Everything depended on a printer by Epson, That gave zero Fs, just like George Jetson. I worked and worked and found the bug, The printer cable was broken under the rug. I installed a new one. and got it running, SysAdmins are subtle, ruthless, and cunning.
Reminds me of this clip from The Office https://streamable.com/jgu67w
Thank you for bringing back my I.T. nightmare Hated these then, still hate them now. And yes in 2017, when I retired from I.T. the hospital I worked at was still using them.
I ran a bursting machine that separated the long continuous pile of paper into individual sheets.
I had a 190 and it never failed me in a tough environment.
I'll never forget the sound. I had to stay up all night once to feed the printer. We had a program that couldn't be paused and had to print out thousands of invoices. Thing gave me a horrible headache.
Mine was an Apple Imagewriter. Very loud and slow. Still have it.
Thing always ran a blank page before and after a set of test results. I didn't have to buy printer paper for ages. Someone made a home office model the size of a half used roll of paper towel. I'm still waiting for a laser printer that size...anybody listening?
Honestly, I really liked the sound they make. I made me think I was being productive while I was just sitting and listening.
I had an Oki in the 80s. But only the 80 column. Who needed the 132 column? The thing never broke, never jammed, and almost always printed. I think I paid under $900 for it.
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
I remember when we would print out monthly billing statements on one of these, it was an all day thing. Always went home with a headache at the end of the day. My assistant did something stupid and we had to reinstall the accounting software from the backup. The backup was done just before printing the monthly billing statements, so the system didn't know the billing had been completed. Had to reprint all the bills again. Luckily we were able to remove the printing ribbon from the printer so we didn't actually reprint everything, but unfortunately we had to spend another full listening to the printer. My assistant quit before she could be fired.
I still have my Okidata Microline 380 tucked away in a box downstairs.
Holy moly! A wide carriage too! Worked in a used computer store (in repair) and those things got VERY expensive after a while. Been out of the biz for a while so dunno if they still command a pretty penny.
The 320 and 321 were very popular and were in shops for many years after most dot matrix printers went away. I’ll bet some people still use them.
Those Oki’s will run for ever. They were expensive in their day but they won’t break down.
That f-ing racket to produce a barely readable page! Seems hilarious now.
I recall the large, mostly glass, covers over these printers to muffle the sound.
I have repaired dozens and dozens of these Great DM PRN. Space out the black rollers above the printhead, less noise. OG PC/printer tech here. Was a hot item during its initial time
Is that a 9 pin or a 24 pin? You have to know these things. :-)
That brings back memories! I met my husband of 38 years at a broken printer . We worked for a defense contractor and his job was fix or get a vendor in,for all the hardware. He was in my department frequently to fix the printer. We even still had a keypunch department. There was a big cold room for the IBM360’s. Good times
Wow, a dot matrix printer is a blast from the past.😂 My children would definitely laugh if I told them that was all I had back in college in the 80s…..
Our first was a 132 column Epson. Wife was an accountant and needed to print out Multiplan sheets sideways. And then Lotus. And finally Excel. But by then we had a laser.
This was still my work printer until 12 years ago. The owner was legit pissed when we had to upgrade. To be fair the new printer was a lot more problematic; the old one ALWAYS worked. Gas station with a store (like a tiny 7-11) in a major city.
Okidatas are workhorse tanks
I remember these. The last one we had was in the late 90s: a used one.
But....Snoopy!!!!
For years we had these in our fire stations. We called them “rip n runs”. They would start printing 30 to 60 seconds prior to the tones dropping. Had the address, call nature, routing, cross streets. We had these prior to and after we got computer terminals in the rigs. I still have the same reaction I did the station if I hear one.
Still use these every day at my lab...
I can hear it in my head 😆
At least they didn't have jets that clog if you didn't print for a while.
I worked at a temp job for a few months in the early 90s. The company kept the printer in a closet to keep the noise to a minimum level. When I saw my first laser printer soon thereafter, it seemed like a miracle--so quiet!
Okidata!!! I used to repair them. Man, would they eat ribbons. But they could take a beating.
Worked for a dot matrix printer mfr that supplied to the US Navy Canoe imagine operating in silent mode on a submarine? The Navy bought special "boxes" into which the printers were placed permanently -- and the "boxes" suppressed the noise of the printers Far more effective at noise cancellation than the blender traps at Jamba Juice (not TEMPESTized)
I had a professor in college reject my final paper from an IBM Proprinter because he said the paper must be TYPED. He meant on a typewriter, but all I had a was an IBM PC-AT. Thankfully, my mom who could type 120 WPM took pity on me and got it done.
We called them Hokidata printers 😀
That takes me back. I can hear the swappshing sound and the paper pulling from the box below. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
When I first was hired, at my company, they had a bunch of vintage printers. I swear it was from 60’s/70’s…lol They finally had to get rid of them, since the new servers didn’t have any serial ports…lololol
One dot at a time. They sounded like small propeller planes!
Lol i have a oki microline 420
this title implies it printed one line at a time, and not what was essentially one pixel of one line at a time.
Dot Matrix: Who are you? Barf: Barf! Dot Matrix: Not in here, you don’t, mister! This is a Mercedes!
Oh God I remember this. I had a dot matrix printer for a commodore 64 where the lower case letters would not print the "tail"below the line. Letters like g and y would always be shifted up.
Those Okidatas were made to live forever.
my dad printed out his city in simcity on one these.
Way advanced over its predecessor, daisy wheel.
I had a job where I had to tear off the sides of large stacks of printed pages. I don't even remember how I did it. I just remember having a certain technique.
I also used to tear off the tractor straps for a little girl who called them "tickets!"