Star NX-2420: Color Dot Matrix Printer from 1990

Unboxing, setting up, and testing out a Star Micronics NX-2420 dot matrix printer! And yes, it is capable of printing in color on either single sheet printer paper or fan-fold tractor feed paper. Classic.
● LGR links:
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● Music courtesy of:
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#LGR #Retro #Technology

[@pasu2k]

This was the first time I've seen the Print Screen button being used for its original purpose :D

[@Fridelain]

Totally missed the opportunity to make sure it included "FARTS" too.

[@SuperApplefan1]

i use it for screenshots in gaming lol

[@technopoptart]

so i was going to say something smarmy then i realize i don't think i've /ever/ printed anything with the print screen button X'''D

[@liammhodonohue]

How old are you? I'm 32,I think I saw the print screen used this way when I was about 7

[@pasu2k]

@@liammhodonohue 31. When I got a pc, Windows 95 was already a thing, so I never had to dive deep into dos

[@jackkraken3888]

Kudos to Star for keeping the drivers available for so long. I have seen other companies who couldn't care less about making their drivers available and this actually contributes to e-waste in the process.

[@aeonjoey3d]

Dot matrix printers were built to last, even the mostly plastic ones, it's amazing how many businesses still use them on a daily basis. I was in a convenience store in the desert on the way to Vegas and this mom and pop operation was doing an inventory printing out a whole box of z food on an old citizen that had to be 30-40 years old.

[@BlameThande]

Absolutely. I've been trying to find old drivers lately and I've found Dell have an excellent website for finding them. Samsung, on the other hand, seem to redirect even direct links to driver downloads to 'DO YOU WANT TO BUY A PHONE' - I had to use the Wayback Machine on their website in the end...

[@jackkraken3888]

@@BlameThande The Wayback machine is an excellent resource I managed to find drivers from companies that shut down years ago. Seriously saved my butt a few times. The sad thing is how some websites use the robots.txt file to prevent crawlers from indexing the site and the wayback IIRC respects that as well which means some sites are just gone.

[@greggv8]

@@jackkraken3888 the way the wayback machine 'respects' robots.txt is stupid. It doesn't bother to read and parse the file. It simply uses the presence of such a file to not archive, despite the file much of the time *explicitly permitting archiving* while only excluding *indexing*.

[@jackkraken3888]

@@greggv8 Oh didn't know that, well that makes it worse, we probably lost all kinds of things in the process.

[@peterthinks]

"Boss!!! Someone downloaded a copy of the NX-2420 drivers!" *man looks at warehouse full of 1990 dot matrix printers... "Nice..."

[@KuraIthys]

lol. Yeah, of all the old tech, printers are one of the least useful. Not because of the printers themselves, but because of how all of them have their own specific proprietary kind of printer cartridges...

[@iced_coffeelvr1069]

LGR probably makes the owners of new old stock go crazy! Who else would want obsolete 90s tech?

[@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi]

Dot matrix are still used a lot today strangely?..

[@AndrewAMartin]

@@Steve211Ucdhihifvshi Because you can use them with multi-part forms.

[@freeculture]

You may laugh, but in my country dot matrix printers are still used for some lottery and billing system and they are still in high demand and are very expensive (as much as a laser). One thing dot matrix printer have is longevity. And even if you don't get the ribbon ink supplied anymore, people just re-ink the existing ones. Those printers using the Epson 9 pin protocol are the most sought at, rest of the specs do not matter as they will be used in that mode for printing bills or such in text only, no bitmaps.

[@itsdefinitelynotdave]

Star keeps their drivers up longer than I've been alive. Meanwhile Adobe be like *u betta stop using that copy of photoshop from 4 years ago r else*

[@redleader6442]

NTDave Geez, I must be a criminal Mastermind. I still use PhotoShop 5 (not CS).

[@AllAroundBang]

Yeah, I can't even register my copy of CS5 anymore. Pisses me off. Screw Adobe!

[@MinutemanOutdoors]

Nah nah nah, if I'm paying that much for software I'm using it

[@MagicalGirlUsagi]

I was using my dads 5.0 Photoshop for years (which according to Wikipedia came out in 1998), because I couldn’t afford the program. I remember in high school when we used Photoshop in Visual Arts for a lesson, and I was super confused with the newer program. Unfortunately I’ve had issues on Windows 10 devices with it, and now mainly use Gimp (which I don’t really know how to use, and it feels super limited).

[@MagicalGirlUsagi]

To be honest I’ve tried everything 🤷🏼‍♀️ And its older than the CS programs. I use my friends Creative Cloud atm now anyway, he gets a few devices and let me install Photoshop and a few other Adobe programs on one of my devices.

[@francescoromano]

The fact that I can sit through a 30 minute video of an unboxing/testing of a dot matrix printer from the 90's is a testament to your ability and video making quality :)

[@Sakuya727]

Also a testament to all of us LGR fans being huge nerds 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@stephenroberts7554]

This printer was great though it was my first color printer

[@SunlightIsHeavensKiss]

Honestly fr. I'm a 26 yr old woman. Usually my colleagues are watching tik toks or make up tutorials but LGR's videos are what I watch in my spare time. Or... actually what I listen to while falling asleep each night. Kudos to you, man. You're the reason why I'm a huge obsolete compute nerd now XD You sparked my secret hobby and your commentary is just a freaking delight to hear

[@stephenroberts7554]

I agree with you Ann 💯 😎

[@tomyyoung2624]

absolutely, yes good!

[@EmanuelFrias]

Ah yes, LGR is exactly what I needed to start my vacation.

[@shroomie108]

A vacation is exactly what i need to start my LGR

[@yvscrddn78]

ok gud

[@GetsugaTensho85]

Have a good vacation fellow viewer!

[@yvscrddn78]

@@GetsugaTensho85 hay fellow viewer nice to see that you have replayed! these days no one replays to comments

[@GetsugaTensho85]

@@yvscrddn78 Why thank you Good Sir! You too!

[@catriona_drummond]

Had a 24 pin Epson in 1992. Found out you can print out your city in Simcity. An hour of noise and my whole room's floor covered in paper. Totally worth it!

[@mrxr2]

I used to do this with an Amstrad dot matrix printer on my Amiga, good times!

[@zerocooler7]

I did this too once.

[@MUMSUniverse]

Nice!

[@CrazyA9999]

I used a Star NL-10 for that, but yeah, I had a SimCity poster like that on my wall as a kid

[@IDHLEB]

Only LGR can make printers interesting.

[@Nik1tah]

There's just something about this channel that makes me fascinated about things I don't otherwise find interesting 😄😄😄

[@retroguy4616]

Dot matrix printers are interesting period.

[@averywellsand888]

Idk technology connections might be able to

[@RocketRoosterFilms]

Stuart Ashen could make it interesting, but Clint does a much better job.

[@nobodynowhere5213]

especially really really really slow printers :)

[@AndrewCamarata]

I had that printer, my dad bought it in the early 90’s for our Zeos 386. Thanks for making this. It was great to hear that printer again.

[@drnobe]

I remember these printers were so loud, that I was not allowed to do any printouts after 10pm, or my mum would be furious!

[@marcusdamberger]

Or printing out at 2am for a paper due that morning, and hoping you don't wake everyone up when printing. Plus you put the printer in Sans Serif or Times Roman and it takes doubly as long to print than in draft mode. So everyone in the house gets to hear the printer even longer!

[@tedhaubrich]

In college the computers were in the libtary connected to a whole bank of dot matrix printers. Loudest library ever.

[@bobdole4694]

If you think that is loud; you should lookup telex machines!

[@avolpe734]

@@marcusdamberger I used to soundproof my dot matrix printer by putting a pillow and sheets on top of it, lol

[@nslouka90]

Being the procrastinator teen that I was I always stayed up late typing up homework for school and had to get up early for about 30 min to turn the computer back on to print out homework and then go back to bed.

[@ScottDodsonVideo]

You absolutely need an LGR logo shirt to wear printed on that. Can't imagine a better tshirt than a dot matrix printed t-shirt.

[@greenaum]

There was a stall on Blackpool pier offering to take your photo and put it on a T-shirt. They had a PC with a dot matrix printer which must have had a T-shirt ribbon on it. They cost a bloody fortune, absolute piss-taking price, bit I suppose that's to offset the rent for the tiny stall, the cost of the PC, and whatever they'd rigged up to connect a video camera to some horrible 1990 or so PC. Won't have been cheap. Unless they nicked it from Granada Studios.

[@Darknecros7]

If you can ever find a foot t shirt color ribbon, you should definitely print the LGR logo and put it on some t shirts.

[@andreib302]

YES

[@PeugeotRocket]

LGR - Uploads a 31 minute video about a 29 year old dot matrix printer. Me - Instantly settles down on couch with popcorn and cozy blanket.

[@randombrokeperson]

I have Pirates Booty and apple juice

[@erice3933]

I forgot how slow printers used to be. Those dot matrix printers will out live us all.

[@laharl2k]

Eric E Yeah but they were CHEAP and didnt "you printed 1k pages, take me to the service, im on strike". I wish i could buy a dot matrix with usb and cheap ribbon cartridges. With todays technology the speed and quality could be improved quite a bit. Of course its not a laser but if you only care for it to be cheap to operate, dot matrix wins by far.

[@uselessDM]

I don't know, I'm rather surprised how quick it is, especially with text. I mean an inkjet printer isn't faster, although I haven't used on in a while.

[@Wockes]

@@uselessDM text is fast but anything with graphics takes ages. We used to print out pictures in school back in the 90s on a dot matrix printer. It was fun seeing it move :P

[@RAMChYLD]

Laharl Krichevskoy you can. Epson still makes Dot Matrix printers, and the new ones come with USB connectors on them. Look up the LQ-590 II. Although the price of the machines themselves seem to have increased significantly since the 90s- I just looked it up and said printer costs US$600. On the plus side, the ribbons are still dirt cheap. US$3 a cartridge. You still save in the long run. Just too bad that gimmicks like color printing are no longer a thing with modern DMPs. My P6300 could print color ISO A2 posters. Many modern printers can’t even do that anymore.

[@SpearM3064]

To some extent they're still in use for "specialty applications", which is why they're still in production. I see them most frequently at stores that still need to print carbon-copy sales invoices. Laser printers and inkjet printers obviously can't print carbon copies, but a tractor-feed dot matrix printer is perfect for that application.

[@BilisNegra]

14:50 Well, that's the first time I've seen the Print Screen key being used for its oldschool DOS function instead of getting an image capture. And, who knows, might also be the last.

[@liammhodonohue]

How old are you? I'm 32 I can remember my uncle gave us a Epson LQ860 (mentioned in video) he used print screen. I remember printing out pages copied from Encarta back in 1997 for school homework. I had read what I copied on subject of television - teacher clearly knew I not only didn't write it but didn't understand it either. Very important life lesson :)

[@MasterYoshidino]

My work computers with win7 do the same function. Print Screen prints to the laser printer whatever is on the screen.

[@Roger__Wilco]

@@liammhodonohue I'm 42 and grew up with DOS but had no idea about the Print Screen key actually having that function.

[@Spencer481]

LGR's parents 30 years ago: "Clint stop printing banners! when you have your own printer you can print whatever you want. Little LGR: "Bet."

[@achowdhury47]

His name isn't LGR! LOL

[@dafoex]

That's why his parents didn't say "LGR stop printing banners!"

[@Zenas521]

It was satisfying to the soul to hear the computer boot up. I miss mechanics being apart of computers, if only for the feedback.

[@perolozac01]

They kept the camera shutter sound even on modern smartphones, why didnt they keep the classic bootup noises on modern computers, right?

[@marcp.]

I don't miss broken mechanics at all...

[@Gigator]

The first PC build I had that was nearly silent was a sight to behold. I was so proud of it. It still had fans, but they were 120mm and temperature controlled, it still had HDDs, but they were on anti vibration pads and the PSU was a semi passive unit. The first time I appreciated having activity LEDs in the case front. I really don't miss the old noises, because everytime they changed a bit, I was very worried about potential failures. More anxiety inducing than relaxing.

[@Larcansil]

@Zenas Starchild I thought the same thing

[@Intelwinsbigly]

Buy a disk drive.

[@deathsyth8888]

"A dot matrix printer? Now that's a sound I haven't heard in a long time." - Obi-Wan Kenobi

[@MosoKaiser]

@IHaveSwatches Before the dark times. Before the Y2K.

[@troytakesphotos]

I think you mean that it frints on single sheet frinter faper or pan-pold tractor peed.

[@LGR]

Bwahaha

[@Fuzimi]

Can't believe I've just spent 30 minutes of watching a video about an old Dot Matrix printer. Amazing video!

[@pfarnsworth84]

I can absolutely confirm that dot matrix printers (not necessarily color ones) are definitely still around and kicking at no less than 3 Virginia courthouses, and every one I've been in has an old IBM behemoth electric typewriter. It warms my heart to see old tech still being useful. Sadly, I can't say I've seen any Ditto machines in use, although they are more than just a bit obsolete. LGR, if you ever come across one, please consider doing an episode on them. As for the color ribbon, I'm sure those rollers could be fixed with some strips of adhesive-backed foam.

[@TechGorilla1987]

I had a Star NX-10 printer hooked to my Commodore 64 in the 80's It printed uni-directional. It went "BRAAAAAAAP........voooooooop(return).......BRAAAAAAAP.......vooop.......BRAAAAAAP... EXTREMELY SLOWLY I loved that printer. The output looked like a typewriter and I had tractor-feed paper too!

[@superilu]

I still have a Commodore MPS 801 for my C64 around, with a fresh ink ribbon I bought on eBay. That one prints with the returning head as well :)

[@Tigerskunk]

We had a Brothers electronic typewriter that had a connection allowing you to hook you up to a computer. Connection though required a separate box that had a parallel connection. And then we use another adapter to go from the parallel to Commodore 64 serial. Worked pretty good.

[@markibbetson5551]

Traitor ;)

[@JVerschueren]

When we did mailings at my first job, we'd just hook up a box of adres label traction paper, schedule the printjob for 8pm and go home. It was usually done the next morning, but not always.

[@zyborg47]

Me too

[@enigma776]

Never thought I would watch a 30 minute video on a dot matrix printer but here we are.

[@pistool1]

OMG printing out stuff was a real pain in the ass during the early 90s :D In my country, I remember that some of the salary slips were printed out to staff with matrix printers even in 2008 :) Tili tuli, tili meni ^__^

[@ImranIsak]

A 30 min video about a printer I LOVE IT

[@MultiTomtom23]

Me too....me too =P

[@yetidynamics]

I remember printing color, using a black and white dot matrix printer, but separating the colors out and using colored ribbons, refeeding the paper. it never really aligned perfectly thou.

[@Tularis]

Dot Matrix Printers always sound like they are screaming when printing...

[@compzac]

They certainly did, I remember having an OKI data printer from about 1993 im guessing that would absolutely scream through pages, all the noises that thing made, you could be across the house and go, oh its printing now, wait thats the loading paper sound, thats the ink transport moving. Mine even had a "silent" mode which in all fairness made it quieter but what it really did was just make the printer go slower to try and make it quiet, not silent still louder than a riced up honda doing 100 but quieter than a jet airliner from 3 feet away like it usually was. Stark contrast to my current lineup of computer data to paper creation devices, my Brother laser jet color printer also has a silent mode which weirdly makes it no louder than a fan on low speed, and i have an epson photo all in one that doesnt even need a quiet mode cause really its noises are very subtle, its nice being able to hear when im printing something, but i miss the sounds the OKI made

[@MrJoaozZ]

airplane downnnnn

[@SpegD]

I've got to admit, I saw the box said Ponts and frantically started googling what a printer pont was. Now I feel silly. But I found a Ponts & co. print shop in Australia. So that's cool.

[@schmodedo]

The ponts get added during the Paper Feed Faths.

[@dailygrass]

Pont means point/dot in my language

[@ZeldaGX]

Great new upload! Also, I really love your captions from time to time. *throws down the box* [PLONK] *opens box* [box being unboxed]. I don't know why, it's just silly to me and made me smile.

[@jcrouzzo]

I haven’t heard the sound of a dotmatrix printer in over 20 years. Thanks for taking me right back to my childhood! ;-)

[@littleampton2]

Who also wants a CHESS.BMP T-shirt?

[@MesquiteAutomotive]

I'M NOT CLAUDE FROLLO ANYMORE that’s sounds like pure a e s e t h i c

[@28YorkshireRose12]

Oh man...... You've just transported me back in time to my university days! I had this printer, way back when, and it was the wonder of the age, as far as uni students were concerned, and too true, the sounds, the smell of the ink, and the anticipation as the print appeared, line by line on the paper. I traded mine in for an HP "Color Deskjet" (400? I think), which was a real turning point for me. The dot matrix was slow and noisy, and there was the inevitable cross contamination of the ink bands that left the colours looking muddy and blotchy... The inkjet printer was just so much more advanced, quieter, faster, cleaner, crisper - and pricier. Ah, I shall sleep soundly tonight, knowing that not everything from my past is dead and burried. Oh happy days! P.S. I had a '486-DX2-66' (later uprated to DX4-100). That old Dell Dimension 'P' series desktop stayed with me through DOS 3.1 to DOS 6.2, and Windows 3.1 to Windows 3.11 For Workgroups, eventually up to Win 95. It was a good workhorse, and I still have its rather battered looking carcase, complete with Win 95 still installed - but hasn't been powered up over 10 years.

[@nickf3242]

Oh man Print Shop banners, brings back good memories for me too. I forgot about that long sandwich one. That was my favorite and I always wanted to use it. My parents were awesome and always let my siblings and I create and print what we wanted. They never told us not to waste anything. I was very fortunate growing up. I vaguely remember my handy father making a special plywood stand to prop the printer on and keep the box of banner paper fed from below.

[@bmwolgas]

For me this brings back memories of using my old TRS-80 Model III and its LPRINT command along with my Tandy printer (don't remember the model) and fanfold paper to make big banners. I made the entire alphabet, each letter a full 8-inches tall, using just the asterisk character.

[@gakk8658]

Print Shop Deluxe is super nostalgic for me, too. We used to make banners with it for EVERYTHING, because we could. My mom was always super into running events like parties, the local science fair, dances, and more for the school so we just printed banners for everything. We kept the dot matrix even after we got a "laser printer" just for the continuous sheets of paper.

[@ethanpoole3443]

I was similarly fortunate growing up in the 80s as I tended to go through a 2500 sheet box of fanfold paper pretty much every month.

[@nickf3242]

@@gakk8658 That's awesome!. Yeah my parents were super active with us as well and often volunteered to cook the hotdogs for all our cub scouting events. That usually including making a banner haha. Yeah My dad had to have everything. We had a laser printer too and a giant flatbed scanner and I would spend hours scanning my baseball cards in and manipulating them. The coolest thing I thought I ever did was print out a full size sheet on adhesive paper and stick it to the front of my card binder. I still have it to this day. All of his PC purchases were for pleasure as far as I knew. He bought it just because he wanted it and because he could. I definitely inherited that trait. Haha.

[@KnightTobyas]

That's really cool! The black ribbon forms a mobius strip thanks to the single twist so that both sides of the ribbon gets used. Man, I love well engineered electronics!

[@marcusdamberger]

Totally didn't realize that's why the ribbon was turned over like that, makes sense! I thought in the ensuing years it had somehow gotten twisted over.

[@lyianx]

Ahhh dot matrix printers. :) Also, that T-shirt transfer worked alot better than i was expecting. It also looked like, despite how it looked on paper, when on the shirt it actually looked closer to the original image in color.

[@freakingoldskool3600]

Wow my family when I was growing up had a star rainbow printer either the same as this one or extremely similar, that I had hours of fun with and had forgotten all about. Thanks Clint for reminding me of a bit of my childhood !

[@Thagarr]

What?? No ASCII art prints?? Great Video, regardless! Reminds me of my old Tandy DMP 130. There is nothing quite like the sound of a dot matrix printer!

[@ericchandler90]

A printer video on my Birthday? Thanks Dad. I was born in 1990 btw. What a coincidence!

[@cieele]

Happy birthday!

[@stailheartedscum]

happy birthday!

[@ExperimentIV]

happy birthday, internet stranger! hope it goes nicely.

[@vladtomoiaga4721]

Happy birthday!

[@TheChowitzer]

Happy Birthday. I, too, was born in 1990. Are you feeling old? Because where's my medication?

[@reloadingentertainment1261]

This was far more enjoyable then it should have been. It love this channel. One of the best on youtube

[@otopico]

I love dot matrix. I once had a job repairing them, and some of those things were 25+ years old when I worked on them in the mid 90s. Some stuff just works when maintained.

[@rodU65]

I know offices that still use them today!

[@sweetpeachnectar]

fun fact: fanfold paper means "endlospapier" in german. it translates literally to "endless paper". :D

[@SkigBiggler]

@Deenie Beenie my understanding of German is that it's a lot more common to just use compound words as names for specific things, whereas in English this is considerably less common

[@lpnp9477]

I thought of two unrelated puns while watching that I wanted to impart but couldn't think of a way to tie them together so here you go: "Ponts de Leon" "The Fresh Prints of Bel-Air" For you, free of charge.

[@kylequinn6695]

You should use that T-shirt as some sort of gallery of all amazing 90s computer goodness. You could cover it with various iron-ons for games, brand patches, and things like that.

[@ikari82]

This really takes me back.. I remember printing a SimCity city on my dot matrix printer. Took forever. Also loved Banner Mania

[@bentsound]

I love it when companies keep all of their drivers for their older devices, it's just such a good thing!

[@EposVox]

That transfer is pretty cool looking, actually

[@theomerian6102]

Man this really takes me back. Those Print Shop banners were a fixture at every event for a decade it seems - from like 1985-1995. I don't think my dad knew what he was getting into when he brought home Print Shop one day. My sister and I must have burned through a box (1000 pages) of tractor feed paper in that 1st month printing every banner and sign imaginable. We never had a color printer through, just an Epson 9-pin then later on a 24-pin. Thanks for the video and the trip down memory lane.

[@KoenMiseur]

Fun video, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a color dot matrix printer! I work in a printingshop, so this is right in my alley, we still have people that come with old prints printed on dot matrix printers most of the time to get them scanned! But man do these age fast, most of them need to be darkened alot to get readable again!

[@Tmart64]

We had a black and white dot matrix printer. Trying to print out coursework out at midnight without waking anyone 😂😁.Happy days .

[@peterbrown6224]

[@sol_pregnantguy]

Now, just what is your profile picture? I remember having a gameboy game with that character on its cover...

[@Tmart64]

@@sol_pregnantguy , Ganbare Goemon , an old game series on the snes & n64 :D

[@zehph]

That chess image in the chest of that shirt would make probably your favorite shirt for a while! HAHAHA

[@erniesdeck7550]

I very much love that wouldn't desk you're using. Especially with the slope for the monitor. It tickles my nostalgia.

[@its_me_jp_]

I listened to this whole video while doing homework and it made everything seem so much happier. You make my day every time you make a video Clint!

[@QuantumBraced]

Ohh so the print screen button used to.... actually print the screen. Would have never guessed that.

[@KuraIthys]

I kinda knew that, but on the other hand I didn't think that was still a feature found in the late versions of dos. (like the 6.21 you usually got alongside windows 3.11)

[@fen7662]

Ha ha! Yeah, I remember that now. In elementary school it was impressed on us to never, ever, EVER hit print screen accidentally.

[@BrknSoul]

I knew about the PrintScreen thing, but I never new about Ctrl+PrintScreen! And I was brought up in the DOS days!

[@ion-shivs]

OH MY - if this isn't the same printer I had in high school, it's very close. I remember that STAR logo, and the shape of the printer and buttons is very similar. I just can't imagine that my dad would have spent that much money on a printer, though.

[@UbiquitousBooks]

I had exactly the same thought. No way my dad spent £300 on a printer. But I clearly remember ca 1992 having a 24 pin colour Star dot matrix printer and being frustrated that my dad would only ever put a mono ribbon in it.

[@greenaum]

Star made a wide range of printers. The 9-pin non-colour ones were much cheaper, with a range going down to the cheapest end. Although even the cheap ones weren't actually cheap, just less horrifying prices. Same for all printers, before they adopted the horrendous inkjet "ink more expensive than gold" racket. Maybe Clint could let you look at his Star catalogue, or more likely it's available scanned online. Maybe even Star's website will have a picture of it. Back in the day, a colour laser would cost as much as a small house.

[@ion-shivs]

@@greenaum 0:55 Going back and looking at this, I think it is more likely that my family owned the NX-1020, which looked virtually the same, and was only $329.

[@ZipplyZane]

I actually remember DOS programs that didn't have any actual print functionality, and would just display the image on the screen and tell you to press PrintScreen. I remember a game that let you print little certificates showing your high score this way.

[@Fridelain]

Hey, it saved (quite a few) lines of code and thus bytes on the cartridge/BBS transfer or what have you. KISS!

[@SuperNoncents]

What was the game name?

[@ZipplyZane]

nick turner I can't remember. I do remember it was more a collection of games, and included a snake clone. And, when you died, it would say something like "Your googolpede ran into a wall" while playing funeral march music.

[@sirunknown2142]

My grandmother worked for accounting using a program on DOS. She used the print screen key because it was the only way to print account information. It's really awesome to see all this technology and I love this channel because you're doing awesome work showing this stuff off.

[@deadmetalbr]

Holy crap, my family had one of these! It was purchased for use with a then brand-new 486, which was originally loaded with DOS 5 or early 6. After a few months, Dad upgraded that machine to Windows 3.1 and it served us through the rest of the 90s. I remember slowly printing out the horrible things I made in KidPix for Windows with this. I've been watching LGR for years, but this is the first time you've ever shown off a piece of specific hardware I actually grew up with. Great stuff!

[@lettucefire]

That star logo is a blast from the past My first ever printer was a Star dot matrix (mono only!) back in 1990 paired with my Amiga. I think i upgraded to a canon bubblejet around '92 but the Star was as reliable as it gets.

[@apemoon1731]

Same here. I had an Amiga, but I had a colour 24 pin Star printer. I'm not sure if it was the one in the video, but it was very similar if not.

[@ExperimentIV]

oh my god you're right, the inside of that reminds me of a Roland Space Echo RE-201, how the tape looks inside of it

[@prestobizmal]

I used to work for a yacht repair company as a parts delivery driver. You would not believe how many store rooms and warehouse suppliers still use these 90s printers for everything.

[@4jp]

Dot matrix stuck around because it was used for multipart printing ("carbon copies"), which other printers did not support.

[@prestobizmal]

jeff absolutely, I still remember one of the companies having the printer mounted to the wall with the endless folded carbon copies printing all day.

[@manoeldeinstrucoes]

My favorite #asmr channel. All the sounds, tracks and Clint’s VO. Keep this channel up. I lived what you lived. Is great to see how you experienced those things back then.

[@mcrazza]

Oh man, I haven't heard the sound of a dot matrix printer in AGES! It's got that unmistakable sharp and piercing sound. I used to hear dot matrix printers seemingly everywhere from banks, govt departments, shops and in school too. Thanks for going through the trouble of getting everything and putting the whole thing together, Clint.

[@lburbo23]

I had one of these back in the day! It initially started its life in my dad's store as part of a POS system, then I ended up inheriting it around 1998-99.

[@TheAtoll]

LGR, your deep dives into the obscure have greatly informed and inspired my own content creation over the years. I look forward to every video you realease!

[@theimp67]

Anyone else struggling to grasp that the 90s is closer to 30 years ago than 20 years? For some reason I hear the 90s and I automatically think 20 years but then have to remind myself.

[@ninjamaster3453]

The year 2000 will be 20 years ago soon.

[@PatrickGoodspeed]

Yup, try that with 1980...

[@lister_of_smeg6545]

Technically, the 90s as a whole are still closer to 20 years ago, and will be until next year.

[@GraveUypo]

what's hard for me to grasp is that the 90's are even farther back to my nephew as the 60's were to me. damn!

[@bullracing1]

I thought 50's doesn't event exist

[@tl1024]

Super awesome! Thanks for speeding it up, I don't miss that sound! Who else remembers how to do "tractor feed"! Please dig up a old "4 pane" thermal transfer printer!

[@rrpiva]

There's also "Banner Mania" for MS-DOS. I used that a lot. :)

[@HamsterWheelGaming]

On the flyer: Quiet Zone, Low Noise Level While its printing: KKKZZZZGGGKKHKKZKZKZ

[@MagicalAuroraDream]

LOL! It's amazing how much louder and slower that thing is than modern printers. Still, I can't fully judge because I've never seen a dot matrix in real life, I don't think. However, based on the video, Braille embossers put dot matrix printers to shame in the noise department. They're so loud schools often buy padded cases for them, which help but still don't make the things quiet. Between the public school, blind schools, and university I've attended one thing remains the same about Braille embossers, the crazy noise. I don't think I'll ever complain about noisy printers after those things. 😄

[@pistool1]

That 'print finished' prompt sound is like an old-school quartz alarm clock buzz :D I still use one as a backup every single morning in addition to phone alarm :)

[@redpheonix1000]

@@pistool1 I have a similar Star printer that sounds **exactly** like the beeping from a watch

[@MrDead1975]

I used to have one of these on my amiga 500 lol. when the ink was running low you opened the ribbon cable box and sprayed WD40 in there to keep it going!!

[@TheOtherBill]

Looking at the DOS Edit screen gave me a flashback to MS Works. Did you ever do a review of that? That would be a good one.

[@coltius]

Every time I see you reflected in a monitor awkwardly reaching around a tripod I appreciate what you do more.

[@Mamiya645]

I had a Star NL-10. I also had neighbors complaining whenever I printed something out >:D

[@Fridelain]

Did you print out (non-)apology letters.

[@johnny2x484]

Gotta say I remember printers being loud but wow that thing is irritating and took forever.

[@ArneSchmitz]

Star LC24-10 was my first. I once printed the PovRay documentation using it. Took ages on endless computer paper.

[@RosebudKane41]

The sound of a dot matrix printer is pure nostalgia. 👍❤

[@fawzanfawzi9993]

Still way better than my ink-jet printer at home

[@MaddTheSane]

My family has an old inkjet that's lasted through three computers and is still going. Meanwhile, the inkjet I got so my mom could print from her iPad… the black didn't want to print and my attempts to fix it didn't work.

[@bullracing1]

The reliability of it's Catridge is just just.. seriously bad.

[@randombrokeperson]

A lot of home printers seem to suck. Esp HPs

[@tylerirwin9932]

We use a matrix printer at work. You can get refurbished ones and new ones still. When they work, they work really well, but when they fail, they fail in spectacular ways. I did not know they made a color matrix printer, though. Thank you LGR for anothe fascinating video!

[@SuprSi]

Glad to see I'm not alone in loving this kind of nerdy nostalgic stuff lol, great episode :D

[@devjock]

I'm still running a Star NL-10 printer, on Windows 8.1 AND on a Commodore 64. Fantastic little beast.

[@NewsmakersTech]

We ABSOLUTELY LOVE dot matrix printers! Our favorites are Tandy models like the DMP 106 0r 130, or Apple Image Writers!

[@greenaum]

True, a lot of warehouses and stuff use them. For printing on forms that use carbon paper (or the weird chemical stuff), you have to use an impact printer, that actually hits the paper. Dot matrix or daisywheel are the only options, and daisywheels were expensive and rare. So switching to another printer would mean they'd have to redesign all their forms, and the ones of the businesses they deal with. It's fortunate that, as long as you keep them clean, dot matrix printers are indestructible.

[@kokodin5895]

most interesting thing of those printers was printing your maps from oryginal SimCity game

[@rocketPower047]

Damn I wasted paper on that 😂 lol

[@robotvilla8244]

Aw man... the dot matrix sound sparks all kinds of good old childhood nerd-memories. Love it! Thanks!

[@namakudamono]

Lovely video. I received the 9-pin version of this printer as a Christmas present in 1990. We had a bit of a tough time connecting it to my Amiga A500 (no specially written drivers, jus the EpsonX emulation) but it eventually worked. I remember spending most of the Christmas holiday printing out demonstration pictures from Deluxe Paint II. One thing I noticed is that your model can select the ink colour immediately, however I recall the the 9 pin version (which shared the same visual design, but may have been a newer/older generation) could only cycle up or down the inks one at a time - I still remember the sound of that “adjusting the ink cartridge angle to select the colour” sound. Thank you for the memories!

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

28:38 The Yellow CAUTION Label would make a great obscure T-Shirt design, for true Star printer fans.

[@not_on]

VORSICHT HEISS I guess it was also sold in Germany

[@docmarons3782]

We used to have one of these when I was growing up on the ranch inside the workshop we had. I remember the noise it made to this day printing out spec sheets and instructions, and is my default mental image noise made when a particularly "slow" person is visibly trying to think through something. Also I will so buy that shirt from you.

[@darreng8583]

Great video, I used to repair Okidata dot matrix printers mostly the Okidata320 Microline series, for my company infact I was an authorized Okidata repair Tech. My company Cam Data Systems back in the 80's now called CAM Commerce Solutions used to sell the Okidata printers in large record numbers with each of our business systems around the country.

[@troy2000me]

There are still folks out there using Oki 320 and 321 Turbos to this day in small hardware stores and auto shops.

[@darreng8583]

@@troy2000me yeah they are very good printers.

[@pmr1wrt53]

I have also a Okidata (don't now which type) printer with a separate printerbuffer. Used for Purup Electronics hardware in the early eighties. Communication via rs-232.

[@darreng8583]

@@pmr1wrt53 I used to have one but I think I sold it long long ago. I also worked on repairing dot matrix print heads in a JX50 Electronic Cash register in the 80's too.

[@dleland71]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had one of these printers a loooong time ago, and still remember the "whine" of the printhead.

[@teknifix]

I love your enthusiasm over the fanfold paper. Back around '99 I ran a press that made that kind of paper. Many millions of feet. There were also carbon papers for multiform documents or set carriers hospitals used (they would have multiform documents glued to these carriers so they could go through dot matrix printers that could print through all copies).

[@MrGloverDude]

Me: I'm gonna be productive tonight Also me: watches 30 minute video on dot matrix printer

[@baremetalHW]

Thank you for this!!! Takes me back!!

[@Vermilicious]

That's a shame with the foam rollers, but you should totally try to repair them :o) Awesome that the t-shirt transfer worked after so long.

[@greenaum]

Yup, totally. Fix the foam rollers, then somehow re-ink the ribbons. There used to be services that would do that. Of course getting the right ink into the right stripe would be a challenge. Getting the ink wouldn't, just get one of those inkjet refill kits, should be good enough. Or actual ink from an art shop, if you wanna spend some money. You could come up with some sort of contraption that slowly brings the ribbon out and around a sort of frame, with a drip-feed to a sponge at one end for ink. Then the ribbon continutes round, letting the ink soak in, before it goes back into the cartridge. The re-inking sponges (or nozzles or whatever) don't all need to be on top of one another, could be anywhere as long as they're at the right height. Let the whole apparatus run through the cartridge 3 or 4 times, see what you end up with. Maybe monitor it for a while first, before you go to bed with it running. If you've got any Lego Technic or the like, this would be a good use for it.

[@rtharrison]

@@greenaum Or just re-ink the foam rollers and let the ink transfer onto the ribbon. :)

[@HidekiShinichi]

@@greenaum you dont need lego technic, a 3d printer would suffice.

[@greenaum]

@@HidekiShinichi Sure you could design something for a 3D printer to make. But they have disadvantages. They're slow and expensive, and parts can be weak and brittle. Lego Technic, Meccano, or even Fischertechnik if you're German and absolutely loaded, would be good for prototyping first, making lots of little adjustments. Doing that with a 3D printer would take a good long while. Richard, I don't think it's a matter of the rollers re-inking the ribbon, you just couldn't store enough ink in them. I imagine the ink is mostly soaked into in the ribbon the whole time. So you'd have to replace it, directly into the ribbon. Maybe a look at the machine Star used in the first place would be good, or that ribbon reconditioners used. But they'd be rare and likely scrapped 10 years ago. Perhaps someone like an invisible mender, a really good tailor or general stitcher, could cut out the bit with the whole and re-join the edges without the printer hicupping on it.

[@stonent]

@@greenaum He can buy a Panasonic KX-P165 or KX-P150C ribbon and transfer it in there. One issue with the color ribbons is they become contaminated with the other colors over time.

[@MyInfiniteZero]

These vids are literally my comfort food. NEVER change, Clint.

[@PaulinesPastimes]

I used to make birthday and Christmas cards in a dot matrix. I thought I was so clever! Great video. I hope you can get the colour working.

[@KorbenTheFireX]

"What's the "Pont" used? 😉" "Feed Fath into your mind!" These typos! xD

[@CommanderMouse72]

They had an f printed as a p and a p as an f maybe their printer screwed up

[@atomstarfireproductions8695]

I wonder how the typos happened. Unless the box design was made using a typewriter without double checking.

[@KorbenTheFireX]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking kind of. xD Like I just don't check typos as much, unless if I cared.

[@XxDemon23xX]

and multiple looks like its spelled "Mu!tiple"

[@yueibm]

Wow, that "Signature Series" script looks the same as the emblems on 1980s Lincoln Town Cars and Continentals!

[@badkluster]

Q U A L I T Y P O N T S Oh god that sound... And the simplicity! @ 12:09

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

This was my childhood!

[@WareWolf801]

Oh yeah!! I had one similar that was monochrome. They were KICK ASS printers!! Pretty much ALL their dot matrix printers were fantastic. SUPER COOL products from them, always. You could use one of their TINY fonts and make cheat sheets for school that were so damn small. Not that I ever did that, nope.

[@enginecalibrationcode8779]

So my dad bought this exact model when it came out. I remember hearing that classic sound when I was 7 or 8 of him printing things. When I got my own computer and got into high school I started using it to print reports and other homework. Last time I used it was back in 2008 and it still worked like a charm. He still has that printer.

[@Doobie3010]

Who would have thought an old printer would make an intresting video? ME! Thats who! Cheers clint!

[@World_Theory]

I wonder if you could wrap a new sheet of foam around the remains of the old ones, cut to fit. Could likely glue it on, if you use the glue sparingly, so it doesn't soak through the foam most of the way.

[@ImpetuouslyInsane]

Hey! No green/white lined feeder paper? I DEMAND SATISFACTION!

[@harshnemesis]

I guess these were good for lists

[@liammhodonohue]

That continuous feed paper was given to us kids when it was raining during school braketime. This was mid 90s 🇬🇧 and school had no need for it. Remember tearing off the margins and making paper chains. Ah the memories

[@liammhodonohue]

@@Ndlanding well spotted, thanks for that.

[@straightpipediesel]

Greenbar paper was almost always for wide-carriage printers; 14 7/8" x 8.5" or x 11". You wouldn't see it on a narrow-carriage printer like this.

[@TheOfficialDorianelevator]

i have a dot matrix printer at home, and it is the infamous apple imagewriter ii. it still works after a tiny bit of repair and i like to use it from time to time and somehow the ribbon diden't dry out. god i love these old printers.

[@tugatomskanimation6370]

I have very fond memories of our home's dot matrix printer when I was little. My father used to print small banners for his workshop quite often. The sound was almost hypnotic to me, for some reason.

[@jhonbus]

Take a leaf out of Techmoan's book and do a DIY replacement of those foam rollers!

[@RAMChYLD]

You can try, but it won’t work. Take it from someone desperate enough for P6300 color ribbon cartridges to actually have tried repairing a cartridge... and failed.

[@Fridelain]

@@RAMChYLD If at first you don't succeed... give up?

[@emilychb6621]

Yea I was totally expecting him to take out some new foam tape and fix those cartridges.

[@matthewlibanio8227]

Yes indeed, and like Techmoan he would have said that 'the foam on the rollers is perished.'. Hahaha. Ah we dumb North Americans... The Brits use all kinds of fun words which are normal to them and foreign to us foreigners. Hahaha. Jokes jokes...

[@RAMChYLD]

Fridelain well, cutting perfect rings of the right thickness and height is tricky. Heck, cutting foam rings using nothing but a craft blade is impossible.