Back in the olden days of computing as we all know one had to store information on cassette, deal with miniscule amounts of RAM, and dream of a day when loading a program from a disk would be quick and easy. In addition, though, printers at that time were expensive. So what’s a cheapska… er, kid with limited funds to do?
If you were me, you bought a plotter instead of a printer.
Commodore’s CBM-1520 plotter was, in fact, the first printer I ever owned. As you can see on that linked page it didn’t print on real sheets of computer paper; rather it used paper rolls just like an adding machine. Printing occurred with actual miniature pens in multiple colors. And it really was kind of neat to watch it print designs even though it was slow as all get out.
But for text, well, it was just as entertaining… but… pretty much useless. Text was super tiny since, as you’ll recall, this thing was printing on a roll of paper 4.5″ wide!
Needless to say the plotter was an interesting little device, and cheap, but I ultimately returned it and upgraded to an Okimate 20, a lovely true color printer.
Posted in Technology