HV #old Submission

Here’s my submission for Hemispheric View’s #155 request for fun and interesting computer peripherals (#old). In the abstract, this one’s neither fun nor interesting, yet it’s one I remember fondly. It’s the HP DeskJet 690c colour printer:

This was the first printer I used for school work growing up. It replaced the first printer I actually had experience with. We had an old line printer which worked with continuous form paper (the one that has the holes down the sides). Quick aside: it’s great seeing these printers still in use today. I always get a hit of nostalgia when I see and hear these line printers print out passenger manifests at the gate at airports.

Anyway, this printer was slow, monochrome, and could really only handle text. And this became a problem when I entered school, and the need for printed out “project” work became I thing. So my Dad eventually replaced it with this thing. And wow, to see a print out of one of your creations in colour back then! Hardly revolutionary in hindsight, but the rest of the printed world was in colour, and it was quite something to point to one of your colour printouts and say, “I made that.”

Also great was being able to use regular sized paper. We had some success with continuous form paper with perforated feed holes that you could tear them off before stapling. But the sheets were never a great size for booklets. They were either too big, or the aspect ratio was wrong. So it was nice moving to a machine that could produce A4 (or A5) booklets. The print software even supported double-sided printing, although not without manipulating the paper yourself.

And the sounds it made while it was printing… super interesting to hear. I still remember them.

Eventually it died and got replaced with a printer-scanner machine that was actually pretty decent, but not nearly as good. That got replaced by something that was lesser still, and so goes the downward quality of home printers. Since then my need for home printing was dwindling, as access to printers at school became available to me, followed by the lack of need to use printers at all. I don’t even own a home printer now, and I can’t say that I miss them. If I do need to print something, once every couple of years, I just use the one at work or at the library.

So for me, I think home printing peaked with this machine. And that’s what makes it my entry for HV’s fun and interesting computer peripherals.