Continuous Roll printer like the old Centronics PC printers -- any such animal around

jimbo45 · Sep 29, 2021

Hi folks
Instead of messing about with A4 sizes of paper t5o organise spreadsheets with a large number of rows Is there anything equivalent to the old centronics printers that has a continuous paper feed and you could print a spread sheet "Sideways". Messing around with current EXCEL and A4 sheets is a real pain for what I need to do -- the old centronics type paper with holes at the edgees where the printer sprocket would engage and move the paper was really great if you needed lomg continuous prints.

Cheers
jimbo

Winuser · Sep 29, 2021

jimbo45 said:
Hi folks
Instead of messing about with A4 sizes of paper t5o organise spreadsheets with a large number of rows Is there anything equivalent to the old centronics printers that has a continuous paper feed and you could print a spread sheet "Sideways". Messing around with current EXCEL and A4 sheets is a real pain for what I need to do -- the old centronics type paper with holes at the edgees where the printer sprocket would engage and move the paper was really great if you needed lomg continuous prints.

Cheers
jimbo

It's been years since I used a printer with that type of paper. Can you still buy it?

BunnyJ · Sep 29, 2021

I haven't seen one in ages.

iko22 · Sep 29, 2021

It's called a Continuous feed printer

continuous feed printer - Bing

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Ed Tittel · Sep 29, 2021

Believe it or not there are still plenty of dot matrix printers for sale right now. These print on folded/continuous printer paper. See this Amazon product search for items from ~US$200 and up: Amazon.com : dot matrix printer.
HTH,
--Ed--

alsorg · Sep 29, 2021

jimbo45 said:
Hi folks
Instead of messing about with A4 sizes of paper t5o organise spreadsheets with a large number of rows Is there anything equivalent to the old centronics printers that has a continuous paper feed and you could print a spread sheet "Sideways". Messing around with current EXCEL and A4 sheets is a real pain for what I need to do -- the old centronics type paper with holes at the edgees where the printer sprocket would engage and move the paper was really great if you needed lomg continuous prints.

Cheers
jimbo

You may be messing around around with A4 paper but the rest of us (and, probably the rest of the world) are making the most efficient use of the most efficient way of printing and getting oalong with the important things in life. Of course, probably, you know how to achieve better using Linux but, we have to question why you persist in using a Windows forum to promote a minority desktop solution. Perhaps it makes you feel superior - but that's your problem, isn't it.

You really are becoming an intolerable bore.

bobkn · Sep 29, 2021

alsorg said:
You may be messing around around with A4 paper but the rest of us (and, probably the rest of the world) are making the most efficient use of the most efficient way of printing and getting oalong with the important things in life. Of course, probably, you know how to achieve better using Linux but, we have to question why you persist in using a Windows forum to promote a minority desktop solution. Perhaps it makes you feel superior - but that's your problem, isn't it.

You really are becoming an intolerable bore.

Centronix has nothing to do with Linux. Many people referred to the old parallel port used for computer printers a Centronix port.

iko22 · Sep 29, 2021

alsorg said:
You may be messing around around with A4 paper but the rest of us (and, probably the rest of the world) are making the most efficient use of the most efficient way of printing and getting oalong with the important things in life. Of course, probably, you know how to achieve better using Linux but, we have to question why you persist in using a Windows forum to promote a minority desktop solution. Perhaps it makes you feel superior - but that's your problem, isn't it.

You really are becoming an intolerable bore.

A lot of people out there visit these forums with obscure questions / questions about obsolete configurations , and many forum members enjoy answering those type of questions - we have spent out lives in computing and it is important to us, sorry if that makes us all boring to you - the content is appropriate for this type of forum.

fireberd · Sep 29, 2021

Haven't heard "Centronics" for a while. Network I used to work in used Centronics dot matrix printers when they first went with "dumb" computer terminals (that replaced Teletype machines) in 1974.

jimbo45 · Sep 29, 2021

alsorg said:
You may be messing around around with A4 paper but the rest of us (and, probably the rest of the world) are making the most efficient use of the most efficient way of printing and getting oalong with the important things in life. Of course, probably, you know how to achieve better using Linux but, we have to question why you persist in using a Windows forum to promote a minority desktop solution. Perhaps it makes you feel superior - but that's your problem, isn't it.

You really are becoming an intolerable bore.

Nothing to do with Linux -- try and at least understand what is being posted about before ranting or pontificating on subjects you obviously know totally nothing or very little about. I doubt if you've ever needed a spreadsheet with more than 3 variables and 2 rows --even if you know what a spreadsheet actually is.

Problem is quite simple -- I want a spreadsheet of around 3,000 - 4,000 columns with only about 11 rows for each column which can be pinned along a large wall as a continuous sheet -- messing around with loads of A4's and sticking together with various sorts of tape etc is not a sensible solution. !!!

Those old Dot Matrix printers with the paper with punched holes could handle this type of printing !!! (even if the computers at that period probably would have taken 6 mths to run the calculations !!!!).

Try and work in some massive infrastructure Engineering / Scientific projects where this type of stuff is really needed --you can have 1000's of variables etc .

perhaps YOU should go back to using these again !

Cheers
jimbo

BunnyJ · Sep 29, 2021

jimbo45 said:
Nothing to do with Linux -- try and at least understand what is being posted about before ranting or pontificating on subjects you obviously know totally nothing or very little about. I doubt if you've ever needed a spreadsheet with more than 3 variables and 2 rows --even if you know what a spreadsheet actually is.

Problem is quite simple -- I want a spreadsheet of around 3,000 - 4,000 columns with only about 11 rows for each column which can be pinned along a large wall as a continuous sheet -- messing around with loads of A4's and sticking together with various sorts of tape etc is not a sensible solution. !!!

Those old Dot Matrix printers with the paper with punched holes could handle this type of printing !!! (even if the computers at that period probably would have taken 6 mths to run the calculations !!!!).

Try and work in some massive infrastructure Engineering / Scientific projects where this type of stuff is really needed --you can have 1000's of variables etc .

perhaps YOU should go back to using these again !

View attachment 8739

Cheers
jimbo

Punch cards.. bite your tongue. I used those in High-school and I HATE THEM!!

Winuser · Sep 29, 2021

BunnyJ said:
Punch cards.. bite your tongue. I used those in High-school and I HATE THEM!!

I remember when we use to get coupons in the mail and they were on punch cards. Do not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate. :)

BunnyJ · Sep 29, 2021

Winuser said:
I remember when we use to get coupons in the mail and they were on punch cards. Do not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate. :)

I don't recall that but I took a computer/business class in High-school where I used punch cards, sorter and printer. Something like this

Josey Wales · Sep 29, 2021

Those types of Printer's jam quite frequently. When I was a Digital Switch Tech it used to fry me when I was trying to run a switch dump overnight and it would jam halfway through it.

Almighty1 · Sep 29, 2021

Wouldn't a current printer that can handle roll paper do the same thing? I am sure there are still continuous form printers around as plenty of places still use them like UPS and FedEx when providing pre-printed airbills.

bobkn · Sep 29, 2021

Almighty1 said:
Wouldn't a current printer that can handle roll paper do the same thing? I am sure there are still continuous form printers around as plenty of places still use them like UPS and FedEx when providing pre-printed airbills.

I checked earlier. Found lots of thermal label printers.

Not sure if there are current tractor feed printers that aren't dot matrix. (Leaving off band printers, if those still exist.)

Almighty1 · Oct 1, 2021

bobkn said:
I checked earlier. Found lots of thermal label printers.

Not sure if there are current tractor feed printers that aren't dot matrix. (Leaving off band printers, if those still exist.)

Not talking about those but the ones from Epson that are in the Professional line, like the ones architects use to print blueprints.

bobkn · Oct 1, 2021

Almighty1 said:
Not talking about those but the ones from Epson that are in the Professional line, like the ones architects use to print blueprints.

I suppose that something suitable for making D size prints (or larger) might be of interest to a spreadsheet person, but few home users have them. The ones I've seen (from HP) were inkjets, with expensive ink usage.

Many years ago, my boss used such a device to print PERT charts. They took so long to print (from a Mac) that he usually wanted to make changes before the print finished. He was a complete flaming a$$h0le.

Almighty1 · Oct 1, 2021

And this says most inkjet printers can handle roll paper.

How to Print on Roll Paper (11 Steps)

Many high-quality inkjet printers include an option to print on roll paper. Roll paper printing is useful if you are planning on printing a very long document or a large poster. Since the size of every roll paper print is different, you will have to manually set the paper size each time prior to...

itstillworks.com

NavyLCDR · Oct 3, 2021

jimbo45 said:
Hi folks
Instead of messing about with A4 sizes of paper t5o organise spreadsheets with a large number of rows Is there anything equivalent to the old centronics printers that has a continuous paper feed and you could print a spread sheet "Sideways". Messing around with current EXCEL and A4 sheets is a real pain for what I need to do -- the old centronics type paper with holes at the edgees where the printer sprocket would engage and move the paper was really great if you needed lomg continuous prints.

Cheers
jimbo

Simple answer is yes.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-DesignJet-Compact-Wireless-Plotter/dp/B08F6T1CJ7

The exec's used to come in to my office all the time and want to print their huge spreadsheets on our plotters.

Continuous Roll printer like the old Centronics PC printers -- any such animal around

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