On Tue, Oct 13, 2015 at 11:25 AM, Paul Koning <[email protected]> wrote: > There are all sorts of oddball printing technologies from back then. I > remember > one (from a lab instrument, not a printer or terminal) that used > aluminum-coated > paper, but the coating was on the back of the paper. The writing was done > with > a high voltage electrode just as you describe, but the result was that the > sparks > would scorch the paper and leave a thin black mark.
That reminds me of a printer I worked with in 1986 or so, but this one had multi-layer paper that could be selectively burned for true 16-level grey-scale printing. It was expensive, but the customer needed to render ultrasonic scans in high fidelity, and even a laser printers wouldn't work in this application because the sample size/pixel size was too small for that to be effective. These days, an inkjet printer could probably dither small enough black dots to be a cost-effective alternative, or perhaps a 1200dpi laser printer. -ethan > > I don't remember what the VT55 used. Tony's comment does sound plausible; I > distinctly remember "electrolytic" printing technology though no details. I > wonder if it might help to take a bit of the paper to a competent chemist for > analysis, to find out what the active ingredient is. That might help give a > clue what is needed to make it work. > > paul > >
