Editing LaserWriter (section)

==History==

===Development of laser printing===
{{Main|Laser printing}}
Laser printing traces its history to efforts by [[Gary Starkweather]] at [[Xerox]] in 1969, which resulted in a commercial system called the [[Xerox 9700]]. [[IBM]] followed this with the [[IBM 3800]] system in 1976. Both machines were large, room-filling devices handling the combined output of many users.<ref name=e>Benji Edwards: ''[http://www.macworld.com/article/144880/2009/12/five_important_printers.html Apple's Five Most Important Printers.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100417100720/http://www.macworld.com/article/144880/2009/12/five_important_printers.html |date=April 17, 2010 }}'' macworld.com, December 10, 2009.</ref> During the mid-1970s, [[Canon Inc.|Canon]] started working on similar machines, and partnered with [[Hewlett-Packard]] to produce 1980's HP 2680, which filled only part of a room.<ref name=j>Jim Hall, [http://www.hparchive.com/seminar_notes/HP_LaserJet_The%20Early%20History_by_Jim_Hall_110512.pdf "HP LaserJet – The Early History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210608191741/http://www.hparchive.com/seminar_notes/HP_LaserJet_The%20Early%20History_by_Jim_Hall_110512.pdf |date=June 8, 2021 }}</ref> Other copier companies also started development of similar systems.

HP introduced their first desktop model with a [[Ricoh]] engine for $12,800 in 1983. Sales of the non-networked product were unsurprisingly poor.<ref name=j/> In 1983, Canon introduced the LBP-CX, a desktop laser printer engine using a [[laser diode]] and featuring an output resolution of 300 dpi.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/reference/pcr/engine/1311 |title=Canon LBP-CX Engine |publisher=fixyourownprinter.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070131071535/http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/reference/pcr/engine/1311 |archive-date=January 31, 2007 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In 1984, HP released the first commercially available system based on the LBP-CX, the [[HP LaserJet]].<ref name=e/>

===Apple's development===
By 1982 [[Apple Computer]] was rumored to be developing laser printers.<ref name="libes198209">{{Cite magazine |last=Libes |first=Sol |date=September 1982 |title=Bytelines |url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1982-09/page/n488/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=2024-12-30 |magazine=BYTE |pages=490-493}}</ref> [[Steve Jobs]] of Apple had seen the LBP-CX while negotiating for supplies of [[3.5" Floppy disk|3.5" floppy disk drives]] for the upcoming [[Mac (computer)|Apple Macintosh]] computer. Meanwhile, [[John Warnock]] had left Xerox to found [[Adobe Systems]] to commercialize [[PostScript]]  and [[AppleTalk]] in a laser printer they intended to market. Jobs was aware of Warnock's efforts, and upon his return to California he began convincing Warnock to allow Apple to license PostScript for a new printer that Apple would sell. Negotiations between Apple and Adobe over the use of PostScript began in 1983 and an agreement was reached in December 1983, one month before Macintosh was announced.<ref name="pfiff-2003" /> Jobs eventually arranged for Apple to buy $2.5 million in Adobe stock.

At about the same time, Jonathan Seybold ([[John W. Seybold]]'s son) introduced [[Paul Brainerd]] to Apple, where he learned of Apple's laser printer efforts and saw the potential for a new program using the Mac's [[Graphical user interface|GUI]] to produce PostScript output for the new printer. Arranging his own funding through a [[venture capital]] firm, Brainerd formed [[Aldus Corporation|Aldus]] and began development of what would become [[Adobe PageMaker|PageMaker]]. The venture capital coined the term "desktop publishing" during this time.<ref>David Wilma, [http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=7657 "Brainerd, Paul (b. 1947)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207044317/http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=7657 |date=February 7, 2012 }}, HistoryLink, February 22, 2006</ref>

===Release===
The LaserWriter was announced at Apple's annual shareholder meeting on January 23, 1985,<ref name="bart-1985">Jim Bartimo, Michael McCarthy: [https://books.google.com/books?id=7S4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 "Is Apple's LaserWriter on Target?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224125559/https://books.google.com/books?id=7S4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 |date=December 24, 2016 }}, ''InfoWorld'', Volume 7 Issue 6 (February 11, 1985), pp. 15-18.</ref> the same day Aldus announced PageMaker.<ref>''Aldus Announces Desktop Publishing System ...'' BusinessWire, January 23, 1985.</ref> Shipments began in March 1985<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?newsid=24596 |title=Macintosh Timeline |access-date=April 13, 2010 |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610164626/http://www.macworld.co.uk/mac/news/index.cfm?newsid=24596 |url-status=live }}</ref> at the retail price of US$6,995, significantly more than the HP model. However, the LaserWriter featured [[AppleTalk]] support that allowed the printer to be shared among as many as sixteen Macs, meaning that its per-user price could fall to under $450, far less expensive than HP's less-advanced model.

The combination of the LaserWriter, PostScript, PageMaker and the Mac's GUI and built-in AppleTalk networking would ultimately transform the landscape of computer desktop publishing.<ref name="pfiff-2003">Pamela Pfiffner: ''Inside the Publishing Revolution. The Adobe Story.'' Adobe Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-321-11564-3}}. Chapter ''Steve Jobs and the LaserWriter.'' Pages 33-46. A PDF of the chapter is available at  {{cite web |url=http://www.creativepro.com/article/inside-publishing-revolution-how-laserwriter-and-photoshop-changed-world |title=Inside the Publishing Revolution |publisher=CreativePro.com |date=December 3, 2002 |access-date=September 23, 2009 |archive-date=January 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106192137/http://www.creativepro.com/article/inside-publishing-revolution-how-laserwriter-and-photoshop-changed-world |url-status=live }}</ref> At the time, Apple planned to release a suite of AppleTalk products as part of the [[Macintosh Office]], with the LaserWriter being only the first component.<ref name="linz-1985">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXnw5tM8QRwC&pg=PA143
|author=Owen W. Linzmayer
|title=Apple Confidential 2.0
|year=2004
|access-date=September 23, 2009
|isbn=978-1-59327-010-0
|archive-date=June 21, 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621065345/http://books.google.com/books?id=mXnw5tM8QRwC&pg=PA143
|url-status=live
}} Chapter ''Why 1984 Wasn't like 1984.'' Pages 143-146.</ref>

While competing printers and their associated control languages offered some of the capabilities of PostScript, they were limited in their ability to reproduce free-form layouts (as a desktop publishing application might produce), use [[outline font]]s, or offer the level of detail and control over the page layout. HP's own LaserJet was driven by a simple [[page description language]], known as  [[Printer Command Language]], or PCL. The version for the LaserJet, PCL4, was adapted from earlier [[inkjet printing|inkjet printers]] with the addition of downloadable bitmapped fonts.<ref name=j/> It lacked the power and flexibility of PostScript until several upgrades provided some level of parity.<ref>[http://www.csgnetwork.com/hppclhist.html "HP's History Of Printer Command Language (PCL)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224212037/http://www.csgnetwork.com/hppclhist.html |date=February 24, 2012 }}, HP</ref> It was some time before similar products became available on other platforms, by which time the Mac had ridden the desktop publishing market to success.

The LaserWriter contained four built-in PostScript font families: Times, Helvetica, Courier, and Symbol.  These fonts became very popular as a result, being used a lot in desktop publishing.