82162a HP-IL thermal printer success

[rprosperi]

(11-01-2016 04:14 PM)hth Wrote:  The 82162A printer was a way to reduce another port and it probably made more sense when using HP-IL.

I too fully agree with Håkan. At the time, it was all about not enough 41C ports, so any means to use a peripheral without needing a dedicated port far outweighed the other "improvements" the 82162A provided. While the improvements surely were nice/convenient albeit small changes, they were probably never even considered (if known), despite the higher price.

It's hard (maybe impossible?) to look back on these products and features today and make sensible conclusions about what we "should" have done, without also knowing the limits and trends at that time.

Today, it's a no-brainer that it wasn't worth the extra $, even though at the time, it took only a split-second to decide to spend it.