Inkless printers back in the day?

[+Gemintronic]

I've got this completely uninformed notion that some thermal printers back in the day did not require thermal printer. Some actually just toasted the paper to produce brownish output.

 

Do thermal printers work without thermal paper? Was there any thermal printer that just roasted dots onto the paper?

[Rex Dart]

Seems unlikely. On top of a possible fire hazard (or maybe there was a warning label 'bout standard paper?), it'd weaken the paper and make it crumbly where it'd been "written" on.

[high voltage]

That reminds me of how thermal paper smelled

Edited November 13, 2012 by high voltage

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I've got this completely uninformed notion that some thermal printers back in the day did not require thermal printer.

Do you mean thermal transfer printers?

[+Gemintronic]

Naw, something more like laser engraving machines

 

I guess I really didn't understand thermal printers back in the day. Probably my confusion

[Charlie_]

I had this for my coco back in the day.

 

http://mymc10.tripod.com/TP-10.htm

 

Excellent printer for listing out basic programs.

I still have it all boxed up and it works but I have only a 1/2 roll of thermal paper left.

[Charlie_]

This post made me feel all nostalgic for my TP-10 Printer.

So I dug it out and made a quick video of it printing.

What a cool little device.

 

http://youtu.be/NBusFgsy3Ow

[LoTonah]

If I weren't so lazy, I'd go dig around and video the model I have. It's a TRS-80 Quick Printer, and its a bit older than the TP-10. It's a weird little printer that uses a aluminium-film paper. If you go to http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catalogs_extra/1978_rsc-02/, it's on pages 16-17.

[Dave Farquhar]

Okidata Okimate printers used a wax ribbon to print on plain paper, or you could use thermal paper in them and use them like a thermal printer.

 

The printers were cheap, but the ribbons were crazy expensive, and thermal paper was expensive too.

 

I had an Okimate 10, and a Canon/IBM printer sold by Protecto Enterprises as the "Big Blue printer" for $39. It took me a while to figure out that dot-matrix printers were cheaper in the long run.

[Keatah]

It had been tried and while it worked it was considered a fire hazard.

 

The coolest (no pun intended) thermal printer I saw was in a printing calculator. It used paper with aluminum foil coating. And a high-voltage arc sparked and burned it away. The head was like a wire brush that was electrically charged. You could smell the ozone when it was in use.