Oce Plotters - opinions?

OK, here's the official word - we're looking to change reprographics
companies. They're proposing the Oce TDS 600 series plotter/scanner/copier
for our office. I inspected and used the machine on Friday and it runs
circles around our KIP plotter (Starprint 2000). Anyone use the TDS 600
plotter? Any problems I should know about? Any programs it doesn't play
well with?

We're also going to be using SepiaLine plot/print cost recovery (billing)
software. Anyone use this? Opinions?

Thanks,

 

We have been using the TDS 600 for the past 6 months and it has been great. It easy to use, the prints look great and its very fast to get your prints.

 

There are some firmware issues with the Océ 9600, but the TDS600 is fine.

 

The TDS600 is a solid machine! We are in the process of getting out controller upgraded so we can use Print Exec Workgroup and Account Center. (Just taking a while to get the upgrade ...). Just make sure you have a good Oce tech rep in your area!

We tried Sepialine and just had problems getting it working correctly. We are now in the process of testing out PrintSuite, Technesis Smartplot and PrintAudit.

 

The only issue we had with the TDS600 was the Controller it is based on
Windows NT workstation it has a built in 10 connection limit. This caused
problems when printing directly to it, The workaround is to setup a Print
Queue on a Server. According to Oce the PostScript option is required in
order to print PDF's, This is an additional charge.
We chose Sepialine over Technesis First of all Technesis 4.0 requires
IIS (Web Server) on each print server this was unacceptable as we have 4
print servers and maintaining IIS on each one would have been an unnecessary
burden on IT and version 3.74 did not meet our requirements. Overall
Sepialine is a better product both the management console and Billing dialog
are user friendly. Although you need to install a server component it does
not need IIS.


Jose

 

Just for the record, the 10 connection limit is a limit of Windows NT - not
the TDS600. This is an operating system limitation which is why the solution
involved creating a directory on an operating system, a server operating
system, that allows for more than 10 connections.

 

The 10 user connection is not really an issue. Just configure your workstations and/or server to use LPR ports to the Oce device and these will not use up the 10 user limit on that workstation. I think since LPR is over TCP/IP, it does not take up those connections.

We are installing Technesis now and I don't have a problem at all with IIS ... not sure why you see it as a burden? We have IIS on many machines and don't have issues at all. I'll let you know our results after trying all packages.

-J

 

Our reseller just sent me an email that Oce just forwarded them the info
announcing the release of the new XP based controllers, but he would give a
date as to when we will be receiving ours.

controller upgraded so we can use Print Exec Workgroup and Account Center.
(Just taking a while to get the upgrade ...). Just make sure you have a good
Oce tech rep in your area!

are now in the process of testing out PrintSuite, Technesis Smartplot and
PrintAudit.

 

Repro Desk Server 1.6 runs on Windows 200 or Windows XP. It is so much
better than Windows NT.

 

Dear Jason,
Print Audit 4 is an excellent print managment tool. Flexible Tracking:
Print Audit 4 is the only solution that tracks all print/plot devices
out of the box, according to your specifications. Track by the page or
by square foot, with popup or without, specify application to ignore.
Check us out at www.printaudit.com 877-41AUDIT (2-8348)

 

We're sorry to hear that you had trouble with Sepialine software. Did
you contact our tech support group? We're happy to help, and we can
generally get things going pretty quickly.

Ray Bradley
Sepialine, Inc.