Document-handling delight - Hardware Review - Okidata Group's Oki Doc-It plain-paper facsimile machine - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, June, 1993 by Russell Letson

Oki Doc-It 3000 Desktop Document Processor Rating: ***

For Windows

AT A GLANCE: A sophisticated combination of page printer, fax machine, scanner, and copier in a single product, accompanied by solid Windows software.

EASE OF USE: Once you understand how the machine works and how to choose functions from the front panel, Doc.It and its accompanying software are a breeze.

DOCUMENTATION: Extensive, illustrated, indexed user manual and update guide; separate installation booklet provides a step-bystep guide through physical installation and the complexities of software setup clearly; unfortunately, the Readme file deals inadequately with the included DOS utilities. SUPPORT: Authorized dealers are the first line of defense, with Oki unlimited 800'number phone support available for serious problems. I found the support staff to be responsive and accommodating.

LIST PRICE: $3,299
AVERAGE STREET PRICE: $2,850
MANUFACTURER: Okidata, 532 Fellowship
Rd., Mount Laurel, NJ 08054; (609) 235
-2600, (800) 654-3282
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 2MB 286 PC or
higher (4MB recommended); hard-disk drive;
mouse; EGA, VGA, SVGA; DOS 3.3 and
Windows 3.0 or higher.
RESOLUTION: 300 dpi
MICROPROCESSOR: Intel i960 RISC
processor and 5MB to 8MB of memory on 16
-bit PC-AT controller card
PRINT ENGINE: Eight ppm Oki LED
DIMENSIONS/WEIGHT: 17.5 by 16.9 by 7.1
inches (excluding paper trays); 36 lbs.
SOFTWARE INCLUDED: Full-function Win
-dows-based Doc.It Manager; DOS-based fax
and printer-control utilities
WARRANTY: 90-day on-site parts and service;
one-year drop-off; five years on printhead

The Oki Doc. It is the peripheral I've been waiting for: plain-paper fax, laser printer, scanner, and copier in a single box with a unified software interface. While this "desktop document processor" may not carry a bargain-basement price tag, it is a unique and reasonably cost-effective way of getting several key jobs done with one product.

Does it all. From the outside, Doc. It looks pretty much like an ordinary laser printer, but nothing about this machine is ordinary. The main box contains both a LaserJet lIP-compatible printer and a ScanJet Plus-compatible scanner. Instead of hooking up to a printer port, Doc.It communicates via a high-speed video connection; a coprocessing controller card runs Doc. It without burdening your computer or slowing down your other operations. A frontpanel keypad and a 25-page sheet feeder on the printer/scanner allow conventional manual faxing and "convenience" copying, though your computer must be running at the time. In addition, the page-wide scanhead can be removed for manual scanning of books and large items; unfortunately, hand maneuvering is a bit difficult because of a rather short, stiff-coiled cord.

Getting Doc.It running was reasonably easy. Unpacking and physical setup of the printer/scanner unit and installation of the controller card took about 30 minutes. The whole procedure is clearly detailed in the installation instructions booklet, which concludes with seven pages of troubleshooting advice. I encountered no serious problems, but if page frames, interrupts, and I/O ports are foreign to you, the assistance of your dealer or a local computer guru might make you more comfortable.

For Windows only. While fax and printer utilities for DOS are included, Doc.It is really a Windows product. If you plan to fax and print at all from DOS, changing the working settings--number of rings before answer, fax cover page or header, phone books, and so on-- requires the Windows-based Doc.It Manager. This application controls just about everything you might want to do with Doc.It, from viewing and/or printing incoming faxes to basic editing of scanned or stored images. If you want to fax directly from inside Windows applications, you needn't open the Doc.It Manager at all; just "print to fax" using the OkiPort fax/print driver and you'll get access to the Doc. It send fax, phone book, and settings menus.

Flexible faxing. Basic fax operation is straightforward, whether faxing from a Windows application or the Doc.It Manager, or by using the front-panel keypad and scanner. Incoming faxes can be printed on receipt or held as files for viewing and screening. The power-hungry printer mechanism need not be left on for either sending or receiving; as long as your computer is running, Doc. It can send out faxes and will store received faxes for later printing. I left my computer on but the printer off while I was out for a day, and when I turned on the printer later, the faxes that had been saved on my hard drive were automatically printed.

As with any complex new product, there were glitches. A problem with pulse dialing was solved overnight by Oki's technical support people, but another problem, Windows's refusal to load until Doc. It was completely initialized, yielded only a little to our combined efforts to tweak AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI files. This also may have to do with the idiosyncrasies of my own rather complicated system setup.

The boltore line. These failures aside, Doc.It's hardware is excellent, and Okidata ensures that Doc.It was designed to keep on working should one function go down. While the price tag and Oki's marketing effort suggest that this is a corporate rather than a home-office product, I disagree. After using the Doc-It in my own home office for two months, I'm spoiled by having a laser printer, conventional fax, copier, and full-page scanner all running smoothly under one roof minus cardboard box proliferation and the headache of getting products from different manufacturers to work together. In fact, it's products like Doc.It that, for a lot of folks, make the home office possible.