Qume
{{Short description|Defunct computer hardware company}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox company
| name =
| logo = File:Qume logo.svg
| type =
| industry = Computer peripherals
| former_name = Ancilex
| founded = {{Start date and age|1973}} in Hayward, California, United States
| founders = {{ubl|David S. Lee|Robert E. Schroeder}}
| defunct = {{End date|1995}}
| fate = Acquired by Wyse
| products =
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| parent =
}}
File:Floppy Disk Drive 8 inch.jpg
Qume was a manufacturer of daisy-wheel printers originally located in Hayward, California, later moving to San Jose. Around 1980, it also opened a manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico. It once dominated the daisy-wheel market. As the market for its printers declined in the 1980s, the company developed a line of computer terminals. It was founded by David S. Lee and Robert E. SchroederThe Startup Game: Inside the Partnership between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs, William H. Draper III, St. Martin's Press, 1/4/2011, ASIN B004CYERLI, page 168 in 1973, grew to become the largest printer company in the world, and was acquired by ITT Corporation for an unprecedented $164M in 1978. It remained a division of ITT until its acquisition by Wyse Technology sometime before 1995. Qume also manufactured floppy diskette drives, particularly 5.25" ones, but it also manufactured 8" diskette drives as well. Qume's diskette drives were included in some IBM PC models, such as the Portable Personal Computer and PCjr.
Qume was originally named Ancilex, but, because that name was not unique, changed its name to something that seemed like no one else would have ever used it, Qume. Amusingly, when the manufacturing plant was opened in Puerto Rico, one of the employees hired there was named Qume.
Qume CrystalPrint
Towards the end of the 1980s, Qume introduced a range of printers competing with laser printers, but instead of directing a laser beam at the photosensitive drum, it employed "liquid crystal shutters" made by Casio to control the illumination of the drum by a tungsten halide lamp.{{ cite web | url=https://mindmachine.co.uk/book/print_11_laserbeam.html#06-LCD | title=Laser Printers | website=MindMachine Associates Limited | last1=Huskinson | first1=Graham }} Around 2,500 independent segments or shutters were used to "expose" a line across the drum, equivalent to a pass of the laser beam in a conventional laser printer.{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser079-Feb89/page/n130/mode/1up | title=The Printing Best | date=February 1989 | access-date=14 May 2021 | last1=Brown | first1=Malcolm | pages=129,131–133 }}
In early 1989, two models were available. The Qume CrystalPrint WP cost around £900, featured 128 KB of RAM and only one built-in typeface, emulating only a Diablo 630 daisywheel printer. The Qume CrystalPrint Series II cost around £1400, featured 512 KB of RAM and was capable of graphical output, emulating the HP LaserJet II with an Epson emulation card available for an additional £125.
The Qume CrystalPrint Publisher, when introduced to the UK in 1989, cost £3449 and was the first model in the range to offer PostScript compatibility.{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser082-May89/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Crystal images | work=Acorn User | date=May 1989 | access-date=14 May 2021 | pages=9 }} The reduced price relative to most PostScript printers was attributed to the use of a "PostScript interpreter clone" together with fonts from Bitstream. The printer contained a Qume-commissioned controller board employing a Weitek chipset that was reported as interpreting "the bulk of PostScript in hardware". Performance and compatibility was well regarded, although limitations were noted around paper handling and emulations of other kinds of printers. An upgrade board was also available to give Qume CrystalPrint Series II printers PostScript compatibility.{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser092-Mar90/page/n118/mode/1up | title=Crystal Clear | work=Acorn User | date=March 1990 | access-date=14 May 2021 | last1=Van Someren | first1=Alex | pages=117 }}
Subsequent models in the range included the CrystalPrint Publisher II, featuring improved paper handling over its predecessor,{{ cite news | url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue130/50_Qume_CrystalPrint_Pu.php | title=Qume CrystalPrint Publisher II | work=Compute! | date=June 1990 | access-date=14 May 2021 | last1=Scisco | first1=Peter | pages=50 }} and CrystalPrint Express, a network printer with 3 MB of RAM supplied and a {{nowrap|600 x 300 dpi}} resolution.{{ cite news | url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/compute///issue130/46_Qume_CrystalPrint_Ex.php | title=Qume CrystalPrint Express | work=Compute! | date=June 1990 | access-date=14 May 2021 | last1=English | first1=David | pages=46 }}
The CrystalPrint engine was itself used in the Computer Concepts LaserDirect printer, announced in 1990 at a price of £1148, aimed at the Acorn Archimedes range of computers.{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser095-Jun90/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Direct Drive Laser | work=Acorn User | date=June 1990 | access-date=15 May 2021 | pages=9 }} This printer was driven directly by the host computer in conjunction with an expansion card, eliminating various costs associated with conventional laser printers, specifically the hardware and software responsible for page rendering (leaving "the bare minimum of circuitry in the printer"), and took advantage of the Archimedes' ARM processor to deliver competitive printing performance, albeit requiring the host computer to hold the image of each page in its own memory. A RISC OS compatible printer driver combined with Acorn's outline font format permitted a single set of scalable fonts to be used for both screen and printer use. Calligraph's ArcLaser product, launched at around the same time, was broadly similar, and both products were regarded as "offering faster-than-Postscript speed for less-than-laserjet price".{{ cite news | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser098-Sep90/page/n121/mode/2up | title=The Third Wave | work=Acorn User | date=September 1990 | access-date=15 May 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=120–121 }}
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite web |title=Oral History of George Comstock |location=Mountain View, California, USA |first= George E. |last= Comstock |interviewer-first= Gardner |interviewer-last= Hendrie |date=2003-08-13 |id=CHM X2727.2004 |publisher=Computer History Museum |url= https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Comstock_George/Comstock_George_1.oral_history.102658008.pdf |access-date=2017-03-23 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323110042/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Comstock_George/Comstock_George_1.oral_history.102658008.pdf |archive-date=2017-03-23}}
{{cite journal |title=America's High-Tech Crisis - Why Silicon Valley Is Losing Its Edge |author-first=John W. |author-last=Wilson |journal=Business Week |location=San Francisco, CA, USA |date=1997-08-25 |orig-year=1985-03-11 |publisher=The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. |url=http://www.businessweek.com/@@k03jAYcANKJkaQAA/1989-94/pre88/b31001.htm |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050323212301/http://www.businessweek.com/@@k03jAYcANKJkaQAA/1989-94/pre88/b31001.htm |archive-date=2005-03-23}}
{{cite journal |title=Qume joins wonder bread |date=1979-01-17 |orig-year=1978-12-26 |publisher=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ET4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=2017-03-25 }}
{{cite web |title=Wyse Technology, Inc. - Company History |work=International Directory of Company Histories |volume=15 |publisher=St. James Press |date=1996 |url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Wyse-Technology-Inc-Company-History.html |access-date=2017-03-25 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518101316/http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Wyse-Technology-Inc-company-History.html |archive-date=2012-05-18}}
{{cite journal |title=Personal Technology: For Mac users, installing Windows is now a snap |journal=The Seattle Times |author-first=Glenn |author-last=Fleishman |date=2006-04-22 |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2002946030_ptmacc22.html |access-date=2017-03-25 |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524065148/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/personaltechnology/2002946030_ptmacc22.html |archive-date=2011-05-24}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/qume/ Qume product manuals, 1979-1983]
- [http://www.qume.de/home.php Qume Division] - German division of Wyse selling monitors under the Qume brand name
Category:1995 mergers and acquisitions
Category:American companies established in 1973
Category:American companies disestablished in 1995
Category:Companies based in Hayward, California
Category:Computer companies established in 1973
Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1995
Category:Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States
Category:Defunct computer hardware companies
Category:Manufacturing companies based in San Jose, California
Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area