Here are some more information for Combo Workstation:

Sharp Al-1655Cs Laser Copier/scanner/printer

OVERVIEW: The Sharp AL-1655CS all-in-one offers the copying, scanning, and printing features of earlier models, plus Ethernet network connectivity and 2-sided printing of 2-sided originals.

PROS:

At 51 pounds, the all-in-one copier has a footprint 20.4” x 19.8”. The copier is a little large to put on a desk but will feel right at home on any credenza, and the second paper tray brings it at a height comfortable for someone standing next to it to manually make copies or scans.

Having built-in Ethernet network support and a hi-speed USB, the AL-1655CS is right at home either in the middle of an office floor or connected to a secretary’s computer. It gives an office with multiple computers to be able to utilize one machine for printing instead of having to buy a printer for every workstation.

Sharp has made some major improvements on the AL-1655’s control panel, making it even more useful than before. Now users have more programming preset control at the panel, plus the alpha-numeric display makes troubleshooting easier than with earlier models.

The AL-1655CS uses a stationary 8½” x 14” platen for scanning instead of a sliding platform to keep its footprint no bigger than its physical size.  The automatic document feeder allows for 30 double-sided copies to be made up to legal-size: more originals can be fed in as the level lowers. By scanning the original once and storing the image into its 10MB memory allows the AL-1655CS to produce copies at the rate of 16 pages per minute, up to 99 copies.

Unlike earlier models, the auto-doc feeder of the AL-1655CS can automatically scan 2-sided originals and create 2-sided copies. When you think of all the times you had 20 pages of 2-sided originals and the hoops you had to jump when a copier could only read one side, this feature alone makes this worth buying.

Another nice feature the AL-1655CS has (if you use the automatic document feeder) is the ability to physically shift the position of each set of copies in the output tray for easy collating and stapling. This is achieved by pressing the Electronic Sort (or E-Sort) button on the control panel. The multi-page original is scanned first into the 10MB memory, then copied in order. This offset sorting feature is rarely found on other desktop copiers or all-in-ones.

The AL-1655CS has three different exposure modes & resolutions (auto, manual, photo). Automatic (or default) resolution is 600 x 300 dpi. “Photo quality” is 600 x 600 dpi at 256 grayscale levels. The magnification can be changed from 25% to 400% in 1% increments or in 8 jumps.

This Sharp has two sliding paper trays, each holding up to 250 sheets of either letter (8½” x 11”) or legal (8½” x 14”) size paper. The two-tray feature is especially nice in an realty or legal office where legal and standard size papers are often used. Non-standard sizes from 3” x 5” up to 8½” x 14” can be placed singly on the scanning platform, or up to 50 sheets placed on the multi-purpose flip-tray on the side of the copier.

CONS:

During its prime, a 16 ppm copy speed was impressive for a small copier. In truth, the touted 16 ppm speed can only be achieved at lowest resolution, but that’s the caveat for any printer specs. Don’t expect the faster print speeds of 20 ppm or more that’s typical of current monochrome laser printers.

As this was one of Sharp’s first attempts at network copiers, it runs on the slower 10BaseT and cannot be connected to a hub or switch that cannot auto-switch between the two speeds.

With all the improvements made with the AL-1655CS, it’s strange that Sharp reduced the resolution for the scanning down to 600 x 600 dpi. Older CS models, while having the usual 600 x 600 for printing and copying, could at least color scan images up to 600 x 1,200 dpi.

Sharp’s does not offer PCL or PostScript print emulation. Instead, Sharp provides their own SPLC print emulator. For most printing users won’t notice any difference in performance, and considering the low resolutions of this all-in-one, it’s unlikely any high-end Adobe graphics will be going to this unit anyway.

INK / TONER NEEDS:

Starter toner cartridge that comes with the AL-1655CS will last for only 2,000 sheets, so it’s a good idea to place an order for more toner when you get the all-in-one.

The AL-1655CS has separate toner and drum to help reduce overall consumables costs. Sharp offers a choice for toner: the standard-size toner (4,000 pages at 5%), or the High-yield (6,000 pages) unit. The drum unit will need to be replaced ever 18, 000 pages or every 3rd toner replacement.

During the course of changing toner, people often forget to keep track when it’s time to change the drum.  Combo-packages are available that offer the drum with several toners. By the time the toners are consumed, the remaining drum is replaced. These combo-packages make maintenance easy and increases overall longevity and print quality.

SOFTWARE:

Included is Sharp’s desktop document management software. The software does a decent job in giving you control of the unit’s various printing and scanning functions.

Unfortunately, the software is only for Wintel machines. Sharp does state in its manual that the AL-1655CS can be used by Apple machines via the USB 2.0 port. But in reality, you need to be running Mac OS 10.3 and above to use the printing, network, and scanning applications native to OS X or through 3rd party applications, like Photoshop.

Duplex printing of 2-sided originals, greater paper capacity, and network connectivity makes the AL-1655 a great selection for a desktop all-in-one copier. — Mel Myers

Source: http://quikship.blogspot.com/2010/01/sharp-al-1655cs-laser.html

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Is anyone else sick of the unoriginal decks on Magic Workstation?

Seriously, 90% of all the decks that people use on there have the same damn combos, same cards (i.e. Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Trinisphere, etc etc,). Not only that, but it seems like their decks are carbon copies of each other. Why can't people come up with their own deck ideas instead of copying others?

People are running Dark Confidant? That card can be very unstable. Anyway, Tarmogoyf was WAY too undercosted. I don't see how you can build a deck on Trinisphere or what it is good for. Sadly, I did the same thing (I don't play it anymore), but I didn't have any of those cards in it. The deck I used was a badass Sliver/Wild Pair deck. I'm pretty sure it used cards only in Time Spiral Block. It mainly worked like this:
1. Play Wild Pair
2. Play Dormant Sliver, use Wild Pair's ability, search out Reflex Sliver, then draw 2 cards (dormant's ability)
3. Play Gemhide Sliver, search out another Sliver, draw another 2 cards.
4. Use Gemhide's ability to get mana to play Basal Sliver, search out Darkheart Sliver, draw 2 cards.
5. Use this cycle (maybe bring out more Dormants) until you have a Disintegrate in your hand, 7 Untapped slivers, 1 must be Gemhide Sliver, another Basal, another Reflex. Tap all for Gemhide (7 mana), make sure you get 1 red mana out of it, sacrifice all to Basal (21 mana total), and play a 20 point Disintegrate. Bet Wizards didn't have that combo in mind when they invented Wild Pair and Dormant Sliver. Remember 2 things about Dormant:
1. He triggers for himself
2. With multiple dormants, you get multiple cards when you summon a sliver.
Here are some things about the deck:
-It had Wall of Roots in it. Great Wall, great mana producing.
-I remember it had all the Slivers in the combo, it also had Darkheart, Might Sliver, and Sedge Sliver. Those were an alternate strategy: You could get rid of Dormant and go aggressive. Darkheart also allows you to gain massive amounts of life when the opponent plays Wrath of God (this deck's weakness). But anyway that deck ide was completely original. It also used 4 colors, except for white. The last time I was on, there were lots of different types of decks. I wonder what happened?

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