This page allows you to search the archives of the Alps and alpsdecal lists on Yahoo! Groups. This lists are devoted to the Alps Micro-Dry printers, which are thermal transfer printers using a resin/wax ribbon to achieve many special effects as well as normal colour printing. They also, in some models, have dye-sublimation capability.
The commonly encountered Alps printers have model numbers MD-1000, MD-1300, MD-2010, MD-2300, MD-5000. They were also OEMed to other manufacturers: the Citizen Printiva and Oki (Okidata) DP-5000 are such consumer printers. Other firms use the Alps technology for pre-press printers: the Oki DP-7000 and Kodak FirstCheck are examples. The same technology is used (with more sophisticated ink ribbons) by Roland for signage printers (e.g. PC-12).
A common use for these printers is making decals for modellers. This is the specialist topic of the alpsdecal list.