The MPS-801 was a uni-directional printer, with a coil spring to pull the head back to the left hand side. Other than making it slow, it also flew back via the spring and hit the left side with a loud thunk after ever line, which made printing stuff out late at night when everyone else was sleeping, very problematic.
In high school, if needed, I was always able to turn on the charm and talk my way into being able to turn papers in late without penalty, so I was never up late enough printing a paper to disturb anyone. I left my C64 behind when going to college so the MPS-801 never disturbed anyone there either.
