Interfacing a parallel printer

skynugget

Has anyone printed to a parallel centronics type printer? im having trouble coming up with the information on how the protocol works, anyone have any good links or info?

thanks in advance!

Post Edited (skynugget) : 4/10/2010 6:15:15 PM GMT

Mike Green

The Wikipedia is your friend: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_port.

Remember that the interface just provides a byte stream to the printer. Each manufacturer had its own protocol for formatting. You could use a plain character stream for a default font, but anything else was usually unique to the printer or manufacturer.

skynugget

duh, Wikipedia! thanks mike.

that led me to
http://www.beyondlogic.org/spp/parallel.htm

which is giving me enough to chew on for now!


EDIT: this link has more detail

http://nemesis.lonestar.org/reference/computers/interfaces/centronics.html

Post Edited (skynugget) : 4/10/2010 7:35:57 PM GMT

Cluso99

IIRC there were two ways to drive Centronics printers. You place the data on the parallel pins and then pulse -Dstrobe. You can then either look for -Ack or wait until -Bsy. Note that some printers will lose characters if you use the busy method. The other pin that may be of interest is Sel. Pin 18 on the centronics connector often had +5V output.

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skynugget

thanks cluso,

That's what i pretty much gathered so far. thanks for the +5 tip.
now im trying to find the ibm compatible printer command set, i think even the new stuff still supports it.

end goal here is to print out a data dump of ascii text, so im thinking this wont be to bad.

kwinn

skynugget, I "might" still have a manual around for an IBM compatible parallel printer. I can hunt it down, scan the pages with the command set, and email them to you if you want. PM me with your email address if you want me to look for it.