Re: printer replacement for commodore computer

From: silverdr_at_wfmh.org.pl
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2019 15:57:20 +0200
Message-Id: <D354A453-5912-4A3E-A14E-A1BA3882479B_at_wfmh.org.pl>
> On 2019-04-09, at 14:37, Mia Magnusson <mia_at_plea.se> wrote:
> 
>> A number of those existed and can still be bought second-hand.
>> Interfaces ranged from simply allowing connection either over
>> parallel (via USER PORT) and converting character sets to a fairly
>> sophisticated IEC serial to parallel conversion with full C-64
>> characters emulation.
> 
> My impression, from reading some 64'er magazines, is that the user port
> to Centronics were a common thing in (West) Germany.

I am not sure about the Rest Of The World™ but in Germany yes, it was quite common. Also DolphinDOS has software support for printing over USER PORT.

> Btw I actually own one of those IEC-to-Centronics interfaces. I haven't
> tried it. The label on the case refers to one common printer brand, the
> PCB to another and a label on the programmable IC (can't remember if
> it's a microcontroller or a separate eprom) refers to a third printer
> brand, so this interface were probably commonly in use with a bunch of
> Centronics compatible printers.

There were some that you could get as a printer accessory and there were "standalone" interfaces that could have whatever label the vendor of the day put on it.

> 
> If someone really wants I might be able to scan the PCB layout and read
> out the eprom (if it's an eprom and not some microcontroller that I
> lack equipment to read). However my eprom programmer is stored
> somewhere underneath-behind [tm] so it will take a while.

I have a few of those somewhere and I /think/ that in the most common type there is something 8051-ish inside. Maybe a smaller package with less port bits.

-- 
SD! 
Received on 2020-05-29 21:39:50

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