wg@aluxp.UUCP (gieske) (03/21/84)
I have an Olivetti typewriter with both a parallel and a serial interface that I would like to hook to my C64. Can I just connect it to the serial line that goes do the disk, using the second plug on the disk? How do I control the baud rate? Is there a parallel port on the C64 that I can use? Is there any additional hardware, other than the cable, that I will need to purchase? Any help on any of these questions will be greatly ap- preciated. Bill Gieske AT&T Bell Labs AL x5137
ejk47@ihuxn.UUCP (Ed Kufeldt, ihuxn ejk47) (03/22/84)
For interfacing your printer I highly recommend the Card?+G interface from Cardco. It is a micro-processor controlled, intelligent, serial to Centronics 8-bit parallel interface that you can plug into the serial jack on your disk. This interface does the VIC ASCII to standard ASCII conversion for you automatically. The inter- face has 8 dip switches that will allow you to setup up different modes that will support most printers. One of the switches allows you to set the address to device 4 or 5. The prints are accomplished by opening the device and using the CMD or the PRINT# commands. The +G option is the graphics option that will support the Commodore's graphic set. I hope this does not sound like I work for Cardco, because I don't. I am just one of their satisfied customers. They have a phone number in case there are any problems that you can call 5 days out of the week. (I have used this number, and found that they were prompt, courteous, and answered all my questions satisfactorily.) The Cardco? and the Cardco?+G interfaces are available at mail order houses such as Protecto, and places like Toys-R-Us. The Cardco?+G interface sells for about $69.95 and the Cardco? is about ten dollars cheaper. The end result, is that, this interface will save you the headache of writing a printer driver routine to control your printer. Because the interface plugs into the serial bus, you're free to use the parallel bus in the user port for other things. Ed Kufeldt AT&T Technologies ihuxn!ejk47 :~}
porter@inuxd.UUCP (J Porter) (03/22/84)
No, you just can't hook up the serial line that goes to the disk to your printer. You need an interface like a cardco brand CARD?/B. This will even translate cursor characters within print statements to ascii characters. Highly recommended. The serial bus that the disk hooks up to has a protocol similiar to the IEEE488 sideways (IEEE is parallel in nature, the 64's bus in serial in nature). The CARD?/B interface costs about $40 and hooks into the centronics parallel port on your printer. The other end plugs into the serial bus and the cassette connector (from which it is powered). Jeff Porter (inuxd!porter) AT&T Consumer Products Indianapolis