dgmowat@watmath.UUCP (09/25/87)
Hi, my friend has an Amiga 1000 and already has a DMP 105 from Radio Shack and is trying to connect it on the parallel port. But there exists problems. The generic printer driver from the workbench disk (1.2) prints at the incredible rate of 1 character per second, gives double line feeds (maybe a CR and a LF ???) and moves the head two inches right, then back again to print a char and repeats this. What it does print is correct, but slow. Every 80 (or so) chars, it puts up a requester to check the printer and cable. (Which we have done) READ: it don't really work to well. Question: Does anyone perchance have a driver for it? If not, does anyone have a utility or a "do-it-yourself" kit to make a printer driver? Failing this, which new printer would you recommend? Other printer drivers do nothing whatsoever or barf on us. Thanks.... -- dgmowat@watmath.waterloo.edu
stever@videovax.Tek.COM (Steven E. Rice, P.E.) (09/28/87)
In article <14896@watmath.waterloo.edu>, Dave Mowat (dgmowat@watmath.waterloo.edu) writes: > Hi, my friend has an Amiga 1000 and already has a DMP 105 from Radio > Shack and is trying to connect it on the parallel port. But there > exists problems. > > The generic printer driver from the workbench disk (1.2) prints at the > incredible rate of 1 character per second, gives double line feeds > (maybe a CR and a LF ???) and moves the head two inches right, then > back again to print a char and repeats this. What it does print is > correct, but slow. Every 80 (or so) chars, it puts up a requester to > check the printer and cable. (Which we have done) READ: it don't > really work to well. The double line feed on each line is probably caused by holding printer pin 14 low. Check the function of pin 14 in the printer manual. On Epsons, holding that line low will will cause the printer to output a line feed with each carriage return. Since the Amiga outputs both a carriage return and a line feed, this causes the double spacing. For my Epson, I just unsoldered the wire at the Amiga end, insulated it, and tucked it away inside the connector shell. Also, check to see if there is a setup switch in the printer that causes the head motion to the right. This is similar to what the DEC LA120 does when you are typing characters in on its keyboard. It could be that it is allowing you to see what you have "typed." Again, check the functions of the connector pins. It could be that a line is being held low by the cable, activating this "feature." Steve Rice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- new: stever@videovax.tv.Tek.com old: {decvax | hplabs | ihnp4 | uw-beaver | cae780}!tektronix!videovax!stever
jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM (Joanne Dow) (09/30/87)
In article <14896@watmath.waterloo.edu> dgmowat@watmath.waterloo.edu (Dave Mowat) writes: > >Hi, my friend has an Amiga 1000 and already has a DMP 105 from Radio >Shack and is trying to connect it on the parallel port. But there >exists problems. You may have a real problem here. The Radio Shack printers do not necessarily have standard Centronics parallel ports on them. Someone may have to do some custom wire hacking for your friend. It sounds like there is a timeout delay that results in the characters being fed so slowly. A check on this would be to try printing out the parallel port PAR: without using any printer driver as in PRT:. -- <@_@> BIX:jdow INTERNET:jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP:{akgua, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!jdow Remember - A bird in the hand often leaves a sticky deposit. Perhaps it was better you left it in the bush with the other one.
mk59200@tut.fi (Kolkka Markku Olavi) (12/09/88)
I recently bought a Star LC24-10 printer (same as NX2400 in U.S.) for my A2000 and I have some problems with it. When printing text files, the printing stops after a few pages and the "Printer trouble" requester pops up. Clicking "Resume" doesn't help, printing doesn't continue and the requester reappears after the timeout period. I don't think it's the printer's fault, because printing from Bridgeboard works OK. I have tried the 1.2 and 1.3 gamma EpsonQ drivers and a driver generated with PrtDrvGen, all behave the same way. Anyone out there with a LC24/NX2400 and an Amiga? -- Markku Kolkka mk59200@tut.fi ...mcvax!tut!mk59200
andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (12/13/88)
In article <5592@naakka.tut.fi> mk59200@tut.fi (Kolkka Markku Olavi) writes: >I recently bought a Star LC24-10 printer (same as NX2400 in U.S.) for >the printing stops after a few pages and the "Printer trouble" requester >pops up. Clicking "Resume" doesn't help, printing doesn't continue and >the requester reappears after the timeout period. I don't think it's >the printer's fault, because printing from Bridgeboard works OK. > It's probably your cable. Make sure both ACK and BUSY are connected. (Turns out the Amiga uses one for its primary handshake, the PC uses the other.) The behavior you describe is consistent with this. > Markku Kolkka -- andy finkel {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy Commodore-Amiga, Inc. "Possibly this is a new usage of the word 'compatible' with which I was previously unfamiliar" Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.
halo@cognos.uucp (Hal O'Connell) (12/14/88)
In article <5492@cbmvax.UUCP> andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) writes: >In article <5592@naakka.tut.fi> mk59200@tut.fi (Kolkka Markku Olavi) writes: >>I recently bought a Star LC24-10 printer (same as NX2400 in U.S.) for >>the printing stops after a few pages and the "Printer trouble" requester >>pops up. Clicking "Resume" doesn't help, printing doesn't continue and >>the requester reappears after the timeout period. I don't think it's >>the printer's fault, because printing from Bridgeboard works OK. >It's probably your cable. Make sure both ACK and BUSY are connected. >(Turns out the Amiga uses one for its primary handshake, the PC >uses the other.) The behavior you describe is consistent with >this. >> Markku Kolkka >andy finkel {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy I don't think so. I have a Star NX-2400 and it exhibited all the same problems. I'm convinced (and so is the store that sold me the system) that the problem is the printer driver and parallel device. The cable provided is standard and separate from the printer. Here were my symptoms: With the 1.2 drivers the only driver that functioned (and not very well) was the EPSON driver. 9 pins but at least it didn't hang. With the 1.3 gamma drivers I switched to EPSONQ and had worse hanging problems until I remembered to switch the parallel.device in DEVS. Most of the problems disappeared (but occassionally it would refuse to print the last line of a page). With the 1.3 production drivers the EPSONQ driver works fine and is significantly faster. I suspect that an upgrade to 1.3 to clear up the problems is in order. Mind you, it can't hurt to check the connection for the cable, just for peace of mind... -- Hal O'Connell Cognos Incorporated UUCP: uunet!mitel!sce!cognos!halo P.O. Box 9707 VOICE: (613) 738-1338 x5933 3755 Riverside Dr. FAX: 738-0002 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1G 3Z4 -- Hal O'Connell Cognos Incorporated UUCP: uunet!mitel!sce!cognos!halo P.O. Box 9707 VOICE: (613) 738-1338 x5933 3755 Riverside Dr. FAX: 738-0002 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA, K1G 3Z4
jwz@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Jamie Zawinski) (08/09/89)
So I just got this cable to hook an ImagewriterII up to my A1000. Whenever I try to print an image, it gets four or five page scans through it, drawing the correct image, and then it goes nuts, spewing out form feeds and random ascii characters. I tried two drivers: one that came with the cable, copyright 1986 JRDS BitWrights, and also the driver that came on the WB1.3 disk. Both exhibit exactly the same behavior (except the 1.3 driver is faster :-)). I've tried this from DPaint3, PhotonPaint, and DigiPaint. There's nothing wrong with the printer, because my girlfriend uses it with her Mac all the time. Any suggestions? -- Jamie (jwz@spice.cs.cmu.edu)
ewiles@netxdev.DHL.COM (Edwin Wiles) (09/01/89)
Thank you for your attention! I've an A500, to which I have had a printer connected for quite some time. A while ago the ink cartridge in the printer ran out, and I've only just gotten a new one put in. When I went to use it, I got some rather weird garbage out of it. I finally realized that the low order bit of the data was *always* set. Thus, characters who's ASCII bit value requires a zero in the low order bit, appear instead as the next higher valued character. i.e This sentence would appear like this when printed. i/e!Uiis!seoueoce!woume!aqqeas!mike!uiis!wieo!qsiouee/ Now I've read in the past in the amiga groups that the serial port chips can fail in various nasty ways, but this is a PARALLEL port printer. My questions are as follows: 1) Can the parallel port hardware fail in the manner described above (i.e. the low order bit is 'frozen' on)? 2) Is there any way (aside from lugging hardware around to other sites for testing) to be *certain* that it's the parallel hardware? 3) Presuming that it's the parallel driver chips (or whatever); how hard is this to fix? 4) In combination with #3, what chips, etc, would need replacing, and where do they hide on an A500? (I'm not an electrician or a hardware specialist, but I have had digital hardware courses, so I've a basic understanding of chips and how to handle them. I'm also not a bad hand with a soldering iron if that's needed.) Please note that I would prefer you to mail your responses to me, as the amiga groups seem to get an awful lot of traffic and you might get lost in it! I will be happy to summarize the responses and post that summary. Also note that I've directed followups to comp.sys.amiga. Many Thanks! "Who?... Me?... WHAT opinions?!?" | Edwin Wiles Schedule: (n.) An ever changing nightmare. | NetExpress Comm., Inc. ..!uunet!netxcom!ewiles (I'm certain!) | 1953 Gallows Rd. Suite 300 OR ewiles@iad-nxe.global-mis.DHL.COM (I think!) | Vienna, VA 22182