garnett@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett) (01/15/88)
I've been having problems getting apple computers to print succesfully on serial printers. I know the cables are correct. Two examples: 1) Apple II+ -> typewriter w/serial interface, settable to 110 & 300 baud. 2) Mac+ -> Okidata 82A, tried various baud rates, selections(typewriter appledaisy,etc.) In both cases, The printers work, they are capabile of printing one line fine, (they both work on other computers) and their buffers are NOT getting full. BUT: when I try to print a page, I start losing characters, often the first character in the line, or more. Q: Does Apple do something weird to their serial output? Is their timing differnt than the rest of the world? Has anybody experienced these problems, and/or found a solution, other than using 'APPLE' printers? Is there a driver for the OKI for the Mac? Answers to these and other profound comments may be posted, or mailed to me. thanx __________________________________________________________ Roger Garnett (garnett@batcomputer) Cornell Phonetics Lab (garnett@tcgould.TN.CORNELL.EDU) Ithaca N.Y. (bitnet: sggy@cornellC) okbye
kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath) (01/24/88)
In article <3382@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> garnett@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett) writes: > > I've been having problems getting apple computers to print succesfully >on serial printers. I know the cables are correct. Are you *sure*? :-) >In both cases, The printers work, they are capabile of printing one line fine, >(they both work on other computers) and their buffers are NOT getting full. >BUT: when I try to print a page, I start losing characters, often the first >character in the line, or more. Sounds to me like you're having DTR and/or XON/XOFF problems. You say the buffer isn' full, you you also state that it happens when you try and print a page. Am I to assume the problems happen when the second line is printed? Remember, it takes a lot of time to move the print head around, and some printers are notorious for lossing info when a CR is being executed. This happens with older printers, I know. Sometimes they hold DTR high (or is it low? I think low) while they execute it, so that you don't send info to it then. Or, they send and XOFF to stop sending. In anycase, Have you set the switched on the printer to every conceivable setting? Sometimes this works. > Is there a driver for the OKI for the Mac? In MicroSoft Word, there is a dumb serial driver. I also happen to have a small Rascal program (anyone who knows what *that* is gets a cookie!) that you might like, though it's rather crude. I might be able to get the source for it as well. . . Sean Kamath >__________________________________________________________ >Roger Garnett (garnett@batcomputer) >Cornell Phonetics Lab (garnett@tcgould.TN.CORNELL.EDU) >Ithaca N.Y. (bitnet: sggy@cornellC) > > okbye -- UUCP: {decvax allegra ucbcad ucbvax hplabs ihnp4}!tektronix!reed!kamath CSNET: reed!kamath@Tektronix.CSNET || BITNET: reed!kamath@Berkeley.BITNET ARPA: tektronix!reed!kamath@Berkeley <or> reed!kamath@hplabs US Snail: 3934 SE Boise, Portland, OR 97202 (I hate 4 line .sigs!)
earleh@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Earle R. Horton) (01/25/88)
In article <8118@reed.UUCP>, kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath) writes: > In article <3382@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> garnett@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Garnett) writes: > > > > I've been having problems getting apple computers to print succesfully > >on serial printers. ... > > Is there a driver for the OKI for the Mac? > > In MicroSoft Word, there is a dumb serial driver. I also happen to have a > small Rascal program (anyone who knows what *that* is gets a cookie!) that > you might like, though it's rather crude. I might be able to get the source > for it as well. . . The source code for Daisy, a user-configurable, Chooser-compatible, drop-in ImageWriter Driver replacement which does text only, is available from MacTutor Magazine on both the November and December source disks. The corresponding article is contained in the November and December issues of the magazine. Although I sold them the article and the source code, I get no further royalties or benefits from their sales of source disks or issues. MacTutor is located at P.O. box 400, Placentia, CA 92670. Their phone is at (714) 630-3730. Source disks are $8.00, and back issues are $4.00 each. Daisy is written entirely in LightSpeedC, and the resource code is in RMaker format. Best results are usually obtained when making a printer cable if you can set up the printer to use Xon/Xoff handshaking, although Daisy and the Mac support hardware handshaking, too. The most common mistake when making a printer cable is to get the send and receive lines mixed up. These are pins 2 and 3 on a standard DB25 RS-232 connector. If you have fabricated a cable which you think should work, and it doesn't, you may have these two lines mixed up. I recommend a three-wire cable, which has ground, send, and receive lines hooked up. I don't recommend trying to use hardware handshaking unless it is the only kind which your printer supports. Daisy probably works for the OKI, although you didn't say what model your OKI was. -- ********************************************************************* *Earle R. Horton, H.B. 8000, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 * *********************************************************************