lew@ihlpa.UUCP (05/14/87)
I recently purchased a MPS1200 printer for my Commodore 64. When it's hooked up in series with the 1541 disk drive there seems to be interference between the 1541 and the MPS1200. First of all, with the printer powered up I have problems with disk access. When downloading Printshop(TM) I get a "Disk Drive not available" message. If I turn off the printer this doesn't happen, so I can make my signs and greeting cards by powering up the printer at strategic moments. ( I have an excuse: I have kids :-) Secondly, with both devices on the BASIC command PRINT#1,A$ succeeds intermittently. This command is in a little microeditor ( a line echo program ) that I wrote to play with the printer. If I power off the disk drive there's no problem. All the equipment is plugged into a grounded multi-plug outlet. Of course, none of the literature I have contains any suggestion that these devices could interfere in this way. Does anybody have any advice on how to diagnose or correct these problems? Thanks. Lew Mammel, Jr.
dwl10@amdahl.amdahl.com (Dave Lowrey) (05/14/87)
In article <3937@ihlpa.ATT.COM> lew@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Lew Mammel, Jr.) writes: >I recently purchased a MPS1200 printer for my Commodore 64. When it's >hooked up in series with the 1541 disk drive there seems to be interference >between the 1541 and the MPS1200. > >First of all, with the printer powered up I have problems with disk access. >When downloading Printshop(TM) I get a "Disk Drive not available" message. >If I turn off the printer this doesn't happen, so I can make my signs and >greeting cards by powering up the printer at strategic moments. ( I have an >excuse: I have kids :-) > >Secondly, with both devices on the BASIC command PRINT#1,A$ succeeds >intermittently. This command is in a little microeditor ( a line echo >program ) that I wrote to play with the printer. If I power off the >disk drive there's no problem. > >All the equipment is plugged into a grounded multi-plug outlet. > >Of course, none of the literature I have contains any suggestion that >these devices could interfere in this way. Does anybody have any advice >on how to diagnose or correct these problems? Thanks. > >Lew Mammel, Jr. I had the same (I think) problem with a Cardco G-Wiz interface. Turned out to be due to the power supply. I found that if I plugged the supply in an outlet who's circuit had less load on it (My house is old), everything worked fine. I don't know who's at fault, the power supply, the 64, or my house wiring! Hope this helps. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Lowrey "So it goes, so it goes, so it goes, so it goes. But where it's going, nobody knows" [Nick Lowe] ...!{ihnp4,cbosgd,hplabs}!amdahl!dwl10 [ The opinions expressed <may> be those of the author and not necessarily those of his most eminent employer. ]