dkonerding@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Rafael Juarez, Society for Creative Anachronism) (07/01/90)
Ok, folks, you're my last, only, and best hope: I have an ancient wheezing Apple Imagewriter serial (RS232) printer at 9600baud, 7,N,1. I also have a bright, shiny, new '286 with an RS232 serial port. To connect the two, I hooked the Imagewriter serial cable to the Imagewriter, and to a female-female gender changer to connect it with the serial port on the '286. It's not working. Are there any obvious hints I should know to get this thing working; ie, to be able to type "copy readme.doc com2" (it's in com2 because I've got a card modem configured for com1) and have it print out. Thanks! -- Rafael Juarez, Society for Creative Anachronism Haven's End, Barony of Dragonship Haven, East Kingdom DKONERDING@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU "I have a cause: obscenity. I'm for it." -- Tom Lehrer
wind@rruxi.bae.bellcore.com (Wind Chen) (07/02/90)
To connect a serial printer to IBM PC, the following are needed: 1. Check DOS menaul about "MODE" command to set your com2, it has to match your printer. i.e. 9600,n,8,1,p 2. Check your cable, pin 2 and 3 might need to be twisted. Find the detail in RS232 spec. in your printer's manual. After your MODE is set to the right mode, try to print the screen. If nothing happen and your PC freezed, check the cable. If anything printed on the printerbut they are not "readable", you have wrong setup. Also, unless you have a fast enough printer or big enough buffer on the printer,you'd better reduce 9600 to lower speed. :
mccarthy@well.sf.ca.us (Patrick McCarthy) (07/03/90)
In article <30891@eagle.wesleyan.edu> dkonerding@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Rafael Juarez, Society for Creative Anachronism) writes: > > Ok, folks, you're my last, only, and best hope: > > I have an ancient wheezing Apple Imagewriter serial (RS232) printer at >9600baud, 7,N,1. I also have a bright, shiny, new '286 with an RS232 serial >port. To connect the two, I hooked the Imagewriter serial cable to the >Imagewriter, and to a female-female gender changer to connect it with the >serial port on the '286. It's not working. Are there any obvious hints I >should know to get this thing working; ie, to be able to type "copy readme.doc >com2" (it's in com2 because I've got a card modem configured for com1) and have >it print out. > >Rafael Juarez, Society for Creative Anachronism I'm running an Imagewriter II off my 386 clone. The reason you're unable to get it going is probably related to a) hardware handshaking, b) incorrect baud rate/data bits/parity at the PC end, or c) both. There are two things you should check. First, you should be issuing the following MODE command (from the DOS prompt): mode com2:96,N,7,1 Next, you may need to wire your cable. Here's how mine is wired (your mileage may vary): Imagewriter II IBM Pin Name/# Pin Name/# Pin Description ---------- ---------- --------------- TXD- (3) TXD (2) Transmit Data- RXD- (5) RXD (3) Recieve Data DSR (2) CTS (5) * Clear To Send DSR (2) DSR (6) * Data Set Ready SG (4) * G (7) Signal Ground / Ground TXD+ (6) * G (7) Transmit Data+ / Ground DTR (1) DTR (20) Data Terminal Ready Notes: 1) The pin numbers on the ImageWriter I side will be different from the ImageWriter II (they use a different connecter). 2) Note that the ImageWriter's DSR pin (which it uses to signal when it is ready to recieve data) is wired to the IBM's DSR AND CTS (Clear To Send) pins. This is because I found that whereas most IBM programs only pay attention to CTS, some also use DTR. 3) The ImageWriter II uses a funky RS422 variant; the ImageWriter I is straight RS232 (which is what IBM uses). Thus, you'll have TXD (not TXD- and TXD+) and RXD; treat them as I did TXD-/RXD-. 4) The pin numbers on the IBM side apply to the 25 pin RS232 connecter; if you have a 9 pin (as many AT's do), you'll need to reassign the pins accordingly. 5) I've found that my Imagewriter needs to be on and "online" when the mode command is issued (the mode command wiggles the port to see who's there, and I think if it determines there's nothing hooked up it ignores the port thereafter). This may seem like a lot of work (it was a lot of work for me to figure all this out, anyway), but once you get everything hooked up it's really quite transparent - even the DOS PRINT commns works flawlessly. Good Luck! Pat McCarthy mccarthy@well.uucp