SASDDI@vm.sas.com (05/17/91)
I wonder if some kind soul might help me with this; I'm rather new to
this.
I have a terminal (Control Concepts 3276, emulating the IBM terminal
of the same model) to which I have attached an Epson RX-80 printer
via a serial card (don't remember what kind). Works great.
Now I have a PC (Leading Edge D) sitting beside it. I would like to
hook the printer to an A/B switch so I can use it from the PC sometimes
and from the terminal othertimes. But as far as I know (which obviously
isn't very far) a printer is expected to be hooked to a PC via the
parallel port.
Is there some way I can hook my printer to the serial port, and somehow
tell the PC and all the software on it that that's where it is? (By
installing(writing!? :-( ) a device driver maybe?) I don't think (but
I'm not 100% sure -of anything!-) that you can use the parallel port on
the printer with the serial card plugged in. And it's way too much
trouble to swap the board in and out.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dale D. Ingold SAS Institute Inc. snoddi@mvs.sas.com
MVS Host Group SAS Campus Drive 919/677-8000 x7603
Cary, NC 27513-2414SASDDI@vm.sas.com (05/21/91)
Many thanks to the following people for their responses:
Galen Hekhuis <gkh@krebbs.acc.virginia.edu>
Chance C. Guerin <guerin@cod.nosc.mil>
Jonathan Miner <jwm712@unhd.unh.edu>
Pietro P. Rizzi <pietro@mtecv2.itesm.mty.mx>
Joe Dorner <dorner@nprdc.navy.mil>
James Birdsall <jwbirdsa@amc.com>
Jui-hsiang Allan Yang <yang-allan@cs.yale.edu>
Louis Davidson <louis@mthvax.cs.miami.edu>
Rich Snow <rich@aoa.utc.com>
They all pointed out that the DOS manual describes using
MODE COM1:baud,parity,bits,stop-bits,P
and
MODE LPT1=COM1
Unfortunately, it's not working. The printer is set for 1200 baud,
even parity, and 2 stop-bits (not sure if it's 7 or 8 data bits).
So that's what I set the COM1 port to, then I issue the second MODE
command to redirect the printer, then I attempt to test it with
ECHO hi > LPT1
Nothing. The printer stays quiet, and the system locks up until I
hit CNTL-BREAK (that's if I added the P option; without it, after a
few seconds, the system complains about the port (or words to that
effect) and asks the ubiquitous question: Abort, Retry, Ignore?).
I did of course try several variations, particularly of the number
of data- and stop-bits.
One extra variable: to connect the printer to the PC, I had to borrow
a gender-mender from work. (The cable has two male plugs, as does the
PC's serial port.) It's definitly NOT a null modem, as it's a ribbon
cable with connectors on either end; no place to cross the send/receive
lines.
Any more suggestions from you net.gurus and/or hackers? :-)
Thanks in advance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------=
Dale D. Ingold SAS Institute Inc. snoddi@mvs.sas.com
MVS Host Group SAS Campus Drive 919/677-8000 x7603
Cary, NC 27513-2414rhaar@albert.cs.gmr.com (Robert L. Haar CS50) (05/22/91)
(text deleted .....) |> |> MODE COM1:baud,parity,bits,stop-bits,P |> and |> MODE LPT1=COM1 |> |> Unfortunately, it's not working. The printer is set for 1200 baud, |> even parity, and 2 stop-bits (not sure if it's 7 or 8 data bits). |> So that's what I set the COM1 port to, then I issue the second MODE |> command to redirect the printer, then I attempt to test it with |> |> ECHO hi > LPT1 |> |> Nothing. The printer stays quiet, and the system locks up until I |> hit CNTL-BREAK (that's if I added the P option; without it, after a |> few seconds, the system complains about the port (or words to that Which port? - COM1 ? What is the error message? |> effect) and asks the ubiquitous question: Abort, Retry, Ignore?). |> |> One extra variable: to connect the printer to the PC, I had to borrow |> a gender-mender from work. (The cable has two male plugs, as does the |> PC's serial port.) It's definitly NOT a null modem, as it's a ribbon |> cable with connectors on either end; no place to cross the send/receive |> lines. You may well need a null modem. It sounds to me like you did everything right. You might want to get your hands on an RS232 "breakout" box with monitor lights for Tx and RX data and for the hardware flow control lines (DTR, DCR, RI, etc.) Bob Haar InterNet : rhaar@gmr.com Computer Science Dept., G.M. Research Laboratories DISCLAIMER: Unless indicated otherwise, everything in this note is personal opinion, not an official statement of General Motors Corp.
doug@giaea.gi.oz (Douglas Thomson) (05/22/91)
In article <91141.093332SASDDI@vm.sas.com> SASDDI@vm.sas.com writes: >One extra variable: to connect the printer to the PC, I had to borrow >a gender-mender from work. (The cable has two male plugs, as does the >PC's serial port.) It's definitly NOT a null modem, as it's a ribbon >cable with connectors on either end; no place to cross the send/receive >lines. > >Any more suggestions from you net.gurus and/or hackers? :-) To connect our PCs to an EPSON LQ400 serial printer, we were told to use the following cable connections: PC end PRINTER end 2 ---------------- 3 3 ---------------- 2 6 --+ | 8 --+------------- 5 | 20 -+ 7 ---------------- 7 5 ---------------- 20 Doug. (doug@giaea.oz.au) ...!munnari!goanna!giaea!doug
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (05/22/91)
In article <53863@rphroy.UUCP> rhaar@gmr.com writes: >(text deleted .....) >|> MODE COM1:baud,parity,bits,stop-bits,P >|> MODE LPT1=COM1 >|> Unfortunately, it's not working. The printer is set for 1200 baud, >|> ECHO hi > LPT1 >|> Nothing. The printer stays quiet, and the system locks up until I.... >|> effect) and asks the ubiquitous question: Abort, Retry, Ignore?). >You may well need a null modem. It sounds to me like you did... right. >You might want to get your hands on an RS232 "breakout" box DOS requires hardware handshaking when using the serial port as a generic printer port. This can be easily 'disabled' by 'enabling' the input all the time. RTS pin 4 on a db25 & dtr pin 20 are output's which can be tied to cts pin 5, dsr pin 6, & cd pin 8, & ri pin 22 as needed. You should only HAVE to connect either 4 or 20 to 5 &/or 6, but due to random variations in how the serial port was cloned, it's common for it to be buggered up by the mfg (so I included the other 2 pins to try also). al -- Al. Michielsen, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Syracuse University InterNet: amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu amichiel@sunrise.acs.syr.edu Bitnet: AMICHIEL@SUNRISE