[comp.sys.3b1] Problems hooking parallel printer to my 7300

editor@wet.UUCP (Eric Swanson) (03/03/91)

Sorry if this is a duplicate, but news has been flaky here the past
few weeks and I haven't got a reply since I posted this a few days
back.  Thanks...   ---E
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, someone must have seen this one:

I've never hooked a printer to my 7300 before.  Bought a parallel
printer (a Panasonic KX-P1180 for what it's worth), got one of those
much-talked-about male-to-male Centronics cables, hooked it up, used
the printer configuration menu from ua, and got JUNK!

Nature of junk is that if I create a file 'test' that looks like the
below:

  this is a test
  this is only a test
  this is line three

and I (foolishly) type:

  lp test

the printer shows:

  this`is`a`testMJthis`is`only`a`testMJthis`is`line`threeMJML

and it only shows that after I take it off-line (that is, there's no
CR at the end of the line; I have to flush the printer's buffer to get
it to print this).

I've looked through /usr/spool/lp/interface/Other (the executable
interface file) and found nothing that explains this.  To corroborrate
(sp?) this, I typed: 

  cat test >/dev/lp
  cat test >/dev/rawlp

These both returned similar results (though using 'rawlp' sent fewer
characters; omitting pretty much what it should omit, with the sole
exception of ALL THIS JUNK).

Also, just to be sure, I dug a Kaypro out of the closet and hooked it
up to the printer.  Printer functioned perfectly, so bad characters
are definitely coming from the unixpc.

Configuration rundown:
  7300, 0.5Meg, 20Meg, Unix 3.0, blah blah blah.  References available
  upon request.

Please respond.  This thing is just about driving me crazy.  I've got
a copule more avenues to explore tomorrow, but now it's past midnight
and I'd like to get to work on time _once_ this week...

Editor.
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
editor@wet.UUCP   {ucsfcca,claris}!wet!editor   wet!editor@cca.ucsf.edu
Marshmallows are God's way of saying "You Are What You Eat".
------------------------------------------------------------------------

jwbirdsa@amc-gw.amc.com (James Birdsall) (03/05/91)

   Are you sure the cable is OK? Bit 6 seems to be stuck on.

   Between each line, you're seeing "MJ". This should be ^M^J, an ordinary
CR/LF pair. The difference between the two is bit 6, 0x40. Spaces start
out as 0x20 and end up as (0x20 | 0x40 = 0x60), which is the back quote.

   The text comes out OK because lowercase letters already have bit 6 set
and are therefore not affected.

   It sounds like a hardware problem, either in the cable or the parallel
port itself. If this bug were in the software, it would have been fixed
long ago.

-- 
James W. Birdsall   WORK: jwbirdsa@amc.com   {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!jwbirdsa
HOME: {uunet,uw-coco}!amc-gw!picarefy!jwbirdsa OTHER: 71261.1731@compuserve.com
========== "Think of an animal that's small and fuzzy." "Mold." -- RM =========
=========== "For it is the doom of men that they forget." -- Merlin ===========

flinton@eagle.wesleyan.edu (03/07/91)

In article <2171@wet.UUCP>, editor@wet.UUCP (Eric Swanson) describes his
printer problems:
> 
>   this`is`a`testMJthis`is`only`a`testMJthis`is`line`threeMJML
> 
> and it only shows that after I take it off-line ...

Looks like your printer needs a different printer driver -- instead of the
<CR> <LF> it seems to want to be seeing (^M ^J in control characters) its
getting just  M  and  J  (text characters) with never a line-feed or a 
carriage-return to get it to flush its own buffer (i.e.,  to print) and
reposition its head for a new line.  ... Hope this is on the mark.

-- Fred

Fred E.J. Linton  Wesleyan U. Math. Dept.  649 Sci. Tower  Middletown, CT 06457
E-mail:  <FLINTON@eagle.Wesleyan.EDU>  or  <fejlinton@{att|mci}mail.com>
Tel.:         + 1 203 776 2210 (home)  or  + 1 203 347 9411 x2249 (work)