Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 I know the cable has worked in the past with this specific printer... here are a couple pics of prints I made a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoodland Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Do you have the HDX mod on your RS-232 board? If so, you might reload the HDX DSR per this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 The two cards I tested were not my HDX cards. They are standard fare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 18 yrs. dusty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoodland Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Have you tried connecting the printer to a PC to ensure that the printer I/O is functional? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOME AUTOMATION Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 plug... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 Thank you for the pictures!!! Once again, a different configuration from mine---and also different from the diagrams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 Have you tried connecting the printer to a PC to ensure that the printer I/O is functional? I don't have any way to hook it up. That would require a parallel to Centronics cable which I do not have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lee Stewart Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I am not at home so cannot check, but I have either a Panasonic KX-P1091 or KX-P1092. One thing I seem to remember is that one line (Busy?) on the printer was wired differently to the RS232 card’s PIO port than other (Epson?) printers. I know this is not a lot of help because I cannot check my cable until April, but I thought it might jog someone else’s memory. ...lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 Hmm.... that's possible. Let me dig into the manual and see what I can find out. I doubt I'll find much in the way of info for the TI... but there may be something... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 From the manual: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 And the buffer info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Pin 12 (TI) goes to pin 8 (Centronics) Are you sure about that? Pin 8 (Centronics) is one of the data lines. I would not expect it to be the spare output. The manual says that it handshakes through the Acknowledge and Busy outputs. A description of the parallel protocol at the bottom of the first page here http://www.soc.napier.ac.uk/~bill/pdf/Io_ch17.PDFshows that actually, the Busy signal is a good enough handshake signal. The problem is that it's connected to the spare in on your cable rather than the handshake in. On the other hand, this does show that the Acknowledge is not really necessary. So putting this all together, the pinout should be: (Centronics pin data gathered from printer manual) 1 Strobe (input) Connect to TI 1 (Handshake out) 2-9 Data (input) Connect to TI 2-9 (Data out) 10 Acknowledge (output) Unconnected 11 Busy (output) Connect to TI 10 (Handshake in) 12 Paper out (output) Unconnected 13 Select (output) Unconnected 14 Auto feed (input) Unconnected 16 Signal ground Connect to TI 11 17 Shield ground Connect to plug 18 +5V Unconnected 31 Reset (input) Unconnected 32 Error (output) Unconnected 33 Signal ground (same as 16) One way it could be done without any acknowledgment is if you just go by timing and assume that the printer has received the data. But according to the first link I found, the TI routines definitely wait for acknowledgment, so the timing method would have to be a custom function that does not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Here's one that doesn't match my configuration. (Close, but no cigar) 9FAE8E55-291E-4FA4-854E-D1E5219B9A9D.jpeg That description uses different pin numbering on the PIO side than most connectors do. Since it's a ribbon cable connector, it necessarily goes across first, then next row, because that's how the connections have to be made. So it looks like: 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 So if we remap it with this numbering, I think my last post agrees with it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 One note on getting the cable plugged in right: the TI has pin 1 marked on the circuit card--and the red wire (if there is one, goes to that end of the connector. Sometimes the buffer chip between the TI and the printer blows too--and it will give you this symptom (card locks when you try to send). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 I have plugged the printer directly into the parallel output on my PC (LPT1) and configured the printer to "Generic Text" (on arcadeshopper's suggestion). It will not print. No matter what I send, the printer sits there motionless. It feels like the Centronics port is somehow not connected to the MOBO.... According to the manual, when the printer is switched to "ON LINE", the interface signal levels are: BUSY=Low SELECT=High ERROR=High When the printer is "OFF LINE", the interface signal levels are: BUSY=High SELECT=Low ERROR=Low If I'm not mistaken, one of these lines is not registering properly for some reason. Since there is no readout or error code--I am only guessing... There is no error beep and the ON LINE signal is lit up. But, even though that is the case, I cannot get anything to print. I have checked the dipswitches and have even cycled through the various configurations in an attempt to get it to do SOMETHING. I tried Generic IBM Graphics (as a printer setup) and nothing happened on any of the appropriate dipswitch settings. At this point, I'm almost ready to say that something is "dead" inside my printer. I don't know much about them, but I am intent on trying to get it operational again. There are reasons this printer is special to me, and I don't want to just "go buy another one." ((Though, honestly, that may be my only hope at this point)) If anyone has any further suggestions before I crack this case over the weekend, I'd love to hear them. Thanks again for all your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 So you found an old PC parallel port to Centronics cable? My old Epson dot-matrix would require an end-of-line before the head would even begin moving. Did you make sure what you sent ended in a CR and LF? Well, even an LF alone (character 10) should get the paper to advance. An FF character (character 12) should feed the rest of the page out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 That's the cable I found, yes. I opened Notepad, typed: "This is a test print" Created a new printer using the "Generic Text Only" setting to LPT1, and attempted a print. I'm not sure how else to test it from my PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Admittedly, Notepad ought to be able to print. If you run QBasic, you could also try "lprint chr$(12)" and see if it advances a page. Well, before that, you'd need to make sure the "generic text printer" is on LPT1. More spitballing: Some printers also require the smoked plastic cover to be down and properly situated before they will respond. Could be that the plastic either isn't down or isn't quite lined up properly to trigger the safety switch. It may also give you some status under "printer properties" to tell you what Windoze thinks the printer says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 -It is LPT1, it is reading "Error" in status, but "Troubkeshooting" doesn't indicate what the error is. -When I send a document, it just sits in the queue. -This printer is set as my default printer -Printer Font is set to US(ANSI)-Standard -There is a setting for "Begin Print Job" and "End Print Job" but there is no dropdown menu to select what goes in there -There is a button in "Setup" that sends a test page to the printer. This doesn't yield any results at all. The doc just sits in the queue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Is this an older computer that has the 25-pin port built in, or did you have to use a USB adapter? If it's the former, there are ways to see exactly what you are getting from the port. Well, even if it's a USB adapter, Windows *might* emulate the hardware port. From a DOS shell, run debug. If you're running win7 or higher, you'll need to download a version of debug. A quick link here: https://sites.google.com/site/pcdosretro/enhdebug From the debug prompt, type: dw 0:408 l 1 (that's the letter L, then the number 1) That tells you the printer port address. Add one to that and that's the printer status port. So if the address is 3bc, the command: i 3bd will tell you what the printer's status outputs are. You should see a value of at least 80. Then try removing the paper to see if that value changes when you rerun that command. Same if you hit the "online/offline" button. Also, if the second digit is 4, that means that the printer itself is reporting an error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I’m not sure if this works on modern Windows or not, but if you are in a DOS window, does anything happen if you just do something like: dir > lpt1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChildOfCv Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 That's kind of iffy. These days printers have such a complex language that the thought of just sending straight text to be directly printed may seem foreign. I guess you couldn't hurt anything by giving it a shot though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 6, 2019 Author Share Posted February 6, 2019 It's an old Dell running Windows 7. It has a built-in parallel port and a 3.5" floppy drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 One last thought of something to test: If this doesn't work, I can still guess I have two bad cables... but the more likely thing is that I have one bad printer. I'll test tonight if I get some time. Also have a fried power adapter for the CF7, but I have another one I might be able to make work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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