TI Compatible Printers

[TI-GAMER]

I have a Star NX1000 and a Panasonic KX-P1124 Dot Matrix Printer. I also have a Printer Cable that is for the TI that is labeled Epson MX 80. Will this cable work with either of these printers?

[+Lee Stewart]

That depends on the relative interfaces. If the TI-99/4A printer cable is for a parallel connection to the printer, it will have a Centronics-style connector with 36 contacts, which will only fit parallel ports on the printers. If the cable is for a serial connection, it will have a female DB-25 connector, which will only fit mating serial ports on the printers. Consequently, if you can find a matching connector on the other two printers, they should work. Printers were often produced with both interfaces, but not always. Sometimes they only had one of those interfaces with, occasionally, an add-on option for the other interface.

 

...lee

[+Schmitzi]

Hi,

 

do you think (or know) if it is possible to connect something like an old HP DeskJet 500-Printer to the TI ?

(Just not to have matrix, endlesspaper, noise, big housing)

 

schmitziii

[+Ksarul]

The Star printers were an Epson compatible line that worked very well with the TI RS-232 card. That cable should work fine (I use one with a Star NL-10). I'm pretty sure the Panasonic will work too--I think I actually used an 1124 for a while, but it blew the print head pretty quickly after I got it (it was used and given to me for free). I think I only used it for a few months before it tanked though. Most other folks with them have had much better experiences (and the prior user of mine may have initiated the damage that caused the print head to tank too, as he wasn't exactly gentle with his hardware).

[TI-GAMER]

Lee Stewart

 

It is a TI to Parallel printer connection but even though the ends are the same it was my understanding that the wiring was different for each printer on the TI unlike a PC where you could use any Parellel cable. IE... a Cannon had the wiring different from a Panasonic and etc so they had to be individually wired for the TI itself. Not 100% positive on this but just something I thought that I remembered from back in the day.

Edited May 3, 2015 by TI-GAMER

[+20ohm20]

I've used a HP Deskjet 600 with my TI and it worked fine. I've only ever had one parallel cable connected to my TI, so the same cable that worked with my dot matrix printers also worked with the inkjet.

[Opry99er]

I have a Panasonic 1091 that I used for 4-5 years fairly regularly... It has a nice TI end, but the Panasonic end looks like a fairly rushed custom job. Thst may support your theory of relative pinouts.

 

I do not have a real solid answer, however.

[TI-GAMER]

I guess I can give it a try with both printers and see what happens. Shouldn't be enough power going through a data cable to damage anything... hopefully LOL

[+Lee Stewart]

Lee Stewart

 

It is a TI to Parallel printer connection but even though the ends are the same it was my understanding that the wiring was different for each printer on the TI unlike a PC where you could use any Parellel cable. IE... a Cannon had the wiring different from a Panasonic and etc so they had to be individually wired for the TI itself. Not 100% positive on this but just something I thought that I remembered from back in the day.

 

I believe the Centronics interface is standard when it comes to printers. The only problem I would think likely would be missing signals, not signals needing to be sent to different pins. The only difficulty I ever saw with the TI-99/4A’s parallel port was that it did not have pins to connect all of the paired grounds; but, rather tied them all to one or two ground pins. I will look to see what I did with the Centronics end and report back.

 

...lee

[+Ksarul]

There were two main flavors of Centronics Parallel interfacing with the TI: Epson-compatible (the majoritiy) and Brother/Okidata. The Brother required a signal to be inverted and also required one of the other pins to be used that wasn't important on the Epson. With both of those cables, you could connect your TI to just about any Centronics printer out there.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Ksarul

[TI-GAMER]

Good and Bad...

After digging through some more boxes I found the Cable Labeled Star which looks identical to the cable labeled Epson MX-80. Oddly enough... the Star cable only worked with the Star Printer and the Epson cable only worked with the Panasonic printer.

The Good... i have functional printers

The Bad... More confused than before LOL

 

[+Ksarul]

Actually, I seem to remember moving one wire on the Epson cable I had to make it work with a Star printer back in the day, so that would make a third major printer interface flavor (Star/Gemini), which also rings a bell when looking at cables in the catalogs back then. . .

[TI-GAMER]

Learning something new every day.... Actually... Re-Learning something old again LOL

Thanks for the help. Lots of old memories coming back

[+OLD CS1]

Hi,

 

do you think (or know) if it is possible to connect something like an old HP DeskJet 500-Printer to the TI ?

(Just not to have matrix, endlesspaper, noise, big housing)

 

schmitziii

 

Yes. I had that exact model, as well as a couple of other HP color inkjets for testing. The only problem I had, which is probably a settings issue, is the last page does not flush automatically.

 

When using my LaserJet 4050, it lights up when the PEB is turned on like there is data, I have to cancel to print. Also, so long as the TI is connected it will not go to sleep. Not a big deal.

[+Lee Stewart]

OK...FWIW, here is how my parallel cable is set up (for a Panasonic KXP1091):

RS232          KXP1091
  1----------------1
  2----------------2
  3----------------3
  4----------------4
  5----------------5
  6----------------6
  7----------------7
  8----------------8
  9----------------9
 10-------+       10
 11       +-------11
 12               12
 13               13
 14               14
 15               15
 16----------+----16
             +----17
             +----18
             +----19
             +----20
             +----21
             +----22
             +----23
             +----24
             +----25
             +----26
             +----27
             +----28
             +----29
             +----30
             |    31
             |    32
             +----33
                  34
                  35
                  36

...lee