[Coco] Printing utility for linux users

[John W. Linville]

On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 04:58:52PM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Friday 16 May 2008, mike delyea wrote:
> >Speaking of printers, I have an HP Laserjet 4.  Will an ORDINARY
> >serial to parallel converter work with the coco (provided I build a
> >coco serial to 9 pin serial adapter) given that the coco's serial port
> >is not 5 volts?  This printer is old but its solid and I can get
> >replacement toner/drum cartridges for $70.00.
> 
> I rather doubt it Mike, I'm fairly sure that printer doesn't have a rastering 
> engine in it & speaks some dialect of PCL.  However, since it does have a 
> parport & its 2 bills cheaper than running out and getting a new HL-2140 & 
> all them $40 each usb cables, it would sure be worth a try.  Let us know 
> please.

I think Mike was asking about electrical compatibility for the serial
ports if I'm not mistaken...?

OTOH, I believe that ASCII text qualifies as a proper subset of PCL
-- so assuming that you get the electrical connections right I think
you probably _can_ print ASCII text directly from the CoCo to the
hplj...YMMV... :-)

John
-- 
John W. Linville
linville at tuxdriver.com