[Coco] Coco and Modern Printers

[Louis Ciotti]

Too bad the ede1400 IC is EOL'd.

http://www.circuitlab.org/2011/07/circuit-serial-to-parallel-converter.html#axzz26Umw12ux




On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 8:32 PM, Christopher Hawks <chawks at dls.net> wrote:

> Frank Swygert said the following on 09/14/2012 06:38 PM:
>
>> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:52:39 -0500
>> From: John Orwen<jorwen at neb.rr.com>
>>
>>
>> Has anyone ever manufactured or has anyone ever contemplated making and
>> selling a multipak cartride with an internal rom and an external usb
>> port on it to interface to modern printers.  One that would contain the
>> generic driver code to connect to any usb printer. That would convert
>> the commands Print#-2 and LLIST for correct generic usb font and line
>> only graphics from any coco and to any usb printer.  I would think that
>> everyone with a modern computer connected to a usb printer would want
>> something like this for their still active coco.  Maybe I am the only
>> one in the Universe.  Any comments would be accepted.
>>
>> ----------------------------
>>
>> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 12:58:22 -0500
>> From: camillus Blockx<camillus.b.58 at gmail.com**>
>>
>>
>> I was more thinking of using the pc for that, link to pcs with serial and
>> divert with dosprint tool to any printer that is on pc. Even network
>> printers.
>>
>> drawback is that you need the host always on.
>>
>> Paralell would work too but needs code on the pc side.
>>
>> I look into it more specific after I moved to my new place at end this
>> month.
>> ----------------------
>>
>> Camillus has the right idea! The problem is that most inexpensive ink-jet
>> and
>> laser printers no longer have any "brains" built in (there are a few
>> exceptions, but not the under $100 variety... unless someone found one
>> recently...). The print driver handles all the plotting work. This works
>> well
>> with modern PCs because they have so much processing power. In the old
>> days
>> everything was off-loaded from the main CPU because it was limited,
>> especially
>> in 8 bits. The printers cost more, but could be hooked up to anything
>> with an
>> appropriate interface.
>>
>> If you're using Drivewire as a server anyway, it wouldn't be hard to send
>> print
>> files to the PC and let it be the brains for the cheap printer. Hmmm....
>> Drivewire may have a print function in the server, seems someone was
>> talking
>> about that anyway...
>>
>> A micro controller or small single board computer should be able to handle
>> driving a printer. A $35 Raspberry Pi should be able to do this! Mount it
>> in a
>> small box, make a serial cable (no serial port on Raspberry Pi? Think
>> again!!
>> -- http://lavalink.com/2012/03/**raspberry-pi-serial-**interfacing/<http://lavalink.com/2012/03/raspberry-pi-serial-interfacing/>)
>> to go between
>> it and the CoCo, and mod a small Linux distro to boot and take inout from
>> the
>> serial port and output to the USB printer driver. This will take some
>> software,
>> and you'll need to limit the printer driver to some low end HP driver
>> that will
>> work with just about any cheap HP inkjet, but it could be made to work as
>> a
>> simple plug and play device, with a specific range/list of printers
>> anyway. HP
>> uses a universla driver on many of their simple printers, so it may not
>> be that
>> hard to do. Don't think the controllers like an Arduino are capable of
>> driving
>> a USB printer, or rather running any software printer driver. That would
>> be a
>> major tasking, writing such a driver that would w
>> ork!
>>
>
> Frank:
>
>         The Raspberry Pi should run the Linux version of Drivewire 3 with
> no problem. It has printer support. (Might be possible to run Drivewire 4,
> depends on RPi's Java capabilities.)
>
>         A credit card sized Drivewire Server!!
>
>         That's one of the first things mine is going to do (if it ever
> gets here!).
>
> --
> Christopher R. Hawks
> HAWKSoft
> ------------------------
> In most countries selling harmful things like drugs is punishable.
> Then howcome people can sell Microsoft software and go unpunished?
>         -- Hasse Skrifvars, hasku at rost.abo.fi,
>
>
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