Centronics printer woes

Photon · 05 December 2006, 20:01

Connected a suitably old laser printer to my A500 with a standard parallel to Centronics cable. Worked fine on my PC, but when I hooked it up and printed something, only the first 4 characters came out, after that it got stuck but I could move the mouse pointer, and when I turned the printer off and on again the Amiga froze.

Printer prefs were set to generic, PAR:, Din A4, etc. (Printed an ascii text file from DiskMaster 2.)

Are special centronics cables needed for Amiga, if so, where can I buy them?

dambuster · 05 December 2006, 21:26

Its along time since I had a printer connected to an amiga, but as far I can remember std printer cables work fine. I do remember that the Amiga Parallel port can be a bit sensitive to connecting/disconnecting if still powered up. Have blown a parallel port using a mechanical switcher before.

Paul

Photon · 05 December 2006, 23:54

Well that was my second woe... the par port could be at fault. Is there some protector thingy available so I can replace, hmm is it Paula or Denise or both, and not risk it blowing up again?

Photon · 06 December 2006, 17:53

Thought it was an earth problem, so I connected both Amiga and printer to unearthed sockets. Still the same.

Ever the minimalist, I disconnected all wires but the ones needed to send bytes - data pins, strobe, ack and ground. Still, if the printer was on, when I started the Amiga it would blink and keep resetting. If I power the Amiga on first, then when I started the printer the Amiga would hang hard after 20 seconds.

Conclusion: Paula is f cked. No sweat, I have some, but I would like to make sure I don't fry another one as soon as I turn it on!

Are there optically isolated printer cables? Or adapters that have diodes to ensure no current flows the wrong way, and current/voltage limiters that ensure no voltages over 5v are sent and no strong currents flow.

Or will the problem be solved with a parallel to usb adapter and buying a used usb printer?

Please advise.

Photon · 07 December 2006, 02:59

Replace Paula, got all the way through the cpu tests, but didn't display the insert disk thingy. Replace Even CIA, everything seems to work and I could connect the printer without any problems.

Couldn't print anything though, probably due to me nipping off the /busy lead, which needs to be "not high". Will report back with progress.

Photon · 12 December 2006, 01:31

Connected the "busy" lead, worked. Almost. Character count was correct, but weird characters. Traced the error to bit 5, Data6, pin 7. Mended the cable, and it worked!

Did SyntaxPrint V0.90, so now I can print sources @ 127 lines per page and get more overview than 25 lines in Asm-One, for those brainstorming "scribble sessions". With syntax "color" coding (bold labels, italicized comments) to make it clearer (and maybe to show off). It works with all printers that accept command sequences of any sort, this one was made for PCL5 compatible printers of any ilk. Have 3 features I wanna add, but for now it works for my needs. Yay!

dambuster · 12 December 2006, 10:04

Congrats - a lot of work for few lines of text lol
Another option may be a parallel to usb adapter and use a usb printer (driver may be a problem), this should isolate to parallel port. see link
http://www.maplin.co.uk/L2.asp?N=2889

Photon · 12 December 2006, 16:59

Well the problem was a faulty Paula, so that wouldn't have helped. And the printer had only the Centronics connector (oh yeah and a useful RS422 thingy for macs).

hehe a lot of work, well it was worth 3 evenings to make a perfect printout command for coders. Couldn't even do what I do with a DTP package, and just try to load a DTP package while coding in an assembler on an A500! Maybe you could get something like it if you transferred it to PC and changed fontsize in WordPad, but you'd have to set "approximate" tab stops manually.

It's good for complete sources for a big project, too. It can handle file sizes up to the AmigaDOS maximum. 4GB >__<

05 December 2006, 20:01	#1
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Centronics printer woes Connected a suitably old laser printer to my A500 with a standard parallel to Centronics cable. Worked fine on my PC, but when I hooked it up and printed something, only the first 4 characters came out, after that it got stuck but I could move the mouse pointer, and when I turned the printer off and on again the Amiga froze. Printer prefs were set to generic, PAR:, Din A4, etc. (Printed an ascii text file from DiskMaster 2.) Are special centronics cables needed for Amiga, if so, where can I buy them?

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05 December 2006, 21:26	#2
dambuster Zone Friend Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Dundee / Scotland Posts: 151	Its along time since I had a printer connected to an amiga, but as far I can remember std printer cables work fine. I do remember that the Amiga Parallel port can be a bit sensitive to connecting/disconnecting if still powered up. Have blown a parallel port using a mechanical switcher before. Paul

05 December 2006, 23:54	#3
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Well that was my second woe... the par port could be at fault. Is there some protector thingy available so I can replace, hmm is it Paula or Denise or both, and not risk it blowing up again?

06 December 2006, 17:53	#4
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Thought it was an earth problem, so I connected both Amiga and printer to unearthed sockets. Still the same. Ever the minimalist, I disconnected all wires but the ones needed to send bytes - data pins, strobe, ack and ground. Still, if the printer was on, when I started the Amiga it would blink and keep resetting. If I power the Amiga on first, then when I started the printer the Amiga would hang hard after 20 seconds. Conclusion: Paula is f cked. No sweat, I have some, but I would like to make sure I don't fry another one as soon as I turn it on! Are there optically isolated printer cables? Or adapters that have diodes to ensure no current flows the wrong way, and current/voltage limiters that ensure no voltages over 5v are sent and no strong currents flow. Or will the problem be solved with a parallel to usb adapter and buying a used usb printer? Please advise.

07 December 2006, 02:59	#5
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Replace Paula, got all the way through the cpu tests, but didn't display the insert disk thingy. Replace Even CIA, everything seems to work and I could connect the printer without any problems. Couldn't print anything though, probably due to me nipping off the /busy lead, which needs to be "not high". Will report back with progress.

12 December 2006, 01:31	#6
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Connected the "busy" lead, worked. Almost. Character count was correct, but weird characters. Traced the error to bit 5, Data6, pin 7. Mended the cable, and it worked! Did SyntaxPrint V0.90, so now I can print sources @ 127 lines per page and get more overview than 25 lines in Asm-One, for those brainstorming "scribble sessions". With syntax "color" coding (bold labels, italicized comments) to make it clearer (and maybe to show off). It works with all printers that accept command sequences of any sort, this one was made for PCL5 compatible printers of any ilk. Have 3 features I wanna add, but for now it works for my needs. Yay!

12 December 2006, 10:04	#7
dambuster Zone Friend Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Dundee / Scotland Posts: 151	Congrats - a lot of work for few lines of text lol Another option may be a parallel to usb adapter and use a usb printer (driver may be a problem), this should isolate to parallel port. see link http://www.maplin.co.uk/L2.asp?N=2889

12 December 2006, 16:59	#8
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	Well the problem was a faulty Paula, so that wouldn't have helped. And the printer had only the Centronics connector (oh yeah and a useful RS422 thingy for macs). hehe a lot of work, well it was worth 3 evenings to make a perfect printout command for coders. Couldn't even do what I do with a DTP package, and just try to load a DTP package while coding in an assembler on an A500! Maybe you could get something like it if you transferred it to PC and changed fontsize in WordPad, but you'd have to set "approximate" tab stops manually. It's good for complete sources for a big project, too. It can handle file sizes up to the AmigaDOS maximum. 4GB >__<

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