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From: mikef@hpspdra.HP.COM (Mike Fischer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: EasyScript to RS232 Printer??
Message-ID: <990001@hpspdra.HP.COM>
Date: 19 Jun 89 03:21:14 GMT
Organization: HP Stanford Park - Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 41

Has anyone had any luck getting EasyScript to print to an RS-232 printer?

I'm trying to use both a Diablo 630 and a Qume Sprint 11/40 Plus.  I'm
pretty familiar with RS-232 interfacing in general, and my Amiga talks
to those printers and (at this momont) a 2400bps modem no sweat, all
thru a series of AB, ABX, and ABC switch boxes and a home-brew null
modem adapter.

Both printers will print nicely at 1200 bps until their buffers burp,
after which the Diablo gets pretty garbled, and the Qume just skips
about a paragraph.  This is all with a "3-line" interface setting in
the Control and Command registers such as 8/0, 8/16, 40/96, and 40/112
respectively.  Apparently the X-Off or CTRL-S or DC3 character that
the printer sends to plead impending indigestion is ignored by the C64.

The other alternative is the "X-line" handshake setting.  The ones I've
tried are 8/1, 8/17 as recommended in the EasyScript manual, 40/97,
and 40/113, again Control/Command settings.  The Diablo does no printing
and the C64 immediately shows "Output Error A", which is not explained
in the manual.  The Qume also fails to print, but EasyScript just
hangs like it got a CTRL-S, with no change in the little two-character
window in the upper-right corner of the screen that seems to show
what's going on during an RS-232 output.  If I then open the RS-232
path the little window shows characters ripping past, and I can abort
with the STOP key.

Surely my "homebrew" null modem adapter must be under suspicion, but I
followed the recommendation in the EasyScript manual precisely, then
tried several other permutations that seemed logical with no better
results.  I've also probed the cabling at each juncture to make sure
that the expected RS-232 levels of + and - 6 to 10 volts were getting
thru.

I can also get perfect printing at 300 bps, but this is about half
of the speed capability of the printers.

So the problem is handshaking or data flow control, and the question
is how?  Many thanks in advance for your time with this long note
and any help you can offer.
--
Mike Fischer   mikef%hpspd@hplabs.hp.com  or  hplabs!hpspdra!mikef