Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!laird
From: laird@think.com (Laird Popkin)
Subject: Re: APPLE Imagewriter on ST??
Message-ID: <1991Apr11.003335.14788@Think.COM>
Sender: news@Think.COM
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
References: <1991Apr9.130629.29558@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <1991Apr10.155924.28155@santra.uucp>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 91 00:33:35 GMT

In article <1991Apr10.155924.28155@santra.uucp> s37837k@saha.hut.fi (Jari Lehto) writes:
>In article <1991Apr9.130629.29558@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> shawl@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:
>>Has anyone ever tried to hook an Apple Imagewriter up to an ST?
>>Any thoughts on doing it would be appreciated.
>>
>
>You know, Mac is very "dot-oriented", so you would need to make/get aspecial
>driver for it. And it would also reserve the serial port, so no modem...
>This is because ImageWriter prints everything as a bit-image and mac does not
>have an actual centronics-port, both printer and modem ports are serials.
>So you can print pictures quite easily, but text does need a very special
>driver.
>
>				Jartsu
>
>	*** Jari Lehto, jartsu@otax.hut.fi, s37837k@saha.hut.fi ***

It's true that the Mac is very "dot oriented" but the ImageWriter and
ImageWriter II do indeed have built in character sets, and can be used to
print ASCII text as well as graphics.  I know quite a few people who used
Imagewriters on their Apple II's, for example.

The part about interfacing is true, though.  The Imagewriter is a serial
printer, so you would need to switch between printing and modeming.