Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:9733 comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware:8871
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rphroy!albert.cs.gmr.com!rhaar
From: rhaar@albert.cs.gmr.com (Robert L. Haar CS50)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: printing via the serial port
Message-ID: <53863@rphroy.UUCP>
Date: 21 May 91 17:49:13 GMT
References: <91136.142619SASDDI@vm.sas.com> <91141.093332SASDDI@vm.sas.com>
Sender: news@rphroy.UUCP
Reply-To: rhaar@gmr.com
Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Organization: G.M. Research Labs, Warren, MI
Lines: 39
Nntp-Posting-Host: albert.cs.gmr.com


(text deleted .....)
|> 
|>    MODE COM1:baud,parity,bits,stop-bits,P
|> and
|>    MODE LPT1=COM1
|> 
|> Unfortunately, it's not working.  The printer is set for 1200 baud,
|> even parity, and 2 stop-bits (not sure if it's 7 or 8 data bits).
|> So that's what I set the COM1 port to, then I issue the second MODE
|> command to redirect the printer, then I attempt to test it with
|> 
|>    ECHO hi > LPT1
|> 
|> Nothing.  The printer stays quiet, and the system locks up until I
|> hit CNTL-BREAK (that's if I added the P option; without it, after a
|> few seconds, the system complains about the port (or words to that

Which port? - COM1 ? What is the error message?

|> effect) and asks the ubiquitous question: Abort, Retry, Ignore?).
|> 
|> One extra variable: to connect the printer to the PC, I had to borrow
|> a gender-mender from work. (The cable has two male plugs, as does the
|> PC's serial port.)  It's definitly NOT a null modem, as it's a ribbon
|> cable with connectors on either end; no place to cross the send/receive
|> lines.

You may well need a null modem. It sounds to me like you did
everything right. 

You might want to get your hands on an RS232 "breakout" box
with monitor lights for Tx and RX data and for the hardware
flow control lines (DTR, DCR, RI, etc.)

    	Bob Haar  InterNet : rhaar@gmr.com 
	Computer Science Dept., G.M. Research Laboratories
DISCLAIMER: Unless indicated otherwise, everything in this note is
personal opinion, not an official statement of General Motors Corp.