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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!sri-unix!ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
From: ABN.ISCAMS@USC-ISID.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Wang PCs and printers
Message-ID: <1200@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 24-May-84 20:02:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1200
Posted: Thu May 24 20:02:00 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 04:33:50 EDT
Lines: 35

Netlandians,

Wang recently sold us some PC's with MS-DOS (I think, or their equivalent),
CP/M emulation, etc.  They were supposed to sell us 15" (132 column) dot-
matrix printers, but we suddenly discover Wang (or our local vendor)
doesn't HAVE 15-inch dot-matrix printers.  They supplied 80-column ones,
and now want to sell us 132-col letter-quality printers!  Naturally, this
failure to fulfill specs/contract will not pass -- but I do NOT understand.
Wang says "Well, you'd have to write special drivers for any 15" dot-matrix
printers."  How come?  I wrote no special drivers for my poor old CP/M-80,
just dumped stuff via PIP to the serial port!

Is MS-DOS so brain-damaged (or Wang's OS) that a simple straight-forward
serial dump out a port, and some simplistic Xon/Xoff or some sort of ready/
not ready won't work?

Why can't I carry my good old Mannesman Tally serial over there, plug it
in to their (hopefully) RS-232 serial port, and push a WordStar file to it?

I've been told by my users the provided serial printers aren't exactly
serial, and don't use the RS-232 (?) port -- but a special Wang comm
port instead.  Stranger and stranger.

I am NOT an MS-DOS hacker, don't even own/work on such a system -- but
I find it hard to believe ANY OS is so restricted that such an obvious
requirement is omitted.  And what's the difference (to a port or OS) between
80 column and 132 column anyway?  What does the computer care?

Some enlightenment would be useful.  Maybe it ISN'T so easy, and Wang IS
correct ... but sure seems dumb to me.  Or is Wang falling back on their
good old "let's not be compatible with ANYTHING, and insure even our
printers need special smarts!"?

David Kirschbaum
Toad Hall