I was wondering if someone could give me a hand with a program. What I have is 40 character (page width), parallel input, kiosk printer. it's been around since 1995.
The only usable signal lines are the eight data bits and a strobe line. I have no problem sending text to the printer and it indeed prints it out. The problem I'm having is figuring out how to send a line or form feed. I don't see how the printer know's the difference between a text character and a command. If I sent "hello" to the printer the picaxe program puts each character on the buss and strobes it out. Well, since a command may consist of three characters and each one has to be sent separately . How does the printer know it's a command and not just text. Sending text or commands to an LCD display is easy, since the RS line is either high or low to designate whats on the buss is either a command or text. Where as, this printer only has a strobe line. The printer does do an automatic carriage return after a full line.
I've been all over the internet and it's all about sending data to a serial printers, anything other than that is a about desktops talking to old parallel printers.
Anybody have any ideas or experience with this. All I need is a code snippet that I can understand and I'll be all set.
Attached is my program. I stripped it from and LCD program and modified it. It works as far as printing text goes. There is more printer information in the program.
P.S. I know I can just send out a couple of blank 40 character messages to get the real text up out of the print head where it can be read, but I'd rather do it right.
The only usable signal lines are the eight data bits and a strobe line. I have no problem sending text to the printer and it indeed prints it out. The problem I'm having is figuring out how to send a line or form feed. I don't see how the printer know's the difference between a text character and a command. If I sent "hello" to the printer the picaxe program puts each character on the buss and strobes it out. Well, since a command may consist of three characters and each one has to be sent separately . How does the printer know it's a command and not just text. Sending text or commands to an LCD display is easy, since the RS line is either high or low to designate whats on the buss is either a command or text. Where as, this printer only has a strobe line. The printer does do an automatic carriage return after a full line.
I've been all over the internet and it's all about sending data to a serial printers, anything other than that is a about desktops talking to old parallel printers.
Anybody have any ideas or experience with this. All I need is a code snippet that I can understand and I'll be all set.
Attached is my program. I stripped it from and LCD program and modified it. It works as far as printing text goes. There is more printer information in the program.
P.S. I know I can just send out a couple of blank 40 character messages to get the real text up out of the print head where it can be read, but I'd rather do it right.
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