Date   : Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:15:30 +0100
From   : philb@... (Phil Blundell)
Subject: Centronics to Serial

On Sat, 2009-10-03 at 18:24 +0100, Steven John BASS wrote:
> I'm wanting to capture the printer output from an old Z80 computer, that
> only has a Cenronics (parallel) port, to the serial port on my BEEB.
> 
> It is so I can capture of data from an obsolete word processor, which uses
> an incompatible format.
> 
> I wonder if anyone knows of such a cicuit or has even built one.

I think you ought to be able to connect the Beeb's user port
more-or-less directly to the other machine's printer port without any
extra interfacing circuitry.  If I remember right the VIA will even
latch the data for you on the edge of STRB, although I guess you still
have to generate the ACK by hand.  Might be easier than the PIC
solution, anyway.

p.