Date   : Wed, 17 Aug 2005 01:19:06 +0100
From   : jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
Subject: Re: Modern printers and Beebs

"Ian Wolstenholme" <BBCMailingList@...> wrote:
> Does anybody know if modern laser printers can generally be
> used with Beebs?
 
Yes. A printer is a printer is a printer. Send the byte &41 to a
printer, and it will print "A" somewhere. I've been printing from
by Beeb with a Kyocera FS-600 for some years now.
 
Plug the BBC's Centronics port into the laser printer's Centronics
port, or the BBC's serial port into the laser printer's serial
port, and you just send it bytes, just like any other printer.
 
However, there are laser printers out there that claim to be
printers, but aren't - they're actually printer drive units. These
don't have a Centronics interface, even if they have an Amphanol
connector. A specialise program on the computer has to pretend to
be the printer itself and directly drive the print unit.
 
The Centronics definition is a specification of a printer
interface. If a shop sells you a printer claiming it has a
Centronics interface and VDU2:PRINT"HELLO":CLS:V.3 from a BBC
doesn't give "HELLO" on a sheet of paper, they have missold you a
printer drive unit instead, and threaten them with the consumer
misselling legislation.
 
Refuse to buy anything that does not come with a manual with
printer control codes listed and specifies that it has a
Centronics interface. "Centronics", not "parallel".
 
-- 
J.G.Harston - jgh@...                - mdfs.net/User/JGH
There are three food groups: brown, green and ice cream.