Hello Jean,

  JP> What I have seen is that the M*c connector, round as it is, is
    > totally different from the DIN one that you mentioned. First of
    > al, it is quite a bit smaller in diameter.

Most people I know call it the "mini-DIN 8" connector.  On the
Mac and some other machines it's an RS-422 serial port.

  JP> I will not dwell on the pin-out.

I will...    1 HSKo (Handshake output)
             2 HSKi (Handshake input)
   8 7 6     3 TX-  (Transmit - output)
             6 TX+  (Transmit + output)
  5   4 3    5 RX-  (Receive - input)
             8 RX+  (Receive + input)
    2 1      7 GPi  (General purpose input)
             4 Gnd  (Ground reference for the single-ended signals)


Since printers are traditionally wired     3  TX-  -----\/----- TX-  3
as data terminal equipment (DTE), I        5  RX-   RX-  5
imagine the standard Mac printer cable is a simple DTE-DTE crossover
cable...     6  TX+  -----\/----- TX+  6
                                           8  RX+   RX+  8
I don't remember ever checking this, but I have Mac printer cables laying
around    1  HSKo -----\/----- HSKo 1
and will check their wiring if anyone is   2  HSKi  HSKi 2
interested.
                                           4  Gnd  ------------ Gnd  4
  3  TX- ------\/----- TXD
  5  RX-  RXD    Using something like the wiring diagram
                              on the left, it's probably possible to
  1  HSKo -----\/----- RTS    drive a Mac serial printer from a PC's
  2  HSKi  CTS    RS-232 serial port. I'm not sure whether
                              serial printer drivers expect to use RTS
  6  TX+ (n/c)    ,--- DTR    /CTS or DTR/DSR handshaking. It would be
                  +--> DSR    easy enough to switch a few wires around
                  `--> DCD    at the PC end if DTR/DSR is needed.

  4  Gnd  ---+-------- SG     I've seen USB to Mini-DIN 8 serial
  8  RX+  <--'                adaptors for sale.  Although these were
                              probably developed to let people use
their existing Mac serial port devices with Macs that are USB-only, I
wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that one of those along with an
off-the-shelf Mac printer cable would let a PC drive a Mac printer.

- Andy Ball

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