1237c9be9f14
tech



Hello Roy - 

WC>>> Picked up that much along the way however I've been
WC>>> persuaded to go parallel. 

RJT>> The only thing about that to consider is that you can't
RJT>> have that cable be real long. 

CA>> This is the "tech" echo terms like "real
long" belong in
CA>> the Linux echo. ;-) 

RJT> It's all relative... 

More relativity in the Linux echo I suspect. 

CA>> Parallel cable maximum length is 10 feet. 

RJT> So they say. If you're printing only, then maybe longer is
RJT> okay, if you're doing some fancier stuff, bidirectional
RJT> etc.,  then maybe it's a little more critical. The quality
RJT> of the cable, and the amount of noise in the environment
RJT> will make a lot of difference too, as will whether the
RJT> cable is shielded or not. 

I've not tested the max length of parallel cables, I just rely
on information from those who manufacture them. 

CA>> Serial cable maximum length is 50 feet (longer lengths
CA>> cause com errors & garbage characters). 

RJT> That depends entirely on what baud rate you're operating
RJT> at. The lower the rate, the longer the cable can be, up to
RJT> thousands of feet. 

No way for me to test that theory, mine is only 40 feet at
present. 

CA>> I made a 40 foot serial cable for myself and used to use
CA>> it at work. 

RJT>> Of course, standard printer cables aren't supposed to be
RJT>> more than 6-10 feet, 

CA>> That would be the 'standard' parallel. Many dot matrix
CA>> printers also had serial ports. ;-) 

RJT> Not many that I had. 

Guess it depends how 'early' you got into printing. 

RJT> One "Digital" printer, essentially the same mechanics as
RJT> one Apple unit and some others, was the only serial
RJT> printer that I had and used. It was nifty, in that a "*"
RJT> character would actually print out as a five-pointed star. 

RJT>    That printer was fairly slow, though. 

They got faster later on. 

RJT> I got a hold of a serial interface board for my Oki 92,
RJT> but couldn't get it to work. Traced the signal as far as
RJT> the UART itself and nothing was coming out the other side,
RJT> and the chip is soldered in, so that's as far as I got
RJT> with that one. 

OKI was lazy. If you didn't buy a printer with both parallel
and serial interface the circuit boards were there but not
fully connected. It would _look_ like you had both but only one
would work. 

RJT>> but I've run stuff through multiple cables with
RJT>> switchboxes in the middle without problems. And I do
RJT>> happen to have a 25 foot printer cable, for odd occasions. 

CA>> There are 'booster boxes' available for longer runs of
CA>> cable. 

RJT> Oh, sure, there are lots of things "available", but they
RJT> tend to be a little pricey for my tastes. 

RJT> There's an outfit called Black Box I think based in
RJT> Pittsburgh, that used to send me catalogs for a while.
RJT> They have an *amazing* assortment of adapters, and other
RJT> things. Too expensive for me, though. 

Offices wanted to hide dot matrix printers where the noise
wasn't a constant distraction. If the only hiding place was
beyond the 50 feet of serial cable they would need a booster.
Hardware made to satisfy businesses can be 50% higher in price
since it's a tax write off for businesses to buy one. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

___ * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... DOS the Ghost in the Machine! http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/

--- Maximus/2 3.01