Conference hydra::amiga_v1

More info on my LA75 problems...  I'm getting closer.

I checked the cable out with a meter and it's okay, so I tried fooling around
with things for a while to see what I could shake out.  An interesting bit of
information is that while I get a "PRT: object in use" error doing a 
"COPY FOO.TXT PRT:", everything works fine when I "COPY FOO.TXT SER:".  
I double checked the printer setup in preferences, and the printer IS selected
to go to the serial port.  Since I CAN copy to the serial port, it would seem
to indicate that the settings for the serial port are okay.  Therefore the
problem must be either in preferences (not likely) or in the printer driver
(Probably).  

I tried to copy down the print driver in or around note one ninety something,
but the .ARC file I got seems to be corrupt.  I'm going to try to copy it down
again, and maybe that'll solve my problem.  Will the LA50 driver work okay with
an LA75?  Does ANYBODY out there have an LA75 hooked up to their AMIGA?  If so,
what are you using for a print driver?

Also, I just bought the AMIGA and the store didn't have any AMIGA DOS manuals
in stock, so I'm pretty much in the dark about AMIGA DOS.  Is there any way to
check which task has the PRT: device locked?  Is there a way to unlock it?  


					Thanks,
					John Boy

    
    Doesn't the LA75 have an IBM emulation mode?  Maybe there is a 
    commodore supplied printer driver you could try with that...

    
    I use a LA75 with my Amiga. I use the printer driver called LA50.
    (Try a DIR/TITLE=LA50 for more details on that.) I don't remember
    what the pin layout is but I could look. I remember that I did not
    connect the "live" wire and the others were pretty straight forward.
    
    I would basicly look at all the notes about the LA50 and treat the
    LA75 the same way.  With the exception of some very specific LA75
    characteristics maybe, it will work. 
    
    BTW. I tried all of the CBM and IBM style printer drivers that come
    with WB and the LA75 in IBM Emulation mode  and none of them worked
    for me.
    
    If you have anything you would like me to look up in particular
    just ask.
    
    Mark

    If you go into IBM compatibility mode on the LA75, you can then
    use the MPS1000 printer driver that comes with the Amiga.  I use
    mine in this mode with no problems at all.
    
    John

Re .-1
>    If you go into IBM compatibility mode on the LA75, you can then
>    use the MPS1000 printer driver that comes with the Amiga.  I use
>    mine in this mode with no problems at all.
    
Just out of curiosity, does the LA75 do graphics in the IBM compatibility mode?
 Same resolution?  

BTW, Thanks all for the previous info.  I'm trying to copy down the LA50_21.ARC
file, but I'm having problems with Kermit-32.  After several attempts at
downloading last night, I finally got a good transfer (line noise is
unbelievable where I live), but ARC said the file was screwy.  It claimed a
couple of files had bad headers and the rest failed CRC checking upon
unpacking.  

Of course, you realize that the REAL problem is that I don't know what I'm
doing yet.  I'm gonna go back and re-read the previous notes on other folks'
transfer problems and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong.


					Thanks again,
					Johnny B. Goode

Success!!!  I finally got the LA50 driver downloaded to my AMIGA and it works
great.  I did notice a speed improvement using the LA50 driver instead of the
CBM_MPS1000 driver, but that may have been due to some other preferences
changes I made.  When using the LA50 driver, it appears that two lines of
graphics print each 'burst' as opposed to one line per 'burst' with the other
driver.  

Strangely enough, in order to download the .ARC file properly, I had to use
KERMIT to download the file after it had been converted TO STREAM_LF format.  I
was under the impression that the 510-byte fixed-length format was what Kermit
needed, but I could never get the download to work properly that way.  
Stranger than fiction, wouldn't you say?

					John

	Re: .-1

	I'm just starting to get my LA75 up too -- this & other notes
	have helped (thanks!). A couple queries: Are you using the driver
	named LA50_21? There seem to be different flavors floating around,
  	among them LA50_21.ARC and plain LA50.ARC. Secondly, using this
	driver, I presume the LA75 must be in DEC protocol mode?
	(I got the printer working using the CBM_MPSxxxx driver &
	the LA75's 'Other'/IBM protocol.)

	Keith Y.

    
    
    	There are two version of the LA50 driver. The first version
    was LA50.ARC . This was before a bug or two was found and before
    I got smart enough to put a version number on the ARC file. The
    LA50.ARC does have version numbers in the code.
    
    	The LA50_20.ARC was short lived ( never made past field test).
    I then created LA50_21.ARC . Some short time after that I gave back
    the LA50 and got a better printer.
    
    	Version LA50_21 is faster than the original and compresses the
    output ( special case blank lines ).
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    Re -.1
    
    Steve,
    	
    	Will the LA50 driver (being used on my LA100) need REwriting
    to take full advantage of workbenck 1.3 ?
    
    Jean
    
    PS good job!
    

    
    
    	I have no idea if driver changes need to be made for WB 1.3.
    I have not heard of anyone rewriting drivers for WB 1.3 , so I'd
    guess they will support the new features.
    
    	Steve Peters
    

    Memory location told me that they had a NEC P2200 printer with the
    1.3 printer drivers for $450, but they're out of stock.
    I want to mention that the service on an amiga I didn't even buy
    there under warranty was very good.  Actually, the prodrive I bought
    was bad, but first they replaced every chip in the amiga to make
    sure.
    I was  a hardware debug tech so I know how hard it is to find a
    problem.
    Tom