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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:	Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:	Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:	FUNYET::ANDERSON

Created:	Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:	Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1433
Total number of notes:	10312

1121.0. "LA50/LA75 DEC Printer use on Atari?" by NOHOST::LEVIN (Bryan, LeNAC (Networks) Soft Eng, MLO3-3, DTN 223-9407) Mon May 13 1991 19:13

    Is there any interest in using DEC LA50 and LA75 printers on Atari's?
    
    I am thinking about desgning a hardware solution to adapting them. 
    They both support DEC Sixels for graphics, but I want a "seamless"
    (god, I hate that marketing word) solution.  So, it might not be too
    expensive to use good old 8051's and a bit of ROM/RAM.
    
    The idea is to hang this board off the parallel port.  It could receive
    the Atari (read: Epson) graphic bitmap format, buffer/convert it to
    Sixels, and pass that along (serially, using the UART in the 8051) to
    the LA-series printer.
    
    This has other possibilities.  Conversion from X->Y is possible, if
    there are other X's and Y's than Epson and Sixels.  I would like to
    emulate as much of Epson's capabilities as is reasonable (which subset,
    though?)
    
    Feel free to mail me or post notes if this interests you.  The hardware
    solution should be reasonably low cost (8051's are ALL over DEC, even
    in the keyboard you're probably typing on [lk201]).  Support is minimal
    (simple clock circuit, and latches for RAM).  ROM could be the on-board
    ROM, supplied with many 8051's.
    
    
    Whaddya think?
    
    /bryan

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1121.1	Why an adapter for the LA75?	SMURF::COUTU	He who will not risk, cannot win.	`Fri Mar 12 1993 13:16`	5
	Why would one need an adapter for the LA75? Can't you just use it in IBM Proprinter mode? Isn't the IBM Proprinter X24E (that the LA75 provides emulation of) compatible with some Epson machines? Dan
1121.2	Do it in Software !	MUNDIS::CSCHMIDT	Scio, Me Nil Scire	`Thu Mar 18 1993 11:38`	16
	Unless you absolutely want to use the parallel port of the Atari, there is no need for an adapter as you describe it. It can all be done in Software. Look in topic 9.* for something called PSLA50. It's an accessory for converting parts (or all) of the screen to sixel and sending it directly to the printer port. I think the sources are there as well, so you can modify it for your own purposes. I have used PSLA50 with my LJ250 on the serial port for as long as I have my Atari and apart from the occasional glitch that came from the improper implementation of the handshake protocol there was never a problem. Cheers, Chris
1121.3	What about other printing needs?	VERMNT::coutu	He who will not risk, cannot win.	`Thu Mar 18 1993 15:35`	6
	PSLA50 would only solve part of the problem though wouldn't it? It let's do a print-screen operation. Will it help you in using, for example, Pagestream to print to your LA75? From what I understand it would not. Dan
1121.4	S.M.O.P. (Small Matter Of Programming)	MUNDIS::CSCHMIDT	Scio, Me Nil Scire	`Mon Mar 22 1993 10:35`	10
	Well, it depends. As I said in reply -.2, you can modify it for your own needs. I don't know, what kind of output format pagestream has, but I have developed a little TTP-program that takes a file in .PIC format, converts it to sixel and prints it out. You can do that for any other file format, as long as it's sufficiently documented. Cheers, Christoph
1121.5		PRNSYS::LOMICKAJ	Jeffrey A. Lomicka	`Mon Mar 22 1993 15:54`	1
	You would have to have a special driver for PageStream.