5 Dec
2003
5 Dec
'03
7:41 a.m.
(Problems with a mailserver, so I'm re-sending. My apologies if this is a duplicate.)
On Tue, 2003-12-02 at 14:11, Bill Machacek wrote:
I'd like to find out a little more about the IBM
5216 Wheelprinter I just received. What computers did it work with? There are only 2
female input connectors on the back, one is marked "T" and the other one
"P". Anyone have information on the type of computers this unit was setup to
work with?
TIA for your responses.
If it's anything like the 5218 used on the Displaywriter, well, umm,
good luck talking to it without proper documentation.
The interface was bit serial I think, I forget electrically what flavor.
Logically it was a byte stream, it was very modal (online/offline plus
more) and had a complex "packet"-based command structure, even print
characters.
to printer HDR1 HDR1 DATA
from printer RESPONSE
Sort of thing. Every switch press generated an interrupt via command
response packets, and/or set flags htat you could read via commands.
There were pages of commands. To me, in 1982, it seemed extremely
complex for a printer. I had to make WordStar talk to it properly, it
wasn't easy.