6 Feb
2011
6 Feb
'11
6:41 p.m.
In article <4D4AEFF8.40002 at axeside.co.uk>,
Philip Belben <philip at axeside.co.uk> writes:
I believe the printer interface is identical for all storage tube terminals.
Hi there! I'm horribly behind on my Classiccmp
e-mails - this one
arrived about 5 weeks ago, and I've only just read it.
Cool. I was beginning to think noone else was interested.
I'm
starting a project to create a modern printer interface for the
terminal. [...]
I think that's an excellent idea. I have a 4006 terminal, and a 4052
computer, and I might want to use it on either of them. Most likely the
4052. I actually have a couple of rolls of paper still in
original cardboard
cylinders. Probably long dead, though.
I have one roll of NOS paper and a printer with some paper in it.
Shelf life according to the catalog was 6 months and another lister
has reported that they got an image out of a printer with NOS paper,
just not a very good one.
I only have one 4631, not working. At present it is
only a museum
piece, but if I eviscerate it to put in a modern printer, it is not even
that.
You could house the project in an electronics box if you want to leave
your period printer as-is. Nothing in this project requires that you
gut a 4631 (or the 4632 video hardcopy unit which is essentially the
same printer but with different interface electronics).
In addition, while I could easily afford a modern
printer to transplant
into the 4631 case, why should I when I have a perfectly good printer
already, plugged into my PC?
As I say, there's no need to do that. I have two units: a 4631 and a
4632. I was planning on housing my replica project in the video
hardcopy unit and leaving the 4631 as is.
I'd prefer to take the raster image and save it in
a suitable file
format (TIFF?) for putting on a PC and printing on any old printer.
This would make it much more flexible, and I think it would be of
benefit to do so.
Yes, that was always part of the plan. Sorry if I didn't make that
clear. Housing in the 463{1,2} cabinet was just a nice retro factor
thing and not the essential part of the project.
Sorry, I lack the hardware expertise.
At this point its looking like the whole project may be doable in
software with an Arduino Uno microcontroller board. There will be
some interface circuitry, but its looking so far like not much is
needed in terms of custom hardware.
A custom recreation of the 4010 printing option board would be
necessary for any storage tube terminals that don't have the printer
amplifier. Are your terminals 4010 or 4010-1? If you have the -1
then you already have the amplifier board in your terminal; if not,
then we'd need to recreate the amplifier board for you.
But I'll be happy to copy the
relevant bits of the 4050 series manuals for you if this would help.
Thanks, I've got the necessary bits from my own manual collection and
bitsavers. That covers both the amplifier board in the terminal, the
handshaking protocol and the circuitry inside the printer.
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