Mystery IC: Allen Bradley 314B102

[Mike Ross]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 11:43 AM, Mike Stein <mhs.stein at gmail.com> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Ross" <tmfdmike at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 3:41 PM
>
>
>> On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 4:35 AM, tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>> If you can identify the data lines on the connector you are getting there. See if you
>>> can trace the other pins to inputs or outputs.
>>>
>>> -tony
>>
>> Tony, good advice but probably more work than I'm inclined to put in.
>> As you said there were many interfaces with different standards -
>> different polarities and timing - and either way it's quite likely
>> this will never work with a standard modern parallel port without
>> building some converter, after first finding out what has to be
>> converted and designing it!
>
> ----- Reply -----
>
> Tony just makes everything sound more complicated than it is ;-)
>
> Actually I suspect it might indeed quite possibly work with a standard parallel port without any conversion at all other than a rewired cable and maybe a very minor change or two on the board.
>
> For the most part a parallel port is a parallel port; data and strobe going out, strobe acknowledge and printer status coming in, nothing more complicated than that and timing is rarely an issue. In the Selectric there is the R/T code conversion of course but that's done for you already and it should be simple to find the data bit order.
>
> I had a contract years ago that involved adding a serial or parallel interface to Olivetti typewriters and it's really not rocket science; I even still have some info on interfacing to Selectrics but unfortunately not relevant to yours.
>
> Your choice of course but I'd take Brent up on his generous offer to reverse engineer that interface; you may find it's a much simpler project than you think.
>
> (another) mike

I have taken Brent up on that :-)

I'll poke a bit more myself and see what we can work out together
before I decide if the effort is worth it.

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