+Allan Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I need an Atari 850//P:R:Connection printer cable. It's a 15-pin D-type connector type on one end and a 36 pin connector on the other end. I see I can get one from Best and a couple of other places but I thought maybe I could get one somewhere else or make one. I have a CX86 Printer cable to connect an Atari 825 80-column printer to an 850 interface and thought maybe I could use a 'standard' parallel printer cable connector on the Atari 825 end of the cable. I see there are only 12 pins on the 850 end of the cable. I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Guitarman Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The 850 used a non standard printer cable. It has a standard centronix connection on the printer end but a 15pin on the computer end as opposed to a standard 25pin. You will need a special cable. Try and find ICD's "Printer Connection" (not P:R: Connection). It will connect the Atari directly to the printer as it has a SIO connector on one end and a centronix connector on the other. the ApeFace is another good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Personally, I'd prefer the 850/p:r: connection to any of those SIO-direct "PIF boxes".. I would just make the cable if I was you. In fact, why not make a small adapter that lets you use stadard PC printer cables? Can you solder? If so, I can provide you a diagram to build such an adapter out of a male db-15, a female db-25, and some wires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Guitarman Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Can you solder? If so, I can provide you a diagram to build such an adapter out of a male db-15, a female db-25, and some wires. Geezzzzzz.......why didn't I think of that!!!??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 The 850 used a non standard printer cable. It has a standard centronix connection on the printer end but a 15pin on the computer end as opposed to a standard 25pin. You will need a special cable. Try and find ICD's "Printer Connection" (not P:R: Connection). It will connect the Atari directly to the printer as it has a SIO connector on one end and a centronix connector on the other. the ApeFace is another good one. I'm trying to get my HP laserjet to work with my 130XE. I needed the P:R:Connection because the other printer interfaces print everything on one line with these particular printers. The P:R: Connection has a switch inside to fix this. Personally, I'd prefer the 850/p:r: connection to any of those SIO-direct "PIF boxes".. I would just make the cable if I was you. In fact, why not make a small adapter that lets you use stadard PC printer cables? Can you solder? If so, I can provide you a diagram to build such an adapter out of a male db-15, a female db-25, and some wires. Yes, I can. That would be great. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 The 850 used a non standard printer cable. It has a standard centronix connection on the printer end but a 15pin on the computer end as opposed to a standard 25pin. You will need a special cable. Try and find ICD's "Printer Connection" (not P:R: Connection). It will connect the Atari directly to the printer as it has a SIO connector on one end and a centronix connector on the other. the ApeFace is another good one. I'm trying to get my HP laserjet to work with my 130XE. I needed the P:R:Connection because the other printer interfaces print everything on one line with these particular printers. The P:R: Connection has a switch inside to fix this. Personally, I'd prefer the 850/p:r: connection to any of those SIO-direct "PIF boxes".. I would just make the cable if I was you. In fact, why not make a small adapter that lets you use stadard PC printer cables? Can you solder? If so, I can provide you a diagram to build such an adapter out of a male db-15, a female db-25, and some wires. Yes, I can. That would be great. Allan Ok.. Im on the way out the door.. Ill post it later tonight.. but if you really want it, just google ICD MIO MANUAL.. Its in the back of the manual.. The MIO used the 15pin 850 style printer port (before I ADAPTED it on the new PCB, of course).. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+poobah Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 ...and if you don't have any luck making the cable, I have a couple, as well as some Xetec Graphix AT interfaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 ...and if you don't have any luck making the cable, I have a couple, as well as some Xetec Graphix AT interfaces. Thanks. I found the pinout in the Atari 8-bit faq. I'm going to try it and see what happens. My only question is it says "Frame - to the shield wire | No connection to shield". I'm not sure what that means. What's the shield wire and what's the Frame? Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 ...and if you don't have any luck making the cable, I have a couple, as well as some Xetec Graphix AT interfaces. Thanks. I found the pinout in the Atari 8-bit faq. I'm going to try it and see what happens. My only question is it says "Frame - to the shield wire | No connection to shield". I'm not sure what that means. What's the shield wire and what's the Frame? Allan The connector that says "frame to shield" needs the outer frame of the connector connected to the shield (the steel braid or metal foil shield in the wire).. and the one that says "no connection to shield" you dont hook the shield to anything on that end.. But really, you can just hook the shield to ground if you want.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 ...and if you don't have any luck making the cable, I have a couple, as well as some Xetec Graphix AT interfaces. Thanks. I found the pinout in the Atari 8-bit faq. I'm going to try it and see what happens. My only question is it says "Frame - to the shield wire | No connection to shield". I'm not sure what that means. What's the shield wire and what's the Frame? Allan The connector that says "frame to shield" needs the outer frame of the connector connected to the shield (the steel braid or metal foil shield in the wire).. and the one that says "no connection to shield" you dont hook the shield to anything on that end.. But really, you can just hook the shield to ground if you want.. Thanks Ken and Poobah, Unfortunately there is no shield in the wire. I cut the outer part away a bit to make sure. I'm not sure if I would get a communication without the shield connected but I did try it and I get error 138 Device does not respond. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEtalGuy66 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) Just dont make the wire 20 feet long, and you wont have a problem.. We're not talking firewire transfer rates here.. You do want to make sure theres at least one ground hooked up to SOMETHING at both ends though.. If you're getting error 138s, recheck all your connections first... then make sure the driver is being loaded.. (the P:R: connection should do this automatically at power-up.. Not sure about the 850)... Edited February 3, 2009 by MEtalGuy66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNIXcoffee928 Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 You may end up with an issue if the Laserjet in question does not have a ROM with built in fonts. A lot of the older ones (ex. HP LJ 4si) had built-in fonts that could be selected from the front panel LCD, via buttons on the printer. If it doesn't have built in fonts, the printed page will be MUCH WORSE than a dot-matrix printer (very blocky, bitmappy-looking, & for thew most part, unusable). So, a newer laserjet may be worse than an older one, when used with any older system that does not have printer drivers to control the printer via software. Please post your model & the results, once it's hooked up. Good luck with your project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 I haven't tried it again but the printer is a Laserjet 4p with front panel menu control with built-in fonts. I was getting it to print before with other printer interfaces like a Supra Microprint but everything was printing on one line. The P:R: Connection device has internal switches to fix this but the only problem is you need a db-15 to Centronics 36-pin parallel cable which I didn't have. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 This is a fine example of someone who knows, and one more reason I keep my old printers working! You may end up with an issue if the Laserjet in question does not have a ROM with built in fonts. A lot of the older ones (ex. HP LJ 4si) had built-in fonts that could be selected from the front panel LCD, via buttons on the printer. If it doesn't have built in fonts, the printed page will be MUCH WORSE than a dot-matrix printer (very blocky, bitmappy-looking, & for thew most part, unusable). So, a newer laserjet may be worse than an older one, when used with any older system that does not have printer drivers to control the printer via software. Please post your model & the results, once it's hooked up. Good luck with your project! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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