Aquarius Printer trouble - suggestions?

[BassGuitari]

I've got an Aquarius printer that, when it prints at all, only prints garbage. It occurred to me that the printer cord could be the culprit (internal wire breaks and whatnot), but it seems in good shape, and if the cord's the problem there's nothing I can do about it anyway; where am I going to get another unless I buy another printer that includes the cord? So I'm hoping I'm either doing something wrong when I try to use it, or there's something else that's fixable.

 

I followed the manual's directions to power on the printer, then power on the computer, then enter LPRINT CHR$(255) in BASIC. This gets the printer ready to rock and roll, at least theoretically (the printer at least advances the paper and makes some noise to let me know something happened). But from there, if I use, for instance. the CALL command, I'll get either some weird garbage and symbols, the text from the screen (like it's supposed to do) but in weird formatting with huge gaps and out-of-place characters, or nothing at all, depending on which printer mode is selected.

 

The only paper I have for it is the roll that's in it, and I have no reason to believe it isn't original Aquarius printer paper from 30 years ago.

 

It's not the end of the world if I can't get it running -all I do with my Aquarius is play Astrosmash and Night Stalker- but it'd be cool to have a complete and fully-running Aquarius setup (or as complete as you can get without the 4-color Plotter and Modem ). Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

 

 

(Sidebar: anyone have any idea how to get the tape counter on the Data Recorder to...you know...count? My Data Recorder works fine, except the tape counter doesn't move.)

[jaybird3rd]

I've got an Aquarius printer that, when it prints at all, only prints garbage. It occurred to me that the printer cord could be the culprit (internal wire breaks and whatnot), but it seems in good shape, and if the cord's the problem there's nothing I can do about it anyway; where am I going to get another unless I buy another printer that includes the cord? So I'm hoping I'm either doing something wrong when I try to use it, or there's something else that's fixable.

I've got a thermal printer with the same problem. The cable is fairly easy to diagnose, since there are only three conductors. Just try each of the segments with a continuity tester, or if you don't have one, an ordinary LED and a battery. That at least will tell you if there are any breaks. If yours has the same problem as mine, it's probably an issue with the electronics. One of these years, I'll have time to crack mine open and tinker with it.

 

(Sidebar: anyone have any idea how to get the tape counter on the Data Recorder to...you know...count? My Data Recorder works fine, except the tape counter doesn't move.)

Once again, my Data Recorder has the same problem! I actually did take the time to open that one, and I found that the belt which drives the tape counter had deteriorated into a slurry of black goo. Oddly, the other belts looked fine to me.

[BassGuitari]

I'll have to explore those suggestions, thank you. I haven't done any further testing yet, but I have a feeling the problem with the printer may be more electronic in nature than cable-related. The cord doesn't look like it's been crimped or abused in any way, but I won't rule it out.

 

It's funny you mention the dark gooey substance with the tape unit. There's a little bit of that between the buttons, but it's more a brown color. Could very well be a melted counter belt. When I return from my Easter travels* I'll have to crack these guys open and have a peek.

 

(*Wish me luck; last Easter when I went back home to see the folks, I went to a local game shop that I frequent when I'm in the area and came away with such Intellivision games as Pole Position, Diner, Centipede, and Stadium Mud Buggies, among others...all at the same time. For ten dollars.)