HPIB to centronics interface

[VMI]

Hi folks,
I have an DSO with a HPIB output.
I like to make printouts on a Centronics printer but therefore need an
interface.
Is ther someone with an idea or schematic.
Cost is "important"; I'm not a milionaire and not able to buy at Agilent ot
Tek...
Thanks
Marco

 

[Don Taylor]

"VMI" <VMI@Advalvas.be> writes:

I have an DSO with a HPIB output.
I like to make printouts on a Centronics printer but therefore need an
interface.
Is ther someone with an idea or schematic.
Cost is "important"; I'm not a milionaire and not able to buy at Agilent ot
Tek...

Long ago Hp (Agilent) had some relatively inexpensive HPIB inkjet printers.
You might be able to scrounge up a used one of these somewhere cheap.
Or places like Blackbox and IOMega still supply these, but I doubt that
these would be cheap.

But on the subject of an idea or a simple schematic to do this for you:
Partly it depends on whether the scope also implemented a "dumb" mode
where only a single device would ever be talking, the scope, and only
a single device would ever be listening, the printer. IF, and that is
a big IF, they implemented that then you have a better chance of being
able to just grab the handshaked bytes off the cable and shovel them
over into a Centronics handshake configuration. But if the folks who
wrote the HPIB software inside the scope didn't include the dumb mode
then HPIB is more complicated than the typical easy schematic, there
are whole layers of protocols that both ends have to support to make
the connection and clock the data to you. In that case you might do
better to find a cheap HPIB card for a PC and try to find and understand
enough of the documentation to be able to write the software to make
the PC handle the conversion from HPIB to Centronics.

 

[Ed Price]

"Don Taylor" <dont@agora.rdrop.com> wrote in message
news:-ZOdnUxJLo1LA9fcRVn-qQ@scnresearch.com...

"VMI" <VMI@Advalvas.be> writes:
I have an DSO with a HPIB output.
I like to make printouts on a Centronics printer but therefore need an
interface.
Is ther someone with an idea or schematic.
Cost is "important"; I'm not a milionaire and not able to buy at Agilent
ot
Tek...

Long ago Hp (Agilent) had some relatively inexpensive HPIB inkjet
printers.
You might be able to scrounge up a used one of these somewhere cheap.

Look for HP-7440 or HP7475 plotters. Some had serial I/O, some had HPIB I/O.
I have seen these sell for $40 on eBay. The HP instrument will likely output
HPGL (HP graphics language) commands onto the bus, but an entire screen dump
is very compact, typically less than 25 KB.

I still use 3 7440A's in my lab, and they are still really good plotters.
Pens last a long time, don't cost anywhere near as much as ink cartridges,
and don't clog with prolonged non-use. Biggest drawback is that the pages
might take a couple of minutes to complete.

All but the earliest HP DSO's have a floppy disc built-in. If you have a
disc, why not save to file, and then sneaker-net the disc to another machine
which can print the file to the Centronics printer?

Ed
wb6wsn

 

[Bill Janssen]

VMI wrote:

Hi folks,
I have an DSO with a HPIB output.
I like to make printouts on a Centronics printer but therefore need an
interface.
Is ther someone with an idea or schematic.
Cost is "important"; I'm not a milionaire and not able to buy at Agilent ot
Tek...
Thanks
Marco




You need inverters on the data lines ( 8 of them). Then as I remember

the data available pulse
may need an inverter. As I remember my adapter I was able to use the
data available "as is" without
further buffering/ inverting.

Been to long to remember the details and don't want to figure out the
pin numbers again. But the
wire wrap board was easy to make

Good luck
Bill K7NOM