Micro controller and printer

[Kari Laine]

Hi,

how people have connected a printer to micro controller?

On my quest to learn PICs (mostly the 32-bit).
I have only used included basic in the BV513 to learn
how to connect external circuitry to uC.

I tested with PicKIT III and was able to read
the BV513. Then it must be possible to program
it also. Anyway I came to idea of connecting
printer to BV513 and can not figure out how to
directly connect a serial printer to it, because
the COM-interface signal levels are not that of
serial printer - right?

Could some MAX IC implement this?

Then I suggested Jim at Byvac whether there
would be market for a I2C and SPI interface
supported printer. He did not turn down the idea
right away and told that then one must find
the mechanical and basic electronics printer module.

Is the idea I2C and SPI interfaced little printer
dead idea? Do you know any manufacturers who
provide such small modules?

Thanks for any comments.
Kari


--
PIC - ARM - Microcontrollers - I2C - SPI
Keypads - USB-RS232 - USB-I2C - Accessories
http://www.byvac.com
I am just a happy customer

 

[WangoTango]

In article <jPWdnZZnyZ9Q-rbRnZ2dnUVZ7vCdnZ2d@giganews.com>, klaine8
@gmail.com says...

Hi,

how people have connected a printer to micro controller?

On my quest to learn PICs (mostly the 32-bit).
I have only used included basic in the BV513 to learn
how to connect external circuitry to uC.

I tested with PicKIT III and was able to read
the BV513. Then it must be possible to program
it also. Anyway I came to idea of connecting
printer to BV513 and can not figure out how to
directly connect a serial printer to it, because
the COM-interface signal levels are not that of
serial printer - right?

Could some MAX IC implement this?
Yep, the PIC's UART, a level shifter (MAX232 and so on) and a couple of

lines to do DTR/DSR or do XON/XOFF if you must save the IO lines.

Then I suggested Jim at Byvac whether there
would be market for a I2C and SPI interface
supported printer. He did not turn down the idea
right away and told that then one must find
the mechanical and basic electronics printer module.
Why go with such a strange interface for a printer, when there are

plenty of RS-232 units out there for POS and so on.

Is the idea I2C and SPI interfaced little printer
dead idea? Do you know any manufacturers who
provide such small modules?
I don't know that 'I' would ever need one.

Especially with all the RS-232 and "Centronics" printers out there.

If you want to be current with your technology, USB is what is *now*.

 

[Rich Webb]

On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:44:05 +0300, Kari Laine <klaine8@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hi,

how people have connected a printer to micro controller?

On my quest to learn PICs (mostly the 32-bit).
I have only used included basic in the BV513 to learn
how to connect external circuitry to uC.

I tested with PicKIT III and was able to read
the BV513. Then it must be possible to program
it also. Anyway I came to idea of connecting
printer to BV513 and can not figure out how to
directly connect a serial printer to it, because
the COM-interface signal levels are not that of
serial printer - right?

A lot depends on what capabilities you are expecting from the printer.
There are some options if you look around a bit. For example, this
http://www.bgmicro.com/ACS1521.aspx seems to be okay for a direct serial
connection, although one may need to dig some more to get either the
cable or its specifications.

I've also occasionally seen bare impact printer mechanisms at some of
the usual surplus sites. Some assembly required ...

Your easiest route may be to emulate the original PC parallel port
printer interface, as this is (probably) still available on many
printers today. A little digging may uncover the specs for more advanced
operations, but they may produce usable output with just an ASCII data
stream.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

 

[petrus bitbyter]

"Kari Laine" <klaine8@gmail.com> schreef in bericht
news:jPWdnZZnyZ9Q-rbRnZ2dnUVZ7vCdnZ2d@giganews.com...

Hi,

how people have connected a printer to micro controller?

On my quest to learn PICs (mostly the 32-bit).
I have only used included basic in the BV513 to learn
how to connect external circuitry to uC.

I tested with PicKIT III and was able to read
the BV513. Then it must be possible to program
it also. Anyway I came to idea of connecting
printer to BV513 and can not figure out how to
directly connect a serial printer to it, because
the COM-interface signal levels are not that of
serial printer - right?

Could some MAX IC implement this?

Then I suggested Jim at Byvac whether there
would be market for a I2C and SPI interface
supported printer. He did not turn down the idea
right away and told that then one must find
the mechanical and basic electronics printer module.

Is the idea I2C and SPI interfaced little printer
dead idea? Do you know any manufacturers who
provide such small modules?

Thanks for any comments.
Kari


--
PIC - ARM - Microcontrollers - I2C - SPI
Keypads - USB-RS232 - USB-I2C - Accessories
http://www.byvac.com
I am just a happy customer

I2C and SPI interfaces are never meant to be used to control peripherals.
They are meant for communication between chips. Never saw a printer with
that type of interface.

There have been several printerinterfaces in the old days but once the PC
became dominant, only serial (RS232) and parallel (so called Centronics)
interfaces remained. Often both the electrical - and the software interface
of a printer were documented in the printer manual. As for the electrical
interfaces you can find them on
www.beyondlogic.org
Both are relatively easy to connect to a micro, though for the serial
interface you'll have to add a MAX232 or similar level adapter.

Over time more PC-periperals appeared like scanners, cameras and so on. The
old printerinterfaces did not met the requirements of that stuff so that's
why the USB (Universal Serial Bus) was developed. Now modern printers too
have USB interfaces and the serial- and parallel printer interfaces
disappear from the PCs. Doubt you can find a new notebook or laptop with one
of them.

Unfortunately the USB-interface, although easy to use most of the times, is
much more complicated then the old ones. It's not only the hardware it's
also the protocol (usually in software) that makes it difficult to
implement. You can find a lot of information on the beyondlogic site I
mentioned before. These days chips and micros are available meant for the
peripheral side of the communication line. Chips for the host side (so a PC
most of the times) are less common. They have PCI<->USB interfaces for
instance and require quite some processing power. Nevertheless a 32 bit
micro may be good enough. Seem to remember some ARM processors are prepared
to implement a USB host controller.

As time flies, there may be newer developments I'm still not aware of. So
use Google to find out more.

petrus bitbyter

 

[whit3rd]

On Jun 30, 8:44 am, Kari Laine <klai...@gmail.com> wrote:

... I came to idea of connecting
printer to BV513 and can not figure out how to
directly connect a serial printer to it, because
the COM-interface signal levels are not that of
serial printer - right?

True, but serial printers (EIA232) are rare and for
good reasons. Modern 'serial' printers are USB or
Ethernet, neither being especially friendly to
the casual implementation in a small system-on-a-chip.

Then I suggested Jim at Byvac whether there
would be market for a I2C and SPI interface
supported printer.

Those interfaces are rarely extended outside a
shielded enclosure (no standard external cable
system exists, that I know of). You might
expect to find I2C print mechanisms for something
like a cash-register tape, though.

Another possibility is IRDA; this optical send/receive
interface was compatible with serial port mechanisms
and was built into a lot of printers (my old LaserJet 5
for instance).