CPC and a Laserjet 2 plus

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

I was not sure witch category to choose...

I have DMP2000 printer. Of course,  the ribbon is dried out. No chance to get a replacement. At least not for
a reasonable price. (For a 32" ribbon!!!)

So, next Idea. In my hobby room, next to the CPC is an Amiga 2000. It is the reason why I own a HP Laserjet II.

Does a Laserjet work smooth with a CPC ?
Something to take into account?
What about a graphic/drawing program ?
Any help is appriciated!

Stefan 

[Prodatron]

Is it Epson compatible?

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

  dunno.
But my mind played tricks on me...
I own the Laser Jet 4L and 4 plus.

Found the german manual and had a look.
Tons of esc sequences, but not epson.
Only HPGL and PCL.

So @Prodatron, that means no chance?

Steven

[eto]

Some Laserprinters also have Epson emulation but probably the HP doesn't have that. 

[Prodatron]

They need 8bit for sure and I don't know if they require more signals for printer->computer communication (like "ack", "paper end", "select"), which is only available with a real parallel connector, not with the CPCs' ones, which only has "busy".
But I wonder if it would be possible to connect a modern printer with the Albireo USB interface

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Ohhj 
I forgot about the 7 bit Interface...
Right. I'll give it a try, just out of couriosity,
but I expect black fingers from re-inking
the ribbon...

Steven

[SerErris]

It is not a proplem at all, just write your own PCL driver to print on a Laserjet.

To be honest, that is most likely never going to work. PCL is a page description language (like PDF or PS), and the CPC is line oriented ... So that most likely will never work in a good way. Just the memory you need to calculate the A4 page, even if it is only text, you need to define everything before you can actually print. 

[Prodatron]

IIRC there were "cheap" windows compatible printers, which were just doing a bitmap dump (line by line?) without using something like PCL (which defines a whole page).
I wonder if todays printers still could do something like this?

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

Well, I' m not sure,  the effort is worth this.
To be honest, how much do we print / would we print?
It was just an (uneducated) guess, because the (HP)solution was close next the CPC...

The Atari community (I know- totally different hardware) found a different way. The #Fujinet uses the
SIO connector ( Ataris allround port for Disk/Tape/Printer/whatever). Its ESP32 WROVER Chip
emulates -among other things- all printers ever build for the Atari 8bit. It generates a PDF witch can be accessed and printed via Fujinets WebUI.

Stefan 

[GUNHED]

All you need is a printer with Centronics interface (or an adapter, from Centronics to USB - there is at least one, see forum) and the handbook of the printer.
Modern CPC software allows you to enter control codes, just enter them once and you'll be fine (well example is Prowort).

For using 8 bit just add a single wire between CPC's Centronics port 8.bit to CPC's PPI chip inside (The patch was shown numerous times, see wiki for 8 bit patch).

All doable! 

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

I did that 8bit mod once (upon the time) with my 464.
(Sold years ago). There sould be another printer at the attic, also.
Well, I'd still be happy to get some spare ribbons.
Lets see...

Steven 

[eto]

All you need is a printer with Centronics interface

i don't think that's always the case. Sure, in theory that's correct but if the printer does not accept pure text + control codes (Epson emulation or whatever) then you will probably not be able to do that with the CPC. The Laserjet 2 has a Centronics interface but expects PS or PCL data. And I somehow doubt that we will ever see a solution that outputs PostScript. (Well - at least that would make a use case for a RAM expansion).

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

All you need is a printer with Centronics interface

.... And I somehow doubt that we will ever see a solution that outputs PostScript. (Well - at least that would make a use case for a RAM expansion).

https://github.com/Manawyrm/ESP32_VirtualPrinter

Steven

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

"Almost Done" CPC Printer Emulator

https://github.com/dasta400/ACPCPE

while still looking for a working alternativ,  I stumbled
across that github repository.

Steven

[Devlin]

This video I watched recently (ignore the commodore bit, but pay attention to the ribbon inking part) might have some useful info as to what is best to look for ink-wise to re-ink a ribbon.

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

This video I watched recently (ignore the commodore bit, but pay attention to the ribbon inking part) might have some useful info as to what is best to look for ink-wise to re-ink a ribbon.

Big thanks for the video.
I did not know about the small sponge inside the ribbon cartridge, he is talking about. (Well, not inside DMP2000 anyway, but good to know.) Even more impressiv is the way he deyellowed the printer housing. Not the hydro peroxid part, I use actually the same brand. Its more the improvised box he made and the UV source.
Back in the late 70s, there was these face-toaster in fashion... (cancer accelerator).  I broke mine long ago - and of course, you cant buy it anymore.
Guess it could be an LED UV lamp used by nail studios?
Have to ask him because of the wave lenght...

Steven

[darkhalf]

The DMP-2000 ribbon has a small circular sponge inside. Assuming it is not deteriorated then it can be revived by reinking. As you know, there are no replacements anywhere for these ribbons (none!)

I ended up having to modify cart from a similar Tandy DMP printer (shorter ribbon) and slice up an Ollivetti PR-2 ribbon (same width) to suit. At least you have an original cart there

https://www.va-de-retro.com/foros/viewtopic.php?p=184597
First page of this thread is the ink they used (oil based, not water based)

[GUNHED]

How is the HP printer doing? In my setup I used CPC with Prowort and own HP PCL driver for decades w/o problems.

[St-BeidE(DE/GB)]

How is the HP printer doing? In my setup I used CPC with Prowort and own HP PCL driver for decades w/o problems.

"Not at all" at the moment.
Northern Germany has some serious problems
with rain, constantly comming down...
I'm building small pumps for friends and neighbours. These work even with small amounts of water, inside light wells of basement windows for example.

[GUNHED]

Wish you luck and your neighbours too.