This is my first message on the Arduino forum
If this topic has been covered elsewhere, my apologies and I'd appreciate a re-direct!
What I'm doing is bringing some of my ancient CP/M home-brew computers back to life after
having them in storage for decades!
I would like to attach a printer to my projects. In the past, I had used a serial port (Silent 700)
printer, and later, a Panasonic KPX1150 (I think) parallel printer.
Of course, these relics are long gone and now, and every printer I own is USB interface.
Is there an Arduino project that can convert serial RS-232 to USB?
I realize, I will likely be restricted to ASCII text printing, but that's OK too ..
(Note, there are numerous "USB to RS-232" converters on eBay, but my requirements are to
translate in the opposite direction, i.e., "RS-232 to USB")
I investigated this once and discovered it's not worth the trouble. You are destined to fail for the same reason. Printers today do not accept ASCII characters and print them one at a time. I don't know what printer you have in mind, but look at what is involved with HP printers. check out www.hp.com/ctg/Manual/bpl13210.pdf.
Their printers have long used PCL printer control language.
If you wanted to use an old printer with a new computer there is a good chance you could get it to work. I suspect there is zero chance of getting an old computer to work with a standard modern printer.
However there are some printers that can be used with an Arduino - perhaps for Point-of-Sale terminals so Googling "Arduino Printer" or "serial printer" may produce results.
