IBM 5216 printer

From: Lyle Bickley <lbickley_at_bickleywest.com>
Date: Fri Dec 5 15:59:59 2003

According to IBM (see below), you can use an IBM Proprinter or Epson FX-1050
driver with this printer. I suspect that there may be missing functionality,
but at least it's easier to find documentation on Epson printers for a
start....

Lyle
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5216 Generic Text, IBM Proprinter, Epson FX-1050. These drivers function best
in Win 3.1 environment. There are no known drivers which offer complete
compatibility with Win 95, Win 98, or Win NT. If PC or LAN printing with
these operating systems is desired, IBM recommends replacing this printer.
No PC or LAN drivers are available for this printer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Friday 05 December 2003 13:41, Tom Jennings wrote:
> (Problems with a mailserver, so I'm re-sending. My apologies if this is a
> duplicate.)
>
> On Tue, 2003-12-02 at 14:11, Bill Machacek wrote:
> > I'd like to find out a little more about the IBM 5216 Wheelprinter I just
> > received. What computers did it work with? There are only 2 female
> > input connectors on the back, one is marked "T" and the other one "P".
> > Anyone have information on the type of computers this unit was setup to
> > work with? TIA for your responses.
>
> If it's anything like the 5218 used on the Displaywriter, well, umm,
> good luck talking to it without proper documentation.
>
> The interface was bit serial I think, I forget electrically what flavor.
> Logically it was a byte stream, it was very modal (online/offline plus
> more) and had a complex "packet"-based command structure, even print
> characters.
>
> to printer HDR1 HDR1 DATA
> from printer RESPONSE
>
> Sort of thing. Every switch press generated an interrupt via command
> response packets, and/or set flags htat you could read via commands.
>
> There were pages of commands. To me, in 1982, it seemed extremely
> complex for a printer. I had to make WordStar talk to it properly, it
> wasn't easy.

-- 
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
Mountain View, CA 94040
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"
Received on Fri Dec 05 2003 - 15:59:59 GMT

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