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Apple II Printers

W

WMH

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2011
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425
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Florida
Hello everyone!

I'm back with another question.

For an Apple II system, do you have to use an Apple printer?

I have an old HP monster (it's huge!) sitting around in storage that seems to have a standard serial port.

Can I use it, or is it just junk?
 
you're not being specific enough. you can start with the model number of the printer.
early laser printer usually has daisy wheel printer emulation built in. in that respect it could work as a generic text only printer.
if you want to print graphics, the application has to know how to talk to the printer; concept of printer driver didn't take hold till GSOS.
if it's a dot matrix printer, it'll probably work as some type of Epson.
 
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dorkbert said:
you're not being specific enough. you can start with the model number of the printer.
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Agreed, need a model number.

Though from experience MANY HP printers can be used on an Apple II with varying degrees of success and functionality depending on driver availability on the A2 or what other printers the said HP can emulate (some older desk-jets and laser-jets could emulate popular dot matrix printers of the day like Epson LQ series).

Printer emulation was fairly common in printers of the early to mid 90's, by later part of 90's we started seeing the crap "dumb printers" or "win printers" which were purely software controlled by the host PC, no real on board processing like the older ones, so no more emulation.
 
RWallmow said:
...Printer emulation was fairly common in printers of the early to mid 90's, by later part of 90's we started seeing the crap "dumb printers" or "win printers" which were purely software controlled by the host PC, no real on board processing like the older ones, so no more emulation.
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I should note, I think most "enterprise" level printers, like the HP M602 series still probably have emulation capabilities, while they don't come with legacy COM or LPT ports anymore, you can add them with "EIO II" cards, and I would BET these might still even work on an Apple II to some degree.
 
I don't have the exact model number...

I believe it's dot matrix, but not sure. I won't be over to storage in a while, but I'll get the model number when I go.

It belonged to my parents in the 80s, I think they got it from corporation so it may be enterprise level.
 
Most Apple II software supports the following printers:

-Epson MX-80
-Epson LQ series using the ESC/P control codes
-C-Itoh 8510 (printer the original Apple Imagewriter is based on)

Almost any application that outputs text can be programmed with custom control codes for formatting (bold, italic, etc.). Its rare to find programs that support standards like the IBM ProPrinter command set. There were also serial-to-parallel convertor boxes (the OrangeMicro Grappler series being most popular) mainly for the IIgs and IIc that emulated an Imagewriter and could print to many different PC compatible parallel printers.

Apple IIgs programs can support many more modern printers with the correct driver like HP PCL language based inkjet and laser printers along with Postscript.
 
might be a daisy wheel since until prevalence of 24 pin dot matrix printer, NLQ mode (when available) could not render a "professional" letter quality deemed adequate for business.
 
OK. Next time I'm at the storage unit I'll grab the model number for you guys.
 
OK, here we go.

It's an HP LaserJet model 2 with standard RS-232 serial port.

I'm assuming it won't work with an Apple II, but I don't have any idea.
 
WMH said:
OK, here we go.

It's an HP LaserJet model 2 with standard RS-232 serial port.

I'm assuming it won't work with an Apple II, but I don't have any idea.
Click to expand...
I think it will still work emulating a daisy wheel printer. But as for graphics, the application needs to be coded specifically supporting it (as with all other models of printer.) At the time when Apple II were prevalent, LaserJet was a very expensive piece of equipment (relative to plethora of dot matrix printers) so very few applications are coded to support it.
 
WMH said:
OK, here we go.

It's an HP LaserJet model 2 with standard RS-232 serial port.

I'm assuming it won't work with an Apple II, but I don't have any idea.
Click to expand...

I am not finding anything definitive, but I seem to recall the LaserJet's all being able to emulate an Epson FX series dot matrix, even graphics, so it MAY be possible to get decent output on a LJ2 from an apple II application speaking Epson FX commands.

I would get a proper serial cable and plug it in and start trying different printer configurations to see if you can get any decent output from it. NOTE: You may have to hit continue/on-line/OK or whatever to get it to actually spit out the page after sending data to the printer, I seem to recall this the last time I hooked my Apple II up to my LaserJet4. However it should be noted I was only printing basic text listing of a basic program (PR#1 and LIST), I wasn't dealing with any drivers or printer languages, just raw ASCII.

EDIT: I KNOW you will get SOME kind of output from a Apple II on a LaserJet2 with the proper cable, its just a matter of what you need to print, raw text is fully doable, its just whether or not you can get it to print graphics that is up in the air.
 
RWallmow said:
I am not finding anything definitive, but I seem to recall the LaserJet's all being able to emulate an Epson FX series dot matrix, even graphics, so it MAY be possible to get decent output on a LJ2 from an apple II application speaking Epson FX commands.

I would get a proper serial cable and plug it in and start trying different printer configurations to see if you can get any decent output from it. NOTE: You may have to hit continue/on-line/OK or whatever to get it to actually spit out the page after sending data to the printer, I seem to recall this the last time I hooked my Apple II up to my LaserJet4. However it should be noted I was only printing basic text listing of a basic program (PR#1 and LIST), I wasn't dealing with any drivers or printer languages, just raw ASCII.

EDIT: I KNOW you will get SOME kind of output from a Apple II on a LaserJet2 with the proper cable, its just a matter of what you need to print, raw text is fully doable, its just whether or not you can get it to print graphics that is up in the air.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info.

I was planning just to print text. So all I need now is an RS-232 to DIN-9 (?) converter and some paper? Would a printer like that use the older white and green lined paper?

Also, how do I output to the printer? Can I use PR#(slot)?
 
WMH said:
Thanks for all the info.

I was planning just to print text. So all I need now is an RS-232 to DIN-9 (?) converter and some paper? Would a printer like that use the older white and green lined paper?

Also, how do I output to the printer? Can I use PR#(slot)?
Click to expand...

Finding the proper serial cable in a DIN (5 or 6?)to the typical DB9 serial might be a challenge, it MIGHT just be easier to get ANYTHING with the right DIN end and buy a DB9 plug from radioshack and put on the other end (I am sure we can find pinouts). Back when I did this I had a DIN>MINIDIN>DB25>DB9 so it was a mess of adapters, but it was all I had on hand at the time, now a days I would build one, I know radio shack sells the DB9 plugs, and if they sell the proper DIN plug, I would just wire the two up with some extra cat5. (pinouts.ru likely has the layouts).

Yes PR#1 or PR#3 depending on printer or modem port. Keep in mind you wont see whatever you are typing on screen after a PR#1 or PR#3 all your keystrokes and messages are routed to and displayed over the serial port.

I have seen single sheet greenbar paper used in laser printers, but it was FAR more commonly used on Dot Matrix printers in a tractor feed.
 
I remember interfacing with serial printer being a rather painful exercise in the past, with different model requiring different cables (the nice thing about the standard is that there are so many to choose from.)
 
RWallmow said:
Finding the proper serial cable in a DIN (5 or 6?)to the typical DB9 serial might be a challenge, it MIGHT just be easier to get ANYTHING with the right DIN end and buy a DB9 plug from radioshack and put on the other end (I am sure we can find pinouts). Back when I did this I had a DIN>MINIDIN>DB25>DB9 so it was a mess of adapters, but it was all I had on hand at the time, now a days I would build one, I know radio shack sells the DB9 plugs, and if they sell the proper DIN plug, I would just wire the two up with some extra cat5. (pinouts.ru likely has the layouts).

Yes PR#1 or PR#3 depending on printer or modem port. Keep in mind you wont see whatever you are typing on screen after a PR#1 or PR#3 all your keystrokes and messages are routed to and displayed over the serial port.

I have seen single sheet greenbar paper used in laser printers, but it was FAR more commonly used on Dot Matrix printers in a tractor feed.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I'll have to check Radio Shack and that website. What about a IIc printer cable? I think that's what DOS Lives On is talking about; do those have an RS-232 end?
 
RWallmow said:
Yes PR#1 or PR#3 depending on printer or modem port. Keep in mind you wont see whatever you are typing on screen after a PR#1 or PR#3 all your keystrokes and messages are routed to and displayed over the serial port.
Click to expand...
I think you mean PR#2 (traditionally the MODEM port.) PR#3 goes to the 80 column card.
 
The Laserjet Series II talks PCL4 natively. You will be able to print text with basic formatting, you just have to feed the software the correct command codes. As for graphics, you are limited to what the application supports. I think Publish-IT! supports PCL for instance. 3rd parties may have made Epson FX emulation cartridges for the II. HP made an emulation cartridge, but it was only for the later IID, IIP, and III series. They are also likely hard to find these days.
 
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