From: selcuk karaca (selcuk.karaca@aski.gov.tr)
Date: Fri Nov 07 2003 - 04:47:34 EST
Hi,
I have received lots of valuable information! Thanks to;
Emil L. Dragic
Kevin Fleming
Martin Rønde Andersen
Colin Bull
Johan Brusche
Jay Leafey
Oisin McGuinness
Rich Copeland KCK
I will try to make homemade connector.
----------------------------
Emil L. Dragic
You can "safely" connect any RS232 printer to DEC423 ports. Printers will
work fine.
But, you'll have to pay attention to one detail: DEC423 uses separate wires
for Transmit and Receive ground signals, while RS232 uses one common ground.
To connect DEC423 to RS232 you have to short circuit DEC 423 Tx and Rx
ground signals.
----------------------------
Kevin Fleming has used Oki Microline 192 without problem..!
----------------------------
Martin Rønde Andersen has sent connector part numbers and even diagrams..
Thanks..!
DEC423 to 9-pin crossed Female H8571-J
DEC423 to 25-pin crossed Female H8575-A
----------------------------
Colin Bull suggested to Get print servers ($100 ) and use them .
----------------------------
Johan Brusche
Check the RS232 convertors available on the market from companies like
Blackbox
<http://catalog.blackbox.com/BlackBox/Templates/blackbox/mainscreen.asp>
and Digital Networks <http://www.dnpg.com/>
----------------------------
Jay Leafey
It can be a real pain moving from DEC423 to 'plain' RS232, but it't not
too bad. The actual electrical signaling is compatable, so no problems
there. Digital made a whole series of adapters to connect DEC423 to
RS232 devices and they are generally still available.
If you wanted to connect an RS232 printer to the printer port on your
VT420 terminal, or to a DEC423 wall jack, you would need a BC16E cable
of the appropriate length and an adapter for the printer. The adapter
model depends on the printer's RS232 connector.
If the printer follows the RS232 standard, it should have a male (pins
sticking out) DB25 connector for it's interface. Get a H8571A or H8575A
adapter for that one. A LOT of HP printers use a female DB25 connector
instead of the male, in which case get an H8571E or H8575E adapter. The
only difference between the H857xA and H857xE is the connector's gender,
the pinout is identical. The only difference between the H8571x and
H8575x connectors is that the H8575 series is shielded better, they are
interchangable in practice.
You should still be able to get these adapters pretty easily. There is
a reference chart to the common DECconnect adapters at
http://www.partner.compaq.com:9003/public/cheat_sheets/cables/padapters.html
------------------------------
Oisin McGuinness
Both the DEC MMJ connection and the RS232 DB25 or DB9 are serial.
Thus it should be a simple matter of finding the right cabling/connectors.
The HP page for the "DECconnect" passive clients is
http://h71000.www.hp.com/wizard/padapters.html which shows
wiring and part diagrams, giving you part numbers.
BlackBox (http://www.blackbox.com) has lots of compatible cables
and connectors also, and they list the HP/Compaq/DEC part numbers.
Finally, the new versions of the DEC servers are supplied nowadays
by Digital Network Products Group, http://www.dnpg.com ; they
have some technical resources too that may help.
A google search on comp.sys.dec for post on Oct 4 1999 from Mike Thompson
will give you more wiring info for the DEC MMJ connectors.
You may also be able to turn up an old DEC document "Cables Reference Guide"
from 1996, "Digital Pre-Sales Technical Support Group", which is useful too.
---------------------------
Rich Copeland KCK
You may use any dot matrix printer you desire. All you need is a
standard Dec Connect cable BC16E I think any way it is just 6 strand
silver satin obtainable from any electronics store and MMJ connectors
for the ends, these are known to the electronics store as RJ12 (6
conductor) with offset pin. After that all you need are H8575 A, D, or
E cable heads or a H8575D with a female to female gender changer and a
male to female null modem (I like the ones I get at Radio Shack of
course that may be a bit hard for you but the electronics store will
have them too) and you are all set. You can now talk to any dot matrix
printer that supports RS-232 serial connection through a DB25 serial
cable port. Hope this helps and good luck...
-------------------------------------
Selcuk KARACA
Unix System Administrator
ASKI
----- Original Message -----
From: "selcuk karaca" <selcuk.karaca@aski.gov.tr>
To: <tru64-unix-managers@ornl.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2003 1:39 PM
Subject: Which printer to buy for Terminal & dec server (200,300,700)
connection
> Hello,
>
> We are using LA75, LA95, LA324 and LA424 printers with our DEC VT420
> terminals and DEC servers (200, 300, 700)
> But these printers are rather old (> 8 years). So we need to replace
them..
>
> But we have stucked with the DEC423 connectivity wall. Most printers do
not
> support DEC423. Instead they contain RS232 port..
> Because of this, Our alternatives restricted with Genicom LA36
printers..and
> they are a bit expensive than others (I think they do not produce massive
> quantities.. so costs are high..Moreover I think, they include more
quality
> than others.. )
>
> How can I make my selections broader..? Any connectivity solutions (other
> firms..)..?
> OR should I go with Genicom..?
>
> TIA..
>
> Selcuk KARACA
> Unix System Administrator
> ASKI- Turkiye
>
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