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Printing to an Apple ImageWriter II from BasiliskII or SheepShaver for Windows

Hardware and driver setup

Requirements

Adjustments to be made to the printer cable

You can open up one connector on the printer cable and connect the cables from the pins 2,3,4 and 5 following the description below:

  • Clamp 1 of the TB (TxD+) to be connected to the cable from Pin 2 (DSR) of the printer connector
  • Clamp 2 of the TB (TxD-) to be connected to the cable from Pin 3 (TxD-) of the printer connector
  • Clamp 3 of the TB (RxD+) to be connected to Clamp 5 of the TB (GND) effectively forming a bridge
  • Clamp 4 of the TB (RxD-) to be connected to the cable from Pin 5 (RxD-) of the printer connector
  • Clamp 5 of the TB (GND) to be connected to the cable from Pin 4 (GND) of the printer connector

If you don't want to destroy your cable, you can create a connection using shrink connectors as depicted in Figure 1.


Figure 1: The connection

Below is a picture of the pin layout of the serial cable. Please note that this shows the connector from the OUTSIDE, so you have an easy time connecting your 4 cables from the Terminal Block on the Moxa adapter.

Figure 2: The pin-layout of the serial connector

Installation of the Moxa driver

Connect the ImageWriterII to the Moxa adapter and turn it on. Plug the Moxa USB connector into your computer. Log in to Windows as an Administrator. Install the Moxa driver software. Next, go into Computer Management/Device Manager and find the Moxa entry. In the Moxa dialogue, Select “COM1” and select Interface “RS-422”. (Also see Tip 1, below, about changing the COM port number). (You can now already print to the ImageWriterII from Windows by configuring a new local printer connected to COM1. You will need to select the C-Itoh 8510 driver. This will work, however, you will only be able to print in draft mode.)


Printing from BasiliskII or SheepShaver

Check the BasiliskII or SheepShaver preferences with the BasiliskII or SheepShaver GUI. Go to the tab “Serial” and select COM1 at “Modem Port”. (Also see Tip 1, below).
Start BasiliskII or SheepShaver. Most installations of Mac OS contain the ImageWriter printing software. Just go into the Chooser and select the ImageWriter. This printer can be connected through the Modem port or the Printer port. You’ll need to select the Modem port as this was set in the GUI as your connection to the Moxa adapter.

Tip 1:
If you selected a different COM port number when configuring the Moxa adapter in Windows, you will need to select that COM port number in the GUI. However, the GUI only allows selecting up to COM6. If you assigned a higher number than port 6 to the Moxa COM port in Windows, you will need to adjust the preferences file manually to reflect this higher number. For example: If you configured the Moxa adapter to use COM port 10, you will need to enter “seriala COM10” in the preferences file.
If you prefer to be able to select the printer port in the Chooser, you will need to set the Printer Port entry in the GUI to the correct Moxa COM port. As above, you can only select up to COM6 in the GUI. If you set the Moxa adapter to a higher port number in Windows, you will have to adjust the preferences file manually. For example: If you configured the Moxa adapter to use COM port 10, you will need to enter “serialb COM10” in the preferences file.

Tip 2:
To improve boot times, turn off Appletalk. Appletalk tries to connect over the Modem port or Printer port and it will take a while to fail.

imagewriter_serial_cable_printing.txt · Last modified: 2013/05/07 04:44