18.020 How can I connect my Imagewriter II to a PC?
Description
This article is from the Apple II Csa2 FAQ, by Jeff Hurlburt with numerous contributions by others.
18.020 How can I connect my Imagewriter II to a PC?
You can do Text printouts from your PC to IW-II by selecting the C-Itoh 8510
as your printer in Windows 3.1 up through at least ME. (Just go to settings:
printers: new and select the c-itoh 8510.) The connection from the IW-II must
go to a serial port-- e.g. COM-1 or COM-2.
The cabling information shown below is from the the Imagewriter II manual.
It's the connection to an RS-232C port. Including pin 5 in the jumpered pins on
the 25-pin side is an addition. I'm not sure how important it may be. Perhaps
it is added to allow diagnostic testing.)
If you make your own, you need an 8 pin mini-DIN circular male connector, a
DB25 female connector, and 5-conductor shielded cable. Up to 20 meters should
be OK.
Cable details as follows...
8 pin 25 pin
DTR 1 --------- *- 5 CTS * 5,6,8 are jumpered
*- 6 DSR together at db25 end.
- 8 DCD
DSR 2 --------- 20 DTR
TD- 3 --------- 3 RD
SG 4 *------- 7 SG
RD+ 8 **
** 4 and 8 are
jumpered
together
at 8-pin end.
RD- 5 --------- 2 TD
Connector SHIELD or pin 1 (PG)
connected to cable shield
on DB25 end. (Only one end of
the cable shield needs to be
connected to the connector shield.)
One alternative is to use a IIe (SSC) to IW-II cable (part #590-0335) plus
a standard NULL modem cable plus any gender changer connector (or 25 to 9
changer) necessary to connect to the PC COM port you want.
The standard basic NULL modem 'cable' (or 'adapter') is two Dsub 25-pin
female sockets, call them "A" and "B", wired back-to-back as follows (arrows
indicate signal direction):
Socket-A Socket-B
TXD 2 -> 3 RXD
RXD 3 <- 2 TXD
RTS 4 -> 5 CTS
CTS 5 <- 4 RTS
DSR & DCD 6&8 <- 20 DTR
GND 7 -- 7 GND
DTR 20 -> 6&8 DSR & DCD
The two cables (plus gender/9-pin adaptors as needed) give you the
connection described in the IW-II manual.
A CrossWorks cable (plus adaptors as needed) is supposed to work, too.
Either the homebrew cable or one of the combinations of existing cables
mentioned should allow a hardware handshaking connection at 9600 baud.
For the C-Itoh 8510 printer, go to "Properties" (in the Files menu). For
Port settings, select the correct COM port. Data bits, parity, stop bits should
be the usual 8-N-1. Speed or baud rate should be 9600. Flow control should be
Hardware. On your IW-II, DIP switch 2-3 should be Up (open).
Yet another alternative is to use a IIgs or Mac high-speed modem cable
(e.g. part 950-0109) connected to a NULL modem plus adaptors as needed. This
works fine; but, you will lose the hardware control lines and need to switch to
Xon/Xoff handshaking. In "Properties", Flow control should be Xon/Xoff. On your
IW-II, DIP switch 2-3 should be Down (closed).
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