41C setting the default printer to serial via 82164A

[dmh]

I've just acquired an 82164A IL to serial adaptor and can send and receive data with the default configuration.

I wanted to try serial printing but couldn't find a way to set the default printer to the 82164A without using MANIO.

The problem with using MANIO is that I then can't use mass storage at the same time as everything gets sent to the current device.

Is there a way to set the default printer to be via the 82164A without MANIO?

TIA, dmh

ps I was surprised that the 82164A manual is not available at literature.hpcalc.org. Does someone have a searchable scan?

[Garth Wilson]

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  The problem with using MANIO is that I then can't use mass storage at the same time as everything gets sent to the current device.

Is that really a problem? Many times, I've had lots of devices on the loop at once, and used MANIO in every case, with no problem, using SELECT before changing which device I'm addressing.

[dmh]

What if you want to print everything you are doing (eg TRACE mode etc)?

(12-01-2022 01:07 AM)Garth Wilson Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  The problem with using MANIO is that I then can't use mass storage at the same time as everything gets sent to the current device.

Is that really a problem? Many times, I've had lots of devices on the loop at once, and used MANIO in every case, with no problem, using SELECT before changing which device I'm addressing.

[Garth Wilson]

(12-01-2022 01:16 AM)dmh Wrote:  What if you want to print everything you are doing (eg TRACE mode etc)?

That would be a good exception; but the only time I've done a trace like that was to display things on the HP92198 video interface, and then it wasn't including operation on other IL devices. I'd have to look to see if the trace is even possible without individually selecting the video adapter, ie, whether the 41 could automatically identify it as a suitable target.

What I'm using now to print from the 41 is my Epson LX-350 dot-matrix impact printer, through the HP82165A HPIL-to-parallel interface converter. I just bought the printer brand new two months ago to replace a couple of older ones that would have cost more to get repaired than it cost to buy the newer, faster one. It's nice that all dozen dot-matrix impact printers Epson still makes all use the same ESC/P command set that my older ones used. I do have the HP-IL mini printer which I bought used and works but not as well as it should.

[Sylvain Cote]

At power on, the HP-41 is searching for a device class type 2 (printer, aid=32...47) and if found will set the flag 55 and 21.
The 82164A is part of class 4 (interface, aid=64...79) which is not seen as a printer and clears the flag 55 and 21.
This is why you need to switch to MANIO, then SELECT the interface before sending data to it.

[rprosperi]

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  [snip]
ps I was surprised that the 82164A manual is not available at literature.hpcalc.org. Does someone have a searchable scan?

That manual will be up at literature.hpcalc.org shortly, I've recently sent Eric a copy to scan and post, along with a stack of others.

Send Eric a PM and ask him to prioritize scanning this manual and you will probably see it within a few days (I can't speak for him, but the sequence to do them usually isn't a big deal and it makes more sense to do one that someone actually wants to use sooner than later).

[J-F Garnier]

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  I wanted to try serial printing but couldn't find a way to set the default printer to the 82164A without using MANIO.

The problem with using MANIO is that I then can't use mass storage at the same time as everything gets sent to the current device.

Is there a way to set the default printer to be via the 82164A without MANIO?

This is a limitation of the HP-41C implementation of HP-IL which is basically designed for automatic operation (AUTOIO).
MANIO will enable you to use the printer commands with the 82164, especially PRP to list programs.
But AUTOIO should be restored for mass storage operations, using MANIO and SELECT can work in principle, but will create problems if you are in trace mode, or are doing DIR.

If you just have to print a few things, a good solution is staying in AUTOIO and not using the printer commands, but SELECTing the 82164 and using OUTA instead of PRA.

J-F

[Eric Rechlin]

(12-01-2022 03:21 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  [snip]
ps I was surprised that the 82164A manual is not available at literature.hpcalc.org. Does someone have a searchable scan?

That manual will be up at literature.hpcalc.org shortly, I've recently sent Eric a copy to scan and post, along with a stack of others.

Send Eric a PM and ask him to prioritize scanning this manual and you will probably see it within a few days (I can't speak for him, but the sequence to do them usually isn't a big deal and it makes more sense to do one that someone actually wants to use sooner than later).

Funny coincidence, that was actually the last manual I scanned. I just need to clean it up and make the PDF. Might get to that tonight, otherwise tomorrow.

[KeithB]

Weirdly, I was just going through this manual last week. I was thinking of using the adapter to connect to a serial device I was having problems connecting too with my PC. Unfortunately, I needed 38400 baud.

[Craig Bladow]

(12-01-2022 12:42 AM)dmh Wrote:  ... ps I was surprised that the 82164A manual is not available at literature.hpcalc.org. Does someone have a searchable scan? ..

As this thread may have sparked interest in the 82164a, it certainly caught my attention, there is a, "HP-IL/RS-232-C Interface HP82164A Owner's Manual" on eBay at the moment for what I consider a reasonable price.

[Eric Rechlin]

This just finished processing overnight and should now be available for download:

https://literature.hpcalc.org/items/448

[dmh]

Thank you everyone for your useful replies and making the manual available, much appreciated :-)