Subject: Re: LP-11 clone?
To: Boris Gjenero <bgjenero@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.CA>
From: Tim Shoppa <shoppa@alph01.triumf.ca>
List: port-vax
Date: 05/06/1998 17:07:21
> VMS seems to think that it is an LP-11.  Apparently there is no support
> for this thing in NetBSD.   Now I have a few questions:
> - Is this really an LP-11 clone?

Yes.

> - Does it have a standard paralel interface that can be used to connect
> to any printer?

It depends.  It's very probable that the interface is a "Dataproducts
interface", which is almost identical to a standard Centronics interface.
Some of the handshaking lines are inverted, in the Dataproducts.  Black Box,
among other companies, sells boxes which convert between the two
interfaces.

> - What's the pinout of that 34 pin connector? (I may need to construct a
> cab kit.)

I think you can wire it directly to pins 1-34 of a 36-pin Centronics.
(Yes, I know the official name of the connector isn't "36-pin Centronics",
but for all practical purposes it could be!)  I'll examine the cabinet kits
on the ones I have to make sure of this.

> - Are there any programming docs and/or examples for this?

Any of the DEC peripherals handbooks from the early 1970's onward
document the LP11.  Do you want a Xerox of the appropriate section?
(Well, it isn't really a Xerox, either, it's actually a "photostatic
copy", but if I'm using the term "Centronics" I'm certainly entitled
to say "Xerox"!)

Tim. (shoppa@triumf.ca)