Mannesmann Tally line printer

I have a question has anyone had experienced with these great big dinosaurs. Basically we have been given a couple from a sister plant.

The model is a MT6045 similar to the 645 and the emulation is MT660

The problem is printing via serial, I have tried consulting the manual. But I am unsure do these printers automatically print via serial or parallel I cannot seem to see anything relating to primary interface. I have tried it successfully from parallel prints.

Now I have tried to get the configuration to match the current printers (even though the setup is slighty different)

The configuration is correct (I checked it against an older printer)

Baud Rate 9600
Data Bits 8
stopbits 1
Parity none
8th bits data
Protocol Xon/off
Sts Enq OFF
DTR Function Actv Lo
Busy Polarity Actv Lo
RTS Busy
RB Xon
Buffer Size Dynamtic

I even used the same connnector from the old (working printer) because I knew the pins out on these printers would be wrong on the new connectors.

However it still doesn't print, I have tried consulting the manual. But I am unsure do these printers automatically print via serial or parallel I cannot seem to see anything relating to primary interface. I have tried it successfully from parallel prints.

Any advise would be very welcomed :)

It says, baudrate, databits, stopbits, parity. That makes it a serial interface not parallel.

Quote:

---

I even used the same connnector from the old (working printer) because I knew the pins out on these printers would be wrong on the new connectors.

---

Not really, the 25 pin RS232 serial interface aka COM port hasn't changed since it's first conception. You may need a DB9->DB25 converter though. The pinouts should still be the same.

The reason it's not printing might be due to DTR not pulled down or RTS/CTS (hardware flowcontrol) not connected or driven properly.

Your best bet is to put one of those breakout boxes with leds in between. That'll tell you when any of the signals are down or up.

This is a pretty expensive one: http://www.new-forest-electronics.co.uk/quick_test.htm

But I've seen them much simpler and cheaper.

Hello Sir Dice

Thank you for your advice it has both Interfaces. I was just illustrating the setup of serial interface which is DB25 and it has the centronics parellel interface (should have made that more clearer on my previous post) It is exactly the same as the old printer (which is working) However the model is a lot younger then our current printers.

I will try and pickup one of these converters though then I will know if they is a signal going through these devices.

Thanks Again
ZL