Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> writes:
On 01/15/2014 06:17 PM, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- wrote:
Mark Wickens <mark at wickensonline.co.uk> writes:
So, out of interest, what was the last/most reliable/most desirable DEC
true line printer - i.e. chain/band rather than matrix?
My first year at college ~ 1990 included VAX/Pascal programming with
assignments printed to a true line printer.
Happy times in that lovely warm computer room on cold, dark winter days...
IMHO, the LXY21!
The LXY21 is a matrix printer, a re-badged Printronix machine.
Yup. 'Twas still a nice line printer. I printed walls of boxes of greenbar
on the LXY21.
--
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG
Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity.
On 01/15/2014 06:35 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
A lot of people (myself included) insisted on direct-in-the-bus
printer controllers when we saw how badly serial printers tanked the
system when we connected them to DZ11s. ;)
Oh I can imagine that. A dedicated controller would have MUCH higher
bandwidth than the <1.5mbitcapable on the DZ11. ;)
It's the interrupt load that's the problem. It could TANK an 11/750.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On 01/15/2014 06:31 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
The LA120 was the de facto console terminal for the VAX-11/78*s. One
reason
why I have three; albeit, one has been cannibalized for parts.
I only have one!
I'm sure Dave could spare another, though...;)
No...I'm interested in sending some of my too-old-to-run yet
too-new-to-collect gear, like the remaining two Sun Fire 6800s. As for
vintage stuff, vintage DEC stuff in particular, I am in acquisition
mode. I've only sent stuff along to you because I'm trying to support
your learning and restoration efforts.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On 01/15/2014 06:17 PM, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- wrote:
Mark Wickens <mark at wickensonline.co.uk> writes:
So, out of interest, what was the last/most reliable/most desirable DEC
true line printer - i.e. chain/band rather than matrix?
My first year at college ~ 1990 included VAX/Pascal programming with
assignments printed to a true line printer.
Happy times in that lovely warm computer room on cold, dark winter days...
IMHO, the LXY21!
The LXY21 is a matrix printer, a re-badged Printronix machine.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 01/15/2014 06:27 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
The LA180 has more in common with the LA120 than the LA36. There is
also a serially-interfaced variant of the LA180, which has a
serial-to-parallel (*NOT* "Centronics" parallel, for others reading
this) converter board mounted internally.
That's...quite interesting. Why is it parallel internally...
Because the primary intended configuration for those printers is with
dedicated printer controller boards like the LP11, LPV11, and LS11.
Ahhhhh. Interesting design choice, to be honest. I bet it was a bit
proprietary though....fast as well.
Of course it's proprietary. You ordered a printer from DEC when you
ordered your computer from DEC. It was a very different world back then.
True. I don't it's too difficult to adapt adapters, though.
A lot of people (myself included) insisted on direct-in-the-bus
printer controllers when we saw how badly serial printers tanked the
system when we connected them to DZ11s. ;)
Oh I can imagine that. A dedicated controller would have MUCH higher bandwidth than the <1.5mbitcapable on the DZ11. ;)
-Dave
--
Cory Smelosky
http://gewt.net Personal stuff
http://gimme-sympathy.org Projects
On 01/15/2014 06:27 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
The LA180 has more in common with the LA120 than the LA36. There is
also a serially-interfaced variant of the LA180, which has a
serial-to-parallel (*NOT* "Centronics" parallel, for others reading
this) converter board mounted internally.
That's...quite interesting. Why is it parallel internally...
Because the primary intended configuration for those printers is with
dedicated printer controller boards like the LP11, LPV11, and LS11.
Ahhhhh. Interesting design choice, to be honest. I bet it was a bit
proprietary though....fast as well.
Of course it's proprietary. You ordered a printer from DEC when you
ordered your computer from DEC. It was a very different world back then.
A lot of people (myself included) insisted on direct-in-the-bus
printer controllers when we saw how badly serial printers tanked the
system when we connected them to DZ11s. ;)
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman- wrote:
Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> writes:
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 01/15/2014 01:20 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
No receive-only LA120?! ;)
(Is that was the LA180 is? I can't remember what the models number for
the receive-only LA120 was.) I like my printers big. ;)
There is in fact a receive-only LA120. There's one here at my place,
though it belongs to someone else. I've forgotten the model suffix.
I've forgotten it as well. Heh.
The LA180 is one that I've always thought of as an independent device.
It is considerably faster than the LA36 (180 CPS vs. 30 CPS) for
starters...so I'd doubt it was derived from the LA36. But then why
would it have been derived from the LA120, when the LA120 family already
has a print-only version? And it tops out at 120CPS, and prints
bidirectionally...the LA180 is unidirectional. The LA120 is also FAR
"smarter", with runtime-configurable setup options, escape sequence
processing for settings, etc. The LA180 does none of that.
Cory Smelosky <b4 at gewt.net> writes:
On Wed, 15 Jan 2014, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 01/15/2014 01:20 PM, Cory Smelosky wrote:
No receive-only LA120?! ;)
(Is that was the LA180 is? I can't remember what the models number for
the receive-only LA120 was.) I like my printers big. ;)
There is in fact a receive-only LA120. There's one here at my place,
though it belongs to someone else. I've forgotten the model suffix.
I've forgotten it as well. Heh.
The LA180 is one that I've always thought of as an independent device.
It is considerably faster than the LA36 (180 CPS vs. 30 CPS) for
starters...so I'd doubt it was derived from the LA36. But then why
would it have been derived from the LA120, when the LA120 family already
has a print-only version? And it tops out at 120CPS, and prints
bidirectionally...the LA180 is unidirectional. The LA120 is also FAR
"smarter", with runtime-configurable setup options, escape sequence
processing for settings, etc. The LA180 does none of that.
