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@movq Heck yeah, have fun! :-) We never had a matrix printer, started off with a cathode ray tube and an inkjet pisser.
I'm happy to see you compose your first twtxt message using ed on your new output device. We definitely need video proof of that! ;-)
@lyse When/if I can pull it off, there _will_ be videos! š
I never used hardcopy terminals, either. We did have a dotmatrix printer, but that was just used as a regular printer.
Inkjets, I donāt know. They were pretty fascinating and cool when they came out. A lot faster than dotmatrix and obviously quiter. They never gave me much trouble, actually. But I switched to a laser printer long before crap like DRMāed ink cartridges became a thing.
@lyse When/if I can pull it off, there _will_ be videos! š
I never used hardcopy terminals, either. We did have a dotmatrix printer, but that was just used as a regular printer.
Inkjets, I donāt know. They were pretty fascinating and cool when they came out. A lot faster than dotmatrix and obviously quiter. They never gave me much trouble, actually. But I switched to a laser printer long before crap like DRMāed ink cartridges became a thing.
This is why I love tech from that era.
Write bytes to a parallel port and stuff happens. If itās just ASCII bytes, then it will print ASCII text. Even the simplest programs can use a printer this way.
With a little bit of ESC/P, you can print images and other fancy stuff. Thatās what I did this morning ā never worked with ESC/P before, now I can print images. Itās not that hard.
Hayes-compatible modems are similar: Write some AT commands to the serial port and the modem does things. This isnāt even arcane knowledge, itās explained in the printed manual.
Maybe Iām wearing rose-tinted glasses here, but I think with all this old stuff, *you get useful results very quickly* and the manuals are usually actually helpful. Itās so much easier to get started and to use this hardware to the full extent. Much less complexity than what we have today, not a ton of libraries and dependencies and SDKs and cloud services and what not.
https://movq.de/v/4bd16cb3c7/tux1.jpg
https://movq.de/v/4bd16cb3c7/tux2.jpg
This is why I love tech from that era.
Write bytes to a parallel port and stuff happens. If itās just ASCII bytes, then it will print ASCII text. Even the simplest programs can use a printer this way.
With a little bit of ESC/P, you can print images and other fancy stuff. Thatās what I did this morning ā never worked with ESC/P before, now I can print images. Itās not that hard.
Hayes-compatible modems are similar: Write some AT commands to the serial port and the modem does things. This isnāt even arcane knowledge, itās explained in the printed manual.
Maybe Iām wearing rose-tinted glasses here, but I think with all this old stuff, *you get useful results very quickly* and the manuals are usually actually helpful. Itās so much easier to get started and to use this hardware to the full extent. Much less complexity than what we have today, not a ton of libraries and dependencies and SDKs and cloud services and what not.
https://movq.de/v/4bd16cb3c7/tux1.jpg
https://movq.de/v/4bd16cb3c7/tux2.jpg
@movq Kind of curious now... Is there a (to buy new) dot matrix printer you'd recommend if someone wanted to get into this sort of thing (sending plain 'ol bytes to a printer port)? š¤ (I remember this back in the ye 'old days!)
@prologic Hmm, good question. I havenāt checked the market, I got mine from someone I know. But to be honest, Iād suspect that buying a *used* one is actually your best shot, because there is virtually no market for these devices anymore, meaning *new* ones are very, very expensive. š«¤
FWIW, I have an OKI Microline 3390eco. Good thing is, you can still buy new cartridges for it.
If you want to buy a new device, check if it supports the āESC/Pā standard. Thatās very widely supported.
@prologic Hmm, good question. I havenāt checked the market, I got mine from someone I know. But to be honest, Iād suspect that buying a *used* one is actually your best shot, because there is virtually no market for these devices anymore, meaning *new* ones are very, very expensive. š«¤
FWIW, I have an OKI Microline 3390eco. Good thing is, you can still buy new cartridges for it.
If you want to buy a new device, check if it supports the āESC/Pā standard. Thatās very widely supported.
@movq Are you sure?
> because there is virtually no market for these devices anymore, meaning new ones are very, very expensive.
I think dot matrix printers are still pretty common in many Point of Sales (POS) registers right? At least here in AU they're very common. I had a quick look myself today, there seems to be quite a solid market for these types of printers. In fact even EPSON still sell Dot Matrix printers themselves š¤£
@prologic Yeah, those POS thingies are similar. Thereās āESC/POSā as a variant of āESC/Pā, if Iām not mistaken.
All I can say is, when I go to big stores like Amazon, then I have trouble finding ātraditionalā dot matrix printers for use at home. š
Epson still sells them, but theyāre more expensive than my laser printer was. So yeah, they still exist, just expensive, by the looks of it.
@prologic Yeah, those POS thingies are similar. Thereās āESC/POSā as a variant of āESC/Pā, if Iām not mistaken.
All I can say is, when I go to big stores like Amazon, then I have trouble finding ātraditionalā dot matrix printers for use at home. š
Epson still sells them, but theyāre more expensive than my laser printer was. So yeah, they still exist, just expensive, by the looks of it.
@movq What do you define as "expensive"? š¤ (I've always thought of modern-day painters as a "rip", and the ink my god š¤Æ)
@prologic Anything above a couple hundred Euros. š
The current Epson LX-350 appears to be not *that* pricey, though. š¤
I mean, what do you want to do with it? If you want to use this as an actual printer for daily use, Iād get a laser printer instead, because theyāre very reliable and the print quality is top notch.
I got my dot matrix printer mostly for experiments and nostalgia, so I wouldnāt want to pay something like 300-400ā¬ for it.
@prologic Anything above a couple hundred Euros. š
The current Epson LX-350 appears to be not *that* pricey, though. š¤
I mean, what do you want to do with it? If you want to use this as an actual printer for daily use, Iād get a laser printer instead, because theyāre very reliable and the print quality is top notch.
I got my dot matrix printer mostly for experiments and nostalgia, so I wouldnāt want to pay something like 300-400ā¬ for it.
@movq Yeah I just got a bit curious after watching your video and reading your OP š