PCL3 - ESC/P2 haematology instrument

[svennd]

Hey,

I'm looking for some pre-buy support. We have a haematology instrument that has a parallel port which is intended to support external printing (based on the original manual, it supports ESC/P2 and PCL3). We connected this to a HP desktjet 310 portable printer and this worked for years, but now the printer has given up, and it is harder and harder to even find ink for this printer.

If I understand correctly, it would be possible to buy this HAT + raspberry pi to "read this data" and convert it to a pdf (and send it to a network printer) ?

This device outputs graphs and text, is that possible with both protocols (hoping one of them work) ? How feesable is it that this will work ? Altough we have a large box of old printer cables and (various other similar looking cables) is there a reputable source where we could buy the parallel to centronics cable ?

I'm familiars with Linux and have tinkered with raspberry pi before, but this is far beyond my skill level in hardware, so I tip my hat ( ) for the work done on this project !

kind regards,

Svenn

[RWAP]

Hi Sven,

Yes - the Retro-Printer HAT plus a Raspberry Pi will work in place of the old HP Deskjet - we can emulate either PCL3 or ESC/P2 and both modes support text and graphics. You can tautomatically output to a network printer, or simply use the stored PDFs (and read the PDFs over the network from another PC).

The main issue at the moment will be getting hold of a suitable Raspberry Pi, unless you have a spare (not the Pi 4) - everywhere seems to be out of stock.

We have some parallel to centronics cables if you no longer have the one you used with the old printer.

Rich

[svennd]

Hey Rich,

Thanks for the help! I got a Rpi 1 and a pi zero W collecting dust right here, can those still be used ? I have been googling and was able to find 3B+ still in some local stock, so it should be doable. I'm happy to hear it might work (on both protocols)!

We have the printer cable, but I think it is parallel to parallel, I will check to be sure. I was under the impression it required a specific cable.

Thanks !
Nice holidays!

[RWAP]

The original Raspberry Pi should still work, but my issue is that I don't have one any longer in order to recompile the software image.

Raspberry Pi Zero is definitely not going to work.

A Raspberry Pi 3B+ is ideal for the v4 Retro-Printer - if you could post a link to where you found some, that might help others!

Check your cable - it might have been 25 pin to 25pin serial port!

Rich

[svennd]

Ah, I mistranslated french, indeed they are hard to find ... The only shop stating a delivery date is 05-2022 I might be able to compile the software ? Anyway, thanks for the info!

kind regards,

Svenn