On Tue, 3 Jul 2001, John Fisher wrote:
> Back before I purchased my cable, I was told by a sales rep (from Newton
> I think) that the plug contains an integrated circuit which is polled by
> the newt when the cable is plugged in and a printer is selected.
> Apparently all the printer settings on the IC are downloaded into newt
> memory and available until the next brainwipe.
>
> I never tried this but the sales guy told me that I could just go to a
> store, ask to plug in the cable "to be sure it fits," select a printer,
There are 2 versions of the GDT printpack cable that will work. Last I
looked, the FAQ didn't go (IMO) into enough detail about this
issue. Submitting something for the FAQ is on my to-do list if no one
else has, yet.
The working models: one made for Apple (that has the IC you mention), and
a GDT Printpack cable made subsequent to that that lacks the IC, but will
work if you install the separate Newton printpack drivers available from
Apple and many other archives.
There are now MANY versions of the printpack cable that WILL NOT WORK.
Anything labeled Infowave printpack or XXX (the people who bought the
printpack from infowave, mind blank at the moment) will not work.
Any new printpack model currently sold will not work. Printpack USB won't
work :)
You have to get one of the old models. GDT or Apple. And one later
revision of the GDT cable may not work (tech support said no, I don't have
it (it's the one I'm missing) to test.
Some people have quibbled about this as they were SURE they had an
Infowave cable, but I have many versions of printpack cable (Apple, GDT,
Infowave) and my experiences are as stated above. Infowave tech support
also confirmed this compatability breakdown via email. If you've got one
working, that's way cool, but I would be very interested in specific cable
revisions.
Anyway be sure you know exactly which one you are getting, if you ebay
purchase a "printpack".
I've digressed a little from your original Epson issue, but looking thru
the quoted material, it looks like you were trying the printpack drivers
with a regular Apple serial cable, and that's not how it really works- you
need the "Apple serial" to parallel adapter (the printpack cable). If you
decide to try and find a cable, hope this helps.
Brian
-- This is the Newtontalk mailinglist - http://www.newtontalk.net To unsubscribe or manage: visit the above link or mailto:newtontalk-request_at_newtontalk.net?Subject=unsubscribe
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Sun Sep 09 2001 - 19:49:25 EDT