Carlos, you also have to check the /BUSY and ACK pins to make sure
the printer is ready for your next byte of data.

And yes, what you want to do is quite possible. I did it twenty years
ago for a dot matrix printer using a Z80 (8 channel chart recorder).

You'll have to get the low level driver information for the
printer you choose from the manufacturer or on the web so that
you can send the printer EXACTLY what it needs for command and data
bytes. One screwed up byte and you'll just get gibberish out (if
anything at all).

Take a look at Linux print drivers sources since they are readily
available.

I believe most printers understand the 'Epson' graphics command set
since that became something of a standard on PC's.

Robert


Carlos Tassara wrote:
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I need some help here.
>
> I want to drive a regular inkjet printer (Epson or Cannon) with a PIC micro.
>
> I have made some progress loading the character I want to print in the data pins and lowering
> the strobe pin for 50 uS, but the results are not as good as I want.
>
> Does anybody have proved routines that do this?  Can I dream to address the printer in
> graphics mode, so I can, for instance, replace a pen and chart recorder with an inexpensive
> printer + PIC + temperature sensors, and use 4 different colors for each sensor?
>
> Any ideas will be welcome, and for the time bein I will keep on watching my scope trying
> to figure out how to do this.
>
> I will appreciate any feedback.
>
> Regards
>
> Carlos Tassara
>
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