[PLUG] Serial dot-matrix printer replacement

Tomas Kuchta tomas.kuchta.lists at gmail.com
Sat Apr 24 23:50:50 UTC 2021


On Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 15:40 King Beowulf <kingbeowulf at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 4/24/21 10:53 AM, Michael Barnes wrote:
> > I have an old piece of equipment that handles monitoring and remote
> control
> > for a site. It has an old serial dot matrix printer that would print out
> > alarms situations and status readings. We want to keep the basic unit,
> but
> > the printer has died. I'd like to replace the printer with something
> like a
> > Raspberry Pi that would watch the serial printer line and store the data
> to
> > a file, probably on a daily basis. I'm not great at programming, so I
> would
> > like to find an app that could easily handle this duty.
> > Suggestions appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Michael
>
> Here's a summary of serial console options.
>
>
> https://www.cyberciti.biz/hardware/5-linux-unix-commands-for-connecting-to-the-serial-console/
>
> The RPi has a serial interface but you will have to assemble the serial
> port wiring (either DB25 or DB9 male/female port) to connect to the
> existing cable. With Radio Shack and Fry's gone belly up, I really miss
> scanning the shelves for various electronic gems.
> .


Probably easier to just buy USB serial port dongle for standard $2-$9.99
and use that instead of filing Germanium to make transistors, diodes, etc.

-T



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