Re: AE Parallel Pro card

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article adrianw@cassius.ee.usyd.edu.au (Adrian Whichello) writes...

>I bought an Applied Engineering Parallel Pro card in a job lot. No docs. 
>Could somebody please tell me:
>
>1) what is the pinout on the DB-25 fmale connector, so I can connect it to my
>printer (Epson LX-800 which has a centronics parallel plug),

    If you mean the 26-pin male IDC connector on the card, that just
connects up to a ribbon cable which ends in a female DB25 connector
that attaches to a back port  (this included with the card, unless
yours is missing).  Then the only thing you need is a standard PC
parallel printer cable, any computer shop will carry this.

    Here are the pinouts the manual lists, but it seems to imply
an internal cable that ends in a Centronics-36 connector (rather
than DB25).

Signal          26 pin header    36 pin delta
------          -------------    ------------
Strobe               1                 1
Data bit 0           3                 2
Data bit 1           5                 3
Data bit 2           7                 4
Data bit 3           9                 5
Data bit 4           11                6
Data bit 5           13                7
Data bit 6           15                8
Data bit 7           17                9
Acknowledge          19                10
Printer Busy         21                11
Paper Empty          23                12
Ground               2 - 24 Even       19 - 30
No Connect           25 and 26         13 and 31

>2) what the 10 pin connector on the board does (which is separate to and 
>above the 26 pin connector that goes to the DB-25),

    The Buffer Pro option connects to it (actually it does to both pin
connectors, like a piggyback card) and supported from 8K to 256K of a
RAM buffer. If I'm not mistaken, they're a bit rare.

>3) what the STB/not STB jumper is for?

    These are for strobe settings, you only move the jumper if you want
to change the strobe polarities. If your printer won't work, you can
try switching it around from the factory setting (you only put a
jumper on one of these pins obviously, not both).

>Thanks for any info. The switch settings I've already found on ground.

    Do you know about the built-in Control Panel and diagnostic routines
the card has? If not, type "PR#x" (x = slot card is in) and then press
Control I and V to get into the diagnostics. For the Control Panel, do
the same as above, but just press Control I or hit the TAB key. Or you
can just type "IN#x" I believe.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca