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Hitting the Ground Running

A project log for TinyTyper (Stage One)

One REALLY lousy, 26char/line "typewriter", from a PS/2 keyboard, an old IBM receipt printer, and a bit of Arduino magic...

starhawkStarhawk 06/29/2021 at 05:510 Comments

Obviously there is some unfinished business here -- I have roughly 90 minutes to bang this all out, so for now, I'll simply note that I got my phone back on Wednesday, but I have a LOT of questions for the relevant shop.

I haven't time right now to discuss that matter further... many, many apologies! I know I'm shorting you folks a well-earned explanation. "Life, uhm, finds a way"... all too often of getting in my way! You may have noticed...

*ahem*

So, here's what we have. This is a simple device, based on an ATMega328-driven Arduino, *any* such Arduino, that takes input from a PS/2 keyboard, and outputs to an IBM 4610-series thermal receipt printer. I used an Arduino Nano and a crap keyboard I had in the closet. You need a level translator to make the RS-232C signalling work that the older IBM 4610 printers require -- newer ones support USB, but that is well and truly beyond the scope of this project. This works with the older RS-232C/RS-485 models. These were *phenomenally* common throughout the USA for decades, and still are in many places... Wikipedia lists the following retailers, just as a sample top-hits list...

They are also popular internationally -- Wikipedia also retailers such as Tesco, a UK discount giant, and Carrefour, which is reportedly a large presence throughout France and countries nearby.

IBM no longer supports or manufactures the 4610 series of printers, which acquired the "SureMark" moniker somewhere along the way, but Toshiba has taken them on since, and still supports them -- and reportedly still produces and sells them!

Mine is a well-used example with Big Blue's logo in stripey stalwart gray on the back and a logo copyright date of 2000 on the bottom, which likely is accurate to its age -- in which case, congrats, printer, this is the first year you can legally drink alcohol in my state... not that you'd ever want to! :P While my writer side wants to get creative and imagine all sorts of adventurous (mis)use and abuse to it, the truth is, it's in pretty decent shape for being 21 years old. Aside from the lid being only the slightest bit sunburnt in the usual "someday this will warrant a 'retro-brite' if one wants that" (not for me!), it's honestly in pristine condition.

As an aside, it's worth noting -- I don't go for retrobriting. You do you, and I'll do me -- but with age comes wisdom, and that sort of sunburnt tan look that comes of sun, time, and plastic that once was beige is, to me, the equivalent of well-earned facial wrinkles. It's a sign of wisdom, earned with age and a hard life, that is to be respected as one does.

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