Atari SMM804 Printer?

[Darklord]

So I picked up a SMM804 ST printer of Ebay the other day. It was sold "as is" and no warranty so
I was under no illusions when I purchased it.

I got it in and picked up a top cover, printer paper wire guide, 2 ribbons and a printer cable from
Best Electronics for it.

The printer does turn on, power LED lights up. It reports no paper, etc. Putting paper in and that
warning light goes off.

I can run the self-test and it does indeed print out.

However, I can't print anything out from my Mega ST4. The On line/Off line light is flashing all the
time. I did try using the button to turn it off and on. However, it never goes to a solid color - it's
always flashing, which according to the manual that came with it means it's receiving and printing
data from the ST.

But it's not... Using any text editor on the ST side always reports that the printer is not responding.

I also tried turning the printer on first, then the ST, as well as the ST on first, then the printer. That
didn't make any difference either.

It's been so long since I used a printer on an ST that I can't remember - will a standard printer cable
work or is it something specific/special?

Open to any suggestions at this point.

PS BTW, I only paid $10.00 for the printer.

[Darklord]

I switched the SMM804 printer from my Mega ST4 over to my Mega STe.

Same results though. Any app/software that I try to print from just
reports "printer not responding".

As reported earlier, the On/Off line LED flashes continuously, even
when there is no print job.

I'm unsure what to try next at this point. Well, it was a $10 gamble.

<shrugs>...

[stephen_usher]

Doesn’t the printer require a GEM VDI driver and Metados installed so the ST can render the page image for the printer?

[sporniket]

If memory serves me right, text editors should only send normalized printer code (ASCII and some control characters, like "Line feed", "carriage return", etc... Epson codes was a de facto standard), no need for VDI drivers in that case.

[stephen_usher]

If memory serves me right, text editors should only send normalized printer code (ASCII and some control characters, like "Line feed", "carriage return", etc... Epson codes was a de facto standard), no need for VDI drivers in that case.

Oh, I mistook the printer for the laser one. Looks like the 804 is an Epson compatible so should work with any machine with a parallel port.

[Darklord]

Yep, that's right - just about any software, text editors or whatever, should be able to just
send a text file to the printer without any other steps needed...

Thanks.

[Darklord]

Okay, from another Atari user over at AtariAge, this was found in an older thread:

"I fixed it... There is a 74LS38 TTL chip on the interface daughter board of the electronics. This one controls the BUSY signal (and other things) on the Centronics interface. After swapping it to a new one it prints with my STacy."

I will take the printer apart when I get some free time and check this out as well.

[stephen_usher]

I wonder if they actually sold that printer outside the USA. The only printer made by Atari I’d ever heard of was the laser one.

[Darklord]

I wonder if they actually sold that printer outside the USA. The only printer made by Atari I’d ever heard of was the laser one.

Not sure but this one would work with both the ST and the 8bits...

[atari030]

It was sold outside the USA. I have one. 240v Australian model. I'd guess its the same as a UK one, bar the plug.

I should dig it out and run it up. It would look great with a pimped out 130XE or MegaST hooked to my modded SC1435