Thread
Macintosh 128k Printer
Hi guys,
I was wondering what printers would work with my original macintosh. Is the ImageWriter the only printer that would work with it or are there others?
Thanks,
Brandon
I was wondering what printers would work with my original macintosh. Is the ImageWriter the only printer that would work with it or are there others?
Thanks,
Brandon
Any printer with a serial port will work on the Mac. But you would need the printer op-codes to give it graphics printing. I had an old 20in Epson that worked well with my Atari ST, Commodore 64, Atari 800 and eventually a Mac IIci. The key is those op-codes (escape characters that defines printing mode before printing). I believe it was "Standard" or "Null" Printer to access it.
Later on printer drivers were developed.
Later on printer drivers were developed.
So, basically any Apple printer would work with it theoretically? I mean there are a few that are SCSI or Parallel but the majority are serial.
Most Apple printers will work with the 128K as long as it's supported by System 2.0/Finder 4.1. The LaserWriter 7 driver from System 6.0.8 is compatible all the way back, so there's a benchmark by which to guess which printers should work. Most were not serial protocol, per se, but rather AppleTalk networking over the serial port, which is why the 128K is so forward compatible. However, if you're running pre-System 2.0/4.1, you'll be limited to the ImageWriter, I believe.
You can also print to a postscript file using the LaserWriter 7 driver and print it on a modern Mac.
You can also print to a postscript file using the LaserWriter 7 driver and print it on a modern Mac.
The Imagewriter II should work as well, but you'll need a DB-9 to DIN 8 cable and the correct driver.