Network printer for the Atari

Tips and tricks on HDDRIVER/Tipps und Tricks zu HDDRIVER
uweseimet
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Joined: 10 Jan 2010, 15:39

Network printer for the Atari

Post by uweseimet »

You would like to connect your modern printer to the Atari, but it does not have a parallel or serial port? You would like to use a network printer with your Atari? In cases like this SCSI2Pi has a solution, provided that on your Atari you have a matching printer driver and that you can print to a file, e.g. with NVDI.
SCSI2Pi supports a generic SCSI printer, and with the help of the SCSI2Pi client tools for the Atari you can make use of it. This is how:

1. Configure your Raspberry Pi so that it can print to your network printer. The printer driver used on the Pi does not really matter, because SCSI2Pi will pass through all data sent by the Atari unmodified. This means that only the Atari's printer driver, e.g. the one used by NVDI, is relevant.
2. Create a SCSI2Pi SCSI printer. You can do this with the SCSI Control App, on the command line, or by adding a permanent printer device to the /etc/s2p.conf configuration file.
On the command line, creating a SCSI printer with SCSI ID 5 works like this:
>s2p -i 5 printer
In /etc/s2p.conf it looks like this:
device.5.active=true
device.5.params=printer
3. Install the SCSI2Pi client tools for the Atari.
4. Ensure that you have configured HDDRIVER to check the SCSI ID of your printer device with "Devices and Partitions".
4. Print to a file, e.g. with NVDI, using a printer driver compatible with the printer connected to your Pi.
5. Drag&Drop the file onto PI_PRINT.TTP, or enter the filename as a parameter when lauching PI_PRINT. PI_PRINT will automatically find the SCSI2Pi printer device and will send the file to it.

In case of any issues check the s2p logfile. You might not have configured the Pi's printing system correctly.

It is not required to use a separate SCSI ID for the printer device. You can also use a LUN (SCSI sub-device) of an already existing SCSI2Pi SCSI device. This optional approach is actually required for the internal host adapter of a MegaSTE, because this adapter only supports a single SCSI ID and you can only access more than one device by using LUNs.
device.0:2.active=true
device.0:2.params=printer
This will set up a SCSI printer with SCSI ID 0 and LUN 2. ID 0, LUN 0 might be an existing hard drive, for instance.