Dear Richard, Oh dear! you certainly have a problem with your
printer and Index embosser. I had to confront this a year or so
ago and now thank goodness, everything is working very well. Now
there are several Index embossers, all with slightly different
specifications. My model, though it possessed both a serial and
parallel input, has no usb input. I run 2 Hulitt Packard
printers, one an inkjet, the other a lazerjet; I also drive, at
times, a Mountbatten Brailler as a single-sheet embosser, and of
course the Index. Now, one printer has a parallel and usb port,
the other has a parallel and serial, but no usb; the mountbatten
has no usb either. Thus, the only thing they all have in common
is that they all have a parallel port available. The Mpower, on
the other hand, has now no parallel output.
I am not a great lover of continually having to plug and unplug
leads, thus I procured a four-way switchbox, and also a two-way
switchbox. I also bought a serial to parallel converter. I
already had one of these devices left over from my Eureka days;
by now this converter probably is not up to current demands, but
it continues to serve me well; I believe they are still available
via Techno-vision systems. So, the circuitry is as follows: I
have connected the serial output of the Mpower directly to the
centre socket on the four-way box. Number 1 on this box carries
a lead to the serial-parallel converter I have purchased. The
output of this converter goes to the centre socket on the two-way
box. Sockets 1 and 2 on this two-way box connect directly to the
parallel inputs on my two printers. Thus, with the switch set to
number 1 on the four-way box, the serial output of the Mpower is
directed via the two-way box into whichever of the two printers
this second box is connected. In other words: number 1 on the
main box gives me printing.
Now, to number 2 on the main box, I connected my old
series-parallel converter which feeds directly into the Index
embosser. For some reason I couldn't get the converter which
drives the modern printers to also drive the embosser; thus my
resorting to the probably now obsolete, though still available,
Eureka converter. So, when I switch to number 2 on the main box,
the serial output of the Mpower is connected, via the Eureka
converter, to the parallel input of my Index embosser.
The Mountbatten Brailler needed no converter, so I merely took a
lead from number 3 on the four-way box, directly to the serial
input of the Mountbatten.
Number 4 on the main box is not, as yet, being used.
Thus, number 1 connects me to my printers, the choice of which
is done from the two-way box. Number 2 on the main box connects
the Index embosser, while number 3, feeds the signal directly to
the Mountbatten.
Ostenstibly, the Mpower is feeding a serial system and thus one
has to set the parameters accordingly. I am using a baudrate of
9600, software handshaking, parity none, 1 stopbit; that seems to
do the trick.
So, to sum up, I have not used the usb as my equipment is not
all designed for it, but have, in essence, turned them all into
serial units by the insertion of the necessary converters.
I do hope this will prove useful. All good wishes from Don
Cooper.
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