Sardis Technologies ST-2900 Centronics Parallel Printer Driver (CNT-1)

The ST-2900 Centronics Parallel Printer Driver (CNT-1) is an expansion board that plugs into the ST-2900 FDC board to buffer the signals sent down the cable to a printer with a Centronics parallel port, and to provide an appropriate printer cable connector.

Centronics Parallel Printer Driver (CNT-1) features:

• 14-pin connector for short ribbon cable to plug into one parallel port on FDC board
• 20-pin connector for longer ribbon cable to printer (36-pin connector at printer end)
• only 2 low-cost 74LSxx ICs
• approx. 1.75" x 1.25" (44mm x 32mm), 1-layer board

I had one single-sided prototype PCB made, and assembled it. Unfortunately I never got around to putting it into production.

As far as I can tell from looking at the source code, the software drivers are:

• FLEX Conversion Package: MPPRINT.SYS (6522/VIA port A)
• OS-9 Conversion Package: VIA and PL (6522/VIA port A; change source and recompile for port B)

(Click on a picture for a larger version.)

Pictures of assembled board (382-579KB .jpg).

ST-2900 Centronics Parallel Printer Driver (CNT-1) board schematics, component layout, and connectors/cables drawing. (1.58MB .pdf)

"FLEX" was a trademark of Technical System Consultants (TSC).
"OS-9" is a registered trademark of Microware LP.

Last revised 2024-Apr-03 22:09 PDT.
Copyright 2018- David C. Wiens.