Star Micronics Gemini 15-X printer and the 3b1 (summary)

[Augustine Cano]

A few days have passed without a response.  Time for a summary.
Specific questions from my original posting are quoted (>) and the answers
received are included immediately after.

> I'm using a Star Micronics Gemini 15-X printer with my 3b1.
> It works fine for normal printing, but being a non-supported printer,
> I can't do anything fancy.  I have the system set up so it thinks it is a
> StarSG10.  This was a guess on my part, I assumed that being the same brand
> they would be the closest.  Is this correct? would another printer option
> work better?  Does anybody out there have a Gemini 10-X or 15-X connected so
> it does the fancy stuff successfully? BTW, it does underline and overstrike
> ok, but that's about it.

Apparently, no one out there is using a Gemini 10-X or 15-X with a UNIX PC.
Two people using SG-10's (which are supported) answered.  Thanks to both!
Apparently the only way to use the printer's capabilities for printing text
is to have a customized terminal driving table for nroff.  The contents of
such tables are explained in nterm(5).

> If I do a <SHIFT> <PRINT> the screen gets actually printed, but in stripes.
> The printer does not seem to understand the codes sent to move the paper up
> less than the usual amount.

In response to this, Eric Durbin (eric at ms.uky.edu) writes:
-No, it's not the characters, it's the print mode.  My SG-10 has to be in
-STAR printing mode to perform screen dumps without too much line spacing.
-You have to set DIP switch 2-2 on and powerup the printer for this to work.
-I'm sure your 15-X has a similar setting.

Well, the 15-X does have a DIP switch 2.2, but it serves another function.
In the 15-X that switch tells the printer to print when the buffer is full or
when a CR is received.  From the other posting I gather that on the SG-10
this switch selects EPSON F80 emulation or IBM mode.  BTW, I tried both
settings with the same result.

I did try one other thing.  The printer manual lists an escape sequence to
adjust the number of dots to be skipped vertically between lines.  After
sending that sequence to the printer instructing to skip 0 dots, logically
enough, a regular text file printed without line spacing.  The "print screen",
though must do some resetting and the spacing re-appeared.

Does anyone know what program does the processing for "print screen"?  Is it
/usr/lib/GSS-drivers/epmx80 ? (I have the GSS-drivers setup to think the
printer is an Epson mx80).

> How about the GSS-drivers stuff, is it possible to customize/make
> a new entry for this printer?  I'd love to be able to print graphics.

Nobody answered this part.  Does anyone know what the drivers in
/usr/lib/GSS-drivers actually do? What would be involved in writing a driver
for a non-supported printer?

> Alternatively, is anyone aware of a set of PROMS that would make this printer
> emulate one of the supported ones?

No answer to that one either.

> Does anybody have a number to get in touch with Star Micronics?
> The numbers in my manuals are disconnected, I've seen no recent ads in the
> magazines I subscribe to and they are not in the phone books I have.

Ditto for this one.  Can anybody tell me at least where the current office
is, so I can call the correct information number?

Augustine Cano		canoaf at dept.csci.unt.edu