January 20, 1992

Dear Customer,

This file covers 
                                    MM/1 Parallel Port Installation
	                                                 (Help File #2)

This is another file in a series of help files on the MM/1 computer. The first file covered installing modern SCSI hard disk drives using the latest MM/1 SCSI drivers.

These files are uniquely identified by their date and title. If you see several copies of a File with the same title, use the one with the latest as a reference.

As customers receive their Input/Output boards, some questions have recurred that are answered here in this document. Many of these questions are also currently answered in the brochures and manuals shipped with your MM/1. Familiarize yourself with these brochures and manuals, and then consult this file for the latest information.

IMS encourages you to write to us at 1MS, 1840 Biltmore Street NW, Suite 10, Washington DC 20009, with suggestions and comments on this documentation. For OS-9 and the MM/1 to succeed in the general marketplace, good documentation is important, and your feedback is gratefully welcome.

2.1.0 Physical Description

Your I/0 board has a square chip on it designated MC68230. This chip provides two 8-bit parallel ports. They can also be "ganged" for one 16-bit parallel port. These ports are bidirectional as well, meaning that they can accept data as well as output it.

The two ports are brought out to the I/0 board by two headers, positioned at  right angles to each other and surrounding the chip. One is marked P1, the other is marked P10. Familiarize yourself with these headers.

For now, look at P1. Position the I/0 board so that the MM/1 Minibus is towards you and the sound, joystick and DB9 connector is away from you. Jumper P1 is running "vertically" and parallel to the length of your I/O board.

2.2.0 Installing Your Cables

The cable that arrived with your I/0 board for parallel printing is colored at one end. This coloring marks that end as pin one. Pin one of the cable should connect to jumper P1 away from you and nearer to the sound and joystick end of the I/0 board.

The other end of the cable with the DB25 connector can screw into your backplate. You can Find these screws at an electronics store or at any company that services IBM PCs. You can take your other parallel cable to the store for size reference.

2.3.0 information About Parallel Drivers

The current IMS driver for parallel output has been tested on P1. P10 will be tested and implemented in a later version of the driver. Best estimate on the availability of this driver is early Spring 1992. The IMS driver works well on almost all printers, and was tested on almost two dozen printers before general release. This driver has been rewritten by the software expert at Bob van der Poel Software (namely, Bob) to expand the number of printer brands that P1 can support. This newer driver is available in beta test form in case you need it.

Once your I/0 board's P1 jumper is installed with its parallel ribbin cable and the DB25 connector is screwed into your backplate, you can close you MM/1 case and boot up.

Use the MDIR command to reveal the modules that are in memory.  Look for "p" and "sc68230". "P" is the descriptor for your parallel port P1. "SC6B230" is the driver. You need both in memory before you can print.

If they are in memory. skip to the next section. If they are not, you will find these modules on MM/1 Disk #6 in the BOOTMODS/SCF directory.  Load them in using LOAD -D after changing over to that directory. That is, with MM/1 Disk #6 in Drive /dO, type

       chd /dO/bootmods/scf [ENTER]
       load -d p sc6B230 [ENTER]


2.4.0 Printing

Make sure your printer is on. Double check to make sure your printer cable is firmly attached to both the printer and to your MM/1	(depending on the cable, physical connection to the MM/1 and printer might be unstable, so this is important).

Make sure your printer is on line.

Now, find or create a simple text file. If that file is named "filename", try

          list filename >/p  EENTER]

You will see one of three results:

    1)  The file prints normally. This is by far the most likely scenario.
    2)	Your file seems to have been sent to the printer, and your cursor returns, but no file is   
         printed..
    3)	Your cursor is not returned, as though the MM/1 is waiting on the printer to be ready.

2.5.0 Interpreting the results

If condition 2 or 3 is experienced, your printer may need our alternative printer driver. This driver will be made widely available on most information services. It currently is in beta form. It performs reliably on all printers, but you should use it only if the existing driver does not serve your needs. The reason is simple: the driver that ships with the MM/1 is an approved driver	that works well with a minimum of system overhead. The newer, beta driver has more system overhead even though its code is virtually identical to the distribution driver.

If you experience strange performance on your printer that does not fit any of the behaviors listed above, first check that your ribbon cable on jumper P1, ensuring that pin one on the cable is towards the back of your computer. Then douuble check that your printer cable is secure and firmly inserted into vour DB25 parallel port. Last, check that your printer is set up correctly. You may wish to try both IBM and native mode if your printer has DIP switches to select alternative modes.

2.6.0 Summary

You should experience no problems with using virtually all brands of printers with the MM/1 with one of the two parallel drivers available from IMS. Software from IMS developers will soon be taking advantage of many printers' special features such as micro-justification, Postscript output, and graphics screen dumps.

2.7.0 Where to go For more help

If you experience any problems, write to IMS at

IMS
1840 Biltmore Street NW
Suite 10
Washington DC 20009

or call us at 202 232 4246. Due to the enormous volume of calls (over 40 per day to our DC Sales Office), we ask that you try to call between 11:00 and 3:00 weekdays.

Additional information can usually be found on the Ocean Beach BBS at 619-224-4878. Most commonly asked questions are answered here, making it a good first stop for help. Also, there are new programs, bulletins, drivers, and so on constantly posted to this BBS. Thanks to Warren Hrach, our San Diego IMS representative, for his assistance.

Thank you very much!

Paul Ward
Interactive Media Systems, Inc.



