Hi Andy,

If you want to use a printer with the standard Centronics interface, connecting to the 8052 should be fairly simple. Nearly all printers use the Centronics interface. From an electronics point of view, things are quite simple. Take a look at

http://www.beyondlogic.org/index.html#PARALLEL

The documents there give you details of the various implementations (Standard, EPP, ECP..) of the kind of parallel port (printer port) found on a PC. It is not very difficult to work out how to implement the same kind of port for an 8052 from this information.

Of course once you've sorted out the physical interface, you need to know what data you are suppose to send to the printer to get it to do what you want. Different printers use different 'languages', that is why when you connect a printer to a PC, you need to install a driver. Among other things, it is the drivers job to tell windows what it is suppose to say to the printer to get it to do certain things.

Dot-matrix printers use what is probably the easiest protocall to implement. To print normal text, it is just a case of sending normal ASCII to the printer. The same applies to most laser printers. If you want to change the font, this can be slightly more involved, and is fairly dependant on the printer you are going to use. For most printers, the manual will give you details of the various commands and modes the printer can execute. If not, it shouldn't be too difficult to find the information you need on the net.

Most old ink-jet/bubble-jet printers are as easy to use as dot-matrix printers. I don't know about other makes, but I know for a fact that the newer HP DeskJet use a very strange protocall, that HP is very reluctant to release. I don't even think they have any fonts stored internally, so I would stay clear of these for 8052 work.

If you want to print graphics, life might become quite difficult. Again, the way you go about printing graphics on the printer is dependant on the printer you're using. Another problem with printing graphics is that it can need a fair amount of memory to act as a buffer whilst you're calculating what needs to be sent to the printer. Also, this can be quite processor intensive.

Give me the exact details of what you want to do, and what printer you want to use and I might be able to help.

Matt.