Commodore MPS printers

[Mykrowyre]

The MPS-802 is the same as the 1526. It's a business class printer with "push"
tractor feed so that you don't waste a sheet of paper every time you load the
printer or advance to the next page. It has tru decenders (j, y, g, etc) under
the line. It also has a ton of text and formatting commands for printing forms
and reports. In stock form it isn't supported by most graphics programs (other
than GEOS), but you can download a graphics rom for free, burn it to a 2764
eprom, and replace the original rom. This retains all original features and
adds 1525 compatibility so that programs like print shop, etc, all work
correctly.

Of the three you mentioned, the 1526/MPS-802 with graphics rom is my favorite.

It's built like a tank and will run forever.

-mykrowyre

[Dr. What]

-=> Mykrowyre wrote to All <=-

My> The MPS-802 is the same as the 1526. It's a business class printer
My> with "push" tractor feed so that you don't waste a sheet of paper every
My> time you load the printer or advance to the next page. It has tru
My> decenders (j, y, g, etc) under the line. It also has a ton of text and
My> formatting commands for printing forms and reports. In stock form it
My> isn't supported by most graphics programs (other than GEOS), but you
My> can download a graphics rom for free, burn it to a 2764 eprom, and
My> replace the original rom. This retains all original features and adds
My> 1525 compatibility so that programs like print shop, etc, all work
My> correctly.

By chance, do you know of anyone who is selling that eprom already burnt?


... Live long and prosper... But don't let the IRS know.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52

[Jim Brain]

Post by Dr. What
-=> Mykrowyre wrote to All <=-
My> The MPS-802 is the same as the 1526. It's a business class printer
My> with "push" tractor feed so that you don't waste a sheet of paper every
My> time you load the printer or advance to the next page. It has tru
My> decenders (j, y, g, etc) under the line. It also has a ton of text and
My> formatting commands for printing forms and reports. In stock form it
My> isn't supported by most graphics programs (other than GEOS), but you
My> can download a graphics rom for free, burn it to a 2764 eprom, and
My> replace the original rom. This retains all original features and adds
My> 1525 compatibility so that programs like print shop, etc, all work
My> correctly.
By chance, do you know of anyone who is selling that eprom already burnt?
... Live long and prosper... But don't let the IRS know.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52

Looks like someone else is looking for it as well:

https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36718

I don't see the file anywhere either. I was not aware, and it would be
nice to have

To clarify, while the MPS 802 and 1526 are the same printer (and they
share the same mechanism and case as the CBM 4023 which is IEEE-488 and
for the PET, I do know there are 2 variants. The difference is in the
print head. I *think* the 1526 has round dots in the print head, while
the other has square dots.

Having implemented graphics using this printer, I can truly say the
capability is beyond awful.

The 1526/MPS 802 supported a single redefinable character in the stock
firmware. That's not so bad, as one could define the char as 8 bytes of
graphics, print, redefine it, print, lather, rinse, repeat.

What made it bad was the fact that the character could only be defined
once per print line. Yep, 80 columns of text and 1 slot could be a
graphics char.

That should have made graphics impossible, but the printer also had a
"carriage return without line feed" control character.

Folks can see where this is going, but to finish it out...

The solution to implement graphics on this printer was to:
set a tab variable to 0
print (tab) spaces
define your graphics for position (tab)
print the graphics char
issue a carriage return with no line feed.
increment tab by 1
if tab = 80, issue line feed and work on next 8 lines of graphics.
else, go to beginning of loop

As you can expect, the speed was horrific, and I can only imagine the
wear on the printer, as it printed one char at a time on a line.
Luckily the onboard firmware knew enough to not bring the head all the
way to the left after each return. But, as I recall, it did have to back
up a bit when printing. Maybe it was to ensure the printhead was
already moving when printing, not sure. In any case, the printhead
jerked back and forth across the page in little spurts.

It was a shame, as the print quality was miles better than the 1525 and
friends, and it offered 640 dots per line, as opposed to 480 of the
1526. As the previous poster noted, it also had true descenders. Text
printing was fast and crisp.

Jim

[Dr. What]

-=> Jim Brain wrote to Dr. What <=-

JB> Having implemented graphics using this printer, I can truly say the
JB> capability is beyond awful.

Ahhh... So it's a "you can eat it, but it tastes like dung" type of fix.

I had picked up the 1526 in an estate sale. I got a big lot of C64 stuff:
CPUs, disk drives, printer, 1702 monitor, software. When I had posted a photo
someone remarked that the person who owned it must have been using it to run
his business. And now the choice of the 1526 printer makes sense.


... You have to be sharp to be on the cutting edge.
=== MultiMail/Linux v0.52