Author Topic: Tektronix 1230 printing to emulated LPT printer - completed with photos!  (Read 2384 times)

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Offline mdanh2002Topic starter

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Hi,

Out of curiosity I made a PIC24-based virtual parallel port printer in order to transfer screen captures and memory data from my Tektronix 1230 Logic Analyzer to a PC. This is because although my 1230 comes with both Centronics and RS-232 ports, I could not find the Tektronix application software for the RS-232 port (hard-to-find!) as well as the manual, which contains description on the serial protocol needed to pull the data out of the logic analyzer. On this logic analyzer, screen capture can be printed by double-pressing the NOTES key whereas memory contents can be printed by pressing the D key.

The virtual printer that I made, is based on a PIC24. It will write any data that it receives from the parallel port onto an SD card. Each print job is written as a separate file. A 1.8" ST7735 color LCD is used to display SD card information and print job details. Text print can be viewed easily by opening the print output file on a PC.

As the Tektronix 1230 Logic Analyzer prints its memory contents in text format but prints screen capture in graphics format, I have also written a tool to convert the print job file (containing the Epson escape codes generated by the logic analyzer) back to a 450x250 bitmap file, viewable on a PC.

The whole project is completed within three days, from breadboard-prototyping to soldering onto veroboard for more permanent usage.

Attached to this posts are some photos of my virtual printer, the bitmap converter tool and its output.

Look forward to your comments. :)

See details and download source code at my blog article http://minhdanh2002.blogspot.sg/2014/02/capturing-data-from-tektronix-1230.html
« Last Edit: April 03, 2014, 02:18:45 pm by mdanh2002 »
 


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