This was the first printer I purchased in the mid eighties. They lasted forever on dirty shipping docks. Such a great example of a well designed, well built device.
@mcd3379
2 жыл бұрын
"I love the sound of dot matrix printing in the morning" :) Back in the day, Epson was the "go to" company for printers for 8 bit computers. Had a GX-80 myself. The LX-80 was also very popular.
@jaycee1980
Жыл бұрын
BBC micro's with Epson FX-80's were the thing when I was in school! We used to have them on trolleys and you could hear one printing all over the school :)
@MichaelEhling
2 жыл бұрын
31:52 When one of these little tabs broke on my Epson MX80 (this would have been 30 years ago), I used the top off of a sewing pin. It was the type with a plastic head. I cut the pin a mm or so from the top, drilled a small, shallow hole in the bracket, set the stub of the pin into that hole, and fixed it with epoxy. This fix held the spring well for many years.
@Tinker_Box
Жыл бұрын
Hey, this was my first printer for me back in the 80s. Glad I found it again your channel.
@vwestlife
Жыл бұрын
Graphics printing is unidirectional so that way the lines will match up better. Bidirectional printing causes slight shifts in the positioning of each pass that is unnoticeable with text, but may cause the lines in a graphical image to become ragged.
@cbmeeks
Жыл бұрын
Finally! It's rare to see dot matrix printer restorations. I thought I was the only one that liked dot matrix printers.
@darknessnightfall
Жыл бұрын
I forgot about this one. It was my first printer. My dad bought it at his work. Good memories.
@sammy61187
Жыл бұрын
Everything was designed to be fixed back then i just love it!! Nothing better than the sound of an old Dot Matrix
@angrydove4067
Жыл бұрын
Ah, the good old dot matrix days, I stared with a Comrex CR-220 and then a Panasonic KX-P1180 which had Epson emulation, fine for C=64 and then Amiga. Love the sound of these.
@Hounddoggy33
2 жыл бұрын
I had the VIC 1525. Loved making banners, posters and cards using Print Shop and PrintMaster.
@RobA500
2 жыл бұрын
Ah what memories, my first printer was a Citizen Swift 24 with which I printed many full colour pictures from my Amiga.
@IDPhotoMan
2 жыл бұрын
That interface card is a computer in itself.
@oleurgast730
2 жыл бұрын
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum 256. Video. Jetzt kann man Deine Videos nicht mehr an einem Byte abzählen 😉
@JanBeta
2 жыл бұрын
Huch, das hatte ich bis jetzt noch nicht bemerkt. Dann kaufe ich mal ein zusätzliches Byte! 😅
@Ramdileo_sys
2 жыл бұрын
@@JanBeta 30:35 .. Oohh the good old trusted Dental Pick🙂....... Hey Jan !! .. What does the electronic technician use the Dental Pick for??? ... to fix Bluetooth, of course🤣😂...
@force4200
2 жыл бұрын
Great my old printer was a StarLC 24 -200. Great channel as usual have a Nice weekend Jan. Love that you used a A600 ;)
@rarbiart
Жыл бұрын
when you mention the GOERLITZ interface, i remember the magazine advertisements they put in HappyComputer etc.
@thesolderman861
Жыл бұрын
I did the repair of the broken spring holders on the tractor feeds like 25 Jears ago... drilled a 3,2mm hole (in small steps due to the brittle material) instead of the broken bolt and used a tread cutter toolset to make a 4mm (M4) Screw go in to it to hold the Springs. Had to file down the Screwhead a lot. We had a RS232 Interface card plugged inside, and therefore we could't use the parallel Centronics Port at the same printer, as some of the internal dip switches on the Mainboard were set to add, as far as I remember it correctly, to every Carriage return a Line feed, as required from the old computer on the serial port, but this prevented the usage of the parallelport with a DOS PC which sent them both by itself. So the stickytape on the Parallelport was no surprise for me.... ;-).
@wildcat189
Жыл бұрын
Love this - it's helping me to refurb my LX-86!
@cnvogel
2 жыл бұрын
Great Video, I still have my Star LC 10 from Amiga days 🥰 so I can share the sentiments of still running these old beasts.
@psteier
2 жыл бұрын
One of the greatest printers ever. I felt like a king with the colour option...
@persimonsen7504
2 жыл бұрын
Memories... Star 10 was my first as well. Used with a Sharp MZ 721. No support for Norwegian characters at the time, so "modded" the printout with a black Bic pen...
@fawad.rashid
2 жыл бұрын
I still have my LX-800 stashed somewhere.. haven't checked up on it for years... these EPSON's were super reliable and sturdy. I had mine hooked up to a IBM 8086 and CPC 6128... Awesome printers !
@R.Daneel
Жыл бұрын
@33:10 A magnet countersunk into each half near the little "finger tab". Look for the weakest workable magnets, or position so that there is still a gap when 'closed', to prevent excessive drag. If a convenient position can't be found, don't forget that you could increase your options if you set them up to repel instead.
@marty9248
2 жыл бұрын
You can drill a small hole on top where the rubber band is now positioned and use a longer spring hooked into the hole.
@SeaJay_Oceans
2 жыл бұрын
39:10 Good Safety Record ! Love the sign... :-)
@josehereter4062
2 жыл бұрын
Lot of nostalgia to mee too!! Thanks!
@MatSpeedle
2 жыл бұрын
My school IT room used to be filled with these. The memories!
@muhammaddaffasuhandi7914
Жыл бұрын
thanks, it actually let me through so i could download it.
@andrewclegg9501
2 жыл бұрын
My first printer was a RX-80 F/T, those springs broke the clamps on mine too, put blu tack on them and the lid held them down.
@sjt66
Жыл бұрын
That was my first printer and I loved it! Yes, very reliable!
@louiswc1x
2 жыл бұрын
Great videos and the noise does indeed transport me back to past times. I remember one of these at school connected to a RM 480z and later on I bought a second hand one for my Amiga at home. Happy days !
@netsurferx1
2 жыл бұрын
Oh, this brings back memories. I had one of the back home (bought as new by my dad) in about 1985-6. We used it clear up until 1996, when it was just too slow & noisy for our use. It was replaced by an HP Deskjet 660C. I wound up trading it for an ImageWriter II circa 1999.
@philsbbs
Жыл бұрын
my dot matrix printers years ago mps-801 for my commodore and la75 for my dec stuff.. did have access to lg-31 at one point but glad to see the back of it as the tracking belts snapped to often.
@VernesMisadventures
Жыл бұрын
Dog gone it Jan Beta! After watching this, I bought one off of eBay. . . Great video! Very nostalgic indeed.
@simmo1024
Жыл бұрын
when I started working in IT in the mid 90s, the FX80s were ubiquitous (slowly being reoplaced by HP laserjets and Canon bubblejets). I even remember setting up a LQ-870 in a classroom. That puppy go some usage.
@toddbeets
2 жыл бұрын
Epson FX-80 crew here. Companion to Apple IIe. My heart more with it's Panasonic replacements: 9-pin 1091 with NLQ switch (!) And the big daddy 1124 24-pin which lasted through college.
@ScottLahteine
Жыл бұрын
What a great printer for its time! As I recall, something like 144 dots per inch in graphics mode. Back in the day I took advantage of that graphics mode to write an Atari 8-bit driver for the MX-80 just so I could print my AtariBASIC code in the actual Atari font. It would probably have been fully compatible with the RX-80 too. As a retro enthusiast, I wouldn't mind picking up one of these babies for the collecfion. Apparently there's even an open source project to make these into AirPlay / WiFi printers so we can use them with all our modern devices.
@Vanders456
2 жыл бұрын
This brings back memories. I could load a new ream of paper & tension it with my eyes closed.
@ThePoxun
2 жыл бұрын
Back in school one of these printers had the same issue with the broken spring post. The school technician fixed it by drilling a small hole and installing a small bolt to hook the spring over. I'm not sure if the plastic will still support that at its current age but it might be worth a shot
@meh3247
2 жыл бұрын
This exact model was my second printer! The first was an horrendous little thermal printer from Sinclair, that absolutely stank as it burned off the metallic layer on the proprietary paper one had to use with it - and it's print quality was... simply not there. The Sinclair printer was for my old ZX81, which I rightfully hated. This model Epson was used on a BBC Model B (my second machine, which I loved) and was extremely useful for printing out code listings and such. I love the sound, that and the character set took me back forty years, immediately! Thanks for the upload Mr B - nice work Sir!
@DKbananas
Жыл бұрын
This was my first printer hooked up to an IBM 386 acquired from my dads work when they upgraded. Can still hear my brother printing out school papers into the wee hours of the night. Good times
@Colin_Ames
Жыл бұрын
Great video, as always. The company I worked for used to supply these Epson printers (not sure exactly which model, although FX80 springs to mind) with our electronic measuring systems. They had RS232 interface cards installed.
@parrottm76262
2 жыл бұрын
Love seeing the old Epson X. I had a couple of those back in the day before I upgraded to a Panasonic wide carriage 24pin LX-P1524, which was used & abused for years.
@tokyogentleman
2 жыл бұрын
getting the first floppy drive and printer really made things nice to share with others
@FredrikRambris
2 жыл бұрын
We had a huge NEC Pinwriter P7 dot matrix printer that could print landscape A3 papers. You could switch the feeder from friction and tractor feeder.
@Wyld1one
Жыл бұрын
Tip: unlock the right tractor feed so it 'floats' left and right as needed. It helps prevent jams on holed paper as it willl follow the holes in the paper.
@kg3358
Жыл бұрын
Have one sitting on a desk near me. Wayback the paper detect failed. I had to cut a pin on a TTL and piggyback a new TTL. Luckily the schematic was in the manual. It got me through college and beyond.
@nigelbarrett4936
2 жыл бұрын
I wonder if you could make a small hole in the plastic and then feed the end of the spring through ? That would eliminate the need for the broken bit of plastic.
@parjf
2 жыл бұрын
Ah, 1980s Epson dot-matrix printers :) The one we had for our Apple IIe clone in the mid-80s was a LX-80 - worked like a champ.
@rustynail6819
9 ай бұрын
My first printer, I had it attached to my Apple //e GREAT printer!!!
@mountainpeakonline
2 жыл бұрын
Yesss Jan, you did it again! That was a very good video. I remember those days. What an excitement when you bring home a new printer. Nowadays these excitements does not exist anymore. You worry only when the ink cartridge is empty after just a few days of printing. Pffff..😄😄
@rawberg_se
2 жыл бұрын
Hmm I think I had one of those as well, looks very similar at least. I totally forgot about it until I saw your video. I think I actually still have the parallel cable it came with. :)
@Phenomz75
2 жыл бұрын
there are still drivers and support, because it's one of the many "instruments" in the original "soundtrack/symphony" of every German doctor's office ... add 3 constantly ringing phones (intentionally ignored by the staff) and someone screaming "do we alread have a urine sample from Herr Schultz?" and the illusion is perfect
@SeaJay_Oceans
2 жыл бұрын
Epson Classic ! To think of the millions of school assignments printed out on EPSON printers in all the classrooms of the world !
@computer_toucher
2 жыл бұрын
I remember that the FX-80 is the one printer EVERY operating system, application, etc has drivers for since forever.
@IanSlothieRolfe
2 жыл бұрын
I think I would fix the spring clips by drilling a small hole with a pin drill through the part that you have glued together and glue in a steel pin (dressmaking pin cut down?). A glue joint is likely to break again unsupported as you have seen. You can use a pin drill to make holes as small as 0.2mm and they are really cheap on eBay. The sound of a matrix printer brings back so many fond memories......
@gertsy2000
2 жыл бұрын
Well done again Jan.
@dwbogardus
Жыл бұрын
I still have an MX-80F/T that I bought in about 1981 or 1982. Used it for years until I replaced it with a Panasonic KXP-2123 24-pin printer, which could also use a color ribbon. It also worked well, except the color was poor. Replaced years later with an Epson Stylus Color 600, which was great, even for color photos. It worked well for a few years, until the head clogged and couldn't be cleaned completely. Then had an Epson Stylus Photo R200 which worked very well for a few years until it's internal ink storage pad got full and it would no longer print; Same story with the following Epson Stylus Photo R260. Now using a very old (but reliable) Canon Pixma MP150. (I've done a lot of printing over the last ~40 years!)
@loughkb
Жыл бұрын
Epsons and Okidatas still get used in some retail businesses. Impact printers let you print receipts with carbon copies. I had one too, years ago. Epson was supported by just about everything, back when the printer support had to be built into the programs.
@spacedock873
2 жыл бұрын
Brings back so many memories! Never had a real Epson back in the day - they were very expensive because they were bullet-proof and really designed for heavy duty office/industrial use. Lovely to see one of these old girls back in action. Amazing it still had the protective films on! 👍😁
@YogSothoth1969
2 жыл бұрын
Klasse! Das Geräusch weckt wirklich nostalgische Gefühle🙂Mein erster Nadeldrucker war der MPS801 für den C64 und später dann der MPS1000 für den Amiga. Wenn ich mich nicht total irre, habe ich noch einen Adapter von Centronics auf LAN, um einen Drucker mit Centronics-Anschluss ans Netzwerk zu verbinden. Lang ist es her 🙂Gruss, Michael
@ppdan
Жыл бұрын
My first was a MX80 which we upgraded to FX80. My second was a NEC P2+ (Think this one is still sitting somewhere in my parents garage).
@VincentGroenewold
2 жыл бұрын
Again a perfect job for a little 3D design and a 3D printer. :)
@fnjesusfreak
2 жыл бұрын
The first printer I personally owned was an IBM Graphics Printer, which looked very Epson-y and was partially compatible with the command set of the Epson RX and FX...turns out it was basically a rebadged Epson MX-80 with support for IBM's Codepage 437.
@PaulinesPastimes
Жыл бұрын
Congratulations. Great nostalgia. For the paper retainer, what about drilling a small hole and glueing in a metal pin with super glue. It would be better than forcing in a screw which could crack the plastic. Maybe?
@RDJ134
2 жыл бұрын
Like i said on Twitter reading Dot Matrix Printer making the sound play in my brain :)
@rottmanthan
Жыл бұрын
i feel the old printers are just as important as the computers they were used with.
@troogroove9318
2 жыл бұрын
I had the JX80 which was the Color version with the multi colour ribbon, one of the best printers I ever had.
@timballam3675
Жыл бұрын
You need to find a dfx-5000 used to service them quite often...
@TheGreatAtario
Жыл бұрын
My first instinct regarding the broken sprocket covers was: maybe 3D-print replacements? Dunno if something like that would be sturdy enough, though. Would be kind of poetic if it worked :3c
@cjh0751
Жыл бұрын
You certainly got your money's worth back in the 80s. Look at them caps and that meaty transformer. I always remember the print head having a "hot don't touch" sticker on it or near it. Makes a nostalgic noisy racket. Loverly
@DarrenHughes-Hybrid
2 жыл бұрын
An Epson dot matrix was my 2nd printer. My 1st was a Star Micronix (I think I'm spelling that right.) I still have them both in storage, so this video will be helpful when I pull them out to get them going again.
@imqqmi
Жыл бұрын
I used to own a 120 character wide epson printer, though not that I had wide paper to actually use it lol! It was hooked up to an msx2 computer with a diy cable. I typed in a hardcopy print program from a magazine and still have some prints from that. Later I got an epson like yours as well before I switched to inkjets on the pc. Never got into those star printers with color capability and 24 dots.
@simontay4851
Жыл бұрын
33:05 My idea for tensioning the paper retaining flaps: Computer cases usually have steel blanking plates in the 5.25in bays that you have to remove when installing an optical drive. If you have one of of those, use this or if not, use an empty can of pop. 1. With sheet metal cutters (tin snips), cut out 2 small pieces (1 for each flap) the same size as the top of the flaps (same place as the rubber band is at 33:05 but extend the metal over the larger part as well for extra strength). 2.With the metal held in place with tape, drill four small holes, 1 in each corner through the metal and the plastic for screws, making sure you line up the holes correctly. It should look like a skin over the curved part of the flap with a small self tapping screw in each corner. 3. In the same place as where the rubber band is at 33:05, shape the metal so it folds over like how the rubber band does and make a little hook in the same place as where the little plastic bit broke off. Use that to attach the spring to. Imagine a J and an up-side-down U next to each other. The U folds over the top and the J is the hook for the spring. That will definitely be strong enough. Hope you understand. Thats how i would do it if i was going to do it properly.
@simontay4851
Жыл бұрын
If the flaps are too thin for screws, use strong double sided tape to stick the metal to the plastic.
@naderhumood1199
2 жыл бұрын
I used to have one 87.....its super printer. Thanks v much
@milk-it
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome job, Jan! Lucky the printer only needed a little TLC. Getting the right printer driver on Workbench is sometimes tedious. I was spoilt in the '80s and '90s with Amigas and had an A2000 hooked up to a Hewlett Packard Laser Jet, and a colour NEC Pinwriter. Needless to say, with ProWrite and DPaint my assignments were the best looking throughout primary and high school! I copped a lot of flack from other students, but my teachers loved the easy-to-read fonts and drooled over the colour pictures printed out, which - with the content - yielded good marks! 🤣😂
@raoullangner-macmillan7655
2 жыл бұрын
Great Video, thanks.
@michaelcarey
2 жыл бұрын
Excellent work Jan! Right not I'm going through the same process with a Star NX-1000 Dot Matrix Printer, well used but with the original box & manual along with two Centronics cables. This printer can also emulate an Epson LX-800 and IBM Proprinter II. This printer will need some serious retrobriting 🙂
@Papierzeit
2 жыл бұрын
Can still remember my printer back then, that was a real monster. A NEC Pinwriter P7+ if he has printed quickly then my mother had always complained that he is so mega loud.
@StavroMueller
Жыл бұрын
The RX80 was available with several 8-bit interfaces, looks like the one you have is Atari, also available was Commodore's IEC bus which emulated the MPS 801/802 standard and provided an special mode for pass-thru ESC/P mode
@crunchysuperman
2 жыл бұрын
We had one here at work from 88 to 92-ish. Ours broke the same spring mounts - we put a little screws in there to hold the springs. Great printer, but constant use finally killed it (burned the print head up). Replaced with an Oki Microline 393, and that thing was an unkillable tank. Probably still in a closet somewhere.
@nextnoir
2 жыл бұрын
So pity you didn't have a problem with needles. Actually not. But I have Epson LQ-100 and there are couple needles are stuck. Would be interesting to see a way of fixing them
@graealex
2 жыл бұрын
Submerge print head in ultrasonic cleaner? Then relubricate with very light sewing machine oil?
@MrFixiit
2 жыл бұрын
if you decide to try and fix those clips again you could use a Rivit coller take those clamps off completely and drill small hole and glue in the rivit collor from behind should work as long as when closed they dont obstruct the clamps.
@SomeMorganSomewhere
2 жыл бұрын
The most recent time I've seen one of these still in use was tucked in the back corner of a machine room at a bank where its purpose in life was printing PIN slips for credit cards/debit cards. Probably been retired now. The "not centronics" port on the back is probably an IEEE-488 port which you are correct, could be used for Commodore PETs, but it's probably more likely that it was used to connect to an HPIB/GP-IB bus (which is also IEEE-488) with a bunch of other items (test equipment and such), likely for printing out test reports or something of that nature, probably not actually rare, as HPIB/GP-IB is still very widely used in industry.
@TheKCsaba
2 жыл бұрын
My first printer was a FX-1000 which we bought as used. Never managed to get the paper properly aligned when printing more than one page.
@rich1051414
2 жыл бұрын
There are some computer labs that have these, relegated to the Computer science history classes, even some CS101 classes as late as 2004(when I was attending) made us print our C programs out on dot matrix paper for grading. I love the sound. It is associated with me being done with computer lab for the day, since printing out my work was the last thing I did.
@goldencm001
Жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@VorpalGun
2 жыл бұрын
I would CAD and 3D print replacement parts for those paper holddowns.
@graealex
2 жыл бұрын
Reglue the two parts to the cover. Remove the latch from the printer. Cast a negative in silicone, and then a positive/copy with black urethane, that will have the two nubbins in one part.
@DeputatKaktus
2 жыл бұрын
Those might still be in use in some doctors offices, for actual carbon copies. And yes, those are still a thing in some places in Germany. Or at least u til very recently. In the car rental place I used to work at, they were still using a dot matrix printer with tractor feed paper as late as 2010.
@superslammer
2 жыл бұрын
I loved my Epson T-1000 :)
@giulianomarco
2 жыл бұрын
We used to have acoustic/acrylic shields (with sponge insulation) at work in 1986 to cut down on the noise of dot matrix printers. They weren't very effective! 😁
@X1092-d4t
Жыл бұрын
You can enforce your glue repair with a 1 mm steel nail. After gluing bore a 1mm hole and glue in a 1mm steel needle/nail.
@JyskMaker
Жыл бұрын
Hi i had the same printer (And miss it) as i recall its has at self test / print mode.
@IanSlothieRolfe
2 жыл бұрын
I love the sound of matrix printers. I bought a Citizen MSP80 (i think) with my first paycheck which was a tractor feed 9 pin matrix printer. Printed thousands of pages on it (which kind of annoyed my parents as I was living at home at the time although they never complained) - I think I got through a box and a half of fanfold before I moved out which thinking of it was probably at least 5000 pages. I used to like to sit and read listings to work out where problems were in programs I was writing, and so the printer was pretty much on the go whenever I was at home!
@primus711
2 жыл бұрын
I had the lx-86 on my c64 Growing up in the 80s Was actually my father's setup Now with the plastic you could use a soldering iron and try to weld the pieces back on or use metal from a paper clip washer etc and if you have soldering tweezers heat it up and stick in
@cfriedel123
2 жыл бұрын
I had an Epson FX-80 and absolutely loved it! Thing was built like a tank and took even kid-level abuse =)
@batlin
Жыл бұрын
Loving the nostalgia kick of this dot matrix printer. Back in my Atari ST days (early/mid 1990s) I had a Star LC-10 colour dot matrix printer that served me well on a couple of school projects. Even back then cartridges were a bit expensive (although nothing like as bad as they got in the inkjet era, where it was sometimes cheaper to buy a new printer and throw the old one away), so mine came with an ink spray for rejuvenating the black ribbon.
@force4200
2 жыл бұрын
Can you make hole in plastic and put the spring loop in the end in the hole ? Then you dont need any screw.
@ThePoxun
2 жыл бұрын
This was the first printer I ever used. There were 3 of them in rooms of BBC Micros at school. One of them had a mod to make some of the dip switches accessible without opening the case. They were extended via a ribbon cable to a small plastic box with toggle switches that sat outside the printer. Most of the BBC software required one set of switch options and one specific program (it was a CAD package, can't remember which one) needed different settings. The BBC hooked up to the normal parallel port.
@arjanvanraaij8440
2 жыл бұрын
I still have a commodore mps 803, witch only need a new ribbon but can't find one.
@BerndFelsche
2 жыл бұрын
You could use o-rings perhaps instead of drive belts or rubber bands
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