• Panasonic Portable

    From Ken Wiebe@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 9 08:21:37 2019
    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

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  • From Richard@21:1/5 to All on Tue Apr 9 21:02:10 2019
    [Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

    Ken Wiebe <gv.kwiebe@gmail.com> spake the secret code <daa2eb91-3878-4bda-81b2-255e2e011ad4@googlegroups.com> thusly:

    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

    So far I've only come across them on ebay. This is everything I know:

    <https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Panasonic>

    What information are you looking for? As a portable thermal printing
    terminal, it's not likely to have any fancy ESC codes or anything
    other than basic vertical tab or form feed handling. DB-25 connector
    is almost certainly a standard RS-232C style signalling and pinout.
    --
    "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book <http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
    The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals-wiki.org>
    The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
    Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to Richard on Tue Apr 9 21:34:25 2019
    In article <q8j18i$q8t$3@news.xmission.com>, Richard <> wrote:
    What information are you looking for? As a portable thermal printing >terminal, it's not likely to have any fancy ESC codes or anything
    other than basic vertical tab or form feed handling. DB-25 connector
    is almost certainly a standard RS-232C style signalling and pinout.

    What is the chance that it's a direct copy of the TI Silentwriter?
    Panasonic was doing that sort of thing way back then.
    --scott


    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

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  • From Ken Wiebe@21:1/5 to Ken Wiebe on Thu Apr 11 18:04:17 2019
    On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 8:21:38 AM UTC-7, Ken Wiebe wrote:
    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

    I would like to see the specs on the modem, for one thing.

    And while I think I have figured out how to set the serial port comm parameters, I want to make sure I didn't miss something.

    There's a switch on the back that I don't know what it does. It's labeled 'in' and 'out'.

    It's just nice to have a manual so you have a complete description of operations. Tweakers gotta tweak.

    Also it is not a copy of the TI Silent.

    Thanks

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  • From Richard@21:1/5 to All on Thu Apr 18 20:36:26 2019
    [Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

    Ken Wiebe <gv.kwiebe@gmail.com> spake the secret code <6ca36624-f7de-4407-beb2-180ac3a0ca99@googlegroups.com> thusly:

    On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 8:21:38 AM UTC-7, Ken Wiebe wrote:
    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

    I would like to see the specs on the modem, for one thing.

    Probably whatever Bell standard was related to 300 baud modems. Bell
    103 modem? <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_103_modem>

    And while I think I have figured out how to set the serial port comm >parameters, I want to make sure I didn't miss something.

    Almost certainly 300 or 110 baud, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit. Unsure
    about the parity, but no parity was common. If it's anything other
    than no parity, they usually have a DIP switch or something to set
    even, odd, or none for parity.

    There's a switch on the back that I don't know what it does. It's
    labeled 'in' and 'out'.

    Heh heh. Nice. Now that I look at this pic of the 4910, I can barely
    make out that switch on the bottom right. <https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/images/2/28/Panasonic_KX-4910D_182794738418-3.jpg>

    Does yours have those round plastic bumpouts like in that picture?
    Are those connections or just something to hold screws? Looks like
    screws, but I didn't take the picture.

    It looks like there is some text molded into the plastic just above the
    switch in the pic of the 4910; does yours have that too? If so, what
    does it say?

    It's just nice to have a manual so you have a complete description of >operations. Tweakers gotta tweak.

    Yep.

    Also it is not a copy of the TI Silent.

    Yeah, I'm not aware of anyone that directly copied the TI Silent 700
    series terminals. However, I've never opened up any of my Computer
    Devices terminals to see if they have identical circuitry. Honestly,
    the circuitry in these portable thermal printing terminals is not that elaborate because they don't have much, if any, smarts. This is
    before modems were integrated onto ICs, so there will be a discrete
    modem circuit, power supply, keyboard matrix scan logic, print head
    control, motor control and some small amount of communication
    buffering and special function decode (e.g. BS, LF, CR, HT, VT, FF
    handling). I haven't dug into the Silent 700 schematics, but I'm
    betting there isn't a microprocessor for the earliest of models.

    You'd be surprised how fancy a terminal can get without a
    microprocessor and just a state machine. The Beehive B100 does all
    kinds of fancy ESC sequences[1] with no microprocessor, just a state
    machine. The Operator's Manual[2] lays out the flow chart for the
    state machine.

    [1] <https://terminals-wiki.org/wiki/index.php/CodeChart:Beehive_B100>
    [2] <http://manx-docs.org/details.php/74,18504>
    --
    "The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" free book <http://tinyurl.com/d3d-pipeline>
    The Terminals Wiki <http://terminals-wiki.org>
    The Computer Graphics Museum <http://computergraphicsmuseum.org>
    Legalize Adulthood! (my blog) <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>

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  • From AB@21:1/5 to Ken Wiebe on Thu Jun 6 09:54:33 2019
    On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 11:21:38 AM UTC-4, Ken Wiebe wrote:
    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

    Hi Ken - I don't have a manual but I have a Quick Reference Card for a D4910D which I assume is similar. Unfortunately there is no way for me to post an image here, if you want I can email you.

    It's a pretty easy-to-use machine - I've had my ones running pretty easily cheers
    Andy

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  • From Ken Wiebe@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jun 7 08:26:03 2019
    On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 9:54:34 AM UTC-7, AB wrote:
    On Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 11:21:38 AM UTC-4, Ken Wiebe wrote:
    Looking for a manual for Panasonic KX-D4911 portable data terminal.

    Nice rig, can't find manual anyplace though...

    Hi Ken - I don't have a manual but I have a Quick Reference Card for a D4910D which I assume is similar. Unfortunately there is no way for me to post an image here, if you want I can email you.

    It's a pretty easy-to-use machine - I've had my ones running pretty easily cheers
    Andy

    Email would be great - thanks, Andy! Send to:

    "panasonic" (at symbol) networkguy.me

    Ken

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