AMSTRAD PCW8256 systems & sw available

[Liam Proven]

On 01/12/2007, Steven Martin <speedracer005 at mac.com> wrote:
> My dad is 82, a retired College Professor, he owns a Amstrad PCW 8256
> and his printer is broken. The printer head doesn't seem to go
> anywhere so it can't print. Is there someone in the USA that you know
> of that can help me, we are in California. If you do not know of
> anyone in the USA is there a way you can direct me to someone I can
> buy parts from that speaks english or at least can communicate
> through email in english.

It's a British machine, so English shouldn't be a problem.

They're still quite common over here, but international freight for a
printer isn't worth it. The bundled printer is dumb, with no
controller electronics; all the logic is in the computer.

The PCW8xxx has no serial or parallel ports - you'd need to buy them.
If you can find an interface, that's a good option.

Other option: get LocoScript PC, have his disks batch converted, and
give him a dead basic PC with DOS, a 3.5" floppy drive, and set up
MS-DOS to boot straight into LocoScript. It has a huge range of
printer drivers so you'll get something that can drive a modern inkjet
or an old-fashioned mono laser fairly easily. Obviously, with DOS,
you'll need parallel-port printers.

Locomotive, the company that wrote LocoScript for the PCW (and indeed
the PC version, the BASIC and DOSes for all the Amstrad 8-bit
machines, their CP/M ports, Mallard BASIC for CP/M and the graphical
BASIC/2 for DR GEM) is still around. They'll be able to help you.

http://www.locoscript.com/

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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