# Looking for a serial (RS232) printer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524 "2006-11-15T14:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/1 "2006-11-15T14:43:28Z")
Or a serial-to-parallel converter so I can use one of my existing dot-matrix printers? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/2 "2006-11-15T14:45:19Z")
Serial printers will not work well on parallel, you should be able to find either a serial to USB or an add on serial port for your PC. What kind of machine are you hooking the printer to? ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/3 "2006-11-15T14:58:25Z")
It is a [SiteSentinel 1](http://opwfms.com/ProductsTankGauges/SiteSentinel1/SiteSentinel1.html) tank gauge. The default printer that comes with the device is a [Seiko DPU-414](http://www.sii.co.jp/sps/eg/product/unit/dpu414.html) but it is slow and the thermal paper is hard to find and expensive. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/4 "2006-11-15T15:14:25Z")
[QUOTE=Dog80] It is a [SiteSentinel 1](http://opwfms.com/ProductsTankGauges/SiteSentinel1/SiteSentinel1.html) tank gauge. The default printer that comes with the device is a [Seiko DPU-414](http://www.sii.co.jp/sps/eg/product/unit/dpu414.html) but it is slow and the thermal paper is hard to find and expensive. [/QUOTE] We purchased fast Okidata Serial printers for this purpose. I do not believe there is any good way to use a Parallel printer on the serial port of a control box. Okidata and Epson still make many fast serial impact printers. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/5 "2006-11-15T15:27:49Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] We purchased fast Okidata Serial printers for this purpose. I do not believe there is any good way to use a Parallel printer on the serial port of a control box. Okidata and Epson still make many fast serial impact printers. Jim [/QUOTE] We use [this parallel to serial bidirectional converter](http://www.worldofcables.com/oscatalog/CreateHTMLPages/ATN-SXP320.htm) with our serial printers here at my job with no problems. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-serial-rs232-printer/380524/6 "2006-11-15T15:41:42Z")
[QUOTE=Dragwyr] We use [this parallel to serial bidirectional converter](http://www.worldofcables.com/oscatalog/CreateHTMLPages/ATN-SXP320.htm) with our serial printers here at my job with no problems. [/QUOTE] Never saw one of those before. Looks like a winner. Do you use them with just PCs or with any control boxes? Jim