So the 50G can print by IR but not link to a 48GX?

[Mark Edmonds]

I'm confused over this.

I can print from my 50G to the old HP 82240B IR printer which pre-dates the 50G by many years. The printing is very very slow and sometimes I get rows of solid blocks after the print has completed.

However, despite this all working and suggesting full compatibility with the necessary IR protocols, I simply cannot get my 48GX to send to the 50G by IR.

After struggling with the forum search facility, I eventually found a thread about this which says you can't send/recv by IR without explaining why. If the printing didn't work, I'd leave it alone but as that does work, why can't comms with another 48G work?

Taking a detour via the PC is a little nuisance for file transfer but much more irritating is this apparent incompatibility between the calcs. Can anyone shed some light on this please? Is there a magic trick to get a 48GX talking to a 50G over IR?

Thanks :)

Mark

[Thomas Radtke]

The 50G uses the IrDA protocol for data transfer while the 48GX does not. Obviously, printing works different. Maybe that's because HP doesn't provide IrDA printers. Anyone knows?

Edited: 29 Aug 2009, 8:06 a.m.

[Dave Britten]

That's pretty much it. The 82240A/B printers use something called the Red Eye protocol. It's a one-way transmission. There's a program for the 48 called INPRT that was originally designed for receiving "printed" data from a 28C/S, Pioneer, etc. that you might be able to use for receiving similar data from a 50G. I played around with this a little bit and didn't get very encouraging results, but you might have better luck than I did.

[Bart (UK)]

Hey, this is interesting. About 2 years ago I emailed HP asking about transferring stuff from the 28S to my new 50G. They told me that the IRs (I assumed wavelenths) were incompatible.

However, if a 48G can be made to receive from a 28S, and the 82240B can receive both 48G and 50G, then perhaps something can be figured out to make a 50G receive a 28/48? (& full comms between 48 & 50)

Perhaps I mis-interpreted HPs email, and it is just a protocol issue, I'll see if I still have the email somewhere.

[Dave Britten]

I'd imagine it would be possible to port INPRT to the 50G. I don't know enough SysRPL or Saturn ML to make it happen, though. It would make a great way to transfer small files between that and a 48 - just pass it through ->STR on the sending end, and then OBJ-> on the receiver.

[Khanh-Dang Nguyen Thu-Lam]

Basically, I was told the IR wavelengths differ, so it is physically impossible to link a 50g with a 48G.
I guess the IR printer can receive from a broader IR wavelengths range, including the IR wavelengths of both 48G and 50g.

[Mark Edmonds]

Thanks for all the replies. So the long and short of it is that comms between a GX and 50G by IR is impossible. Shame. I shall have to take the long-route via a PC!

You know, I really would have thought that one of the main benefits of the IR on the 50G would be for 48 series users upgrading and copying their programs over. I have never seen anyone anywhere using IR to talk to a PC and I think IR ports are a dying breed on mobos. It certainly seems like a curious decision not to support GX IR comms on the 50G. Perhaps this is one area where the 50G's upgradable firmware could be put to good use - by incorporating IR comms in a future upgrade!! (I am probably dreaming....!)

Mark

[Alex Christensen]

I've always wondered why HP didn't add support for printing to a PCL printer over IrDA. Many HP Laserjets have an IR port. I can print 7-bit ascii to my 6MP by just sending the string out the IR port. They are missing out on combining their two product lines this way. I would think it would be fairly easy to convert GROBS into a PCL image and be able to print anything on the calculator properly. I've been tempted to try it myself one of these days, but programming is not really my strongest skillset.