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For other uses, see Centronics (disambiguation). Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered only for the parallel interface that bears their name. Centronics can mean: Centronics printer port, a common parallel interface standard Micro ribbon connectors, popularized by the printer port standard Centronics Data Computer Corporation, the company which created the printer port standard Centronics, Inc. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
The GENICOM logo From 1982 to 2003, GENICOM was a leading American manufacturer of computer printers, based in Chantilly, Virginia. ...
Location within Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Coordinates: Country United States State New Hampshire County Hillsborough Incorporated 1673 Annexed 1731 Incorporated 1746 (renamed in 1830) Board of Selectmen Richard Maddox, Chairman Shawn N. Jasper Kenneth Massey Kathleen MacLean Benjamin J. Nadeau Area - City 75. ...
Wang logo circa 1976. ...
Control Data Corporation, or CDC, was one of the pioneering supercomputer firms. ...
For a history of the Centronics interface, refer to the Centronics page. ...
History
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1971 corporate logo | Centronics began as a division of Wang Laboratories. Founded and initially operated by Robert Howard and Samuel Lang (owner of the well known K & L Color Photo Service Lab in New York City), the group produced remote terminals and systems for the casino industry. Printers were developed to print receipts and transaction reports. Wang spun off the business in 1971 and Centronics was formed as a corporation in Hudson, New Hampshire with Howard as president and chairman. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Wang logo circa 1976. ...
Location within Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Coordinates: Country United States State New Hampshire County Hillsborough Incorporated 1673 Annexed 1731 Incorporated 1746 (renamed in 1830) Board of Selectmen Richard Maddox, Chairman Shawn N. Jasper Kenneth Massey Kathleen MacLean Benjamin J. Nadeau Area - City 75. ...
The Centronics Model 101 was introduced at the 1970 National Computer Conference. The print head used an innovative seven-wire solenoid impact system. Based on this design, Centronics later made the claim to have developed the first dot matrix impact printer. A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer refers to a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. ...
Howard developed a personal relationship with his neighbor, Max Hugel, the founder and president of Brother International, the US arm of Brother Industries, a manufacturer of sewing machines and typewriters. A business relationship developed when Centronics needed reliable manufacturing of the printer mechanisms--a relationship that would help propel Brother into the printer industry. Hugel would later become executive vice president of Centronics. Print heads and electronics were built in Centronics plants in New Hampshire and Ireland, mechanisms were built in Japan by Brother and the printers were assembled in New Hampshire. Brother Industries, Ltd. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area Ranked 46th - Total 9,350 sq mi (24,217 km²) - Width 68 miles (110 km) - Length 190 miles (305 km) - % water 4. ...
In the 1970s, Centronics formed a relationship with Canon to develop non-impact printers. No products were ever produced, but Canon continued to work on laser printers, eventually developing a highly successful series of engines. Canon Inc. ...
In 1977, Centronics sued competitor Mannesmann AG in a patent dispute regarding the return spring used in the print actuator. The Tally logo Tally was a pioneer of the information technology market. ...
In 1975, Centronics formed an OEM agreement with Tandy and produced DMP and LP series printers for several years. The 6000 series band printers were introduced in 1978. By 1979 company revenues were over $100 million. Original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, is a term that refers to a situation in which one company purchases a manufactured product from another company and resells the product as its own, usually as a part of a larger product it sells. ...
Tandy Corporation is the former name of the parent company of RadioShack Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas-based company best known for its RadioShack electronics stores. ...
In 1980, the Mini-Printer Model 770 was introduced--a small, low-cost desktop serial matrix printer. This was the first printer built completely in-house, and there were problems. Flaws in the microprocessor led to a recall and a stoppage of manufacturing for a year. During this period, Epson, Brother and others began to gain market share and Centronics never recovered. 1980 also saw the introduction of the E Series 900 and 1200 LPM band printers. A microprocessor is a programmable digital electronic component that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit (CPU) on a single semiconducting integrated circuit (IC). ...
A four colour Epson Stylus C45 inkjet printer Epson is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of inkjet, dot-matrix and laser printers, scanners, desktop computers, business, multimedia and home theatre projectors, point of sale docket printers and cash registers, laptops, integrated circuits, LCD components and other associated electronic...
A change of hands In 1982, Control Data Corporation merged their current printer business unit, CPI, into Centronics and at the same time invested $25 million in the company, effectively taking control from Howard. Control Data controlled the company until 1986 when CDC's interest was acquired by a group of investors affiliated with Drexel Burnham Lambert. The Drexel interest was acquired by Centronics in 1987. Computer Peripherals, Inc. ...
Drexel Burnham Lambert was one of the most profitable Wall Street investment banking firms during the late 1970s and most of the 1980s. ...
The LineWriter 400 band printer was introduced in 1983 closely followed by the faster LineWriter 800 band printer in 1984. The LineWriter series would continue through 1995. The GLP (Great Little Printer) was a series of low-end serial matrix printers introduced in 1984.
The relationship with Brother continued with several of the PrintStation models being produced from rebadged Brother products. Exclusive rights to market Trilog color matrix printers was acquired in 1984, and Trilog was purchased outright in 1985. Advanced Terminals (a manufacturer of sheet feeders) and BDS Computer Australia Pty Ltd were purchased in 1986.
The PrintStation 350 series serial matrix printer was highly successful in the OEM market, sold with the logos of Data General, ITT Courier, NCR, CDC, Decision Data and ISI. Most profitable was the agreement to build the IBM 4214 based on a modified PS350. In 1985, company revenues were $126 million with $65 million from IBM 4214 production. In 1986 the IBM 4214 production ended and revenue dropped. On Jue 23, 1986, Centronics announced the new corporate logo. Original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, is a term that refers to a situation in which one company purchases a manufactured product from another company and resells the product as its own, usually as a part of a larger product it sells. ...
Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. ...
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a technology company specializing in solutions for the retail and financial industries. ...
Control Data Corporation, or CDC, was one of the pioneering supercomputer firms. ...
For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation) and Big Blue. ...
Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ...
The only Centronics laser product was released in July 1986: the PagePrinter 8. The PP8 used a Sharp engine identical to an existing Sharp copier, using a 6800 based controller jointly developed by Sharp and Centronics. At $2,495, the PP8 was $500 less than the HP LaserJet. A faster version was announced, but never materialized. 1993 Apple LaserWriter Pro 630 laser printer A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. ...
Sharp Corporation ) (TYO: 6753 , LuxSE: SRP) is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, founded in 1912. ...
Motorola 6800 Microprocessor The 6800 is a microprocessor produced by Motorola and released shortly after the Intel 8080 in 1975. ...
HP may refer to: Handley Page Aircraft Company Harry Potter, a series of fantasy novels by British writer J. K. Rowling Hello! Project (H!P), a Japanese pop recording project Hewlett-Packard, a computer and computer peripheral company High Point, North Carolina High potency, a term used in biology, pharmacology...
Image:1984 HP Laserjet. ...
Sale of printer division and transformation into ECKO Group In 1987 the Centronics printer business was sold to GENICOM. Centronics Data Computer Corporation continued as a New York Stock Exchange company and soon changed its name to Centronics Corporation in 1987. After using the proceeds of the sale to purchase Ecko Housewares in 1988, Centronics changed their name to ECKO Group.[1]. The GENICOM logo From 1982 to 2003, GENICOM was a leading American manufacturer of computer printers, based in Chantilly, Virginia. ...
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange. ...
World Kitchen, LLC is a kitchenware products maker and distributor based in Reston, Virginia. ...
Model 101 The 101 was highly innovative and affordable at its inception. Some selected specifications: - Print speed: 165 characters per second
- Weight: 155 pounds
- Size: 27 ½ " W x 11 ¼ " H x 19 ¼ D
- Shipping: 200 pounds, wooden crate, unpacked by removal of 36 screws
- Characters: 62, 10 numeric, 26 upper case and 26 special characters (no lower case)
- Character size: 10 characters per inch
- Line spacing: 6 lines per inch
- Vertical control: punched tape reader for top of form and vertical tab
- Forms thickness: original plus four copies
- Interfaces: Centronics parallel, optional RS-232 serial
The interface Dr. An Wang, Robert Howard and Prentice Robinson developed the Centronics parallel interface at Wang Laboratories. Wang had a surplus stock of 20,000 Amphenol 36-pin micro ribbon connectors that were originally used for one of their early calculators. The connector has become so closely associated with Centronics that it is now popularly known as the “Centronics connector”. Even the 50 pin connector used in the original SCSI interface is known as “SCSI Centronics”. The Centronics parallel interface quickly became an industry de facto standard. Manufacturers of the time tended to use various connectors on the system side, so a variety of cables were required. When IBM implemented the parallel interface on the IBM PC, they used the DB25F connector at the PC-end of the interface, creating the now familiar parallel cable with a DB25M at one end and a 36 pin micro ribbon connector at the other. HP adopted Centronics parallel on their printer models and introduced a bidirectional version known as Bitronics on the LaserJet 4 in 1992. The Bitronics and Centronics interfaces were superseded by the IEEE 1284 standard in 1994. Dr. An Wang (Chinese: ; pinyin: Wáng Ä€n; February 7, 1920 – March 24, 1990) was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories. ...
Amphenol Corporation is one of the worlds leading producers of electronic and fiber optic connectors, cable and interconnect systems. ...
Micro ribbon 36 pin female panel mount connector with bail locks The micro ribbon connector is a common type of electrical connector used particularly in various computer, telecommunication and other applications. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without...
For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation) and Big Blue. ...
IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...
It has been suggested that DE-9 be merged into this article or section. ...
The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly known as HP, is a very large, global company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. ...
The HP LaserJet 4 (abbreviated sometimes to LJ4 or HP4) is a group of monochrome laser printers produced in the early to mid-1990s as part of the LaserJet series by Hewlett Packard (HP). ...
Categories: Stub | Computer buses | IEEE standards ...
Centronics parallel is generally compliant with IEEE 1284 compatibility mode. The original Centronics implementation called for the busy lead to toggle with each received line of data (busy by line), whereas IEEE 1284 calls for busy to toggle with each received character (busy by character). Some host systems or print servers may use a strobe signal with a relatively low voltage output or a fast toggle. Any of these issues might cause no or intermittent printing, missing or repeated characters or garbage printing. Some printer models may have a switch or setting to set busy by character; others may require a handshake adapter.
See Also For a history of the Centronics interface, refer to the Centronics page. ...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
References - ^ Ekco Group, Inc. Company Histories. FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-27.
- Edward Webster, Print Unchained: Fifty Years of Digital Printing, 1950-2000 and Beyond, DRA of Vermont, Inc. (2000). ISBN 0-9702617-0-5
- Centronics Model 101 User Manual
- Datek Printer Report, July 1986
- PC Magazine, Nov 27, 1984
- Centronics data sheets
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