MediaWiki:Sitenotice
2026-03-12: Cocopedia.com is now using a new caching system that should make things faster. Please let me know if you encounter any new issues.

2026-03-15: MediaWiki has been reinstalled and the old database and files restored. It was pretty clogged up from being upgraded so many times since 2004. I am also testing out Cloudflare to see if it can prevent the 'bot assaults that took the site down last year.

2026-03-16: Special thanks to Don Barber for hosting a backup mirror of CoCopedia: https://cocopedia.dgb3.net

CoCo Printers

From CoCopedia - The Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer Wiki
Revision as of 21:28, 22 October 2023 by Carney (talk | contribs) (Started Printer page)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigationJump to search
WELCOME
Looking for CoCo help? If you are trying to do something with your old Color Computer, read this quick reference. Want to contribute to this wiki? Be sure to read this first. This CoCo wiki project was started on October 29, 2004. --OS-9 Al Read-only mirror: https://cocopedia.dgb3.net

See Recent Changes. | About this site. | Join the E-Mail List or Facebook Group. | Contact me with updates/questions.

This page was last updated on 10/22/2023. Total Pages: 751. Total Files: 999.


Home / Hardware - CoCo Printers


CoCo printers came in essentially two types. Ones that were specifically designed, made, and advertised with the CoCo in mind (either exclusively, or with other computers as well), and those that were not and which the CoCo had to use adapters for.

The vast majority of computer printers in the 8-bit era used parallel ports, which the CoCo does not have. Printers made with the CoCo in mind use the CoCo's serial port. Another layer of distinctiveness to CoCo printing is that the CoCo's serial port was not the larger D-shaped connector with 9 or 25 pins that were standard elsewhere, but rather was a round, 4-pin DIN connector, perhaps to cut costs. Radio Shack sold a six-foot male-to-male 4 pin to 4 pin cable for CoCo printing, separately from their CoCos and printers, as Catalog Number 26-3020 for $4.95 starting in 1982's RSC-07, going all the way to RSC-21 in 1990 for $5.95.