[rescue] Rescuing a HP 2932A dotmatrix printer -- anyone have a manual?

[Andrew Gaylard]

Hello people,

I've rescued a HP 2932A wide-carriage dotmatrix printer that
was dumped in 1997 and has been lying dormant in a store
room since then.

I've found some information for it on the HP site, at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=bpd01923&dlc=en&product=58135&printable=no&encodeUrl=true&

Armed with this info, I've managed to wire up a RS-232 cable
betweeen my DEC alpha 433au and the printer, and using
minicom under Linux I can send plain ASCII, and -- hey -- it prints!

(Amazingly, the ribbon is at least 9 years old, and the print
is still clearly legible, if a little grey.)

Now I'm interested in finding out more, especially if this
monster can produce other typefaces, bold, underline, or
perhaps even raster graphics.

But the HP site simply says:

"A printer owners manual is necessary for operating the
HP 2932A, 2933A, and 2934A printers. One manual covers
operation of all three HP 2932A, 2933A, and 2934A printers.
To obtain a printed copy of the 2930 Series Printer Owner's
Manual, call 661-257-5565 and request Part Number
02932-90001. The cost per manual will be US$27.00; this
cost includes printing, shipping and handling."

Call me cheap but I'm reluctant to spend money on a
manual when I can't even be sure that it contains what
I'm interested in...

Does anyone have one? If it does explain the control codes,
could you scan the relevant pages and send them to me?
Or if that's too much work, could you at least tell me what
I'd get if I spent the money?

Thanks a lot,
Andrew.

PS: 20 years ago, HP sure built things to last.

PPS: Now, to find a company in South Africa which stocks
ribbons for this beast ...