Printing From the Past - HP 2671G Thermal Printer

[@lufferov]

"I can press one button to print this page" ... Immediately proceeds to press TWO buttons! ... You can't fool me!

[@JamieTheEnby]

People ask me how the hell I have so much knowledge on random things, I have to give credit to one Of the many of them. Thanks Tech tangents lol.

[@Dinnye01]

Same here

[@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST]

Same here. People say I'm very smart, but I'm just a dumb guy that repeats what I learn from smart people! 😅

[@zombieregime]

Always be open to learning things regardless of any need or use. Just learn to learn. Then, when you do have a need or used for even the most basic level of niche knowledge to fix some problem that is a game ender for your circle, BAM 'just move this here, and plug that in there. Itll give it power and....' [wirrckheek....tiktik....beep] '....There we go! ......What? Why is everyone looking at me? Well, anyways lemmie see that pant leg, and Ill mend it with this piece of wire strand and this sting hanging off my shirt. .....WHAT?!?!?!' It actually used to happen to me a lot. Id randomly watch a video or read a webpage about some process and within 2 months that exact scenario will happen and that exact issue was covered in the video, with a fix, and future mitigation. It was freaky sometimes......

[@zombieregime]

@@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST When people say Im smart after geeking out on some chemical process or physical phenomenon or coerced a mechanical whatsit into playing nice, I usually reply with "Im not that smart. I just know what the big words mean..." And they laugh.....like Im joking..... Im a firm believer that the only stupid question is the one left unasked. If you're curious, ask. Anyone willing to rail against an honestly asked question isnt worth taking advice from in the first place. If someone expresses an honest interest in a thing youre knowledgeable about, it does more harm to humanity as a whole to not tell them, or worse tell them something incorrect (at least without prefacing with 'i believe' or 'as far as i know'). And if you honestly dont know a thing......we have access to the compendium of human experience in out pockets!!! We reached the age of star trek data pads a decade ago! Look it up! Learn together!

[@vwestlife]

Fax paper is designed to be torn against a serrated metal blade, so that's why trying to tear it against a smooth piece of plastic isn't working so well. Maybe the original thermal paper HP sold for it had perforations after every page length, like dot matrix printer paper? And your excitement about being able to do a screen print of the game reminded me of Ashens' video about the Megaduck Super Computer, which had the same feature.

[@HfLuo]

Yes I have a bunch of the original thermal papers in original box. They are perforated and folded just like paper for dot matrix printers, but without the side holes. Each section is in A4 size. There's even a stainless steel paper holder that you can attach to the top of the printer, which was designed especially for the folded papers.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

That monitor is a beast.

[@voltare2amstereo]

Faded thermal copies can be resurrected by holding the paper in an alcohol vapour ( methylated spirits Works well) the print becomes inverted

[@AgentOffice]

Can I spray rubbing alcohol

[@voltare2amstereo]

@@AgentOffice no, hold the paper above the bottle with the lid off

[@mellertid]

As mentioned already, the Bisphenol coating of the paper is of some health concern. No panic, I guess, but best treat it accordingly.

[@zombieregime]

Prop 65 Compliance Warning: This property contains compounds known the the state of California to be potentially carcinogenic. This warning is to be posted in all publicly accessible areas, and remain easily visible at all times. Failure to do so will result in enraged Karens who will vocally inform you of their apparent lack of knowledge that bleach contains chlorine and she does not want that poison anywhere near her precious Conner, who will be peeing into the property's hottub.....from the pool deck. Informing Karen the human nervous system requires chlorine to function my result in death. No trees were harmed in the sending of this message, however a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

[@zombieregime]

@@user-jt5vm3mi1w grind it up and snort it like the finest china white. Disclaimer: I am not a drug dealer. I am not your drug dealer. For illicit drug advice consult a knowledgeable drug dealer with adequate street rep. The only person responsible for your drugs is you.

[@mellertid]

Accordingly, or "in a way that is appropriate to the particular circumstances". So if it's a bit toxic, well, basically don't mess around with it as you might if it was not. 🙂

[@pikgears]

so, don't eat it or use it as cigarette paper

[@bogganalseryd2324]

Yeah it is full of female hormones

[@sailorjune2121]

the huge giggle when you got the screenshot, so good. I will never own or use this computer and i watched this whole thing because i loved how excited it made you

[@robsyoutube]

This is my favorite video series of yours. Its just so Retro and cool at the same time. Its not just some boring 486.

[@yvonnemcgruder3296]

I'm not sure why KZbin decided to show me your videos, but I am glad it did. I was a teenager in the 80s and had an Amiga as my first computer at home in about 1987. I love seeing these older machines and peripherals restored to working order. I also appreciate your unending enthusiasm and unabashed geekiness regarding this technology. You have a fan, sir.

[@CareyHolzman]

Thermal printers are still in use today, most commonly found on receipt printers on gas pumps.

[@Sam-sl5zv]

I ran across something rare and unusual recently that I think you would enjoy. It's a Casio Board Copy CP-1000. It is a combination black and white camera and thermal printer. So you point it at something, press a button, and it prints out the picture from a full sized 8.5 inch wide thermal paper spool. Also despite being a "large format" thermal printer it actually works totally differently than this one.

[@tech4pros1]

that sounds more like a Cathode Ray Dude kind of thing, he collects obscure early digital cameras. that Casio would be right up his street!

[@kargaroc386]

If that's one of those portable copiers, he already did a video about that.

[@joshpayne4015]

I love your passion for this system. Keep up the inspiring work!

[@button-puncher]

The near-silent operation is GLORIOUS. Congrats on the awesome find. I don't know how many viewers have experiences a dot-matrix printer but they were SO loud. And it was a terrible noise too. 24-pin were a bit better than 9-pin, but still. I once saw a forms printer that had a 3-phase feed motor and printed an entire line-width at a time. It was almost mesmerizing to watch the paper just whipping through it.

[@Metal_Maxine]

We had a dot matrix at school, it was constantly running and the racket was immense.

[@modulusshift]

Wow I’d never heard of reforming capacitors before! Guess I don’t often see ones anywhere near that big haha Just a few years later it seems so much more likely that they’d leak instead of drift out of spec! _scroll wheel_ omg omg omg so _coooool_

[@nfearnley]

I know we've had mouse wheels for over a decade, but I want that keyboard wheel!!! That looks amazing.

[@deltacx1059]

5:35 i don't feel like owing a printer that won't milk you for all you are worth is a novelty.

[@Martipar]

For the paper cutting you minght want to take the cutting edge from a box of aluminium foil and attaach it to the printer in a way that allows you to tear the paper off. Double sided tape should allow for it to be non-destructively removed in the future.

[@scotshabalam2432]

Thermal paper is cool but it's shortcoming of being perishable in heat made it useless for long term record keeping so it was used for short-term records like receipts and they're still around in cash register printers but they ultimately weren't practical for most of the PC market.

[@Cyberdeamon]

Yea, as a person who's been in retail those papers go black surprisingly fast if you stick it to wrapper of a hot pie or something that has heat in it.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@Cyberdeamonmy favourite as a teen was to turn a train ticket (a very distinctive orange and pale green affair over here) all-black(ish) so you could see the British Rail watermark really easily. They were shiny while the rest was matte, or maybe the reverse. Doing it with receipts is fun too but I always used to hope I’d find a watermark anywhere else. I guess it was done purely due to counterfeit tickets or something.

[@button-puncher]

It was always such a shame to do an expense report and ...accidentally... have a blacked out receipt. Definitely didn't have any beer with dinner. :D

[@jfbeam]

I was about to say the same... they aren't remotely "obsolete" technology, as a great many receipt and label printers are thermal. (labels are thermal transfer.)

[@paulstubbs7678]

Thermal printers are about the only real retro printer you can get going as all others need consumables/supplies that are no longer made.

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

Dunno what it is but I'm always happy to watch a video of buds doing even accessories for old and new systems. I mean while they might not always get the spot light, sometimes these are the things that lets you make full use of a computer like being able to get data in and out, be it on floppy, optical, hard disks, or even paper.

[@JOHNWICK-5903.5]

That was so nice to see a printer which doesn’t require any ink, didn’t knew anything like that even existed. Thanks for the video.

[@slightlyevolved]

I almost wonder if that old belt wasn't some kind of glass fiber reinforced, and the rubber HAD disintegrated, so you were left with mostly just the glass fiber strands? Hence, why it was solid and "stringy" as you took it out.

[@CaptainAwsome]

þe strings are peices of fabric, þe belt was made by putting þe fabric into a mold and fillling it wiþ rubber. þe fabric holds the strengþ and þe rubber interfaces wiþ þe cogs

[@GodmanchesterGoblin]

@@CaptainAwsome Fascinating - I am puzzled how you got the Thorn character in place of the th. An Icelandic or Scandinavian localisation?

[@CaptainAwsome]

@@GodmanchesterGoblin on a windows device, hold alt þen press on your numpad 0254 for þ or 0222 for Þ þen release alt, on android you can use þe QWERTY keyboard and hold t for it to come up.

[@DEJ915]

I wish I had that wheel on everything back in the day it's awesome.

[@ANSWERTHECALLOFJESUSCHRIST]

Man, this video reminded me of how much I miss dot matrix printers. The whole experience with them was satisfying to me. EDIT: Nice video, TT. 😀👍

[@WannaDJ]

I'm so happy to see the massive growth of your channel in the past couple of months.

[@Thegonagle]

That dot matrix printer was made by Epson. It was a rebranded Epson MX-80 or RX-80. We had the RX-80 in my house as a kid, while my uncle had the similar MX-80.

[@Ice_Karma]

25:26 Yup, that's exactly how. ❤

[@jimiphillips1170]

What an absolutely delightful printer. 10/10.

[@georgen9755]

printers are the essence of laptops mobiles desktops and ......adobe PDF files .... all the resource files catches all thermal printing ......the inkless ........

[@angrydove4067]

Sweet that the printer worked and works so well. I've never seen a belt go that bad before. Looks like a lot of fun to use. I'm surprised by how fast it is.

[@jfbeam]

I had a thermal transfer printer back in the 90's. (had a "ribbon" to print on normal paper) After a few million miles, the print head will be gone... it is effectively rubbing a very fine sandpaper in normal operation. (paper may feel smooth, but it isn't) I still have dot-matrix printers from the 80's that work perfectly.

[@chrishuston4445]

Thanks!

[@WSS_the_OG]

These thermal printers were really *hot stuff* back in the day! Not that long ago, I came across a thermally printed receipt inside a paperback which I bought used. It had blackened, but most of the text was still readable. Thermally printed receipts were rather ubiquitous for a time. I love that you were able to restore your HP to working status again!

[@a_funyun]

Haven't clicked a video this fast in a while, dunno what it is but your enthusiasm is infectious and the devices fascinating. Thanks!

[@MichaelOfRohan]

You make me happy dude. Thanks for this video. Ill be paying alot more attention to your channel.

[@michac3796]

Please look into the bringhtness of the HP monitor. Sth Sth rejuvinator...?

[@flyingdutchman28]

I like how you used the spudger rightt at the edge of the roll, so as to not waste paper there.

[@Smaxx]

Neat, randomly stumbled over your latest video about the Softstrip, checked the channel and found this recommended. For me this piece of hardware here is kind of mindblowing for its age (it's as old as me!), especially for its printing speed and silence compared to (later) needle printers.🤯

[@xero110]

Thanks for reminding me about large paper thermal printers. Amazon has tiny 8.5" x roll printers for $130. I need a small backpack-friendly printer and I hadn't considered thermal printers.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Printing out your current Breakout screen. EPIC!

[@paullee107]

I have one of these and enjoy following your adventures. Thanks for all you're sharing, let's link up!!

[@Mechjoc]

Heavens above, I had flashbacks to this fax machine my dad had. It was a small, Brother fax machine. It used a thermal printer, and I could NEVER get it to tear cleanly. So when he'd send me to get the faxes, I'd have to hunt down scissors first. The paper was slick, I could never get it to tear right, and for some reason that aggravated him to no end.

[@rjsmith2007]

You can pick up o-rings from your local auto repair shops like Autozone and Oreillys. They usually have all sizes in stock. And they are really cheap.

[@robert43g]

Some faxes have a serrated end where the paper came out so you could tear it off others cut it for you

[@Psychlist1972]

That fully computer is gorgeous. It doesn't need real work, it can just sit there and be beautiful. :)

[@jessestrobel2]

Great video as always. If you can't find paper that tears away easy I'd suggest maybe fashioning blades along the edge of that clear plastic piece

[@Toonrick12]

8:27 THAT

[@JoriDiculous]

"best" part with thermal prints is you cant store them. Excellent for information not worth keeping :P What i really like about old stuff (computers, electronics etc) is they say "No serviceable parts inside", and are still dead easy to take apart and service :)

[@zombieregime]

No USER serviceable parts inside. Because licensed technicians are apparently cloned and grown, then given special training to remove a panel, a screw, and unplug a cable. No human could ever learn that! Especially not one that didnt give us a few hundred dollars for a 4 hour long seminar at the Radisson next to the airport. No, not the nice one. ......dont get my started on the glass fuses that have through hole leads on them........ Why do we put up with companies treating literally everyone like they're braindead apes? I mean, its the maker generation.....Someone who could design a thing that provides the same functionality as just about anything, and run it off a raspberry pi. So, instead of trying to convince us there is magic under the casing that is somehow different from every other piece of electronics, hows about you TV manufacturers just spend the extra 2 cents per pallet and use properly sized capacitors so we dont have to buy another power board thats more than half the price of the TV?!??! Because apparently the imaging panel, video board, backlighting system, casing, and licenses all make up the other half.....HOW DOES A SWITCH MODE POWER SUPPLY THAT PUTS OUT 12V AND 5V AT 2 AMPS THAT EXPENSIVE?!?!! Thiefs, man....fucking thiefs...... And I asked you to not get me started!!!

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Yes you can.

[@loganjoy-koer5936]

Thermal paper is pretty cool, especially when companies use common sizes for their products, even if they manufacture it differently than other paper (GB Printer is an example, Nintendo made it a sticker)

[@DEMENTO01]

was not expecting this weird computer to have a screenshot feature, i love screenshots, one of the first things in its category with screenshot support i know of is the N-gage. it actually let's you do full BMP format pics with no loss in quality whatsoever and even has multitasking, literally my fav feature of that weird device

[@draggonhedd]

You could try modeling a new paper guide part and having it resin printed with a toothed edge like a tape dispenser, make it much easier to tear the papers off

[@SeanBZA]

Fax that paper was designed for has a cutter bar in it, that has multiple sharp plastic teeth, so it will perforate the paper as you pull it forward, so making it easy to tear. Not many fax machines with thermal paper came with a cutter attached to directly cut without user intervention, most would just print a dotted cut line separating pages.

[@chrisj.1608]

i have been a fan of yours for years i found you randomly via a recommend on the side of youtube you where struggling to keep a windows 98 computer alive i have watched you progress and i have to say kudos! you find some really odd and interesting tech from the 80's

[@HfLuo]

Nice, someone finally did a video on these printers! I have a 2673A in my collection, which was once used along with a HP-1000E minicomputer. I'm surprised that the mainboard of 2671G and 2673A are completely different. The board in 2673A extends all the way to the right, almost occupies the entire internal space. There're also 7 64Kbit ROMs in the 2673A instead of only one in the 2671G. Unfortunately, one of the ROMs in my machine seems to be bad and the self-test gives a ROM error (yes the 2673A even has a 7-digit LED display on the motherboard that gives error codes). Using a thermal camera I can also see the broken ROM is slightly warmer than the others. So if someone has a dump of the 2673A ROM I'd be very grateful! Also what's interesting about the 2673A is that it has a user interface using the printer itself. You can access the settings through the front panel and the menus will be printed directly on to the paper for you to see. I'm not sure if the 2671G has this system, but it would be cool if you can try it out.

[@1-eye-willy]

this man does ntot fuck around when it comes to vintage printers.

[@adamholmes91]

I love the beige-brown colour palette that old computer technology used. Nice and easy on the eyes, i wish they would bring it back. Black boxes are boring.

[@jothain]

That's awesome hardware and software. I didn''t expect printing to be so easy on that old specialized hardware 😳

[@bobn2805]

Ok so I have no idea why but I absolutely love the way that printer looks

[@V3ntilator]

I knew about these printers. In recent years i used Epson Ecotank printer. Doesn't cost much to print with and refill bottles is cheap. The printer is also 100% honest because you refill tanks with bottles and you see with own eyes how much is left.

[@richardhaas39]

There was an early analog printer that was connected by coax to CRT terminals. On the back of the CRT set the switch to unterminated (take the 75 ohm out of the circuit) and daisy chain the printer to the terminal. The printer would print whatever was on the screen. The printer was called The Perkin Elmer Pussycat.

[@Metal_Maxine]

*The Perkin Elmer Pussycat* -- best name ever! 🙂

[@soeasilynoticed]

I need to locate one of these for my Series 300! HPIB is such a convenient interface

[@nucflashevent]

There's something to be said for the durability of older tech. While not thermal simple, we have an impact printer we use to print shipping labels once a week. It's an Epson and the model we use has literally been in production with no changes for like 20 years now...AND I can tell you why because it works perfectly and reliably for the job of printing endless, simple, labels. Ink ribbon and the print head basically being the only thing that moves (and the ribbon gets replaced so only the simple impact print head really does any work, etc).

[@modulusshift]

oh just a thought: if you're still having issues, another idea beyond replacing that o-ring wheel is to add a couple drops of oil on the rod that print head slides along. I would use a lightweight synthetic oil, maybe superlube? You want something with a little bit of heat resistance considering how close it is to the print head, just in case. I had to oil up a similar rod in a much newer and much larger HP printer (a DesignJet) just a couple months ago haha. HP had their own formulation for that oil, but I'd be surprised if anything fancy is actually needed.

[@yeninja]

It appears that he changed the exposure in the viewable area of the crt, because when he puts his hand in that area, that part of his hand goes really pale. but only in the viewable area, which makes sense, as in one of the previous videos on the computer, he mentioned that the crt was very dim.

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Haha, nice touch of showing your donor credits via that printer!

[@chrishuston4445]

What an awesome printer.. Thank you so much for doing this HP stuff!

[@scabbynack]

That Doug Dimmadome cap is nuts 🤣

[@protheu5]

I loved that absolute joy of seeing a printed screenshot. That finger getting brighter when it passes over the screen, is it because the screen area is brightened in post?

[@richardhaas39]

HP made an earlier thermal printer with a stationary printhead that was the width of the paper. It would print a line at a time as the paper advanced. This was in the '70's before PC's. HP's customer was Bond Buyer and Bond Buyer's customers were banks and trading firms. The printer was attached to a Message Division Multiplexer (actually de-multiplexer). The printer would only print news relevant to the bond issue that the bank was flogging. When the entire issue was sold the syndicate would be dissolved. The de-multiplexer was also made by HP.

[@fellipec]

I had a fax machine in the 90's, from Panasonic, and it had a knife that cuts the paper automatically when the fax ends

[@ViegasSilva]

Now you can print your Unique Midi Routing Numbers!

[@mnoxman]

In the 90s I remember being part of a UNIX group and I believe that the CAD apps for this were like 20K (1990s dollars) per seat/year and the HP computer was part of the seat price.

[@Kwstr42]

i bought a Sears 500 electronic typewriter because its thermal dot matrix and has a port to connect older computers of which i have a vic 20, c64 that are compatible and a zx81 clone that may be also something i did for my typewriter, a tear strip off of plastic wrap box can be gently attached under the clear plastic edge to make it easier to tear the paper off lol

[@ThetaReactor]

Thermal printers are nifty. I used to draw and print ASCII-art Ninja Turtles on my dad's TI portable terminal.

[@jeremiahrwells]

hi tech tangents (shelby?). though I am not really an enthusiast for vintage or 80s equipment myself, I find your exuberance and enthusiasm incredibly inspiring and infectious. on an unrelated note... if you FF to 31:02 or 31:05, you are seen to be waving your hand over the monochrome display. when that occurs, your hand (as intersected by the screen) takes on a super contrasted effect. any idea as to what is doing that? ALSO don't stop being a super duper nerd, dude... you are a really interesting channel to watch. thanks!

[@Toonrick12]

Short answer, he edited the CRT in post to make it more visible. I assume he put a layer on top of the CRT and made the contrast higher than the rest of the frame.

[@jeremiahrwells]

@@Toonrick12 i kind thought so, but I didn't want to sound accusatory. it's cool, doesn't change my opinion or admiration of the guy. thanks

[@FritzCopyCat]

He made a video explaining this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaKyoIxjpJKdY7M

[@eddiehimself]

They also use thermal paper for self-adhesive postage labels so you can't take them off and transfer them onto another package with a heat gun.

[@EgoShredder]

Your printer is ahem a lot better quality than my old Alphacom 32 for my Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K in the early 1980s. It was cool to be able to print my own stuff as a 12 year old though!

[@74Gargoyle]

You could add a serrated cutting strip from a kitchen roll box, saran or aluminium foil/baking paper cutter.

[@sonic2000gr]

Fax machines (most of them) had a jagged edge to allow the paper to be cut. The paper you're using right now is probably much better quality than the HP one.

[@shawnfromportland]

That scroll shuttle is sick

[@Ale.K7]

Love to watch your progress with this cool computer!

[@MegaFederation]

About printing underline, is that why the underscore `_` exists??? That's so cool!

[@renakunisaki]

Yep, that's how typewriters did it, and early printers were just automatic typewriters.

[@MegaFederation]

@@renakunisaki Thats so cool! I also learnt from this video that the Print Screen button quite literally prints the screen to paper when a printer is attached. I've always wondered why it isn't a screenshot button, since thats what it just does now. Next you are telling me page up literally moves a page up or sth.

[@MichiganPeatMoss]

This and the OkiMate 10 with a C64. A lot of banners printed on that with fax paper. :)

[@quygan]

That's a nice printer, I was wondering if there will be a more modern one

[@tookitogo]

Brother makes full-size thermal printers.

[@quygan]

@@tookitogo That's even cooler

[@philo23]

I love the scroll wheel on the keyboard

[@trance_trousers]

What happened to his hand at various times during this video, eg at 28:36?

[@robertvelasquez823]

It had been explained in an older video, but there seems to be something with the camera that causes his hands to glow when near CRTs.

[@AtulSohan]

@30:45 to @30:50 why does ur hand appear whiter when it is in front of the screen ? Like as if it is in front of a projector

[@philpots48]

One thing I would add on the screen dump, a date and time stamp printed on the top or bottom.

[@renakunisaki]

Like when you print a web page and it adds the date and URL

[@poddmo]

At 2:54, which Australian Computer Museum did that come from?

[@Fir3Chi3f]

I love how over saturated your hand is when passing over the screen, haha.

[@PhantomWorksStudios]

It's a shame the we can't still use this. Again as others have mentioned I have left receipts in .y car just for the whole thing to either turn dark purple or black.

[@StopItRyan]

For reference, this printer predates Return of the Jedi by 2 years and was capable of printing off a screenshot of a video game. That's an incredible piece of kit.

[@Chrish1981]

Dude it's so hot out, only a few more months lol, great vid!

[@A2YU09]

I work as a copier techician,but so far i haven't had the pleasure of working on a thermal printer, makes want to look for one the internet and purchase it.

[@coondogtheman]

One thing you should do is clean the print head. Since this is a thermal printer it might have gunk build up on the print head. I have one of those little bluetooth thermal printers the paperang one and every now and then I clean the head with IPA and a cotton swab and that helps. Not sure how you would clean the head on this printer.

[@MarkTheMorose]

British home computer users of the time would have been subjected to the charms of the Sinclair ZX printer. The HP's print quality is very good indeed, in comparison.

[@miroslawkaras7710]

Why you hand look bright when you reach the screen? You did some post editing to inprove contrast where the CRT is to make it more visible? Any way as always geate video.

[@slomo1010]

I wanna see what you can do with software on that machine. Be a good series.

[@travismoore7849]

Thank you for the video. I think this would have had a great use to print text documents in the present. Because I hate ink jet printers.

[@dansimpson6844]

I wonder if this is the same printer mechanism that came in the HP-150 Computer? I have an HP-150 that is missing the printer...

[@needfuldoer4531]

I think this is the first time I've ever heard someone have anything positive to say about thermal fax paper!

[@mhikari92]

25:25 The more modern FAX machines(I would say 90s and after era) that this paper was meant to be used for , usually have metal saw-teeth like blade (like the one on tin foil box) for you to tear the printed paper off , or cutter blades.