Next in our series of reusing old Commodore 64 items is the following method of using a C64-compatible printer with an Arduino. Recently there has been some interest in generating hard copy from an Arduino, and the only affordable and simple methods have often been with underwhelming thermal receipt printers, or wasting other forms of paper. Thanks to the "Northern Nerd", and a simple circuit - you can now drive a useful printer with an Arduino.
Doing so is much simpler than expected, and the results speak for themselves. A quick scan of eBay shows a few printers out there, so hopefully some of our readers can take advantage of this project. For complete instructions, including the external circuitry and Arduino sketch, visit here.
When recreating a project such as this, it is easy to breadboard the external circuitry and leave it be. Instead, consider building the circuit on a ProtoShield - it makes your project all the more professional, and easier to enclose. We have a range of shields including basic PCBs, short versions and our ProtoShield Pro with SMD LEDs:
