here's a problem i've been thinking about for a couple years now
i got a Typestar 10-II, it is immensely cost cut and barely has any features.
i want to make it into an ASCII printer. i don't have a logic analyzer to figure out the communication or levels between the controller and the print head. i thought about faking keypresses but i'm not sure what i can use to close a circuit like a key. by my account if i wanted to use 4066s it would go out of hand in part count fast.
what would you do?
i've tried to do this with an AVR board, but from what i understand GPIOs aren't really suited for closing contacts like this. maybe with a ground/voltage reference i could pull a pin to the same value, but i'm not entirely sure if that would work or what the circuit needs to look like not to damage any of the parts.
if i can control the printhead directly and bypass the entire controller so i can print whatever pattern i want instead of just text, that would be ideal. i just have no idea how to approach it