Editing Amstrad PCW (section)

=== Printer ===
To make the [[Computer printer|printer]] cheap enough to be included with every PCW, Amstrad placed the majority of its drive electronics inside the PCW cabinet.  The printer case contained only  electromechanical components and high-current driver electronics; its power was supplied via a [[coaxial power connector]] socket on the monitor casing, and rather than using a traditional [[IEEE 1284|parallel interface]], pin and motor signals were connected directly by a 34-wire [[ribbon cable]] to an 8041 [[microcontroller]] on the PCW's [[mainboard]].<ref name="UserGuideSettingUp">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=1–10|chapter=Setting Up|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|access-date=2009-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-20|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Most models of PCW were bundled with a 9-pin [[dot matrix printer]] mechanism, with the later 9512 and 9512+ models using a [[daisywheel]] (with a different cable; the printers were not interchangeable with the dot matrix models).  These PCW printers could not be used on other computers, and the original PCW lacked a then-standard [[Centronics]] printer port.  Instead, the [[Z80]] bus and video signals were brought to an [[edge connector]] socket at the back of the cabinet.  Many accessories including [[parallel port|parallel]] and [[serial port|serial]] ports were produced for this interface. Some of the later models included a built-in [[parallel port]]; these could be bundled with either the dedicated Amstrad printer or a [[Canon Inc.|Canon]] [[Bubblejet]] model.