Printing from HP-86B ?

[cruff]

(07-06-2017 04:24 PM)smp Wrote:  I came across this interesting device:

http://prologix.biz/gpib-usb-controller.html
At $149, at least it is an available device e supported by the company that sells it. However, it seems to be designed to plug onto a piece of test equipment and then a modern computer will control the instrument from its USB port. I'm not so sure if it works the other way around, with the HP-86B being the controller.

I have one of these, and yes, it can run in either controller mode or device mode. However, it is essentially just an HPIB to USB serial converter, handling the details of the HPIB bus transactions. The device attached to the USB side has to provide the smarts to either act as the controller or as a device from the HPIB data payload point of view. I believe the manual should be readily available on the Prologix web site if you are interested in the details on how it works. I've used mine to transfer data to/from my 71b using the HP IB-IL converter.