Star Micronics NR-15 manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    I .: . NR-IO/l5 USER’S MANUAL NOT INTENDED FOR SALE PN 80820158[...]

  • Page 2

    Federal Communications Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and if not installed and used properly, that is. in strict accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. may cause interference to radio and television reception. It has been type tested and found to comply with the[...]

  • Page 3

    Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 7 Setting Up Your Printer Locating the printer Check the carton contents Removing the printer cover Removing the packing tube Installing the ribbon cartridge Installing the mute cover Installing the interface board Getting to Know Your Printer Controls and parts of the printer Parts of the printer Con[...]

  • Page 4

    Chapter 4 Printing with BASIC Some basics of BASIC First steps ASCII codes and the CHR$ function Control codes The escape codes A note on command syntax Selecting the right software mode Some special kinds of text Near Letter Quality characters Italic printing Underlining and overlining Superscripts and subscripts Changing the print pitch Expanded [...]

  • Page 5

    81 Chapter 6 Special Features of the Printer Now hear this Resetting the printer Taking the printer off line Printing the bottom of the sheet Backspace, delete, and cancel text Printing zeroes Immediate-print Adjusting the width of space between characters Uni-directional printing The seven bit dilemma Block graphics characters and special symbols [...]

  • Page 6

    I ,i, Appendix C Function Codes Commands to control print style Font style controls Print pitch controls Special print modes Controlling the vertical print position Line feed and reverse line feed Form feed and related commands Top/bottom margins and vertical tabs Controlling the horizontal print position Download character commands Dot graphics co[...]

  • Page 7

    CHAPTER 1 SETTING UP YOUR PRINTER Subjects covered in Chapter 1 include - l Choosing a suitable place for your printer l Unpacking l Setting up LOCATING THE PRINTER Give some thought to the best place to put the printer. Both the printer and computer should be used in normal office surroundings. For best performance, we recommend: l Use the printer[...]

  • Page 8

    2 You should also have a parallel interface board co connect your computer to the printer. Also available are a parallel interface board with extra buffer memory and a serial interface board, both optional. (More on interfaces later.) Figure l-l. Check to make sure you have all five items: 1) Printer, 2) Mute cover, 3) Paper guide, 4) Ribbon cartri[...]

  • Page 9

    the way. To replace the cover, slide the tabs in at the front and lower it into place. Figure 1-2 shows the proper position and movement for both removing and replacing the cover. I Figure 1-2. Remove the printer cover by lifting carefully. H Removing the packing tube The printer is shipped with a protective spiral tube to keep the print head from [...]

  • Page 10

    4 n Installing the ribbon cartridge This printer uses a neat, easy-to-change ribbon cartridge with automatic threading. To fit or change the ribbon car- tridge: 1. Turn off the power and remove the printer cover. 2. Slide the print head gently to the center of the printer. Wuvning: The print head gets hot during operation, so let it cool off before[...]

  • Page 11

    5 II Figure 15. To thread the ribbon, slide the print head carriage manually to the right or left, and the ribbon will slip down by itself into its proper position. n Installing the mute cover The mute cover reduces the printer’s operating sounds. Note the position of the guide pins on the mute cover as shown in Figure 1-6. Holding the mute cover[...]

  • Page 12

    6 H Installing the interface board board Figure 1-7. Slide the IjF board into the slot. A parallel interface board comes standard with your printer. In addition, there are two optional interface (I/F) boards: a serial interface board that lets you connect to a serial (RS232C) computer port; and the other board contains extra buffer memory for paral[...]

  • Page 13

    CHAPTER 2 _ _- h.. -_ L. 5_. . _ L. -. _... GETTING TO KNOW YOUR PRINTER Subjects covered in Chapter 2 include - l Parts of the printer - what they’re for and how to use them l Paper selection and loading l Adjustment l Testing printer operation CONTROLS AND PARTS OF THE PRINTER n Parts of the printer PRINTER COVER - This protects the ribbon and [...]

  • Page 14

    Mute cover Power cord Power switch Figure 2-1. Front and rear views of the printer. PLATEN - This is the rubber cylinder that carries paper to the print head. INTERFACE COVER - On the back of the printer, this cover ‘conceals and protects the interface board. The cover is cut away to expose the external connector to which you attach your computer[...]

  • Page 15

    n Controls and indicators Now let’s go over the controls and indicators of the printer, starting with the control panel on the right. There are nine indicators and six keys on the control panel. IO-inch type 15-inch type Figure 2-2. The control panel. POWER INDICATOR - Glows green when the power is on. PE INDICATOR - Stands for “Paper Empty”,[...]

  • Page 16

    ON LINE KEY and INDICATOR - Glows green when the printer is ready to receive data from your computer (on line). When the printer is off line. it sends a signal to the computer indicating that it cannot accept data. Pressing the On Line key switches the printer between on line and off line. When you turn the power switch on, the printer is placed on[...]

  • Page 17

    11 For details, please refer to the end of next chapter. H Other controls There are other controls, not connected to the control panel. Some of the more important ones are: POWER SWITCH - The switch that turns the printer on and off is at the back, on the left side. PLATEN KNOB - This knob is at the middle of the right side and lets you turn the pl[...]

  • Page 18

    a - The bottom one is used when you want to release the paper completely to adjust it. The paper bail holds the paper against the platen according to the setting of the release lever. The bail is opened when the release lever is in the top position, closed when the lever is in the second or third positions, and opened by the printer when the lever [...]

  • Page 19

    Clamp lever Figure 2-6. Raise the paper guide for loading single sheets. 1 Figure 2-7. Prop up the paper guide by inserting the guide stand iz the notches provided for it.[...]

  • Page 20

    14 4. Position the adjuster at the triangle marked on the guide for standard margins, or set it according to your own requirements. 5. Set the release lever for single sheets-the second po- sition from the top. 6. Align a sheet of paper on the guide along the adjuster. 7. Turn on the power switch. (The Paper Empty indicator will glow because ther i[...]

  • Page 21

    n Loading sprocket-feed paper This is standard computer paper, with the holes along the sides and perforations between the sheets. It is also called sprocket, punched, fan-fold, or just plain “computer paper”. It can be as narrow as 4”, and up to 10” wide (4 inches to 15.5 inches on 1%inch type). 1. Turn on the printer and set the release l[...]

  • Page 22

    16 9. Set the release lever to the auto-feed setting. The printer will advance the paper automatically. 10. Feed the paper through the slot in the printer cover. 11. Install the paper guide on the printer. See Figure 2- 10 for details. When used with sprocket-feed paper, the guide is turned around and laid flat on top of the printer as a paper sepa[...]

  • Page 23

    17 There are four positions; you can feel the lever clicking into the various notches. The first step (shown) is the one most commmonly used for single sheets of paper. Try different positions until you get the best printing results. Adjust Figure 2-11. The adjustment lever allows for different thicknesses of paper. TESTING THE PRINTER Your printer[...]

  • Page 24

    Self-test 1 DIP switch 2-2 ON ! “tt$%?*’ () x+. -. /012,4567Ef9: : =. ?@AHCDEFGIiIJt LMNOF’aRS~IUL’WXYZL’,l -‘au<. rJELMNaPDRSJUVWX YZC 3’ _r at,cjefgf,ijhIrnopqrstuL,w*y-(,‘:Z !"$$%6'()*+,-./0123456789:;<->?~ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZLl-~‘abc ZJKLMNOPQRSZVVW XYZ[J^_‘abcdefshijklmnopqrstuvwxyr(: )" &q[...]

  • Page 25

    19 defqhvl lmnuoqrst~uw::~~~:: ;" "'#$%.9. ( ,x+,-.,01"345,~;Bo::, = .'@n,?CnfFGY defghijklmnopclrstuvwxyz(')- !"#S%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;(->?@dBCDEFGH defyhl.,i lmno~qr~tuw::yz : : 2 * "'#$7.$' ( )X-f,--. ,~>~~~~5,~7;~~~~:~ = ‘, ‘@AfiCI)Ef GH defghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz(.:)" !&[...]

  • Page 26

    20 MEMO[...]

  • Page 27

    CHAPTER 3 USING THE PRINTER WITH COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE Subjects covered in Chapter 3 include - l Using commercial software l Controlling the printer with the Panel mode USING COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE Many of you purchased this printer to use with commercial software. You made a good choice because this printer is compatible with most commercial programs, [...]

  • Page 28

    22 Some programs don’t ask you what kind of printer you have, but instead ask some questions about what your printer can do. The answers to the “most asked” questions are: Yes - this printer can do a “backspace”, and this printer can do a “hardware form feed”. With these questions answered, you are ready to start printing. Read the ma[...]

  • Page 29

    23 the help of your program manual and the supporting chapters in this manual, you should be able to figure out how yours works. GENERAL CONCEPTS Each word processing program has a way to get out of the standard text entry mode in order to accept the special printer function codes. WordStar uses the CONTROL key in different ways to define the print[...]

  • Page 30

    24 master reset code and resets the printer to its DIP switch set- tings. These print characteristics are the same as the ones used by the printer when it is first turned on. The code sequence for master reset is < ESC > “(4”. By checking the ASCII equivalents in Appendix C, you can see that the decimal expression is 27 64. You’ll see t[...]

  • Page 31

    25 We suggest you do three things. First, you should review Chapter 4 and Appendix C to become as familiar as possible with ASCII codes and the function codes. Second, read Chapter 4 which describes them in greater detail and shows examples of how they are used in BASIC pro- gramming. The functions will, for the most part, act the same in your word[...]

  • Page 32

    26 By changing the pitch settings, you can use the document ruler line to print pica, elite and condensed width pitches. In addition, you can use a similar method to print in near letter quality. The print control codes can be redefined to enhance the final product of your document. The boldface, underline, superscipt and subscript functions requir[...]

  • Page 33

    27 Press RETURN and the Edit Global Sequences screen will be displayed. These codes control the print functions for form feed, line feed, margin settings and automatic justification. We do not recommend that you edit any of these codes. Press RETURN and the Edit Pitch Table screen will be displayed. On this screen, you will enter the ASCII decimal [...]

  • Page 34

    28 these codes. They define how many lines per inch the printer uses. Press RETURN to transfer to the Edit Font Support screen. Change all of the entry fields to Option 2 (Control Code Support) on the Edit Font Support screen. Also, make changes in the other fields to look like the figure shown below. Enter the codes written in italic into lines 41[...]

  • Page 35

    I 29 Enter the codes written in italic into lines 51 - 66. 51. Normal to Bold 52. Bold to Normal 53. Normal to Shadow 54. Shadow to Normal 55. Normal to Underline 56. Underline to Normal 57. Normal to Double 58. Double to Normal 59. Normal to Overstrike 60. Overstrike to Normal 61. Normal to Special 62. Special to Normal 63. Normal to Subscript 64.[...]

  • Page 36

    With the cursor under the “S” in “SUBJECT”, set the print pitch in the ruler line to condensed width pitch. Name the ruler line “condensd” (without the quotes) and change the character pitch to 17 and the line spacing to 6. To make the subject title expanded, use the ALT and = keys (in the .line mode) to highlight the line. Now, change [...]

  • Page 37

    31 your document. The ASCII code sequence would be 27 80 27 52 to print italic pica pitch. n Redefining your own print control keys The ASCII codes to redefine the print control keys (Edit Font Sequences) are pretty straightforward. There are indi- vidual ASCII decimal values to turn on and off different prints. You want to affect that aspect but n[...]

  • Page 38

    They include: h PS Underscore * PB Boldface ^PD Double-strike ^PX Strikeout ” PT Superscript * PV Subscript A PC Print Pause It is also possible to define the ^PA (alternate pitch) com- mand to change the print pitch of your document. The WordStar User’s Manual fully describes the use of these ^P functions. You should refer to your manual if yo[...]

  • Page 39

    33 If you do change several of the things listed in the /Print menu, Lotus l-2-3 will remember the selections that you have made and use them each time you print the spreadsheet. They are even saved with the spreadsheet so that they will be the same the next time that you use the spreadsheet. You can specify the range to print in all the normal way[...]

  • Page 40

    14 You can direct sections of headers and footers to the left, right, or center by using the ) character. Each header or footer is divided into three sections; Left, center and right. The ~ character shows the limits of these sections. So to print a header with the date to the left, a title in the center, and a page number to the right, the header [...]

  • Page 41

    [ USING THE PANEL MODES At the end of this chapter, we’ll explain about the “Panel” mode, which is a powerful function of the printer. Some commercial software does not support defining your own se- lections. In this case use the “Panel” modes. Selection of any of the Panel Modes at power-on ensures that your choices remain in effect unti[...]

  • Page 42

    36 key, press the MODE key once again to make your choice, and press the ON LINE key again. Remember that you may select which print mode is the standard one by setting DIP switch 2- 1. To select the Italic Panel Mode, press the TOF key while turning on the power. More than one attribute may be set in this way. For example, if you wish to set both [...]

  • Page 43

    37 n Setting print start position When you want to align the print start position, you can set it by the micro-feed operation with the control panel, instead of turning the platen knob manually. 1. Set the Off Line mode by pressing the On Line key. 2. While holding down the On Line key, press one of the following keys. Paper Feed key - Forward micr[...]

  • Page 44

    38 MEMO .- - - - - - -[...]

  • Page 45

    CHAPTER 4 PRINTING WITH BASIC Subjects covered in Chapter 4 include - l Listing BASIC programs on the printer l How a program prints things l Control codes, escape codes, and command syntax l Selecting the right software mode l Near letter quality (NLQ) characters l Fixed and proportional character spacing l Special printing - Printing in italics U[...]

  • Page 46

    411 the easiest operations one can do, but even they may depend on what computer you have. In Microsoft BASIC, we can list all the steps in a program by entering LIST. This lists them on the CRT screen; if we want to print them on a printer, we prefix the command with an L (enter LLIST). The Microsoft BASIC command for outputting information is PRI[...]

  • Page 47

    41 a dollar sign. Some numbers cause the printer to do other things, too. For instance, sending a 7 sounds the printer’s bell. Taken together, these numbers and their meanings make up the ASCII code (pronounced ask-key), which stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange. There are ASCII codes for all the letters of the alpha[...]

  • Page 48

    Your printer has a lot of control codes to let you do some useful things. Let’s try one that we’ve mentioned several times already: 10 ' Demo of ASCII code 20 LPRINT CHR$(7) 30 END RUN That’s the printer’s bell (we call it that even though it sounds like a buzzer). We’ll learn more about it later - we just wanted to show you a contro[...]

  • Page 49

    43 needed, so they included the escape (ESC) code to allow almost any number of additional codes to be defined when they became necessary. ESC allows us to “escape” from the ordinary set of control codes so we can specify additional functions and other infor- mation needed for a printer function. In this manual, we’ll write the ESC code insid[...]

  • Page 50

    1 44 Even though there are many commands that require the use of ASCII code 0 (the < NUL > character); the number “0” (zero or ASCII code 48) cannot be substituted. In these cases, instead of an unadorned 0 we will show CHR$(O) each time these commands are referenced. That’s it for the basics. You are now ready to learn how to use the m[...]

  • Page 51

    4.5 40 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “x0”; 50 LPRINT “This line shows standard print.” In this program, line 20 selects NLQ characters with < ESC > “x” 1 command. Line 30 prints a sample before line 40 switches printer back to draft printing with an < ESC > “x” 0. When you run the program you should get this: This line shows NEAR L[...]

  • Page 52

    Ah Table 4-2 Italic commands I-::,1 Use this program to see italic characters: 10 ’ Demo of italic and roman 20 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “4”; 30 LPRINT “This line is in ITALIC characters. ” 40 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “5”; 50 LPRINT “This line is in ROMAN characters.” Here is what you should get: In this program, line 20 turns italic on with [...]

  • Page 53

    67 Table 4-3 Underline and overline commands It’s that simple. Let’s try it with this program: 10 ’ Demo of underlining and overlinins 20 LPRINT "Demo of I'; 30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-1"; 40 LPRINT "UNDERLINED"; 50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-0"; 60 LPRINT " and 'I; 70 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-1"; 80 LPRT[...]

  • Page 54

    48 and are half the height of normal characters. Superscripts print evenly with the tops of regular printing while subscripts print evenly with the bottom of regular printing. They are frequently used to reference footnotes, and in mathematical formulas. Table 4-4 has the codes for using superscripts and subscripts. Table 4-4 Superscripts and subsc[...]

  • Page 55

    I !, . 49 pica (and is the same as the pica pitch on most typewriters). This works out to 136 characters per line. You can also print 12 characters per inch (elite pitch). This gives you 163 characters per line. You can set these pitches by using the Print Pitch key on the control panel manually, or by software as shown in the table below. Pitch Pi[...]

  • Page 56

    50 10 ’ Demo of expanded print 20 LPRINT “Demonstration of ‘I; 30 LPRINT CHR$(14); 40 LPR I NT “EXPANDED” ; 50 LPRINT CHR$(20); 60 LPRINT ” printing.” 70 LPRINT “Notice that ‘I; 80 LPRINT CHR$(14); 90 LPRINT “EXPANDED mode” 100 LPRINT “automatically turns off at the end of a line.” Expanded print set with CHR$( 14) is auto[...]

  • Page 57

    When you turn on expanded print with < ESC > “W” 1 it stays on until you turn it off with < ESC > “W” 0. Table 4-6 Expanded print commands ~~ n Condensed print Each of the print pitches also can be condensed to its normal width. This is called condensed print. Try this program to see how it works: 10 I Demo of condensed print 20[...]

  • Page 58

    Table 4-7 Condensed print commands Function Control code Condensed ON CHR$(I 5) or < ESC > CHR$( 15) Condensed OFF CHR$(18) By combining expanded print and condensed print with the two pitches, this printer has eight different character widths available. Enter this program to see how the print pitches, expanded print and condensed print can b[...]

  • Page 59

    n Proportional printing Have you ever looked closely at the printing books and magazines? Doesn’t it look nice? The main reason is that each character is given an amount of space proportional to its actual width. A typewriter (and most printers), on the other hand, give every character the same amount of space, no matter how wide it is. (Pica pit[...]

  • Page 60

    I :. 54 Line 20 selects the elite pitch and line 40 turns on the pro- portional printing with < ESC > “p” 1. Line 50 prints a line with proportional elite pitch. Then, line 60 selects the pica pitch, so that line 70 prints a line with proportional pica pitch. Finally, line 80 resets the proportional printing and line 90 prints a line in n[...]

  • Page 61

    55 10 ’ Demo of boldface and emphasized 20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"G"; 30 LPRINT "This line is BOLDFACE printing." 40 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;"E"; 50 LPRINT "This line is BOLDFACE and WHASIZED." 60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"H"; 70 LPRINT "This line is EMPHASIZED printing." 80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"F"; 90 [...]

  • Page 62

    56 You have at your disposal a unique command that lets you choose any valid combination of print modes and pitch. This is the Master print mode command. It looks like this: < ESC > “1” n Here, the value of n defines the print style to be selected. The value of n can range from 0 to 255, which is the range of values that can be stored in [...]

  • Page 63

    57 To better understand the way the print modes work, consider that each mode except pica (pica is the default) has a separate switch that can be turned on and off via software. Once the switch is on, it stays on until turned off. However when two modes that conflict are turned on at the same time, the printer must choose which one to use. For exam[...]

  • Page 64

    MEMO[...]

  • Page 65

    CHAPTER 5 FORMA.TTING TEXT Subjects covered in Chapter 5 include - l The carriage return and line feed l The amount of space between lines l Moving to the next page l The number of lines on a printed page l Horizontal and vertical tabs l Setting margins-left, right, top and bottom l Centering and aligning Chapter 4 showed us the basic techniques fo[...]

  • Page 66

    it returns the print head to the left margin. It does not advance the paper (if DIP switch l-5 is on; see below). Line feed is more complicated. Each time the printer receives a CHR$( 10) it both advances the paper one line and returns the print head to the left margin, ready to start a new line. Now to add a little confusion-most (but not all) ver[...]

  • Page 67

    61 Table 5-l Line feed commands Function Control code Return print head to left margin CHR$( 13) Advance paper one line CHR$(lO) Reverse paper one line < ESC > CHR$( 10) n Changing the line spacing When you turn your printer on, the line spacing is set to 6 lines per inch. This is fine for most printing applications, but when you want somethi[...]

  • Page 68

    [...]

  • Page 69

    You may wonder why l/72 of an inch was chosen as the increment for the line spacing command. There’s a good reason: the dots that the printer makes are l/72 inch apart. So this means that you can vary the line spacing in increments as tine as one dot - unless you want finer spacing, in which case you may use one third dot spacing. /. The < ESC[...]

  • Page 70

    64 .-. Table 5-2 shows all the line spacing commands, including several “shortcut” commands for commonly used line spacings. Table 5-2 Line spacing commands Function Control code Set line spacing to l/8 inch Set line spacing to 7172 inch Set line spacing to l/6 inch < ESC > “0” < ESC > “1” < ESC > “2” (Standard mod[...]

  • Page 71

    65 The < ESC > “J” CHR$(n) command causes the printer to make one line feed of n/216 inch, but does not change the setting of the line spacing. Try this program to see how it works: NEW 10 ’ Demo of one-time line feeds 20 LPRINT “LINE NUMEIER 1. ” 30 LPRINT “LINE NUMBER 2. I’; 40 ’ One-time line feed 50 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“J?[...]

  • Page 72

    66 PAGE CONTROL Now that we have seen how to control line spacing, we can go on to page control - positioning the printing on the page and adjusting the paper length, n Form feed The simplest forms control code is the formfeed. Form feed (or < FF > ) is CHR$(12) and causes the printer to move the paper to the top of the next sheet. Try it by [...]

  • Page 73

    67 back to the top of the page to start the second column. The code for reverse form feed is easy to remember: < ESC> <FF>. Table 5-3 Form feed commands Function Control code Advance paper to top of next page CHR$(12) Reverse paper to top of current page < ESC > CHR$( 12) Sets the top of form to the current < ESC > “4” p[...]

  • Page 74

    68 After you have run this program, turn off the printer and adjust the top of form position. When you turn the printer back on the page length will reset to its normal setting (usually 11 inches). -. TOP AND BOTTOM MARGINS Some programs don’t keep track of where they are printing on the page. This causes problems when you get to the bottom of a [...]

  • Page 75

    69 10 ' Demo of top and bottom margins 60 LPRINT CHR$(12); : ' form feed 70 FOR I=1 TO 150 80 LPRINT "THIS IS LINE";1 90 NEXT I 110 LPRINT CHR$(12); : ' form feed 120 END When you run this program it will print 150 lines right down the page and across the perforations. When it’s done line 110 sends a form feed to advance [...]

  • Page 76

    70 IS LlNL 1 THIS IS LINE 2 , TH16 IS LINL ‘- 0 ) THIS IS LINE 4 THIS IS LINk 5 I THIS IS L.INE b I ,HIS IS LINE 7 0 1 THIS IS LINE 8 - 0 0 0 0 --.. 0 0 0 0 0 - THIS IS LINE 50 THIS IS LINE 51 THIS IS LINE 5: THIS IS LJNE 5: THIS IS LINE 54 lHlS IS LINE 55 THIS IS LINE 5.4 THIS IS LINE 57 THIS IS LINE 58 1HIS IS LINE 59 THIS IS LINE 60 THIS IS LI[...]

  • Page 77

    71 Try setting the margins with this program: 10 Demo of margins 20 GOSUB 70 30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"1";CHR$(lO); 40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"Q";CHRS(70); 50 GOSUB 70 60 END 70 FOR I=1 TO 80 80 LPRINT "X"; 90 NEXT I 100 LPRINT 110 RETURN The first thing that this program does is to branch to the subroutine that starts in line 70. [...]

  • Page 78

    72 HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL TABS Suppose you need to move across the page to a certain position several times in a document. It’s not much fun to type in space after space. You don’t have to - you can “tab” your way across the page. Your printer’s tabs are like those on a typewriter, but much more powerful. You have both horizontal and ver[...]

  • Page 79

    73 When you run the program now it produces this: (‘ji;:t’ ‘-1 z,:.; (1.j i /-/p: i_:, j, i E.j 1L.j j 1 The words are now closer together, but still evenly spaced. To reset the default tabs, use the following program: LPRINT CHR$(27);"eO";CHR$O This command resets the horizontal tabs to every eight co- lumns. Table 5-7 Horizontal t[...]

  • Page 80

    74 The absolute horizontal tab command moves the print head to a specified position on the page. The positon that you want the print head to move to (measured from the left margin) is specified by the values of nl and n2 in l/60-inch units using the formula nl + n2 x 256. Try this program to see how this works. 10 ’ Demo of absolute horizontal ta[...]

  • Page 81

    75 n Vertical tabs Vertical tabs have the same kinds of uses that horizontal tabs do - they just work in the other direction. Horizontal tabs allow you to reach a specific column on the page no matter where you start from. Vertical tabs are the same. If you have a vertical tab set at line 20, a vertical tub (or < VT > ) will move you to line [...]

  • Page 82

    Add one more line to the program to demonstrate one more feature of vertical tabs. 80 LPRINT CHR$(ll) ;“FIFTHH TAB.” Now when you run the program the first page looks just like before, but line 80 sends one more < VT > than there are tabs. This doesn’t confuse the printer - it advances the paper to the next tab position, which happens t[...]

  • Page 83

    77 60 LPRINT “* 5th Line, 7th Column” 70 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“fl”;CHR$(3); 80 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“fO”;CHR$(5); 90 LPRINT I’* 8th Line, 5th Column” 100 END In this program, line 30 sends a one-time vertical tab with < ESC > “f’ 1 command. Line 50 sends a one-time horizontal tab with < ESC > “f’ 0 command. Finally, line[...]

  • Page 84

    78 Table 5-10 Vertical tab channel commands Function Control code Set vertical tabs at nl, n2, etc. < ESC > “b” CHR$(nO)CHR$(nl) as channel nO CHR$(n2).....CHR$(O) Select vertical channel nO <ESC> “/” CHR$(nO) You can store up to eight channels of tab stops. They are numbered from 0 to 7. If you have already stored a set using &[...]

  • Page 85

    79 ‘OF’ OF FOHM .ST TAB OF CHANNEL 1 IND TAB OF CHANNEL 1 CENTERI NG AND ALIGNING TEXT Text can be arranged in any of four formats: left aligned .- 1 TOP OF FOKM IST TAB OF CHANNEL 2 TOP OF FOKM 1ST TAB OF CHANNEL 3 2ND TAB OF CHANNEL 2 “ND TAB OF CHANNEL : or left justified (normal printing with “ragged” right margin), centered between t[...]

  • Page 86

    80 10 ' Demo of aligning and centering 20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"1";CHR5(20); 30 LPRINT CHR5(27);"Q";CHR5(60); 40 LPRINT CHR5(27);"a";CHR5(0); 50 LPRINT "THIS LINE IS LEFT JUSTIFIED." 60 LPRINT CHR5(27);"a";CHR5(1); 70 LPRINT "THIS LINE IS CENTERED." 80 LPRINT CHR5(27) ;“a”;CHR5(2); 90 [...]

  • Page 87

    CHAPTER 6 SPECIALFEATURESOF THEPRINTER Subjects covered in Chapter 6 include - l Printer’s bell @ Master reset l Uni-directional printing l International character sets l Printing BIG characters l The optional sheet feeder l Macro instruction l Reading a hex dump In the previous chapters we have learned about several groups of control codes. In t[...]

  • Page 88

    82 it will sound the bell for a quarter of a second. Tllis can be used to remind the operator to change the paper or to make other adjustments to the printer. You can try this by typing: LPRINT CHR$(7) n Resetting the printer Up to now when we wanted to reset the printer to the power on condition we have had to either turn the printer off and on ag[...]

  • Page 89

    Your printer has the ability to print right to the bottom of the sheet. You can disable the paper-out detector so that it doesn’t stop the printer. This will allow you to print to the end of the sheet, and even beyond if you are not careful. The codes to control the paper-out detector, along with the other codes that we have just looked at are in[...]

  • Page 90

    84 The following program shows how these codes work. 10 LPRINT "BACKSPACE DOES NOT"; 20 LPRINT CHR$(8);CHR$(B);CHR$(8); 30 LPRINT 'I=== WORK" 40 LPRINT "DELETE DOES NOT"; 50 LPRINT CHR$(127);CHR$(127);CHR$(127); 60 LPRINT "WORK" 70 LPRINT "CANCEL LINE"; 80 LPRINT CHRs(24); 90 LPRINT "DOES NOT W[...]

  • Page 91

    85 W Immediate-print This printer can print at the quick rate of 240 characters per second. But it will also print more slowly at the speed of your typing. In the immediate-print mode, the printhead prints one character at a time, as you send it. The printer also moves the paper up so that you can see the current line and then down to continue prin[...]

  • Page 92

    - 10 ’ Demo of adjusting Spaces 20 LPRINT CHH$(27) ;“xl”; 30 FOR I=10 TO 1 STEP -2 40 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;‘I “;CHR$(i); 50 LPRINT “This line is added”; I; “spaces. ” 60 NEXT I 70 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;” “;CHR$tO) ; 80 LPRINT “This line is Normal space. ” 90 END This line is added 10 SpI¶CeS. This line is added 8 spaces. This line[...]

  • Page 93

    I f 87 * :. 10 ’ Demo of uni-directional printing 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“l”; 30 FOR I=1 TO 10 40 LPRINT II t , ,I 50 NEXT I 60 LPRINT :LPRINT 70 LPRINT CHR$(27) ; “Ul”; 80 FOR I=1 TO 10 90 LPRINT I, , I ,I 100 NEXT I 110 LPRINT CHR$(12);CHR$t271;“@” Here is what you will get. The top line is printed bi-direc- tionally, and the bottom is[...]

  • Page 94

    command immediately moves the printhead to the left margin and then prints the remainder of the line from left to right. W The seven bit dilemma Some computers (not the IBM-PC fortunately!) don’t have the capability to send eight bits on their parallel interface, but can only send seven bits. This would make it impossible for these computers to u[...]

  • Page 95

    89 You can also specify the power-on default character set by setting DIP switch 2-4 on for character set #l and off for character set #2. The following program will print out all of the graphics characters available: 10 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “0” : 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“6”; 30 FOR J=3 TO 6 40 LPRINT ” “;J;CHR$(J);CHR$(9); 50 NEXT J 60 LPRIN[...]

  • Page 96

    90[...]

  • Page 97

    91 70 LPRINT CHR$(179);CHR$(32);CHR$(32);CHR$(32); CHR$(32);CHR$(53);CHR$(l79) 80 LPRINT CHR$(192);CHR$(196);CHR$(l96); CHR$(196);CHR$(196);CHR$(l96);CHR!§(217) 90 LPRINT CHR$(27);"7" If you have a 7-bit interface, add the following lines to the program given above: 15 LPRINT CHR$(27);">"; 95 LPRINT CHRs(27) ;"=" I[...]

  • Page 98

    .I Table 6-4 U.S.A. France International character set commands Country Control code < ESC > “R” CHR$(O) < ESC > “R”’ CHR$( 1) Germany < ESC > “R” CHR$(2) England < ESC > “R” CHR$(3) Denmark type I < ESC > “R” CHR$(4) Sweden < ESC > “R” CHR$(S) Italy < ESC > “R” CHR$(6) Spain &[...]

  • Page 99

    plus 127, and the high-order control codes are 128 through 159 plus 255.) These codes don’t normally print symbols on paper, rather they cause the printer to change modes. To make them print as normal symbols requires an extra command. For example, the command to “normalize” the high-order control codes is < ESC > “6”. Try this prog[...]

  • Page 100

    I ,,” 94 .~_ 80 IF I=24 THEN 110 90 IF I=27 THEN 110 100 LPRINT CHR$(I); 110 NEXT I 120 LPRINT 130 FOR I=128 TO 134 140 LPRINT CHR$(I); 150 NEXT I 160 LPRINT CHR$(144);CHR$(145); 170 FOReI= TO 159 180 IF I=152 THEN 210 190 IF I=155 THEN 210 200 LPRINT CHR$(I); 210 NEXT I 220 LPRINT CHR$(27);“10” 230 END When you run this program you should ge[...]

  • Page 101

    95 If you want to print more characters using the < ESC > “” command you must tell the printer how many characters should be printed. The total number of characters is equal to nl + (~22 x 256). For example, if you want to print 300 characters, nl = 44 and n2 = 1 (300 = 44 + 1 x 256), the control code will be the following: < ESC >[...]

  • Page 102

    Table 6-6 Control code area commands Function Control code Printable code area expansion < ESC > “6” (Standard mode only) Control code area expansion < ESC > “7” (Standard mode only) Select undefined codes as characters < ESC > “I”1 (except IBM-P mode) Cancel undefined codes as characters < ESC > “I”0 (except[...]

  • Page 103

    97 i. . .- _ -. -. _ _.. When you run this program, you will get like this: As you can see, when the big character command is used, the baseline for each character does not align. If you want to align the baseline, try this program: 10 ' Demo of BIG characters 20 LPRINT "THIS IS "; 30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"j";CHR$(21); 40 LPRINT[...]

  • Page 104

    I : 98 that done on computer paper, and you don’t have to tex the “perforations” off each sheet as you must with fan-fold paper. The automatic sheet feeder feeds a new sheet automatically every time the printer receives or generates a form feed. Any time you wish, you can turn the auto-feed unit on and off by using control codes. Table 6-8 Au[...]

  • Page 105

    99 for the macro: one to define it, and one to use it. They are given in the Table 6-9. Table 6-9 Macro instruction commands Function Control code Define macro <EfjCi “+” . . . (codes you include) . . . CHR$(30) Use macro < ESC > “ + ” CHR$(l) To see how this works we can build a macro that will reset the printing style to normal, [...]

  • Page 106

    100 10 LPRINT CHR$(27);"Q";CHR$(40); 20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"a";CHR$(2); 30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-1"; 40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"h";CHR$(l); 50 LPRINT "TESTING ABCD" 60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"+";CHR$(l); 70 LPRINT "TESTING ABCD" 80 END n Reading a hex dump The BASIC in some computers changes ASCII co[...]

  • Page 107

    101 r:jc, ‘:,I I:,2 ins 04 05 06 0, 08 09 OA 08 OC OD OE OF 10 11 1: 13 14 15 lb 17 18 19 1A 18 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 2: 24 25 2.6 27 33 29 2A X4 2C 2D ?E 2F :o Tl :z1 73 1;4 -55 z:b 5, 7.8 39 JA 5B TC =D 3E 3F 4cr 41 42 41: 44 1s 46 47 40 49 4A 4H 4C 4D 4E 4F 50 51 52 ST, 54 55 56 57 58 59 5A 5B 5C 5D 5E 5F 60 61 62 h: 64 65 66 67 68 69 hf-i hH 6[...]

  • Page 108

    102 MEMO[...]

  • Page 109

    CHAPTER 7 DOWNLOAD CHARACTERS AND DOT GRAPHICS Subjects covered in Chapter 7 include - l Designing and printing your own characters l User-designed graphics Using the procedures outlined so far, all of the printer’s standard functions can be utilized. There are two additional user-defined functions available: designing and printing your own chara[...]

  • Page 110

    104 nation of dots. For example, if the data representing “1” was sent to the print head, only the bottom pin would fire; if “2” was sent, only the second pin from the bottom would fire, and if “3” was sent, the two bottom pins would fire, and so on. Columns of these dots side by side make all the characters. 0 0 I 0.0. g-g a 0 :- 0.0. [...]

  • Page 111

    r t, 105 dots wide by 9 dots high. Vertically, dots can only be centered in a box. See Figure 7-2. l The minimum width of a character is five dots. l Unlike standard characters that are restricted to a height of seven dots, user-defined characters may use eight dots vertically. l Dots cannot overlap - that is, you may not have a dot inside a box ne[...]

  • Page 112

    128 64 32 16 8 Total m, m, m, m. m,m,m,m. m9mLOrnx. MO ASCII Code: Descender: Start column: End column: = f xender * 128 + (Start * 16) + End Figure 7-3. Use this grid (or one similar to it) to define your own draft characters. 128 64 < 32 16 8 4 2 1 Total ASCII Code: Descender: I Start column: End column: M,, = Descender * 128 + (Start * 16) + [...]

  • Page 113

    107 You will see the letters ml, m2, m3, etc., are above your values. When you define the character, you will substitute your value for each of these letters. Before you complete the definition, you will need to decide exactly where in the standard ASCII set you want to place your characters. After downloading, you access your new character by send[...]

  • Page 114

    108 ml to ml1 are the column data we defined along the bottom of the grid; ml the left-most column value, m2 the next, and so on. You must define eleven data, even if the last few data are 0. For the flask, the complete command will be: CHR$(27);CHR$(38);CHR$(O);CHR$(60);CHR$(60); CHR$( 139);CHR$(2);CHR$(5);CHR$(8);CHR$(241); CHRS(O);CHR$(O);CHR$(~[...]

  • Page 115

    I ? 109 l Define characters, and send data to printer: < ESC > “8~” CHR$(O) . . . . l Tell printer to use download character set: < ESC > -yo” 1 To demonstrate how to use the download characters, let’s use the “flask” character and some other user-defined char- acters to print a small graph. This program will do just that: 1[...]

  • Page 116

    310 NEXT I 320 LPRINT 330 LPRINT CHR$(9) ; “t--‘I; 340 SCALE$=“--t--” 350 FOR I=2 TO 8 STEP 2 360 LPRINT SCALE$; 370 NEXT I 380 LPRINT “--+‘I 390 LPRINT CHR$(9) ;‘I ‘I; 400 FOR I=2 TO 8 STEP 2 410 LPRINT ” I’; I; 420 NEXT I 430 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “%O” 440 LPRINT CHR$(27) ; “SO”; 450 LPRINT CHR$(9);“MILLIONS OF DOLLARS?[...]

  • Page 117

    111 when desired. Acceptable values are from 4 to 11. The minimum character width is five dots, anywhere within the range. n Downloading with the IBM-P mode In the IBM-P mode, which emulates the IBM Proprinter, you can download characters with a different control code in addition to the < ESC > “8~” code. The command syntax for an IBM-P m[...]

  • Page 118

    I 112 If the total count is greater than or equal to 256, then divide the total count by 256. nl = the remainder, and n2 = the integer part of the result. For example, for 3 characters: total count =(3 x 13) + 2 = 41 nl = 41, and n2 = 0 For 80 characters: total count =(80 x 13) + 2 = 1042 1042/256 = 4 + 18/256 nl = 18, and n2 = 4 The order of comma[...]

  • Page 119

    113 DEFINING YOUR OWN NLQ CHARACTERS As you have probably noticed, NLQ characters are printed by two passes of the print head. Half of the character is printed on the first pass, and the remainder on the second pass. The paper is rolled up half a dot height in between passes to let the print head print dots on the second pass that overlap the previ[...]

  • Page 120

    114 128 128 128 128 64 64 64 64 32 32 32 32 16 16 16 16 8 8 8 8 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 I I 1 1 Total 1st rn, m, m, m, m, m,, m,, m,, ml7 rn,, mJ1 ml3 rn, m. m. m. rn,, m,, m,, m,. mra m,, rnz2 Total 1st rn, m, m, m, m, m,, m,, m,, ml7 rn,, mJ1 ml3 rn, m. m. m. rn,, m,, m,, m,. mra m,, rnz2 2nd ma. rn>, rnJe ma0 rn,* m,. m,, m,. ma0 mr2 mrr mrs m,, mz7 [...]

  • Page 121

    ASCII Code: 6 8 Descender: .,! Left space: Right space: M, = Descender + 128 + (Left + 16) + Right Total’ m, m, m, m, m+ m,, m,,m,, mr7 mr. mzl ma1 1st m, m. m. m. rn,, m,, m,. rn,* ml8 rn,. ml, 0. ‘J. 1. I 1 1 t. 1, 1. 1. 2. 0. p. v. 8 w. 0. p. 0. ayeJ. 8. Y. $. 2nd m,. rnze m,. rn,, m3, m,. m,. m,. m.O mr2 rn.4 m&s m,, m,, m,, rn,, m,, m,[...]

  • Page 122

    116 ._ 160 DATA 70, 0, 38, 0, 22, 9, 6, 9, 6, 8, 6, 0 170 DATA 28, 32, 14, 64, 14. 0, 14, 0,124, 0, 0, 12 180 DATA 64, 12, 32, 14, 16, 14, 0, 14, 0, 12, 0 190 DATA 128, 0, 24, 7, 56, 1, 56, 7, 8, 2, 8, 6 200 DATA 8, 2, 8, 4, 8, 0, 8, 32, 8, 0, 24, 0 210 DATA 32, 16, 14, 48, 14, 48, 14, 32, 0, 32, ..~ 0, 40 220 DATA 0, 36, 0, 40, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 48[...]

  • Page 123

    520 NEXT I 530 LPRINT CHR$(27);"%0" 540 LPRINT CHR$(27);"SO"; 550 LPRINT CHR$(9);"MILLIONS OF DOLLARS" 560 LPRINT CHR$(27);"T" 570 END USER-DESIGNED DOT GRAPHICS Designing and printing graphics is similar to the procedures for characters, except that the printed width can range from one to 3264 dots on a 15in[...]

  • Page 124

    number that can be sent in one byte (259, the formula to work out nl and n2 is: if the number of columns is X, then nl = X MOD 256, and n2 = INT(X/256) Table 7-l may make the calculation easier. Table 7-I Calculating nl and n2 1 If the nr lmber of columns, x, ranges from: Then nl is: and n2 is: 1 to 255 X 0 256 to 511 x-256 1 512 to 767 x-512 2 768[...]

  • Page 125

    119 n Higher resolution graphics There are seven graphics modes you can use; they are summarized in Table 7-2. Table 7-2 Dot graphics commands You will notice that the higher the density of the graphic mode, the more points you will need to plot. Higher density modes also take longer to print. The double density double speed mode ignores every seco[...]

  • Page 126

    120 MORE GRAPHICS PROGRAMMING TIPS At the end of this chapter, we’ll discuss two modes that the printer offers to help you solve potential graphics problems. A redefining code allows you to change the density for graphics programs that use one of the four alternate codes. The 9-pin graphics mode allows you to use all nine pins on each line and th[...]

  • Page 127

    121 is a printer. each data line corresponds to one pin on the print head. Thus each byte sent will fire up to eight pins. But the printer has 9 pins available. So how do you tire the ninth pin with only 8 data lines? In fact, do you really want to bother with just one extra pin? For this purpose, your printer has a special 9-pin graphics mode (it [...]

  • Page 128

    122 MEMO[...]