Instruction/ maintenance manual of the product SR-10/I5 Star Micronics
Go to page of 130
,,, : I SR-IO/I5 USER’S MANUAL NOT INTENDED FOR SALE.
Federal Communications Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement The 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 in- terference to radio and television reception.
i h.. I L. / / ‘ . / ., A Special Message to the New Owner You’re to be congratulated on selecting the printer of choice for both the sophisticated as well as the first-time user/owner - the new SR-lo/Is! Right now, before you even start readying your SR-lo/15 for action, we’d like to impress you with these two thoughts: 1.
We think you’ll also find this manual easy and pleasant to use. We’ve gone to great lengths to make it so. As a first example, look over the table of contents and you’ll see what we mean. Whether greenhorn or wizard, everybody will find what they need to know to fulfill their expectations.
Table of Contents Chapter 1 Setting Up SR-lo/15 Where Shall We Put It? What Have We Here? Removing the printer covers Removing packing and shipping screws Installing the platen knob Installing the rib.
Superscripts and subscripts Changing the Print Pitch Expanded print Chapter 6 Making SR-lo/15 Print Darker Mixing Modes Summary Line Spacing and Forms Control 47 - Starting New Lines Reverse line feed.
Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E Appendix F Printing Download Characters Erasing Download Character Definitions Defining Proportional Characters Connecting .
Appendix G Technical Specifications Appendix H The Parallel Interface Functions of the Connector Signals Appendix I Serial Interface Specifications Configuring the Serial Interface SR-10/15’s Serial.
Table of Tables Table 2-1 Left margin on the single sheet guide Table 5-l Near letter quality commands Table 5-2 Italic commands Table 5-3 Underline commands Table 5-4 Superscript and subscript comman.
.
CHAPTER 1 L.. L” ; c., I-. . . SETTING UP SR- 1 O/ 15 In this chapter, we’ll show you how to unpack your new SR-lo/15 printer, set it up in the right location, and get it ready for you to load it with paper and start printing.
Figure l-l. Inside the carton you should have received: 1) SR-lo/15 - printer, 2) cut sheet guide, 3) continuous paper guide, 4) power cord, 5) platen knob, 6) spare fuse, 7) ribbon cartridge, and 8) this user’s manual. - Let’s move on the next step .
with the printer frame, then with a slight rocking motion, lift it straight up and off the machine. To replace, just reverse the procedure. Figure l-2 illustrates the proper position and movement for both removal and replacement of the covers. R/ear cover Figure l-2.
- Figure l-3. SR-10 has three screws which secure the chassis during shipping; SR-15 has four. They should be removed before use. n Installing the platen knob This is the knob that turns the rubber platen cylinder. It fits into the hole on the right side of the printer case.
Figure 14. Remove the spiral tube on the carriage stay that protects SR-10/15’s print head. the knob a few turns to see that it’s turning the platen easily and smoothly. n Installing the ribbon cartridge The ribbon cartridge greatly simplifies installing the ink ribbon.
Guide pin Guide pin Figure l-5. A guide pin on each side of the ribbon cartridge helps to align the cartridge during installation. Figure l-6. Tilt the ribbon cartridge in until the guide pins meet the hooks in the printer frame, then lower the front edge until the holder springs hold it-in place.
5. Now thread the ribbon carefully between the print head and the ribbon guide next to the platen. (Take a good look at Figure l-7.) You might want to use a ball point pen to lightly press the ribbon guide against the platen (runbber roller) while you insert the ribbon into the thin space between the print head and ribbon guide.
CONNECTING SR-lo/15 TO YOUR COMPUTER To complete the installation, you’ll need to connect SR-lo/15 to your computer. Figure l-8 shows where the cable connects, but there’s more that you need to know. Find the appendix and follow the guidelines for making connections (“interfacing”) and for setting the DIP switches.
I .^ .- li. L. L.., Lr CHAPTER 2 GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SR-lo/15 The more you learn about SR-lo/15 and its sophisticated features, old and new, the better SR-lo/15 is going to perform for you.
Ground terminal Power cord connector - - - Figure 2-1. Front and rear views of SR-IO. Like a typewriter, the print head prints through an ink ribbon. TRACTOR - This built-in unit sits in the rear of your printer, under the rear cover. Its sprocket wheels carry the sprocket-feed paper on its pathway through the printer.
.Bail lever Control ,Ll W Power cord conndr ‘ Figure 2-2. Front and rear views of SR-15. INTERFACE CONNECTOR - Around on the back, this is the place where you connect your computer to SR-10/15, so that they are able to communicate with each other.
Figure 2-3. SR-10/15’s controls. POWER LAMP - Glows green when the power is on. READY LAMP - Glows green when the printer is ready to accept data. This light flickers during transmission. Don’t worry about the flicker; it’s normal! ON LINE LAMP - Glows green when the communication lines to your computer are open.
data from the computer. When it’s off line, the printer sends a signal to the computer indicating that it cannot accept data. When you turn the power switch on, you are automatically on line. 13 There are other kinds of controls, not connected to the control panel board.
PAPER SELECTION AND LOADING Now we’ll look at paper. Your SR-lo/15 can handle single sheets - standard-size stationery, multi-part carbonless business forms, or almost any other kind of cut sheet. You can also print on “computer paper” with the holes along the sides, which is also called sprocket, punched, or perforated fan-fold.
Figure 2-4. Use the single sheet guide for loading cut paper. Table 2-1 Left margin on the single sheet guide Position of Distance from Left-Hand Edge of Paper Guide For SR-10 For SR-15 Left Approx. .6 inch Approx. .8 inch Middle Approx. .3 inch Approx.
Figure 2-5. The metal guide is used to align the left margin. -- - - Here’s the proper sequence for loading: 1. Turn off the power and remove the rear cover. (After -, you’ve practiced a few times, you’ll find it easy to load paper by just opening the cover.
Figure 2-6. The wire paper guide keeps continuous paper away from the cables. Figure 2-7. The tractors, which guide the paper, are underneath the rear cover.
Figure 2-8. With the tractors in place, you’re ready to close the covers and advance the paper. 7. Bring the paper up from the back, over the wire guide, and into the back of the printer.
ADJUSTING THE GAP The gap is the space between the print head and the platen. Adjusting the gap is simply adjusting the printer to accommodate different thicknesses of paper. To make this adjustment, move the adjustment lever which is under the front cover, immediately in front of the release lever shown in Figure 2-9.
SELF-TEST The “self-test” is a trial run of your beautiful new machine. SR-lo/15 carries a built-in program that prints out sample lines of letters, numbers, and other characters - to show you that everything’s in good working order. It also serves as a display of the characters available in the SR-10/15.
SOME TIPS FOR SMOOTHER OPERATION Here are some ideas that might save time and trouble with SR-10/15. l When setting the left-hand margin on sprocket paper, you’ll find the bail bar is marked with pica size unit measurements, so it’s a handy reference.
.
.., i. -_ _. _. L . L-. LI CHAPTER 3 GETTING STARTED WITH SR-lo/l5 In this chapter you’ll learn about: l Using SR-lo/15 with commercial software l ASCII codes You have assembled and tested your printer, and seen a quick sample of SR- lo/15 ‘s capabilities in the self-test.
24 Some programs don’t ask you what kind of printer you have, but instead they ask some questions about what your printer can do. Here are the answers to the “most asked” questions. SR-lO/ 15 can do a “backspace”. SR-lo/15 can do a “hardware form feed”.
when we press the “A” key on our keyboard we want to print the letter “A”. The computer takes care of all the rest. But there are a number of ASCII codes that don’t have keys on the keyboard. The most important of these codes are the codes that have ASCII values below 32.
By translating the codes from the system that we use, to the system that your commercial software uses, you should be able to use many of SR-10/15’s advanced features. It may help, however if we look at a couple of examples. n The escape code - There’s one particular ASCII code that we are going to be using more than all the rest.
CHAPTER 4 CONTROLLING SR-lo/15 WITH BASIC Throughout the rest of this book we will be teaching you how to use SR-lo/15 ‘s features using the BASIC programming lan- guage in our examples.
ways, and hope that between this and your computer’s BASIC manual you will be able to stay with us. First on our list is Microsoft BASIC’s way of communicating with the printer. They just add an “L” to the beginning of the LIST and PRINT commands, making them LLIST and LPRINT.
L. : i. L-.. L. L, ‘- L. hr. h. L. ‘- L L L LLIST it (or however your computer does it). We’ve crossed the first major hurdle-learning how to list programs on SR-10/15. Now we are ready to jump into the world of programming with SR- 10/l 5. But first, there are a few fundamentals that we need to cover.
r ; ‘_ w Control codes SR-lo/15 uses many of the non-printing ASCII codes for control codes. These codes perform a function rather than printing a character. Let’s try an easy one right now: NEW 10 LPRINT CHR$(7) RUN Where did that noise come from? That’s SR-10/15’s bell.
Some of you fast students may have noticed that CHR$(69) is the same as “E”. That’s right, the program will work just as well if line 10 is changed like this: 10 LPRINT CHR$(27) "E"; That’s just another form of the same ASCII code, and it’s all the same to SR-10/15.
This is the command to turn on expanded print < ESC > , as we mentioned earlier, is the way we will indicate the escape code, which is ASCII code 27. A letter or number enclosed in quote marks (such as the “W” above) means that character should be sent to the printer (without the quote marks).
6.. L in STAR mode. There are some cases where you would use IBM mode with your computer, if you wish. Chapters 5 through 10 discuss the control codes you send to SR-lo/15 to control printing style, horizontal and vertical for- matting, graphics, and other features.
- - - - -.
CHAPTER 5 PRINTING TEXT WITH SR-lo/15 Beginning with this chapter we will be exploring all the features of SR-10/15. In this chapter we’ll cover: l Near letter quality characters l Italics l Underli.
18 'Demo near letter quality character set. 24) LPRINT CHR$(27) "B" CHR$(4) ; 'Select NLQ. 30 LPRINT "This line shows NEAR LETTER QUALITY!" 40 LPRINT CHRS(27) "B" CHR$(5) ; 'Select draft. 50 LPRINT "This line shows standard Drint.
,l@ ‘Demo italic and roman. 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) “4” ; ‘Italic on. 30 LPRINT "This line is in ITALIC characters." 40 LPRINT CHR$(27) "5" ; 'Italic off. 5@ LPRINT "This line is in ROMAN (normal) characters." Here is what you should get: I.
ued.Therefore, BASIC didn’t send a carriage return and line feed at the end of those lines. We just did this to illustrate that all these control codes can be used in the middle of a line. It’s easy to underline or italicize only part of a line. n Superscripts and subscripts SR-lo/15 can print in two different heights of characters.
“S” CHR$( l), and finally off in line 90. Again, everything prints on one line because of the semicolons. CHANGING THE PRINT PITCH In “printer talk,” character width is called pitch. Normally, SR-lo/15 prints 10 characters per inch. This is called pica pitch because it’s the same spacing as a standard pica typewriter.
30 LPRINT "This line is CONDENSED pitch." 4Q) LPRINT CHR$(27) "B" CHR$(2) ; 'Select elite pitch. 50 LPRINT "This line is ELITE pitch." 60 LPRINT CHR$(27) "p" CHR$(l) ; 'Select proportional. 70 LPRINT "This line is PROPORTIONAL spacing.
Expanded print set with CHR$(14) is automatically canceled at the end of the line. This is convenient in many applications, such as for one line titles. Note that you don’t need to put an < ESC > in front of the CHR$( 14), although < ESC > CHR$( 14) works just the same.
By combining expanded print with the four pitches, SR-lo/15 has eight different character widths available. Enter this program to see how the print pitches and expanded print can be combined: 10 'Demo pitches in combination with expanded mode. 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "W" CHR$(l) ; 'Permanent expanded mode on.
MAKING SR-lo/15 PRINT DARKER SR-lo/15 has very good print density when it’s just printing regularly. But sometimes you may want something to stand out from the rest of the page. SR-lo/15 provides two ways to do this: double-strike and emphasized print.
Line 20 turns on double-strike with < ESC > “G” and line 30 prints a line of text. In line 40 emphasized is turned on with < ESC > “E”. Line 50 prints a line of text in double-strike and emphasized. Line 60 then turns double-strike off with < ESC > “H” so that line 70 can print in emphasized only.
Table 5-8 Master Select and the 256 ASCII Codes Double-strike Pitch Normal Emphasizzd Double-strike kEmphasized ?ica 0, 2, 64 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 80, 24, 26, 28: 66, 128, 130, 14, 72, 74, 82, 144, 146, 30, 88, 90.
.-. SUMMARY Control code < ESC > “B” CHR$(4) < ESC > “B” CHR$(S) < ESC > “4” < ESC > “5” < ESC > “4” < ESC > “5” < ESC > “I” 1 <.
CHAPTER 6 LINE SPACING AND FORMS CONTROL . We have learned how to print in many different ways, but so far we haven’t looked at how to position the printing on the page.
will add the line feed for you. When you have DIP switch 2-3 off the printer will do the same thing when it receives a carriage return as it does when it receives a line feed. If you find that your printer double spaces when it should single space, then you probably need to turn DIP switch 2-3 on.
: NEW 18 FOR I = 1 TO 25 20 IF I = 13 THEN 50 30 LPRINT CHR$(27) "A" CHR$(I); 4@ LPRINT "This line spacing is set to" I 50 NEXT 60 LPRINT "Line spacing is set to l/6 inch (normal)." 70 LPRINT CHR$(27) "2" This is what you will get: This line This line spacing is set to 10 This line spacing is s.
Line 30 changes the line spacing. The command < ESC > “A” CHR$(n) changes the line spacing to n/72 of an inch. The loop that is started in line 10 increases the value of n (the variable I in the program) each time it is executed. So the line spacing in- creases as the program continues.
(STAR mode) This line spacing is set to 19 This line spacing is set to 20 This line spacing is set to 21 This line spacing is set to 22 This line spacing is set to 23 This line spacing is set to 24 This line spacing is set to 25 Line s.pacing is set to l/6 inch Inomal).
1 Function Table t -2 Line spacing c lmmands 1 Mode Control code spacing to l/8 inch STAR I- IBM <ESC> “0” I <ESC> “0” Set line spacing to 7172 inch - (not attached) Set line spacing to n/72 inch < ESC > “A” CHR$h) .
without moving the printhead back to the left margin. The fol- lowing commands do just that. The < ESC > “J” CHR$(n) command causes the printer to make one line feed of n/144 inch (STAR mode), or n/216 inch (IBM mode), but does not change the setting of the line spacing.
The < ESC > “a” CHR$(n) command advances the paper n lines (using whatever the current line spacing is) without moving the printhead. Change line 40 and 50 of your program so that they are like this. 4p) 'Advance paper 3 lines. 50 LPRINT CHR$(27) "a" CHR$(3) ; Now when you run the program the results will look like this.
40 'Form feed. 50 LPRINT CHR$(12) ; Before you run the program, turn your printer off and adjust the paper so that the top of the sheet is even with the top of the ribbon guide on the print head, then turn the printer back on. If you don’t remember how to do this, review Chapter 2.
Table 63 Form feed commands CHANGING THE PAGE LENGTH You may have some computer forms that you wish to use with SR- lo/ 15 that are not 11 inches high.
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 be reset to its normal setting (usually 11 inches). TOP AND BOTTOM MARGINS Many programs that use a printer don’t keep track of where they are printing on the page.
10 'Demo top and bottom margins 20 LPRINT CHR$(12) ; 'Form feed. 30 FOR I = 1 TO 150 40 LPRINT "This is line" I 50 NEXT I 60 LPRINT CHR$(12) ; 'Form feed. When you run this program it will print 150 lines right down the page and across the perforations.
< ESC > “0” < ESC > “1” < ESC > “2” < ESC > “J” CHR$(n) < ESC > “j” CHR$(n) -c ESC > “a” CHR$(n) < ESC > “A” CHR$(n) < ESC > .
< ESC > “j”CHR$(n) One-time reverse line feed of n/216 inch (for IBM mode) CHR$( 12) Form feed < ESC > CHR$( 12) Reverse form feed < ESC > “C” CHR$(n) Set page length to n li.
I CHAPTER 7 FORMATTING YOUR OUTPUT *. Y. c “_ h You have probably used the tab and margin features on a typewriter. They make it easier to format the text on a page.
CHR$(9) is a problem with some computers. Some BASICS convert CHR$(9) to a group of spaces that act like a sort of pseudo-tab. This is fine if the computer and the printer have the same tab settings, but it doesn’t allow us to use our own tab settings on SR-10/15.
Table 7-l Horizontal tab commands Function Mode Control code Advance to next tab position STAR CHR$(9) IBM CHRU9) L I I STAR < ESC > “D" CHR$(nl) CHR!$(n2)...CHR$(O) : ESC > “D" CHR$(nZ) t-r IBM .z CHR$(n2)...CHR$(O) Set tabs at nl, n2, etc.
The first thing that this program does is to branch to the subroutine that starts in line 70. This subroutine prints 80 X’s in a row. The first time that the subroutine is used, all the X’s tit in one line. Then line 30 sets the left margin to 10, and line 40 sets the right margin to 70.
. . L L * m... Now, let’s set some vertical tabs of our own. Add. these lines to the program: 12 LPRINT CHR$(27) "P" CHR$(lfl) ; 14 LPRINT CHR$(2@) CHR$(4@) CHR$(50) CHR$(@) ; < ESC > “P” is the command to set vertical tabs for the STAR mode.
This doesn’t confuse SR-10/15--it advances the paper to the next tab position which happens to be the first tab position on the next page. That’s nice, isn’t it? n A one-shot vertical tab command There’s a one-time vertical tab command that works just like the one-time horizontal tab command.
r i CHAPTER 8 SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE SR-lo/15 In the previous chapters we have learned about several groups of control codes. In this chapter we will look at more control codes. These codes don’t fit neatly into any of the groupings that we have studied, but they add a lot of capability to SR-10/15.
to remind an operator to change the paper or to make another adjustment to the printer. Note to Apple users: Entering a CHR$(7) will sound AppZe’s bell; the code will not be sent to SR-10/15. You can try this by typing: LPRINT CHR$(7); There are two other codes that affect the bell.
for the code to go on-line again. CHR$( 19) is the code to turn SR-IO/l5 off-line; CHR$( 17) returns SR-lo/15 to on-line status. n Printing to the bottom of the sheet Sometimes when you are using sprocket paper you may want to print near the bottom of the last sheet.
n Backspace, delete, and cancel text Backspace (CHR$@)) “backs up” the printhead so that you can print two characters right on top of each other. Each time SR- 1 O/ 15 receives a backspace it moves the printhead one char- acter to the left, instead of to the right.
n Unidirectional printing Unidirectional printing is a big word that means printing in one direction only. SR-lo/15 normally prints when the printhead is moving in both directions. But once in a while you may have an application where you are more concerned about how the vertical lines align than with how fast it prints.
again. Finally line 110 sends a form feed to advance the paper to the top of a new page, and then uses the master reset to restore SR-IO/l5 to the power-on condition. You can also set SR-lo/15 to print in one direction for one line only by using the command < ESC > “ < “.
n Block graphics characters and special symbols Besides the upper and lower case letters and symbols that we are by now familiar with, SR-IO/l5 has a whole different set of characters that are for special uses.
Figure 8-1. 2. 4 + 133 C 129 ii 138 P 139 i: 148 ij 14? b 158 pt 159 f 168 L 16s r 178 $$j .:.... 188 J 179 1 189 J 198 /- 2(:)f3 1 218 r 233 C 238 < 248 o 6 3 131 ;is: 141 i 15 1 111 161 i 171 !?’ 181 1 1Yl , 2 (:l 1 r 211 L 182 j 192 L ?(-)3 L L-A .
134 A 144 I2 154 ti 164 iT 1 7 4 .<:: 184 , 194 l- 2!34 t 214 r 224 IX --I-r L .J 4 - ?! 244 c’ 254 I.
NEW 18 LPRINT CHR$(27) "9" 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "6" 30 FOR J = 3 TO 6 40 LPRINT " " J CHR$(J) " "; 50 NEXT 60 LPRINT " 21 " CHR$(21) 70 LPRINT 80 FOR J .
SR-IO/15 is a multi-lingual printer for it can speak in eight languages! SR-lo/15 changes languages by changing 11 char- acters that are different for the different languages. These sets of characters are called international character sets. The control codes to select the international character sets are given in Table 8-5.
Table 8-7 Macro instruction commands Function Define macro Use macro Mode Control code STAR < ESC > “ + “....codes you include...CHR$(30) IBM <ESC> “+“....codes you include...CHR!$(30) STAR < ESC > “!” IBM <ESC > “?.
In this chapter we have learned many different commands that have many different uses. In the next chapter we will make up for this diversity-the whole chapter only covers three commands! But they are some of the most powerful that SR- lo/l5 offers. They give you the ability to create your own characters.
.
In this chapter we’ll cover: l Designing and printing your own characters l Designing proportional characters In the previous four chapters of this manual you’ve learned how to control the SR- lO/ 15 printer to give you dozens of different typefaces.
0.0. 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0.0. Figure 9-l. The letter “C” is created by printing 15 dots. - descenders (such as the lower case “p” shown) use the bottom seven pins. As the printhead moves across the page (in either direction-that’s what is meant by bi-directional printing) it prints one column of dots at a time.
But there is another area of memory in the SR-lo/15 reserved for user-defined characters. These are characters that you design and download into SR-10/15. When download characters are defined they are stored in RAM (random access memory), which allows you to define or modify them at any time.
Figure 9-5. Later in this chapter we’ll use this character to create a small graph.) You’ll notice that Figure 9-4 includes a lot of information around the grid. Don’t be intimidated; we’ll explain each item as we come to it in our discussion of defining and actually printing download characters.
character uses the top eight dots, write in a one next to the word “Descender” on the layout grid; if it uses the bottom eight dots, write in a zero. In our example, we’ll want the bottom of the flask to line up with the baseline of the other characters, so it will not be a descender.
128 64 32 16 8 btal ASCII Code WRONG! Descender Start column End column M, = Descender * 128 + (Start l 16) + End Figure 9-6. Dots cannot overlap; those in immediately adjacent “half columns” will be ignored when the character is printed.
._ . L.. c value. Some examples will make this clearer. As shown in Figure 9-7, if we add the numbers for the dots that print in a column, the sum will be a number in the range of 0 to 255. Each number from O-255 represents a unique combination of dots.
can define any positions except the defined control code positions. This means that once a character is defined and assigned a value (and the download character set is selected), you can use that character on the printer the same way you would any standard character.
Our chart would hardly be complete with just a picture of a chemist’s flask, so in Figure 9-9 we’ve made completed grids for some other symbols: an automobile and a gun (quite a strange mix of characters!). The information on the grids is now complete (except for proportional width data-a more advanced topic we’ll take up shortly).
We’ll be discussing proportional character widths in detail later in this chapter; for now, we’ll leave it at 11. The descender data was discussed earlier: to use the top eight pins, this bit should be 1; to use the bottom eight pins this bit should be 0.
10 LPRINT CHR$(27) "*" CHR$(l) CHR$(160) CHRS(162); 20 FOR N = 160 TO 162 30 FOR M = 0 TO 11 40 READ MM 50 LPRINT CHR$(MM); 60 NEXT M 70 NEXT N 80 LPRINT 90 DATA 139,2,5,8,241,0,0,241,8,5,2,0 100 DATA 139,124,0,66,4,64,36,16,2,16,12,0 110 DATA 139,46,16,2,60,0,48,0,48,0,48,0 When you run this program, it looks like nothing happens.
Voila! It should have printed out the three characters we de- fined. Your printout should look like this: (If it doesn’t, check the last program we ran for errors, then rerun it.) Let’s find out if there are any other characters in the download RAM.
. . L . . . . h . L L . . *, 140 LPRINT ESC$ "$1"; 150 LPRINT wAutos" TB$; 164) FOR I=.4 TO 9.3 STEP .4 : LPRINT CHR$(161); : NEXT 170 LPRINT 180 LPRINT "Chemicals" TB$; 190 FOR I=.4 TO 8.7 STEP .4 : LPRINT CHR$(160); : !; : NEXT 200 LPRINT 210 LPRINT "Guns" TB$; 220 FOR I=.
ERASING DOWNLOAD CHARACTER DEFINITIONS After you have defined a set of characters (a whole new al- phabet, perhaps) you may want to go back to using mostly standard characters with a few new user-defined characters mixed in.
Figure 9-12. These download characters are defined as proportional characters. attribute byte, m0. As you know, the first bit of mO is used to specify whether the character is a descender or not. The next three bits are used to specify the starting print column (acceptable values are 0 to 7).
10 FOR N=l TO 4 20 READ Nl 30 LPRINT CHR$(27) "*" CHR$(l) CHR$(Nl) CHR$(Nl); 40 FOR M=@ TO 11 50 READ MM 60 LPRINT CHR$(MM); 70 NEXT M 80 NEXT N 90 LPRINT " Mississippi" 100 LPRINT.
One thing to remember about defining proportional characters: a character cannot be wider than the specified width. That seems obvious enough! For example, if you specify a width of 6 for a character (starting in column 1 and ending in column 6), the seventh through eleventh columns of dots (if you specified any) will not print.
In the program that follows, we’ve used this technique to create some large numbers. Each digit is actually made up of four characters-two horizontally by two vertically. This means, of course, that you must define and print four characters for each finished digit.
130 READ MS 140 PRINT i/l, CHR$(MS); 150 NEXT S 160 NEXT I 170 ' 180 ASCII = 160 'START OF DOWNLOAD CHARACTERS 190 FOR NUM = 0 TO 9 'NUMERALS 0 TO 9 200 NUMERAL.
500 DATA 11, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 32, 64, 32, 64, 32 510 DATA 11, 68, 42, 68., 58, 68, 50, 68, 34, 64, 2, 0 520 DATA 11, 8, 0, 12, 0, 28, 2, 12, 2, 4, 2, 4 530 DATA 11, 2, 4, 2, 12, 144, 108, 144, 104, 1.
s j :’ 810 DATA 11, 192, 0, 192, 0, 194, 32, 222, 32, 94, 32, 30 820 DATA 11, 12, 0, 28, 0, 142, 0, 198, 0, 198, 0, 198 830 DATA 11, 0, 206, 0, 156, 0, 248, 0, 240, 0, 224, 0 840 'SPACE 850 DATA 11, 8, 0, 8, 0, 0, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 SUMMARY Control code Function < ESC> “*” 1 nl n2 mO ml .
. -- - -- - - - - -.
CHAPTER 10 PRINTING WITH DOT GRAPHICS Subjects covered in this chapter include: l SR-10/15’s bit image graphics capabilities l Printing a pre-defined shape l Plotting a calculated shape l High resol.
(if you’re not sure which type of interface your computer has, check the appendix for your computer). So when do you use graphics and when do you use download characters? Practically anything you can do with graphics you can do with download characters, and vice versa.
it’s possible to have a graphics image as wide as 480 dots on SR-10 or 816 dots on SR- 15. So to figure out how many columns of graphics data to expect, SR-lo/15 multiplies n2 by 256 and adds the value of nl.
0 0 0 :1 8 0 $ 0 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 (nit used) Figure 10-l. Starting with the most significant bit at the top, each pm of the print head is assigned a value which is a power of two. Note that for 7-bit computers, the top pin cannot be used. A short program should demonstrate how to implement the graphics command.
I j n Combining text and graphics It’s also possible to mix text and graphics in one line. This can be useful for labeling charts or graphs, or even inserting fancy graphics in text.
32, etc.) down the left side of each row. Then after you’ve filled in the “dots” that you want to print, it’s time to get out the old calculator again! Just as you did with download characters, add up the values of each column of dots; this makes up one byte.
60 GRAPHICS = CHR$(27)+CHR$(75) 70 DIM LOG0$(4) 80 WIDTH "LPT1:",255 90 ' READ DATA 100 FOR ROW = 1 TO 4 110 FOR COLUMN = 1 TO 100 120 READ P 130 LOGO$(ROW) = LOGO$(ROW) + CHR$(P) 140 NEXT COLUMN 150 NEXT ROW 160 ' PRINT LOGO 170 LPRINT LINE.
500 DATA 252,255,255,255,127,63,31,7,7,31 510 DATA 254,252,248,224,128,0,0,3,7,7 520 DATA 7,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 530 DATA 0,31,31,3,129,128,192,192,192,192 540 DATA 192,224,224,224,224,240,255,255,255,25.
I / and SR-lo/15 plotting the output, you can come up with some terrific business graphs, charts, and mathematical function plots. The best way to do this is to set up an array in memory. This is your “graph paper.” The first thing to do is to determine how big you want your output to be; this will determine the size of your array.
I : ._,,’ . . . ,_ .- 270 ' 280 'Subroutine to draw a line from Xl,Yl to X2,Y2. 290 ' 300 XL = x2 - xl : YL = Y2 - Yl 310 NX = ABS(XL*LXFAC) : NY = ABS(YL*LYFAC) 320 IF NX < NY THE.
you need to change are the values in line 40. The array MASK% contains the values of the dots. (In order to make this program run on the most computers, we’re using only six pins for graphics. With many computers, you can use all eight available pins.
at a time. The variable A$ is used to build a string of all the columns of BIT% in a given row. As you can see, by taking the program in small pieces and analyzing it, graphics programming does not have to be difficult. If you want to try some other plots, try these (replace lines after 600 with the lines below).
HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS Up until now all of the dot graphics printing we have done has been with SR-10/15’s normal density mode. This can give you some pretty sharp images at great speed. Sometimes though, you may want to create an image with even higher resolution.
Table 10-2 Dot graphics commands - - - - or < ESC > “*” CHR$(3) nl - - - Note: If your computer does not support lowercase characters, use CHR$(103), CHR$(121), and CHR$(122) for “g”, “y”, and “z”, re- spectively.
‘. Double density graphics ‘x-- Double density/double speed ‘. . . Quadruple density graphics ---..
So if quadruple density looks so great, why not use it all the time? Let’s try an experiment on your printer which will show just how the different density modes work. Using the “logo” program in this chapter, change line 60 to try each of the different modes.
Star’s engineers have given programmers a unique shortcut for program development though-double density double speed graphics. Although this mode requires just as much memory and computing time as double density, it prints at the same speed as normal density graphics.
< ESC > ‘2” nl n2 ml m2... Print quadruple density graphics (for IBM mode) < ESC > “g” n0 nl n2 ml m2... Master graphics selection (for STAR mode) < ESC > 3” n0 nl n2 ml m2.
An important point after buying a device Star Micronics SR-10/I5 (or even before the purchase) is to read its user manual. We should do this for several simple reasons:
If you have not bought Star Micronics SR-10/I5 yet, this is a good time to familiarize yourself with the basic data on the product. First of all view first pages of the manual, you can find above. You should find there the most important technical data Star Micronics SR-10/I5 - thus you can check whether the hardware meets your expectations. When delving into next pages of the user manual, Star Micronics SR-10/I5 you will learn all the available features of the product, as well as information on its operation. The information that you get Star Micronics SR-10/I5 will certainly help you make a decision on the purchase.
If you already are a holder of Star Micronics SR-10/I5, but have not read the manual yet, you should do it for the reasons described above. You will learn then if you properly used the available features, and whether you have not made any mistakes, which can shorten the lifetime Star Micronics SR-10/I5.
However, one of the most important roles played by the user manual is to help in solving problems with Star Micronics SR-10/I5. Almost always you will find there Troubleshooting, which are the most frequently occurring failures and malfunctions of the device Star Micronics SR-10/I5 along with tips on how to solve them. Even if you fail to solve the problem, the manual will show you a further procedure – contact to the customer service center or the nearest service center
