Epson MX-80 User Manual page 55

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Advanced Printing and Endless Form Control

The Form Feed — From the Outside

With the paper set where we left it, a perforation in the middle of the platen, let's

send the Form Feed command, 12+128=140. Type:

> L P R I N T C H R $ ( 1 4 0 )

GOOD GRIEF!

THE TRAIN

OVERSHOT

THE STATION!

Doesn't life have

enough trials without this?

Apparently not. An external Form Feed command acts the same as the F F button

on the Printer, with one extremely important exception. Since we have to shove

commands down the line from BASIC with an LPRINT, and each LPRINT auto-

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matically sends a CR and a Line Feed (over which we have no control), each time

we send an LPRINT we toss one extra Line Feed into the soup. Terrific!

So Now What Do We Do?

Well, the problem isn't going away, so we'll confront it head-on.

First, to console ourselves a bit, let's go back to the Printer, push it OFF LINE,

push FF, and see what happens.

Yep, the paper went right back to its proper place at the top of the next form.

(Yes, yes, this is using up paper. Time is more valuable than the paper, so forget

it.)

The whole point of this exercise is:

1. With every LPRINT comes a Line Feed.

2. The Printer counts every LF and knows where the paper is at all times,

(even if WE don't).

The Form Feed — In BASIC Software

Let's modify our resident program to print only 25 lines, then have it auto-

matically roll the paper up to the top of the next form. Change it to read:

1 0 FOR N = 1 TO 2 5

2 0

L P R I N T N

3 0 NEXT N

4 0 L P R I N T C H R $ ( 1 4 0 )

' FF CODE

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