Star Micronics SB-15 User Manual
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Star Micronics SB-15 User Manual

Star Micronics SB-15 User Manual

Star micronics printer user's manual
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  • Page 1 SD-IO/l5 USER’S MANUAL NOT INTENDED FOR SALE...
  • Page 2 Osborne 1: Osborne Computer Corporation SuperCalc: Sorcim Corporation TRS-SO: Radio Shack. a division WordStar: MicroPro International @Copyright 1984 Star Micronics Co., Ltd. Commission Statement frequency energy and if not installed with the manufacturer’s instructions. reception. It has been type tested and found...
  • Page 3 Congratulations both the sophisticated new SD-IO/IS! To complement All the information new SD-lo/l 5 is right here! You’ll find using this manual easy and pleasant. We’ve gone L,.. to great length to make it so, as it’s master-minded in the art of computer perienced in presenting Plain English! As an example, look over the Table of Contents and you’ll...

  • Page 4: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents Setting Up SD-lo/15 Chapter 1 Where Shall We Put It? What Have We Here? Removing the printer cover Removing packing and shipping screws Installing the platen knob Removing the tractor unit Attaching Installing the ribbon cartridge Getting to Know Your SD-lo/15 Chapter 2 Components Paper Selection and Loading...
  • Page 5 Italic printing Underlining Superscripts Changing the Print Pitch Expanded print Making SD-lo/l5 Summary Line Spacing and Forms Control Chapter 6 Starting New Lines Changing Line Spacing Moving down the page without a carriage return Forms Controls Form feed Changing the Page Length Top and Bottom Margins Summary Formatting...
  • Page 6 Erasing Download Defining Proportional Connecting Summary Printing With Dot Graphics Chapter 10 Comparing Characters Using the Dot Graphics Commands Specifying the number of columns of dots Specifying the graphics data Combining Printing a Design or Logo Plotting With SD-lo/15 How the program works High Resolution If You Have Problems With BASIC Summary...
  • Page 7 Appendix G Appendix H Appendix I Appendix J DIP Switch Quick Reference Command Quick Reference Consumer Response Technical Specifications The Parallel Interface Functions of the Connector Serial Interface Specifications Configuring the Serial Interface SD- lo/ 15’s Serial Protocols Serial busy protocols XON/XOFF protocol ACK protocol...
  • Page 8 Table of Tables Table 5-l Near letter quality commands Table 5-2 Italic commands Table 5-3 Underline commands Table 5-4 Superscript and subscript commands Table 5-5 Print pitch commands Table 5-6 Expanded print commands Table 5-7 Print emphasis commands Table 6-l Line feed commands Table 6-2 Line spacing commands Table 6-3 Form length commands Table 6-4 Top and bottom margin commands...

  • Page 9: Setting Up Sd

    CHAPTER SETTING UP SD- lo/ 15 In this chapter, we’ll show you how to unpack SD-lo/l 5 printer, set it up in the right location, and get it ready for you to load it with paper and start printing. But first . . . WHERE SHALL WE PUT IT? Before you do anything else, give some thought to where you’ll...

  • Page 10: Removing The Printer Cover

    Figure l-l. Inside the carton printer, 2) continuous paper guide, 3) platen knob, 4) spare fuse, 5) ribbon cartridge, and 6) this user’s manual. Let’s move on the next step . . . H Removing the printer cover What is cover for, really? Primarily, for two reasons: one, to keep dust and dirt away from the delicate “innards,”...

  • Page 11: Removing Packing And Shipping Screws

    To remove the printer cover, lift up the free end (nearest the center of the printer), then with a slight rocking motion, lift it straight up and off the machine. procedure. Figure l-2 illustrates movement for both removal and replacement Printer Cover Figure 1-2.
  • Page 12 Figure 1-3. SD-10 has two screws which secure the chassis during shippmg; SD-15 has three. They should be removed before use. Figure 1-4. Remove the spiral tube on the carriage stay that protects SD- 1 O/ 1 S’s print head.

  • Page 13: Installing The Platen Knob

    You’ll be smart to save these screws, along with the rest of the packing material and the shipping carton, in case you ever have to ship the printer. Tape the screws somewhere or packing. 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.

  • Page 14: Attaching The Paper Separator

    Remove the printer cover (if attached). Identify the “snap levers” as shown in Figure l-5. Pull both snap levers forward, and at the same time . . . Rock the tractor unit up and towards you about half an inch. Now lift the tractor up and away from the printer.

  • Page 15: Installing The Ribbon Cartridge

    Important news: If you get this in upside down, they won’t work. So take another sharp look at Figure 1-6 before we pass on to the final act-installing n Installing the ribbon cartridge The ribbon cartridge greatly simplifies installing the ink ribbon. For easy installation, though, and diagrams shown here.
  • Page 16 Figure 1-8. Use a ball point pen to place the ribbon head and the ribbon guide. vertically between the print head and the ribbon of the head to avoid misprints or the ribbon coming print off during printing. 5. Turn the spool gear knob in the direction of the arrow printed on the top left side of the cartridge to take up the slack in the ribbon;...

  • Page 17: Getting To Know Your Sd

    CHAPTER GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SD-lo/l5 The more you learn about features, old and new, the better SD- lo/15 is going to perform for you. Remember, it’s not just what you know - it’s what you know how use! So, let’s start getting acquainted! Subjects we’ll cover in this chapter include: Components and controls...
  • Page 18 Figure 2-l. Front and rear views of SD-IO. - This unit feeds sprocket-feed TRACTOR gear and sprocket units. It is very easy to remove or to install the tractor unit onto the printer. - This is the rubber cylinder that carries paper to the PLATEN print head.
  • Page 19 Figure 2-2. INTERFACE “. place where you connect your computer to SD- 1 O/l 5, so that they are able to communicate Now let’s take a tour around the controls, control panel board, located at the right front. There are 4 lamps and 3 buttons on the panel: Front and rear views of SD-15...
  • Page 20 r---l POWER READY PAPER I OUT ON LINE Figure 2-3. SD- lo/ 15’s controls. ON LINE BUTTON - Lets you change the printer status between “off line,” and “on line”. When it’s on line, the printer can receive data from the computer. signal to the computer When you turn the power switch on, you are automatically line.
  • Page 21 RELEASE be using this particular control often. What it does is control the pressure of the paper against the platen. to feeding the different paper types - sprocket and single sheets. It has two settings: “Friction,” position is used for single sheet printing, and the Tractor position for sprocket paper.

  • Page 22: Loading Single Sheets

    Figure 2-4. The paper release lever has two settings: and “T” for tractor feed. for “Tractor Feed” and is used only with sprocket-feed “F” tightens the pressure of the paper against the platen, while “T” loosens this pressure, so it’s easier to move the paper around. n Loading single sheets Paper width must always be between 8 and 10 inches (8 and 15 inches for the SD-15), and paper thickness between .07 mm...

  • Page 23: Loading Sprocket-Feed Paper

    5. Insert the sheet from the back side of the platen (between the paper chute and the platen cover plate). 6. Press the ON LINE button until the ON LINE light goes off. 7. Press the L.F. button to roll the paper in until it appears on the front side of the platen, about where you want the first line to start printing.
  • Page 24 “computer paper.” It can be as narrow as 3”, and up to 10” wide (5” to 15 $4” on SD-I 5,. To use this kind of paper, you’ll need to install the tractor unit, with its two “sprocket” wheels to carry the paper along. To install the tractor, identify the two “snap levers”...
  • Page 25 3. Raise the paper bail bar; lift the paper separator upright. 4. Place the stack of fan-fold paper behind the printer. 5. Open the tractor covers, atop the right and left sprocket units, as shown in Figure 2-7. Figure 2-7. Open the tractor 6.

  • Page 26: Bottom Feeding Sd

    Figure 2-8. SD-lo/l5 ready to run with sprocket-teed paper. n Bottom feeding SD- 15 The SD- 15 can be loaded with sprocket paper in two different ways-either from the back, as with SD-10,or through a slot in the bottom. To load SD- 15 from the back, follow the steps shown in the previous section.
  • Page 27 5. Open the tractor covers, right and left (Figure 2-7). 6. Flip the clamp sprocket units to move freely right and left, so you can align them with the holes in the paper. 7. Pick up the first “sheet” and lift it up and through slot in the bottom of the SD-15.

  • Page 28: Ribbon Installation

    RIBBON INSTALLATION This is described in two places: installation tridge is explained in Chapter ribbon (“Maintenance”). ADJUSTING 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, under the printer cover, immediately in front of the release lever shown in Figure 2-10.

  • Page 29: Self-Test

    SELF-TEST The “self-test” is a trial run of your beautiful new machine. SD-lo/l 5 carries a built-in program that prints out sample lines of letters, numbers, and other characters everything’s in good working order. It also serves as a display of the characters available in the SD-lo/l 5.

  • Page 31: Getting Started With Sd

    CHAPTER 3 GETTING STARTED WITH SD-lo/l5 You have assembled and tested your printer, and seen a quick sample of SD-10/15’s capabilities in the self-test. Now it’s time to do what you bought SD-lo/l5 your computer. But first you need to connect Figure 3-l shows where the cables connect, but there’s more that you need to know complete instructions to many popular computers...

  • Page 32: Using Commercial Software

    USING COMMERCIAL Many of you purchased software. You made a good choice because SD- lo/ 15 is com- patible with most commercial programs to spreadsheet programs to accounting Many of these programs printer. These routines They typically give you a choice of printers or printer types to pick from.
  • Page 33 ask-key ). There are ASCII codes for all the letters of the alphabet, both lower case and capital, the numbers punctuation marks, and some (but not all) of SD-10/15’s func- tions. ASCII codes are referred to in several different ways, depending on the way they are used.

  • Page 34: Using Sd- Io/ 15 With Supercalc

    <LF> the abbreviation ASCII 10 its decimal value ASCII OAH - its hexadecimal value (the H signifies hex) the way it’s used in BASIC CHR$(lO) control-J the way you send it from a keyboard. There’s a chart in Appendix that you can convert back and forth. The reason that we are telling you all this about ASCII codes is that people are not very consistent ASCII codes.

  • Page 35: Using Sd- 1 O/ 15 With Word Processors

    I ,: that we want to use condensed print. The code to switch SD-lo/15 into condensed on condensed type, use the /Output command and, after selecting D(isplay) and entering the range to print, select the S(etup) option, and the S(etup)--“Manual prompt that says “Enter codes (CR when done)“, type control-O.

  • Page 36: Using This Book Without Learning Basic

    Entering the 4 is no problem; it’s a printing character so Easy- Writer won’t object (although in this case it’s not going to print). The Escape, however, is a non-printing special handling. To enter the Escape code lirst enter control-O (hold the Ctrl key while you press the letter 0).

  • Page 37: Chapter 4 Controlling Sd-Lo/15 With Basic

    SD- 1 O/ 15 WITH BASIC Throughout to use SD- 10/l 5 ‘s features using the BASIC programming guage in our examples. It is easy to communicate from BASIC and, though nearest thing to a universal language among users of personal computers.
  • Page 38 ways, and hope that between this and your computer’s 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.
  • Page 39 LLIST it (or however your computer does it). We’ve crossed the first major hurdle-learning Now we are ready to jump into the world of programming SD-lo/l 5. But first, there are a few fundamentals to cover. n Establishing We’ve learned printer.
  • Page 40 n Control codes SD-lo/l 5 uses many of the non-printing control codes. These codes perform a function rather than printing a character. Let’s try an easy one right now: 10 LPRINT CHR$(7) Where did that noise come from? That’s SD-lo/l 5’s bell. We will learn more about it in Chapter 8.
  • Page 41 Some of you fast students may have noticed that CHR$(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$(27) "E"; That’s just another form of the same ASCII code, and it’s all the same to SD-10/15.
  • Page 42 This is the command we mentioned earlier, is the way we will indicate the escape code, which is ASCII code 27. A letter or number enclosed in quote marks (such as the “W” above) means that character should be sent to the printer (without the quote marks).
  • Page 43 in STAR mode. There are some cases where you would use IBM mode with your computer, Chapters 5 through 10 discuss the control codes you send to SD-lo/l 5 to control printing style, horizontal matting, graphics, and other features. features have different codes for IBM mode and STAR mode. That’s it for the basics.
  • Page 45 CHAPTER 5 PRINTING TEXT WITH SD-lo/l5 Beginning with this chapter we will be exploring all the features of SD-10/15. In this chapter we’ll cover: Near letter quality characters Italics Underlining Superscript and subscripts Print pitch Print emphasis All our examples will be given in Microsoft by the IBM Personal Computer, need to know BASIC to use SD-10/15’s features.
  • Page 46 l(d 'Demo near letter quality character set. 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "B" CHR$i4) 34) LPRINT "This line shows NEAR LETTER QUALITY!" 44) LPRINT CHR$(27) "B" CHR$(5) 50 LPRINT "This line shows standard Drint." In this program, line 20 selects NLQ characters <...
  • Page 47 !I I. ’ i ,. 10 'Demo italic and roman. 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "4" 30 LPRINT "This line is in ITALIC characters." 40 LPRINT CHRS(27) "5" 50 LPRINT "This line is in ROMAN (normal) characters." Here is what you should get: This program is easy;...
  • Page 48 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 SD-lo/l 5 can print in two different heights of characters.
  • Page 49 “S” CHR$( l), and finally off in line on one line because of the semicolons. CHANGING THE PRINT In “printer talk,” character width is called pitch. SD-lo/l 5 prints 10 characters per inch. This is called pica pitch because it’s the same spacing as a standard pica typewriter. SD-lo/l 5 can also print 12 characters per inch.
  • Page 50 30 LPRINT "This line is CONDENSED pitch." 4@ LPRINT CHR$(27) "B" CHR$(2) ; 'Select elite pitch. 541 LPRINT "This line is ELITE pitch." 60 LPRINT CHR$(27) "p" CHR$(l) ; 'Select proportional. 741 LPRINT "This line is PROPORTIONAL spacing." 88 LPRINT CHR$(27) "p" CHR$(@) ; 'Cancel proportional. 98 LPRINT CHR$(27) "By CHR$(l) ;...
  • Page 51 Expanded print set with CHR$(14) is automatically at the end of the line. This is convenient in many applications, such as for one line titles. < ESC > in front of the CHR$( 14), although works just the same. You can also cancel one line expanded print before a carriage return with CHR$(20), as done in line 50.
  • Page 52 combining expanded print with the four pitches, SD-lo/l 5 has eight different character widths available. Enter this program to see how the print pitches and expanded print can be combined: pitches in cqmbination 'Demo 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "W" CHR$(l) ; 'Permanent expanded mode on.
  • Page 53 MAKING SD-IO/15 SD-lo/l 5 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. this: double-strike and emphasized print. the characters twice, but they use slightly different methods to darken the characters.
  • Page 54 Line 20 turns on double-strike 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 emphasized. Line 60 then turns double-strike “H” so that line 70 can print in emphasized only. 80 turns emphasized off, so that SD-IO/l5 printing.
  • Page 55 CHR$(20) <ESC> “W” 1 < ESC > “W” 0 < ESC > “G” < ESC > “H” < ESC > “E” < ESC > “F” One line expanded off Expanded on Expanded off Double-strike Double-strike Emphasized Emphasized...
  • Page 57 LINE SPACING AND FORMS CONTROL We have learned how to print in many different ways, but so far we haven’t looked at how to position the printing on the page. -’ In this chapter we will learn how to: Change the vertical spacing Change the length of the page Set top and bottom margins STARTING...
  • Page 58 will add the line feed for you. When you have DIP switch 2-3 off the printer will do the same thing when it receives a carriage return as it does when it receives a line feed. If you find that your printer double spaces when it should single space, then you probably need to turn DIP switch 2-3 on.
  • Page 59 This is what you will get: This line s-pacing This line spacing line c.pacirig i 5. set This spacing This line This line spacing This line spacing Thir 1 ine spacing This %z.pacing is set Thic line spacing line This spacing This line...
  • Page 60 You may wonder why they picked l/72 of an inch as the in- crement for the line spacing command. the dots that the printer makes are l/72 inch apart. So this means that you can vary the line spacing in increments dot-unless you want finer spacing, like one half dot spacing (STAR mode) or one third dot spacing (IBM mode).
  • Page 61 The program works just the same as before, but the line spacing are just half (STAR mode) or one-third (IBM mode) what they were. This is because < ESC > “3” CHR$(n) sets the line spacing to n/144 inch in the STAR mode, or n/216 inch in the IBM mode. Table 6-2 shows all the line spacing commands, several “shortcut”...
  • Page 62 without moving the printhead lowing commands do just that. The < ESC > “J” CHR$(n) command make one line feed of n/144 inch (STAR mode), or n/216 inch (IBM mode), but does not change the setting of the line spacing. Try this program to see how it works: one-time line...
  • Page 63 The new line 50 moves the paper up 3 lines, but the printhead doesn’t move. Therefore, the column that the printhead FORMS CONTROLS We have seen how to control the spacing between lines on a page. SD-lo/l5 also has commands of printing on the page, and even adjust for different size pages.
  • Page 64 The form feed (CHR$( 12)) in line 50 caused the printer to move to the top of a new page before printing the last two lines. A note to TRS-80 users: CHR$(12) is a problem code for the TRS-80. To send a form feed command add 128 to it making it CHR$(140).
  • Page 65 TOP AND BOTTOM Many programs that use a printe :r don’t keep track of where they are printing on the page. This causes a problem when you get to the bottom of a page because these programs just keep on printing, right over the perforation. to read, especially if a line happens to fall right on the perforation.
  • Page 66 When you run this program it will print 150 lines right down the page and across the perforations. a form feed to advance the paper to the top of the next page. Look at the lines that have printed near the perforations. the sheets and see if any of the lines have been torn in half.
  • Page 67 Always send a form feed after setting the top margin, or it will not work on the first page printed. That’s because the top margin only takes effect after a form feed. Line 14 sets the top margin, line 12 sets the bottom and line 55 clears both margins when we are done.
  • Page 69 FORMATTING You have probably typewriter. :I*. SD-lOi15 also has tabs and margins that you can set. But it goes beyond the capabilities tabs that go across the page, called horizontal tabs, SD-lo/l5 has vertical tabs that go down the page. In this chapter we will discover how to use: Horizontal tabs Vertical tabs...
  • Page 70 CHR$(9) is a problem with some computers. convert CHR$(9) to a group of spaces that act like a sort of pseudo-tab. This is line if the computer and the printer have the same tab settings, but it doesn’t allow us to use our own tab settings on SD-lOjl5.
  • Page 71 Horizontal Function Advance to next tab position Set tabs at etc. nl, n2, One-time tab of n spaces If your computer Note: CHR$(98) for “b.” SETTING LEFT AND SD-lo/ 15’s left typewriter-once they are set all the printing is done between them. The commands to set the margins are given in the following table: Left and right margin commands Function...
  • Page 72 110 RETURN The first thing that this program subroutine that starts in line 70. This subroutine in a row. The first time that the subroutine fit in one line. Then line 30 sets the left margin to 10, and line 40 sets the right margin to 70.
  • Page 73 Now, let’s set some vertical tabs of our own. Add these lines to the program: 12 LPRINT CHR$(27) "P" CHR$(l@) ; 14 LPRINT CHR$(2@) CHR$(4@) CHR$(5Q)) CHR$(@) ; < ESC > “P” is the command to set vertical tabs for the STAR mode.
  • Page 74 This doesn’t confuse SD- 10/l 5---it advances the paper to the next tab position which happens to be the first tab position next page. That’s nice, isn’t it? n A one-shot vertical tab command There’s a one-time vertical tab command the one-time horizontal CHR$(n), and it causes the paper to advance n lines.
  • Page 75 I :? SPECIAL FEATURES 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 SD-lOjl5. So here goes.
  • Page 76 * to remind an operator to change the paper or to make another adjustment to the printer. CHR$(7) will sound Apple’s bell; the code will not be sent to SD-10/15. You can try this by typing: LPRINT CHR$(7); There are two other codes that affect the bell. One disables the bell, so that SD-lo/l5 the bell back on.
  • Page 77 for the code to go on-line again. CHR$(l9) SD- 10/l 5 off-line; CHR$( 17) returns SD- 10/l 5 to on-line status. n Printing to the bottom of the sheet Sometimes when you are using individual sheets of paper you may want to print near the bottom detector usually stops SD- IO/l 5 when you are about 2 % inches from the bottom running out of continuous...
  • Page 78 n Backspace, delete, and cancel text Backspace (CHR$(8)) “backs up” the printhead can print two characters right on top of each other. SD-lo/l5 receives a backspace character to the left, instead of to the right. You can strike over multiple letters by sending more than one backspace code. Delete (CHR$(127)) also “backs up”...
  • Page 79 n Unidirectional Unidirectional one direction on@. SD-IO/l5 normally prints when the printhead is moving in both directions. an application vertical lines align than with how fast it prints. you make this choice. The table below shows the commands controlling . . . Function Print in one direction Print in both directions...
  • Page 80 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 SD-10/l 5 to the power-on condition. You can also set SD-lo/l 5 to print in one direction line only by using the command immediately moves the printhead...
  • Page 81 m Block graphics characters and special symbols Besides the upper and lower case letters and symbols that we are by now familiar with, SD-lo/l 5 has a whole different set of characters that are for special uses. These characters include block graphics characters for drawing forms and graphs, and special symbols for mathematical,...
  • Page 82 Figure 8-1. Figure 8-2. 20 1...
  • Page 83 1 7 4 2 (:,Aq. & .::::'...
  • Page 84 10 LPRINT CHR$(27) "0" 20 LPRINT CHR$(27) "6" FOR J = 3 TO 6 40 LPRINT " " J CHR$(J) " NEXT 60 LPRINT " 21 " CHR$(21) 70 LPRINT 80 FOR J = 128 TO 254 STEP 10 98 FOR I = J TO J + 9 95 IF I >...
  • Page 85 SD-10/l 5 is a multi-lingual languages! SD- 10/l 5 changes languages by changing acters that are different for the different languages. These sets of characters are called international character sets. The control codes to select the international 8-5. The characters that change are shown beneath their ASCII code in Table 8-6.
  • Page 86 Macro instruction commands Function Define macro use macro 10 LPRINT CHR$(27) "+"; OF MACRO 20 LPRINT CHR$(18); 30 LPRINT CHR$(27) "Wfl"; ' EXPANDED OFF 40 LPRINT CHR$(27) "F"; 50 LPRINT CHR$(27) "H"; 60 LPRINT CHR$(27) "-0"; ' UNDERLINE OFF 70 LPRINT CHR$(27) "T"; 80 LPRINT CHR$(3Q));...
  • Page 87 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 But they are some of the most powerful that SD-lo/15 They give you the ability to create your own characters. SUMMARY be.- Control code...
  • Page 89 ’ OWN CHARACTERS In this chapter we’ll cover: Designing and printing your own characters Designing proportional In the previous four chapters of this manual you’ve learned how to control the SD-lo/l 5 printer to give you dozens of dif- ferent typefaces.
  • Page 90 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 direction-that’s what is meant by bi-directional printing) it prints one column of dots at a time. Each time a dot is supposed to print an electromagnet inside the printhead causes the appropriate wire to strike the ribbon (making the SD-10/l 5 an impact printer).
  • Page 91 But there is another area of *memory in the SD- lo/ 15 reserved for user-defined characters. These are characters that you design and download into SD-10/15. defined they are stored in RAM (random access memory), which allows you to define or modify them at any time. Each of these characters, character ROM or in download which is six “boxes”...
  • Page 92 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; as we come to it in our discussion of defining and actually printing download characters.
  • Page 93 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.
  • Page 94 m m2 m, m m5 m6 m, m, m, m,, m,, Total Dots cannot overlap; those in immediately adjacent “half Figure 9-6. columns” will be ignored when the character is printed. H Add up each column of dots Now it’s time to give our creative to some basic arithmetic.
  • Page 95 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 So add up the values of the dots in each column using this system.
  • Page 96 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 character on the printer the same way you would any standard character. You can send the character with the same ASCII value (for instance, if you had assigned your character a code of 66, it would print each time you sent a character “B”...
  • Page 97 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 mix of characters!). The information (except for proportional take up shortly). n Download You’ve read through a long explanation of download characters and we haven’t even told you the command syntax yet! Now the wait is over.
  • Page 98 We’ll be discussing proportional 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 9-10 shows the bits of the attribute our flask character.
  • Page 99 10 LPRINT CHR$ (27) “k” CHR$( 1) CHRS(160) CHR$(162); 20 FOR N = 160 TO 162 30 FOR M = 0 TO 11 44) READ MM 50 LPRINT CHR$(MM); 60 NEXT M 70 NEXT N 80 LPRINT 90 DATA 139,2,5,8,241,0,0,241,8,5,2,0 100 DATA 139,124,0,66,4,64,36,16,2,16,12,0 110 DATA 139,46,16,2,60,0,48,0,48,0,48,0 When you run this program,...
  • Page 100 Voila! It should have printed out the three characters we de- fined. Your printout should look like this: (If it doesn’t, check the last program we ran for errors, then rerun it.) Let’s find out if there are any other characters in the download RAM.
  • Page 101 I . . 144) LPRINT ESC$ "$1"; 150 LPRINT "Autos" TB$; 160 FOR I=.4 TO 9.3 STEP .4 : LPRINT CHR$(161); : NEXT 179) LPRINT 184) LPRINT "Chemicals" TB$; 190 FOR I=.4 TO 8.7 STEP .4 : LPRINT CHR$(16@); NEXT 200 LPRINT 210 LPRINT "Guns"...
  • Page 102 ERASING DOWNLOAD After you have defined a set of characters phabet, perhaps) you may want to go back to using mostly standard characters with a few new user-defined characters mixed Rather than turning SD-lo/l 5 off (which erases all of the current settings, including download a command which will restore the default...
  • Page 103 These download characters are defined as proportional Figure 9-12. characters. attribute byte, mO. As you know, the first bit of m0 is used to specify whether the character is a descender or not. three bits are used to specify the starting print column (acceptable values are 0 to 7).
  • Page 104 10 FOR N=l TO 4 2p) READ Nl 30 LPRINT CHR$(27) "9c" CHR$(l) CHR$(Nl) CHR$(Nl); 40 FOR M=Q) TO 11 50 READ MY 60 LPRINT CHR$(MM); 70 NEXT M 80 NEXT N 90 LPRINT " Mississippi" 100 LPRINT 110 LPRINT "Standard characters without proportional spacing"...
  • Page 105 One thing to remember about defining proportional 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 seventh through eleventh columns of dots (if you specified any) will not print.
  • Page 106 In the program that follows, we’ve used this technique to create some large numbers. characters-two horizontally course, that you must define and print four characters for each finished digit. We assigned the upper left quadrant to ASCII codes from 160 to 169, the upper right quadrant codes 170 to 179, and so on.
  • Page 107 130 READ MS 140 PRINT 111, CHR$(MS); 150 NEXT S 160 NEXT I 170 ' 180 ASCII = 160 CHARACTERS 190 FOR NUM = 0 TO 9 200 NUMERAL.TOP$(NUM) + 1) 210 NUMERAL.BOT$(NUM) + 3) 220 ASCII = ASCII + 4 NEXT NUM 240 BLANKS = CHR$(200) 250 PRINT j/l, DOWN.CHAR.PROP$;...
  • Page 108 DATA 11, 510 DATA 11, 68, 42, 68, 58, 68, 50, 68, 34, 64, 2, 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, 144, 96, 128 540 'FOUR 550 DATA 11, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,...
  • Page 109 810 DATA 11, 192, 0, 192, 0, 194, 32, 222, 32, 94, 32, 3# 820 DATA 11, 12, 0, 28, 0, 142, 0, 198, 0, 198, 0, 830 DATA 11, 0, 206, 0, 156, 0, 248, 0, 240, 0, 224, 840 ‘SPACE 850 DATA 11, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 0 SUMMARY...
  • Page 111 CHAPTER PRINTING WITH DOT GRAPHICS Subjects covered in this chapter include: SD-10/15’s bit image graphics capabilities Printing a pre-defined shape Plotting a calculated shape High resolution graphics In Chapter 9 you were introduced graphics; you were able to actually define characters dot by dot. In this chapter you’ll learn to use the same principles to make SD- 1 O/ 15 print whole pages of dot graphics! We’ll show you how to use dot graphics to create “super download...
  • Page 112 (if you’re not sure which type of interface your computer check the appendix for your computer). So when do you use graphics and when do you use download characters? Practically anything can do with download grammer could actually plot a mathematical load characters or use strings of graphics data as user-defined characters.
  • Page 113 it’s possible to have a graphics image as wide as 480 dots on SD-10 or 816 dots on SD-15. graphics data to expect, SD-lo/l5 the value of nl. If you divide the number of columns by 256, then n2 is the quotient and nl is the remainder (why not let your computer figure it out for you: if the number of columns is as- signed...
  • Page 114 Starting with the most significant bit at the top, each pin Figure 10-l. 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. should demonstrate short program graphics command.
  • Page 115 W 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. Try adding these lines to our program: 45 PRINT #l,"WOW!" ; 85 PRINT #l,"This is great!"...
  • Page 116 paper. And it may be helpful to write the dot values (128, 64, 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;...
  • Page 117 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$(P) 140 NEXT COLUMN 150 NEXT ROW 160 ' PRINT LOGO 1?0 LPRINT LINE.8$;...
  • Page 118 500 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 192,224,224,224,224,240,255,255,255,255 550 DATA 255,127,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 560 'ROW4 570 DATA 0,248,248,240,224,224,112,112,56,56 580 DATA 56,56,56,120,120,240,240,224,224,192 590 DATA 128,0,0,0,0,0,192,224,240,240 600 DATA 240,248,248,248,120,120,56,56,56,56 610 DATA 48,112,224,224,224,224,240,240,248,248 620 DATA 120,120,56,56,56,56,120,240,224,224 630 DATA 192,128,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 640 DATA 0,:48,248,240,224,224,112,112,56,56 650 DATA 56,56,56,120,120,240,240,224,224,192 660 DATA ~28,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0...
  • Page 119 and SD-lo/l5 terrific business graphs, charts, and mathematical 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.
  • Page 120 270 ' 280 'Subroutine to draw a line from Xl,Yl to X2,Y2. ’ 300 XL = X2 - Xl 310 Nx = ABS(XL"LXFAC) : NY = ABS(YL$cLYFAC) 320 IF NX < NY THEN NX = NY 330 NS% = INT(NX+l) 340 DX = XL/NS% 354) FOR 1% = 1 TO NS% 364) xl = Xl + DX...
  • Page 121 you need to change are the values in line 40. The array MASK% contains the values of the dots. (In order to make this program run on the most computers, we’re using only six pins for graphics. With many computers, lines 90 and 100 we’ve defined some other variables you’ll be interested in: LX, LXFAC, LY, and LYFAC are used as scaling factors.
  • Page 122 at a time. The variable A$ is used to build a string of all the columns of BIT% in a given row. As you can see, by taking the program analyzing it, graphics programming If you want to try some other plots, try these (replace lines after 600 with the lines below).
  • Page 123 .----I HIGH RESOLUTION Up until now all of the dot graphics printing we have done has been with SD-IO/IS’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. SD-lo/l 5 has seven graphics modes you can use;...
  • Page 124 nnt oranhirr rnmmlndQ Function Normal density (60 dots/inch) Double density (120 dots/inch) Double density with double Speed (120 dots/inch) Quadruple density (240 dots/inch) CRT graphics (80 dots/inch) Plotter graphics (72 dots/inch) CRT graphics type II (90 dots/inch) Note: If your computer CHR$(103).
  • Page 125 Double density graphics Double density,‘double speed . . --. -‘;.. Quadruple density graphics...
  • Page 126 So if quadruple density looks so great, why not use it all the time? Let’s try an experiment just how the different program in this chapter, change line 60 to try each of the different modes. Just change the “CHR$(75)” + CHR$(2), “g”...
  • Page 127 Star’s engineers have given programmers program development graphics. Although this mode requires just as much memory and computing as normal density graphics. Amazing, you say? Well, it is-until you know the secret. Every other column of dots is ignored, so the output is actually the same as normal density graphics.
  • Page 128 < ESC > “Z” nl n2 ml m2... c ESC > “g” nO nl n2 ml m2... < ESC > ‘I*” nO nl n2 ml mi?... Print quadruple density graphics (for IBM mode) Master graphics selection (for mode) Master graphics selection (for mode) STAR...

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