Table 10-L Bell Commands - Star Micronics Radix User Manual

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Radix User's Manual
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International character sets
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Macro instruction
Now hear this
You may have heard Radix's bell if you have ever run out of
paper. And you may have wondered why it's called a bell when it
beeps instead of ringing! It's a long story that goes back to the early
days of computers, when teletype machines were used for com-
puter terminals. These mechanical marvels had a bell in them that
could be heard for blocks. This bell was used to signal the operator
that something needed attention. The code that the computer sent
to the teletype machine to ring the bell was, reasonably enough,
called a bell code. Well the name bell code is still with us, even if the
bell has changed to a beeper, and a lot of people still call the beeper
a bell, even if it doesn't sound like one. So with our trivia lesson
out of the way, let's see how we can "ring the bell."
The code to sound Radix's "bell" is CHR$(7), which is ASCII
code 7 or (BEL) . Any time Radix receives this code it will sound
the bell for a quarter of a second. This can be used to remind an
operator to change the paper or to make another adjustment to the
printer. Note to Apple users: Entering a CHR$(7) will sound
Apple's bell; the code will not be sent to Radix.
You can try this by typing:
LPRINT CHR$(i');
There are two other codes that affect the bell. One disables the
bell, so that Radix will ignore a CHR!$(7), and the other turns the
bell back on. All three codes that affect the bell are shown in the
following table.
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Table 10-l
Bell commands
Function
Sound bell
Disable bell
Enable bell
Control code
CHR$(7)
(ESC) "y" CHR$(O)
(ESC) "Y" CHR$(l)
Initializing Radix
Up to now when we wanted to reset Radix to the power on
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