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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Bells and Whistles
each with 7 rows of dots, so that there are a total of
77
dot
positions available for a character.
IMPORTANT:
Pledse note that all 77 positions aren't available for a single
character. You can't place two clots in the same row in adjoining columns. So,
for example, you can place a dot in row 1 of columns 1 and 3 or columns 2 and
4, but you can't put dots in row 1 of columns 1 and 2.
If
you
a~cidentally
enter
dots
on the same row of adjacent columns, the second dot won't be printed.
Okay, now map
out your character.
Once you've done that,
you'll
be
ready
to
convert
your matrix
into
data the printer
understands. Since we have no idea what kind of
character
you've
designed, we'll use ours to illustrate this next
procedure
.
Character
to
be printed:
Column
Position
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
value
1
r--..
r-..,
r~
~
\...
~
""
.)
2
r
1
r .,
\... .)
' "
~
4
:J
~J
r "
""
~
8
r """
r "
~)
)
""j
\...~
16
rJ
r~
r -,
r~
""j
""~
\...)
""
32
r-.,
, """
""
~
...._
.)
64
r .,
.,
r .,
...._~
.....
~
\......J
Converting Dot Patterns into Printer Data
T he purpose of t
h
is step is to translate t he dot pattern into
a numerical code the printer and computer can u nderstand.
To help you do this, we've assigned a n
u
merical value to each
row in the matrix. All you need to do is add up the values of
the rows where you want
a
dot to appear in each column
.
The diagram below shows the proper va lues.
IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR WITH BINARY NUMBERS:
Each column
is
repre-
sented by
a
7-bit binary
nu
mber.
(
If
you're
usi ng
an
8-bit system, bit 8 is ig·
nored.) A dot is represented by
a "1"
and a
blan
k space is
"O";
the top dot
is the LSB
(Least
Significa nt Bit), and the bottom dot is the MSB
(Most
107
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