Epson LX-80 User Manual

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EPSON

LX-80™ PRINTER

User’s Manual

FCC COMPLIANCE STATEMENT

FOR AMERICAN USERS

This 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 interference to radio and television

reception. It has been type tested and found to comply with the limits for a

of Part 15 of FCC rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference in a residential installation. However,

installation. If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on,

the following measures:

- Reorient the receiving antenna Relocate the computer with respect to the receiver

are on different branch circuits.

If necessary, the user consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television

booklet prepared by the Federal Communications Commission helpful:

“How to Identify and Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems.”

Washington DC 20402. Stock No. 004-000-00345-4.

WARNING

invalidate the FCC certification of this device and may cause interference which exceeds the limits established by the FCC for this equipment. If this equipment has more than one interface connector, do not leave cables connected to unused interfaces.

Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Applesoft is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Centronics is a registered trademark of Data Computer Corporation.

LX-80 is a trademark of Epson America, Inc. IBM-PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. QX-10 is a trademark of Epson America, Inc.

TRS-80 is a registered trademark of Radio Shack, a division of Tandy

Corporation. 80 Micro is published by Wayne Green Publishers.

NOTICE:

whatsoever without EPSON’s express written permission is forbidden.

l The contents of this manual are subject to change without notice.

* All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this manual.

However, should any errors be detected, EPSON would greatly appreciate being informed of them.

The above notwithstanding, EPSON can assume no responsibility for any errors

in this manual or their consequences.

Nagano. Japan

P8492004

List of Figures

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List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . .

LX-80 Features

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About This Manual

Setting Up Your LX-80 Printer

Printer Parts Printer Location

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Paper Feed Knob Installation Ribbon Installation Ribbon Replacement Paper Loading

Control Panel

Test Pattern

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Connecting the LX-80 to Your Computer . First Printing Exercise

SelecType

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Choosing Print Modes Turning SelecType Mode On Using SelecType

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First SelecType Exercises

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Testing Your Software for the Reset Code

Mode Combinations SelecType Cautions and Tips

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vii

Vlll

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1 1

3 3 4 4 5

9 10 12 13 14

15 15 16 17

19 20 22

Elements of Dot Matrix Printing

The Print Head . . . . . . . .

Bidirectional Printing . . .

Changing Pitches . . . . . . . .

NLQ Mode . . . . . . . . . .

Printer Control Codes .

ASCII Codes . . . . . .

ESCape Code . . . .

Printer Codes . . . . .

Embedded codes . . .

Inserted codes . . . .

Programming Languages .

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23 23 24 24 26

29 29 30 31

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III

LX-80 Features

Demonstration Programs

Pica Printing Changing Pitches Cancelling Codes Resetting the Printer

Pitch Comparison Near Letter Quality Mode

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35 35 36 37 37

38 38 39

Print Enhancements and Special Characters

Bold Modes..

Emphasized mode Master program

Double-strike Expanded Mode Mode Combinations Italic Mode Underline Mode

Master Select Superscript and Subscript

Special Characters International Characters Graphics Character Set

Page Formatting

Margins

Justification with NLQ . .

Skip Over Perforation Line Spacing Paper-Out Sensor

User-Defined Characters

Defining Your Own Characters Designing Process

First definition program Running the program Second definition program

Running the program

Defining NLQ Characters

NLQ grid First NLQ definition program

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Second NLQ definition program

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41 41 41

42 43 44

44 45 46 47 49

49 49 52

55 55 56

57 57 59

61 62 63 64 65

66 67 67

70 71

Introduction to Dot Graphics

Dot Patterns Print Head

Graphics Mode

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Pin Labels ................................

First Graphics Program Multiple-Line Exercise Density Varieties Reassigning Code Column Reservation Numbers WIDTH Statements Design Your Own Graphics Graphics Programming Tips

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Semicolons and command placement String variables

Graphics and low ASCII codes

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Appendixes

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73 74 75 75 76 78 78

80 81 81 82 83 86 86 88 89

ASCII Codes and Character Fonts

Special Graphics Characters . . . . . . . . . . .

Draft International Characters . . . . . . .

Control Codes in Numeric Order . . . . .

Control Key Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Control Codes by Function

Near Letter Quality Mode

Character Width (Pitch)

Character Weight Print Enhancement

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Mode and Charcter-Set Selection .

Special Printer Features . . . . . . .

Line Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Forms Control

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Page Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

User-defined Characters

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Dot Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The DIP Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Using the Optional Tractor Unit

Printer Location . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tractor Unit Installation

Loading Continuous Paper

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A-1

A-3 A-5

B-1

B-12

C-1

C-1 C-1 C-1 C-2 C-2 C-2 C-2 C-3 C-3 C-3

C-3

D-1

E-1 E-1 E-2 E-4

Troubleshooting and Advanced Features

Problem/Solution Summary

Setting print styles Tabbing Graphics

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Paper-out sensor

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SelecType Solutions

Method l.. Method 2.. Method3

Method 4

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Cancelling Functions with SelecType

Other software Beeper Error Warnings Data Dump Mode Coding Solutions

POKEing codes Special printer drivers

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Solutions for Seven-Bit Systems

Solutions for Specific Systems

Applesoft BASIC solutions Apple II solutions

TRS-80T”

IBM-PCTM

solutions

solution

QX-10™ solutions

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: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

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F-1 F-1 F-1 F-1 F-1

F-3 F-3 F-3 F-3

F-4 F-4 F-4 F-6 F-6

F-6 F-8

F-9 F-10 F-10 F-11 F-11 F-12 F-13

F-13 F-14

Printer Maintenance

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Always

NowandThen..::::::::::::::::::::

Rarely

Technical Specifications

Printing

Paper Printer Dimensions and Weight Environment

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Character size

Characters per line

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Interface ..................................

The Parallel Interface

Data Transfer Sequence

Interface timing Signal relationships

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G-1 G-1

H-1 H-1 H-1 H-2

H-2 H-2 H-2 H-3 H-3

I-1 I-3 I-3 I-3

List of Figures

1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6

1-7 1-8 1-9 1-10

2-1

3-1 3-2 3-3

6-1 6-2 6-3

6-4 6-5 6-6

7-1

Printer parts

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Paper feed knob installation . . . Ribbon cassette Print head assembly

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Ribbon cassette installation . .

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Ribbon placement . . . . . . . . .

LX-80 ready for paper loading .

Control panel . . . . . . . . . . .

Test patterns Cable connection

SelecType setting and functions

A capital T

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The three pitches of the LX-80 . .

LX-80 dot matrix characters . . . Emphasized and single-strike

Double-strike and single-strike

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Expanded and standard characters

Italic and pica . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The underline mode Special graphics characters

Standard line spacing

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3 5 5 6

7 8

9 10 12 14

23 25 26

41 43 44

46 47 52

8-1 8-2 8-3 8-4 8-5 8-6 8-7

9-1 9-2 9-3 9-4 9-5 9-6

9-7

D-1

Grid for designing draft characters Correct and incorrect designs Design for sigma

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Using the bottom eight rows

Grid for NLQ characters

Data numbers for one column

Arrow design and data numbers

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Pin labels . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Calculating numbers for pin patterns Designing in different densities

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Arrow design . . . . . . . . . . .

First line of arrow figure

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Result of incorrect program . . . . .

Pin patterns of incorrect program DIP switch location

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62 63 64 65 68

69 70

77 83 84 84 86 87

D-1

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E-1

E-2 E-3 E-4 E-5 E-6

E-7

E-8

Continuous paper with printer stand Continuous paper without stand

Tractor placement

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Paper separator and paper guide Tractor release levers

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Pin feed holder adjustment Open Top of

in feed cover

page position

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E-1

E-2

E-2 E-3 E-4 E-5

E-5 E-6

I-1

2-1 2-2

5-1

6-1

6-2 6-3

9-1

D-1

D-2

I-1 I-2

Parallel interface timing

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List of Tables

SelecType modes

Mode combinations Summary of LX-80 pitches International characters in NLQ mode

International characters in draft mode International characters in draft italic

Graphics modes DIP switch functions

International DIP switch settings Pins and signals

Signal interrelations

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I-3

16 21

51 51

D-2

I-1, I-2

I-4

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Introduction

The Epson LX-80 printer combines low price with the high quality and advanced features formerly available only on more expensive printers.

LX-80 Features

In addition to the high performance and reliability you’ve come to

expect from an Epson printers, the LX-80 offers:

l Draft mode for quick printing of ordinary work l Near Letter Quality mode for top quality printing l A variety of print styles, including Roman and italic, six widths,

and two kinds of bold printing

l User-definable characters so you can create and print your own

symbols or characters

l High-resolution graphics for charts, diagrams, and illustrations

l Eleven international character sets l Easy paper loading l Ribbon cassette for quick and clean ribbon changing

About This Manual

We’re not going to waste your time with unnecessary information, but we won’t neglect anything you need to know about the LX-80 and its many features.

You can read as much or as little of this manual as you wish. If you have used printers before and have a specific program that you want to use with the LX-80, a quick reading of the first chapter may be all you need. If, on the other hand, you are new to computers and printers, you will find this manual easy to follow and the LX-80 easy to use. No matter what your background, if you want to learn about

and experiment with all the advanced features of the LX-80, the information you need is here.

For a preview of what your LX-80 can do, look at the following

samples of a few of its typestyles.

NLQ. standard

ABCDEFGHIJKLMnopqrstuvwxyz

WLQ emphasized ABCDEFGHIJKLMnopqrstuvwxyz

Chapter 1

Setting Up Your LX-80 Printer

Setting up your LX-80 printer is a simple matter of attaching two parts, putting in the ribbon and paper, and connecting the printer to your computer.

This chapter will have you printing a test pattern within fifteen to

twenty minutes and doing more complicated work not long after.

Printer Parts

First, see that you have all the parts you need. In addition to this

manual, the printer box should contain the items shown in Figure l-1.

* In the United States, the printer is delivered with the power

cord attached.

Figure 1-1. Printer parts

cord*

In addition to the items in the box, you need a cable and possibly an interface board. The cable connects the printer to your computer, and the interface board is necessary only for those computers that can’t use the LX-80’s Centronics® parallel interface. Your computer manual or your dealer will tell you which cable you need and whether or not you need a special interface.

Printer Location

Now that you have unpacked your printer, you should choose a suitable location for it. The main requirement, of course, is that the printer be close enough to your computer for the cable to reach. Also

remember the following:

l Use a grounded outlet, and do not use an adapter plug. l Avoid using electrical outlets that are controlled by wall switches.

Accidentally turning off a switch can wipe out valuable information in your computer’s memory and disrupt your printing.

l Avoid using an outlet on the same circuit breaker with any large

electrical machines or appliances. These can cause disruptive power fluctuations.

l Keep your printer and computer away from base units for cordless

telephones.

l Protect the printer from direct sunlight, excessive heat, moisture,

and dust. Make sure that it is not close to a heater or other heat source.

Paper Feed Knob Installation

Now that you have chosen where to set up your LX-80, the first and simplest piece to install is the paper feed knob, which you use to manually advance the paper-just as you do on a typewriter. To install the knob, merely push it onto the shaft found in the hole on the right side of the printer. (See Figure l-2.) The shaft has one flat side that must be matched with the flat side of the hole in the knob.

Figure 1-2. Paper feed knob installation

Ribbon Installation

The LX-80 printer uses a continuous-loop, inked fabric ribbon,

which is enclosed in a cassette that makes ribbon installation and

replacement a clean and easy job. The parts of this cassette are labelled in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3. Ribbon

cassette

To install the ribbon, first open the lid at the front of the LX-80 so

that you can see the print head assembly shown in Figure 1-4. Move the assembly by hand to the center of the printer so that the other

parts of the printer will not get in your way. Also be sure that the

paper bail is against the black roller so it too will not be in your way. Note: Moving the print head by hand when the printer is turned on

can harm the printer. Always be sure that the printer is turned

off before you move the print head.

Figure l-4. Print bead assembly

Then hold the ribbon cassette so that the small knob is on top and the exposed section of ribbon is away from you. Insert the cassette in its holder by first sliding the pins at the back of the ribbon cassette under the small hooks on the holder. (See Figure l-5.) Then lower the

front of the cassette so that the exposed section of ribbon can fit between the print head nose and the silver ribbon guide. Push down until the cassette fits firmly in place.

Figure 1-5. Ribbon cassette installation

Now turn the knob on the cassette in the direction of the arrow to tighten the ribbon. As you turn the knob, see that the ribbon slips down into its proper place between the print head nose and the silver ribbon guide (Figure l-6). If it doesn’t, guide it with a pen or a pencil.

Figure l-6. Ribbon placement

Ribbon Replacement

When your printing begins to become light and you need to replace the ribbon, lift the front of the cassette to remove it and then follow the above instructions with a new cassette. If you have been using your printer just before you change cassettes, be aware that the print head becomes hot during use. Be careful not to touch it. Also remember never to move the print head by hand when the printer is turned on.

Paper Loading

Now put a sheet of paper in your LX-80 so you can test it. Figure

1-7 shows the names of the parts that you need to know.

Friction lever

Figure 1-7. LX-80 ready for paper loading

See that the printer is turned off, open the front lid, and push the friction lever back and the paper bail forward. Then move the print head by hand to the center of the printer and feed the paper into the paper slot in the top of the printer,

When the paper will not go any farther, turn the paper feed knob to advance it as you would with a typewriter. Turn the knob until the top of the paper is at least the paper bail against the paper. If the paper becomes crooked, pull the friction-release lever forward, straighten the paper, and push the friction lever back.

If you have the optional tractor unit for continuous pin-feed paper, see Appendix E for instructions on its use.

3/+inch

above the ribbon guide. Then push

Control Panel

Now that your paper is loaded, it is time to plug in the printer and see what the buttons on the control panel do. First, see that the power switch on the right side of the printer is off; then plug in the power cord. Now turn on the power switch and look at the control panel on the right side of the top of your LX-80.

Figure 1-8. Control panel

There are several buttons and indicator lights on the control panel.

Their primary functions are described below:

l The POWER light glows green when the power is on. l The READY light glows green when the printer is ready to accept

data. This light flickers somewhat during printing.

l The PAPER OUT light glows red to indicate that the printer is

out of paper or the paper is loaded incorrectly.

l The ON LINE light glows green when the printer can receive

data.

l The ON LINE button switches the printer between on-line and

off-line status. When the printer is on-line, the ON LINE light

glows and the printer is ready to accept data.

The following two buttons work only when the printer is off-line. If the ON LINE light is on, press the ON LINE button to put the printer off-line before you use these buttons.

l The FF (Form Feed) button advances the paper to the top of the

next page.

l The LF (Line Feed) button advances the paper one line at a time.

The control panel buttons can also be used to turn on several printing functions using a feature called SelecType, which is described in Chapter 2. In addition, you’ll find another use for the LF and FF buttons in the next section.

Test Pattern

Now you’ll see your LX-80 print something even though it’s not connected to a computer yet. Make sure that your printer has paper in it and that the power switch is off. Now, hold down the LF button on the control panel while you turn the printer on with the power switch. The LX-80 will begin printing all the letters, numbers, and other characters that are stored in its ROM (Read Only Memory) for the draft mode. When the printing starts, you can release the LF button; the printing will continue until you turn the printer off or until the print head gets near the end of the page. To see the same test in the NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode, turn the printer on while holding down the FF button. Partial results of both tests are shown in Figure 1-9.

Connecting the LX-80 to Your Computer

Now that the test pattern has shown that your printer is working well, it’s time to hook it up to your computer. It is best to have both the printer and the computer turned off when you do this.

Remember that each computer system has its own way of communicating with a printer. If your computer expects to communicate through a Centronics parallel interface, all you need is a cable. If your computer requires any other kind of interface, you will also need an interface board.

If you don’t know what a Centronics parallel interface is, your computer manual or your dealer will tell you what you need. Then, once you have plugged your printer cable into your printer and computer, you will probably never think about interfaces again. (If you do want the technical specifications, however, you can find them

in Appendix I.)

The first three steps in connecting your printer and computer are shown in Figure 1-10. Plug one end of your printer cable into the cable connector of your LX-80 printer. The plug is shaped so that there is only one way it will fit the connector. Now secure the plug to the printer with the wire clips on each side of the connector. These clips insure that your cable will not be loosened or unplugged accidentally. If your cable has a grounding wire, fasten it to the

grounding screw below the connector.

Groundin{

screw

Wire clip

Figure 1-10. Cable connection

Next connect the other end of the printer cable to your computer.

On most computers you can easily find the correct connector for the

printer cable, but if you are not sure, consult your computer manual

or your dealer.

First Printing Exercise

Now it is time to see something more interesting than the test

pattern from your LX-80 printer. Your next step depends upon what

kind of printing you plan to do. If you have a word processing or other commercial software program, just load the program in your computer, follow its printing instructions, and watch your LX-80 print. If you plan to use your LX-80 for printing program listings, load a program and use your computer system’s listing command

(LLIST for Microsoft™ BASIC, for example).

Note: If all the lines of your first printing exercise are printed on top

of each other, don’t worry. There is nothing wrong with your printer. All you have to do is change the setting of a small

switch in the back of your printer. See the section on automatic line feeds in Appendix D.

Chapter 2

SelecType

At the end of the introduction you saw samples of the typestyles available on your LX-80. In this chapter you’ll learn how Epson’s SelecType feature puts the most-used print modes at your fingertips.

With a few taps on the panel buttons of the LX-80, you can change

your printing from

$:ll~~,

i!+, 1”) (I:/ cl r’ (::I

to the more detailed

Near Letter Quality (NLQ) mode

or any of several other possibilities.

<ii> j, r) (::I 11, Et! ....’ !:I;. ‘t;, r j, 1.:: (<;$

. . .

Choosing Print Modes

The LX-80 printer’s many print modes give you a great choice of width, weight, and style of characters. You can activate these modes in several different ways, depending on your needs and the capabilities of your software. The most common ways include placing printing codes in your document, using a programming language such as BASIC, and giving print commands as part of the printing instructions for your software.

1::) j, <:I fi

Often the SelecType feature is the easiest way to choose print modes on the LX-80. This feature changes the function of the three buttons on top of your printer-ON LINE, FF, and LF. After turning on the SelecType mode, you can use the buttons to choose one or more of six separate functions. The functions include five typestyles and a reset code.

Table 2-1 shows the typestyles you can print with SelecType, and-as you will learn later in this chapter-you can combine some of them.

Table 2-1. SelecType modes

NLQ

Emphasized

Double-strike

Compressed

Elite

ABCDEFGHIJKL,MNopqrst,uvwxyz

ABCDEFGH I JKL.MNop qrstUswx yz

0 Ix:: 1:) 1.: F” G I.-I :I ;I kECDEFSHIJKLnN@pqrstuvwxyz

ABC~EFGHIJKt.MNopqrstL~~~~I~~~~

l... PI Iv (::I /z:, Cl I’” !iii t, L.1 v w 2: y

SelecType lets you use the Epson typestyles in Table 2-1 and combinations of those styles even if your word processing or business program does not support all of them. SelecType also lets you make print style choices when you print rather than when you edit. If you

would like a memo or letter to be in the NLQ mode, a few taps on the panel buttons tell your printer what you want, and you don’t have to re-edit the document to put in print codes.

SelecType is also handy for selecting narrow pitches to put more

characters on a line. If you find that your spreadsheet would be too wide for a single page in pica, with SelecType you can choose compressed to fit over 130 characters on a line or compressed elite for

over 150 characters. In addition, you undoubtedly will have your own uses for this feature.

Using SelecType is a simple four-step process:

1) Enter SelecType mode.

2) Select a print function.

3) Set the function.

4) Exit SelecType mode.

Turning SelecType Mode On

To turn on SelecType make sure that the printer is turned on (with the POWER, READY, the top two buttons on the panel (ON LINE and FF) at the same time, as illustrated in Figure 2-1. The LX-80 will beep to signal that it is in SelecType mode. The READY light also turns off, and the ON

LINE light begins flashing. Now that your printer is in SelecType

and ON LINE lights all on), and then press

mode, all the panel buttons have new functions (also shown in Figure

2-1).

Exit

Figure 2-1. SelecType setting and functions

In SelecType mode, the ON LINE button selects printing func-

tions, the FF button sets the functions, and the LF button turns SelecType off, returning the panel buttons to their former operation.

Using SelecType

Once you have turned on SelecType, you select the print functions you want according to Table 2-1. The mode number is the number of times you press the ON LINE button to select each function.

After you press the ON LINE button the required number of

times, press the FF button to set your selection. Then press the LF button to turn off SelecType and return all the panel buttons to their standard operations.

First SelecType Exercises

For practice in using SelecType, try setting emphasized mode. First turn the printer off and back on with the switch on the right side of the printer. Then press the ON LINE and FF buttons at the same time. The LX-80 beeps to tell you that it is in SelecType mode, the READY light turns off, and the ON LINE light begins blinking. Then press the ON LINE button two times to select emphasized.

(The printer beeps each time you press the ON LINE button in SelecType mode.) After that, press the FF button once to set the function.

You have now set emphasized mode. Next, press the LF button

once, and your panel buttons return to their normal operation, but your printer is in emphasized mode. Since this is only an exercise, turn the LX-80 off and back on again to cancel all settings and prepare for the next exercise.

You will probably use SelecType with commercial software as well as with BASIC or another programming language, but for now try a simple exercise using BASIC. You don’t need to know anything about programming for this exercise. It is merely for practice. If your computer system does not include BASIC or if you would rather not use it, skip to the next section.

Type the short BASIC program listed below:

10 LPRINT

LF’RINT

3d3

LPRINT

Next, print a listing of the program using LLIST or your computer

system’s print listing command. Your LX-SO prints your program in ordinary single-strike pica, program.

11. $j/,

;:.:I 1.2 ‘,I I;?, ‘!’

,i i;;‘l ::y,;;q \ I’.‘,:( ‘(,I;..,\ yti

Now that you have a sample program to list, follow these simple

steps to print your listing in compressed mode:

1) See that both the ON LINE light and the READY light are on.

2) Press the ON LINE and FF buttons at the same time. You hear a beep to signal that SelecType is on.

I’,: 1,: /i ..,, “i

"This is a sample program."

“Notice

"and darkness of the print. "

” ‘i’j-, j, .,:. ;,

” f.,ji 1i.t. :j i: i;?

ill ,,,“, ij.J -

the size I’ ;

as illustrated below in our sample

;::,

j. x;;;. .,

I. .I <:? p

i.;. ;:;I, (g ,:;I 1. i’””f> r <::I <:;I te ;?a, if’! .:

.k, 1

(:;+!; j j, 1:

.-I .._ ._. ._

k:,

, , “”

‘y.:. :::‘.

f., .:”

(.;+

,k, p, (2p

12. yi. j-, .k. ” ”

3) As you can see in Table 2-1, the code for compressed is four. Therefore, press the ON LINE button four times. (Remember that you hear a beep each time you press the ON LINE button when you are in SelecType mode).

4) Now that you have selected compressed, push the FF button once to set that mode.

5) Push the LF button once to return the panel buttons to their standard functions.

Now you have set the LX-80 to print in compressed mode. Merely push the ON LINE button to put your printer back on-line and list your program once more. It should print in compressed mode just as in our example below:

Turn your printer off to cancel the compressed setting, and if you

wish, try this exercise with other modes.

Testing Your Software for the Reset Code

A few commercial software programs clear all previous modes by resetting the LX-SO before printing each document. Of course, this resetting wipes out whatever you have done with SelecType. But don’t worry if your software resets the printer; you can still use SelecType. In Appendix F we tell you ways around the problem.

Since only a few programs reset the LX-80 before printing, you probably won’t have this problem. The following test tells you for sure. First, use your word processing or business program in the normal way to create a short file or document of the type you usually

print.

After you have created a file or document, print it in the usual way. Save this first copy for comparison with the next versions you print. Your test can be as simple as our example below, a two-line document created with a word processor and printed with its standard print command.

Now set your LX-80 for elite printing using the following steps.

1) See that both the ON LINE and READY lights are on.

2) Press the ON LINE and FF buttons at the same time.

3) Press the ON LINE button five times (the code for elite). You should hear a beep each time you press the button.

4) Press the FF button to set elite.

5) Press the LF button to leave SelecType and return the panel but-

tons to their standard functions.

Now press the ON LINE button and print your file again, using

exactly the same command that you used before. If your document

comes out in elite as in our example below, you can forget about

resetting codes and continue to use SelecType as described above.

If your example is once again printed in pica, turn your printer off and back on. Then try the steps above one more time to be sure that you made no mistakes. If your printout is still in pica after the second

test, turn to Appendix F for an explanation of how to solve the

problem.

Now that you know the basics of using SelecType, all you need to

learn is how to combine modes and how to avoid unexpected results with SelecType.

Mode Combinations

In addition to the five typestyles available with SelecType, there are also many combinations of those five that you can use. Table 2-2 shows which modes can be combined. An X in a box indicates that the two modes can be combined.

Table

2-2.

Mode combinations

To combine modes you simply select and set more than one mode before you press the LF button to leave SelecType. After beginning the procedure in the normal way and pressing the ON LINE button to select a function and the FF button to set it, you do not press the LF button. Instead, you press the ON LINE button the required number of times to select another mode and set that mode with the FF button. When you have selected and set all the modes you want, press the LF button to leave SelecType.

Don’t worry about harming your printer if you try to combine two modes that the LX-80 can’t mix. Your settings cannot damage the printer because it is prepared for the possibility of receiving codes for conflicting modes. If it receives codes for two modes that it can’t combine, it uses only one of the codes.

The essential element in combining modes is keeping a correct count of the number of times you press the ON LINE button. You do not start counting again after you press the FF button the first time. Instead, you continue the count. Therefore, pressing the ON

LINE button three times, then the FF button, then the ON LINE button two more times and the FF button again gives you a combination of double-strike and elite. The first pressings of the ON LINE

button select double-strike and the next two give a total of five, which is the number for elite. The number of times you press ON LINE is

cumulative.

For another example, follow these steps to combine NLQ with

emphasized for a crisp, bold effect:

1) See that the ON LINE and READY lights are on. Then press the ON LINE and FF buttons at the same time.

2) Press the ON LINE button once and then the FF button once. Since one is the code for NLQ, you have now set the LX-80 for that mode.

3) Press the ON LINE button one more time and then the FF button once. This makes a total of two times, and thus sets the

LX-80 for emphasized also.

4) Press the LF button to return the panel buttons to their stan- dard functions.

Now press the ON LINE button and print your document. If

your printing appears in

emphasized Near Letter Quality

as you see here, you have successfully combined the two modes. If you get any other results, turn your printer off and back on (to

reset it) and then try the steps again.

SelecType Cautions and Tips

Once you have learned the simple technique for controlling print styles with the panel buttons, you can use it whenever you wish. You should be aware of two minor restrictions, however.

l SelecType is designed to control the printing of an entire file or

document, not an individual line or word. To print a single word in an enhanced mode, use one of the other print control methods listed at the beginning of this chapter.

l If there are print codes in the document or file you are printing,

those codes override your SelecType settings. This seldom happens, since most people use SelecType on files that don’t have print codes, but remember that if your LX-80 follows the SelecType

instructions for only part of a document, you may have print

codes in the document that are conflicting with the SelecType

modes.

Remember that any mode you turn on with SelecType stays in effect until the printer is turned off or receives a cancelling or reset code. Turning off the printer is the simplest method to cancel the modes you have set, but if you want to learn how to cancel them by using SelecType, turn to the section called Cancelling Functions with SelecType in Appendix F.

Chapter 3

Elements of Dot Matrix Printing

This chapter is for those of you who want to know something

about how your printer works. It’s a simple, non-technical explanation of the basics of dot matrix printing that will help you understand some of the later chapters.

The Print Head

The LX-80 uses a print head with nine pins or wires mounted vertically. Each time a pin is fired, it strikes the inked ribbon and presses it against the paper to produce a dot. This dot is about 1/72nd of an inch in diameter. The size varies slightly depending upon the age of the ribbon and the type of paper used. As the head moves horizontally across the page, these pins are fired time after time in different patterns to produce letters, numbers, symbols, or graphics.

For example, to print a pica capital T, the head fires the top pin, moves 1/60th of an inch, fires the top pin again, moves 1/60th of an inch, fires the top seven pins, moves 1/60th of an inch, fires the top pin, moves another 1/60th of an inch, and fires the top pin once more to finish the letter. All this happens in only 1/100th of a second.

Figure 3-1. A capital T

Bidirectional Printing

In nearly all of our discussions in this manual, we describe the action of the LX-80 print head as moving from left to right, as a typewriter does. During its normal operation while printing in the draft mode, however, the LX-80 prints bidirectionally. That is, the print head goes from left to right only on every other line. On the other lines it reverses everything and prints right to left.

By reversing both the dot patterns and the printing direction, the LX-80 produces a line that is correct and looks no different from a line printed from left to right. It does this to save time. Otherwise, the time the print head takes to go from the right margin back to the left would be wasted.

The intelligence of the printer takes care of all the calculations necessary for this bidirectional printing, so you don’t have to be

concerned about it. You simply do your part of the work as if the printer will be printing from left to right on each line and let the LX-80 do all the necessary calculations so that you can enjoy the increased speed.

Changing Pitches

In addition to pica, in which there are 10 characters per inch, the

LX-80 can also print in other widths, or pitches. It does so by reduc-

ing the distance between pin firings. In the elite mode it prints 12 characters per inch and in the compressed mode it prints slightly more than 17 characters per inch. The pattern of the dots is not

changed, but the horizontal space between them is reduced.

In Figure 3-2 are enlargements of four sample letters in each of the three pitches. These letters are chosen to show how the LX-80 prints letters that are uppercase and lowercase, wide and narrow, and with and without descenders (the bottom part of the y).

Pica

l a

I----

0 0

..a

Elite

Compressed

v 0

Figure 3-2. The three pitches of the LX-80

The dot pattern of each character is carefully designed so that in pica mode no dot overlaps another. The reason is that in normal high-speed printing of pica the pins cannot fire and retract and fire again quickly enough to print one dot overlapping another.

In Figure 3-3 there is a grid of lines behind the pica characters so that you can more easily see how they are designed. As you look at these characters you can see three rules that govern their design: the column on the right side is always left blank so that there will be

spaces between the characters on a line; no character uses both the top and the bottom row; and a dot can be placed on a vertical line only

when the columns next to that line are not used.

Figure 3-3. LX-80 dot matrix characters

NLQ Mode

The preceeding examples are in the LX-80’s draft mode, but the LX-80 also has the high-quality NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode that you have seen in previous chapters.

The NLQ letters are more fully formed than the draft letters because they are made up of many more dots. Two differences between draft and NLQ printing enable the LX-80 to print such a large num-

ber of dots for each character. In the NLQ mode, the head moves

more slowly, so that dots can overlap horizontally, and each character

is printed with two passes of the print head.

To further insure the quality of NLQ characters, both passes of the

print head are in the same direction so the alignment of the dots is exact.

Because the NLQ mode uses two passes for each line and prints

only in one direction, your printing does take longer in this mode.

With the two modes, draft and NLQ, the LX-80 lets you choose high speed or high quality each time you print. You can print your ordinary work or preliminary drafts quickly in the draft mode and use the NLQ mode for final copies or special purposes.

SelecType makes it especially easy to change from draft to NLQ,

but you can also select and cancel the NLQ mode with a software command or with a special switch in the back of your printer. You can find the software command in Chapter 5 and the operation of the switch (called a DIP switch) in Appendix D.

Chapter 4

Printer Control Codes

The LX-80 printer is easy to use, especially with commercial soft-

ware that has print control features. This chapter explains some of the

how a computer communicates with your printer. This information should also help you understand the terms used in your software or

If you are an advanced user or a programmer, you may want to

turn to Appendix B, which has a full summary of all the LX-80

ASCII Codes

When you write a document with a word processing program, you

press keys with letters on them. When you send the document to a

printer, it prints the letters on paper. The computer and the printer,

however, do not use or understand letters of the alphabet. They

function by manipulating numbers. Therefore, when you press the A

key, for example, the computer sends a number to its memory. When the computer tells the printer to print that letter, it sends the number to the printer, which must then convert the number to a pattern of pins that will fire to print the dots that make up that letter.

The numbers that computers and printers use are in binary form, which means that they use only the digits 0 and 1. In this manual, however, we use decimal numbers in our explanations because most users are more familiar with these numbers and because most programming languages and applications programs can use decimal numbers. The computer system or the program takes care of changing the decimal numbers to binary form for you.

Computer and printer interaction would be terribly confusing if different kinds of computers and printers used different numbers for the same letter of the alphabet. Therefore, most manufacturers of computers, printers, and software use the American Standard Code

for Information Interchange, usually referred to as ASCII (pronounced ASK-Key). The ASCII standard covers the decimal num-

127 and includes codes for printable characters (letters, punctuation, numerals, and mathematical symbols) and a few control codes, such as the codes for sounding the beeper and performing a carriage return.

Although other codes are not standardized in the computer industry, the ASCII system means that at least the alphabet is standardized. A programmer or engineer knows, for example, that 72 is the decimal code for a capital H and 115 is the code for a lowercase s no matter what system he or she is using.

ESCape Code

Although the original ASCII standard was designed to use the decimal numbers 0 through 127, computer and printer manufacturers soon extended this range (to 0 through 255) in order to make room for more features. On the LX-80, for example, the codes from 160 through 254 are used for italic characters. Because even this extended range is not enough for all the features used on modern printers, the

range is further extended with a special code called the Escape code.

This code is often printed with the first three letters capitalized

(Escape) or abbreviated as ESC or <ESC>.

With the ESCape code, for which decimal 27 is used, printers and computers are not restricted to only 256 instructions. The ESCape code is a signal that the next code will be a printer control code instead of text to print. For example, if the printer receives the number 69, it prints a capital E because 69 is the ASCII code for that letter. If, however, the printer receives a 27 just before the 69, it turns on emphasized mode, because ESCape “E” is the code for emphasized.

You can see how important the ESCape code is by looking at Appendix B. There you will see that nearly every code the LX-80 uses is an ESCape code.

Printer Codes

TO take advantage of the many print features of the LX-80, you can use a software program that sends the correct codes or you can use another method to send codes. It’s not possible to be as precise

and specific as we would like in the rest of this chapter because the LX-80 works with so many different applications programs and com-

puter systems. If we gave precise instructions on how to use your

LX-80 with every one of them, this manual would fill at least four

volumes and would have to be updated every month.

We will, therefore, give you the general principles of how software

communicates with your printer, plus several ways the codes of the LX-80 are used by applications programs such as word processing and business programs. With this information and possibly some help from your dealer or the manual for your applications program, you can take advantage of all the features of the LX-80 that you want to use. Incidentally, there is no standard terminology for software codes; thus, the terms in your software manual may be different from the ones we use here.

In general there are three ways you send printer codes with com-

mercial software:

l Using SelecType, the feature described in Chapter 2. l Instructing the program during an installation or setup procedure

so that you can then use codes that are typed in along with your text or numbers; we call these embedded codes.

l Inserting LX-SO printer codes in your text along with a special

code that tells the printer that the inserted codes are not text or data.

There are three common formats for sending printer codes. Your

applications software or its manual should tell you which one to use.

l Decimal numbers-for example, 27 is the decimal number for the

ESCape code, and 13 is the decimal number for a carriage return.

l Hexadecimal numbers, in which the ESCape code is 1B and a

carriage return is 0D. You don’t have to understand hexadecimal numbers to use them. If your software calls for hex numbers, just consult Appendix B or the Quick Reference Card for the appropriate number.

l The ESCape and control keys on your computer’s keyboard. With

this system you send the ESCape code by pressing the ESCape key and a carriage return by pressing the control key and the M at the same time. (See Appendix B or the Quick Reference Card for the control key codes.)

Embedded codes

A program that uses embedded codes usually has its own set of codes that you type into your document or file. When the program receives one of these codes, it sends the proper code to the LX-80. For example, one popular word processing program has you turn italic mode on and off by pressing the control key and P and then pressing the Q. So if you want to italicize a word, you type Control-PQ before it and after it. When the program reaches the first Control-PQ, it sends the code to turn italic mode on and when it reaches the second, it sends the code to cancel

~~.III<

Please note that

these are not the same as the control key codes mentioned above.

Once you tell such a program that you are using an Epson printer, it will know which codes to send. (Often you don’t even need to specify which Epson printer you are using.) You usually tell the program what printer you are using through an installation or set-up

procedure. The instructions should be in your software manual. In

addition, your software or computer dealer may be able to help you.

Many programs that use embedded codes also have a few commands that the user can define. If you are new to using printers, don’t worry about these yet. Just use the standard features. Later, when you are more familiar with your software and with your LX-SO, you may want to investigate the user-defined commands and customize your program.

Inserted codes

To take advantage of some of the advanced features of the LX-80, some programs require inserted codes. Those codes allow you to send commands to the printer in the middle of text or data. In most of these programs one code signals that the next numbers are printer instructions, not text or data. In one such program, for example, you type Control-V (pressing V while holding down the control key) to signal the beginning of printer instructions. Then you enter your print codes and type Control-V again to signal the end of the printer instructions.

If your word processing program allows inserted codes, it will probably do standard printing without such codes. It is only for special features that you will need to use inserted codes. For example,

if you want to have headings in wide bold printing (called expanded emphasized), you would probably have to use inserted codes. For the program we mentioned above you would type Control-V, then the code for expanded emphasized, Control-V again, and then the text of

the heading. The codes for expanded emphasized are in Chapter 6 and

Appendix B.

Again, if this sounds terribly complicated, don’t worry. Use your LX-80 with the standard features of your word processing program until you become more familiar with both of them. Then you can decide whether or not you need or want to learn to use inserted codes.

Programming Languages

If neither of the methods described above seems appropriate for your application, you can write a program in BASIC or any other programming language to send control codes to your printer. In the chapter on page formatting you will find examples of such programs.

Just remember that with this method your printer control code stays

in effect for the whole document you print. This method is good for

setting margins, for example, but does not work for italicizing a word.

Now you have some background on how printers work and how software can communicate with them. Turn to the next chapters to learn about the specific features of your LX-80 printer.

Chapter 5

LX-80 Features

Beginning with this chapter we describe many of the printing fea-

Demonstration Programs

Along with our discussion and examples of the LX-80 features, we include demonstrations in the BASIC programming language so that you can see these features in action. Although we know that you will probably not do much of your printing using BASIC, we chose it for our demonstrations because most computer systems include some form of BASIC, so our examples are ones that almost every one of you can try.

You don’t need to know anything about BASIC to type in and run these programs. Just check your BASIC manual to see how to load BASIC in your computer and how to run a program. As you run the programs (or even as you read the explanations and look at the printed examples), you learn how the LX-80 responds to the messages your computer sends it by printing letters, numbers, symbols, and graphics in various print modes.

Even if you never use BASIC again, you will know the capabilities of your printer, capabilities that can often solve your printing problems. For example, if you need a special symbol, such as the Greek character

user-defined characters and create such a character.

Z:,

you will know that you can turn to the chapter on

If you don’t want to do the exercises in BASIC, you don’t have to.

Many users are quite happy with their printers without ever learning

load paper. Therefore, you shouldn’t be intimidated by the information in this manual. In most cases the software that you use for word

cating with the printer for you.

In fact, because of Epson’s long-standing popularity, many prog-

need to do is specify in an installation program that you are using an Epson printer. Then the program sends the correct codes for the

explained in the manual for your software program.

We have designed these chapters so that you can concentrate on using the features of the LX-80 instead of on programming, but a few instructions arc necessary. Because the examples in this manual are in Microsoft BASIC (MBASIC), the most widely used BASIC in personal computers, most users can enter and run the programs exactly as they appear in these pages.

If your computer system uses any other kind of BASIC, you may

have to make a few changes. Probably the only item you will need to

change is the instruction LPRINT, which is the MBASIC command

to send something to the printer. Some forms of BASIC use PR#l at the beginning of a program to route information to the printer and PR#0 at the end to restore the flow of information to the screen. If you have such a system, just put PR#1 at the beginning of your

program and then use PRINT instead of LPRINT in the programs. If

you have any other system, consult its manual to see if any modifications to our programs arc necessary.

In Chapter 3 you saw the enlargements of the three LX-80 pitches.

Now you’ll learn how to produce them.

Pica Printing

The first exercise is a simple three-line program to print a sample

line of characters in pica, the standard pitch. Just type in this program exactly as you see it:

FOR

50 LPRINT 60 NEXT

X=65 TO 105

(ZHR$(X)

LPRINT

;

Changing Pitches

Now you can try other pitches. As we explained in Chapter 3, the

20 LPRINT CEIR$( 27 > “M” ;

This line uses the command for elite, ESCape “M”, to turn on that

mode. Your printout should look like the one below.

i’; B i: g E i- C; H 1 J

x L M bi a ,Q Q 17 5 T [ !

!j’ W yi, ‘Y Z i \ j .” _ ’ ij. 1) c: rj

e f g h

The next addition to the program cancels elite with ESCape “P”

and turns on compressed with ASCII 15:

30 LPRINT CHR$(27) “P”CHR$(15);

Now run the program to see the line printed in compressed mode.

Cancelling Codes

As you saw in the third version of the print pitch program, you must cancel a code when you do not want it any more. With very few exceptions, the LX-80 modes stay on until they are cancelled. It is important to remember this because an LX-80 mode can stay on even if you change from BASIC to another type of software. For example, if you print a memo with a word processing program after you run the program above, the printer will still be in compressed mode; therefore, the memo will be in compressed print. To cancel compressed, use ASCII 18.

To avoid having one program interfere with the printing modes of

another, you can cancel a mode one of two ways:

l With a specific cancelling code, such as the ESCape "P" that we

used above to cancel elite. Each mode has a cancelling code, which you can find in the discussion of the code and in Appendix B. Pica is an exception to this rule. To cancel pica, turn on elite.

l By resetting the printer, a method explained in the next section.

Resetting the Printer

Resetting your LX-80 cancels all modes that are turned on. You

can reset the printer with one of two methods:

l Sending the reset code (Escape l Turning the printer off and back on.

“a”)

Either one of these methods returns the printer to what are called its defaults, which are the standard settings that are in effect every time you turn the printer on. The two effects of resetting the printer that you should be concerned with are: it returns the printing to single-strike pica, thus cancelling any other pitches or enhancements you may have turned on, and the current position of the print head becomes the top of page setting.

Some of our demonstration programs end with a reset code so that the commands from one program will not interfere with the commands in the next one. After you run a program with a reset code in it, remember to change the top of page setting before you begin printing full pages.

Pitch Comparison

Now that you have used three short programs to produce samples of the three main pitches, you can choose the pitch that you prefer or the one that best fits a particular printing job. Most people use either pica or elite for printing text and compressed for spreadsheets or other applications in which it is important to get the maximum number of characters on a line.

In fact, if you need even more than the 132 characters per line that compressed gives you, you can combine elite and compressed for a mode we call compressed elite. It is not really another pitch, because the size of the characters is the same as in the compressed mode; only the space between the characters is reduced. You can see this mode, which allows 160 characters to fit on a line, if you replace line 30 in your last program with this line:

30 LPRINT CHR$(15);

With this addition, the program turns on compressed but doesn’t

turn off elite, giving you the printout below:

~~DEF~~]Jr~#M~~i~~~~‘i~~‘~,

If your printout is different, you may need a WIDTH statement such as the one below:

I.“- &&f$l

5 WIDTH LPRINT 255

The format for your system will probably be different. Consult

your BASIC manual.

Near Letter Quality Mode

The examples so far in this chapter are in the draft mode, and you

have already learned how to turn on the NLQ mode with SelecType, but you can also see the NLQ mode with the following program:

10 LPRINT CHRrG(27)

FOR

X=65 TO 105

30 LPRINT

NEXTX:

Note that you use a lowercase x, not a capital X, in line 10. Because of the high resolution of the NLQ mode, it prints only in pica, not in elite or compressed.

CHR$(X);

LPRINT

“x”CHR$(l);

All the modes demonstrated in this chapter are compared in Table

5-1.

Table

5-1.

Summary of

LX-80

pitches

“x”

Codes

ESC

Off

“x”

“P”

Print sample CPI

t 1 inch +

Near

L,et;ter

,3 ‘; (:‘;i’>, !Y.yti ‘I !\,‘!“[

Elite pri.rrt

r.oepr essej

~iqtt-ess~ ei 1 te f3-if-$

0’ !.

Quality

10.00

12.00 ESC “M”

17.16 15 18

20.00 ESC

ESC

“M” 15

Remember that you don’t have to use BASIC to change modes;

you can use any method that sends the printer the proper codes.

Chapter 6

Print Enhancements and Special Characters

Now that you have seen how you can change the pitch of your LX-80 printing, we can show you many more ways to vary and enhance your printing. So that you won’t have to type in dozens of programs to try all the features, we give you just one master program that can demonstrate any feature.

Bold Modes

Besides the pitches (pica, elite, and compressed) that we covered in

Chapter 5, the LX-80 offers many other typestyles, including two for bold printing-emphasized and double-strike.

Emphasized mode

In the emphasized mode the LX-80 prints each dot twice, with the second dot slightly to the right of the first. In order to do this, the print head must slow down so that it has time to fire, retract, and fire

the pins quickly enough to produce the overlapping dots. As you can see in Figure 6-1, this method produces better-looking, more fully-

formed characters that are darker than single-strike ones.

Figure 6-1. Emphasized

and

single-strike

Emphasized works only in draft pica and NLQ modes. In elite and compressed the dots are already so close together that even with the reduced print speed, the LX-80 cannot fire, retract, and again fire the pins quickly enough to print overlapping dots.

You do sacrifice some print speed and ribbon life with emphasized,

because the print head slows down and prints twice as many dots, but the increase in print quality is well worth it. Indeed, you may want to use emphasized instead of the NLQ mode for some purposes because emphasized printing is faster than NLQ printing.

Now that you have seen our example of emphasized printing, we

will give you a master program that allows you to test almost any of

the ESCape codes, including the ESCape code to turn on emphasized: ESCape “E”.

Master program

First, type in the program below. If you have some programming experience, you can see that the program asks you what codes you want to test and then prints a sample of what the codes do. Be sure to type in the blank spaces in lines 70 and 80. If you are using Applesoft™ BASIC, see Appendix F.

20 PRINT

"Which ESCape code do you II 30 INPIJT "want to test";A$ 40 PRINT "What kind of printing ( 50 INPUT "does it produce";B$ 60 LPRINT CHR$(27)A$ 70 LPRINT "This sample uses ESCape ";A$ 80 LPRINT "to produce ";B$;" printing." 90 LPRINT CHR$(27)"@"

Now run the program. When the first question appears on the

screen, type a capital E and then press the RETURN key. Type

“emphasized” and press the RETURN key in answer to the second

question. The program is easy to use. Just remember to press the

RETURN key after the answer to each question and to use a capital letter in the answer to the first question unless we tell you to use a lowercase letter for a specific code.

You should get the following printout when you run this program

and type “E” and “emphasized” in answer to the questions.

This sample

t.o

proi-fuce

USPS ESCape E

emphasized

pr-inting.

The code to turn off emphasized is ESCape “F”.

Double-strike

The other bold mode on the LX-80 is double-strike. For this mode the printer prints each line, then moves the paper up slightly and prints the line again. Each dot is printed twice, with the second one slightly below the first as

you can see in Figure 6-2.

tiiiiil

Figure 6-2. Double-strike and single-strike

Unlike emphasized, double-strike combines with any draft pitch

(but not with NLQ)because

it does not overlap dots horizontally. Since each line in this mode is printed twice, the speed of your printing is slowed. The code for double-strike is ESCape “G”. Try it in the the master program if you wish. The code to turn off doublestrike is ESCape “H”.

Expanded Mode

Perhaps the most dramatic mode on the LX-80 is expanded. It

produces extra-wide characters that are good for titles and headings.

For this mode, the dot pattern of each character is expanded and a duplicate set of dots is printed one dot to the right. You can see the difference between pica and expanded pica in Figure 6-3.

Figure 6-3. Expanded and standard characters

You can try expanded yourself by using the code “W1” in the master program. Notice that expanded uses an ESCape code format that is slightly different from the previous ones. You must use the numeral one as well as a capital W to turn on expanded. For this mode the letter and the numeral one together turn on the mode and the letter and the numeral zero together turn it off. Thus ESCape

“W1” turns on expanded and ESCape “W0” turns it off.

Those of you who are programmers may be interested in another form of expanded. In this alternate form, called one-line expanded,

the printing is the same as that in Figure 6-3, but it is turned on by

ASCII 14 and is turned off by a line feed, ASCII 20, or ESCape

“MO”.

Mode Combinations

If you have read Chapter 2, by now you’re probably wondering

how to combine modes using control codes as you did with the

SelecType feature. For example, can a title be made especially vivid by

combining expanded and emphasized? The answer is that you can combine nearly all of the print modes on the LX-80. Indeed, your

LX-80 printer can print such complicated combinations as doublestrike emphasized expanded underlined italic subscript, although we’re not sure that you would ever want to use such a combination. The point is, however, that the LX-80 has the ability to produce

almost any combination you can think of; it’s up to you to decide which ones you want to use.

To see a few combinations, remove line 90 from the master program. (In MBASIC simply type 90 and press RETURN to delete the line.) Now run the program once and enter “E” and “emphasized” in response to the questions on the screen. This will give you the same results as the first time you ran the program, but it will leave the printer in emphasized mode so that you can add another mode. Then run the program again (without turning off the printer). The second time enter “W1” and “emphasized expanded.”

Your printout should be in the typestyle below, showing that the two modes combine with no trouble. You can experiment with other combinations if you wish or you can wait for the section later in this chapter that explains a special ESCape code, Master Select, which allows you to combine as many as seven features with one ESCape code.

When you are through trying combinations, be sure to replace line 90 in the master program so that you can again try one feature at a time.

Italic Mode

You may occasionally want to print italic words for emphasis, titles, or other uses. The LX-80 has italic mode to enable you to use italic characters for any purpose. Although characters produced by the previous modes in this manual are modifications of the standard pica characters, the LX-80 uses completely different characters for the italic mode. In the printer’s Read Only Memory (ROM) is a complete set of draft italic characters. You can see the difference between standard and italic draft characters in Figure 6-4.

The code to turn italic mode on is ESCape “4”. Try it in the master program if you wish. When you use this code in the master program, enter “4” in answer to the first question just as if it were a letter of the alphabet instead of a number. ESCape “5” turns off italic mode.

Those of you who use this code in an applications program should

remember that any character in quotation marks in our discussions of

ESCape codes is an alphanumeric character, not a numerical value.

Underline Mode

The LX-80 also has a mode that will underline characters and

spaces. You turn it on with ESCape “-1” and off with ESCape “-0”.

Note that the underline code is like the expanded code in that it uses a character, in this case the hyphen or minus sign, combined with numeral one to turn it on and a character combined with the numeral zero to turn it off. As you can see in Figure 6-5, this mode prints a dot in the bottom row of each column, thus producing a continuous underline.

Figure

As shown in Figure 6-5, the underline mode is continuous, but some word processing and other applications programs produce an underline that leaves spaces between characters as demonstrated in the printout below.

If your software prints this type of underline, it is using the

LX-80’s underline character (ASCII 95), not the underline mode. Because the underline character is only five dots wide, it does not fill the spaces between characters. If you prefer a continuous underline, you may be able to use the underline mode through one of the methods we discussed in Chapter 4.

6-J.

The underline mode

Master Select

The LX-80 has a special ESCape code called Master Select that allows you to choose any possible combination of eight different modes: pica, elite, compressed, emphasized, double-strike, expanded, italic, and underline. The format of the Master Select code is ESCape “!” followed by a number that is calculated by adding together the values of the modes listed below:

underline italic expanded double-strike emphasized compressed elite pica

128

64 32

8 4

For any combination, just add up the values of each of the modes you want and use the total as the number after ESCape “!“. For example, to calculate the code for expanded italic underlined pica, add the following numbers together:

underline italic expanded pica

To print this combination, therefore, you use ESCape “!” followed by the number 224. In BASIC the command is CHR$(27)“!” CHR$(224).

To try this number or any other, enter and run this short program, which will ask you for a Master Select number and then give you a sample of printing using that code. Again, if you are using Applesoft BASIC, see Appendix F.

10 INPUT 20 LPRINT 30 LPRINT “This 40 LPRINT “Master 50 LPRINT

In this program, you can use any number you calculate with the

formula above, but remember that emphasized can’t combine with compressed or elite. If you try to combine emphasized with either of the two narrow pitches, you won’t harm your printer; it will simply use a priority list in its memory to determine which mode to use. This priority list causes a combination of emphasized and elite to produce elite only, a combination of emphasized and compressed to produce emphasized only, and a combination of all three to produce compressed elite.

"Master Se1

CHR$(

27) ” ! “CHR$(M)

CHR$(

27) “@”

sample

Select

128

64 32

-4

224

ect number” ;

printing

number”;M

u.ses ”

Master Select is a powerful code that gives you an easy way to

produce multiple combinations with a single command. To see

double-strike emphasized italic printing, for example, you need only

one ESCape code instead of three.

Indeed, Master Select is such a powerful feature that it may occasionally be more powerful than you want it to be. Because it controls eight different modes, a Master Select code will cancel any of those eight that are not selected. For example, suppose that you have a page in elite and want part of it printing in italic. If you use ESCape “!” 64 to turn on italic, your LX-80 will begin printing in italic pica instead of italic elite because the 64 code does not include elite. Use 65 for

italic elite.

Superscript and Subscript

Your LX-80 can also print superscripts and subscripts, which you can use for mathematical formulas, footnotes, and other items that require numbers or letters above or below the usual print line. ESCape “S0” turns on superscript and ESCape “S1” turns on subscript. ESCape “T” turns off either one. You can enter either ESCape “SO” or ESCape “S1” in the master program, but that will print the whole sentence in superscript or subscript. Some more realistic examples are below:

E-ttl[‘” H&i

-This

-Farrt i

+cILLnd if? t f-rree? sO?it-lT:BEi.

As you can see, you can use superscript or subscript for an individual character. Just find out how to send printer codes in your applications program; then send the proper codes to the printer.

Special Characters

The LX-80 has two groups of special characters that can add distinction to your printing. The international set gives you characters used in many different languages, and the special graphics set contains symbols, objects, and line characters that you can combine for artistic effects or business uses.

International Characters

As you know, you need a few extra characters for languages other

than English. The LX-80 has provided for printing in many languages

by having 96 international characters in its ROM (Read Only Mem-

ory). This total includes characters in three sets: draft, draft italic, and

NLQ (Near Letter Quality).

In order to print any of these characters, first select one of the following character sets and then use the individual characters within that set.

Italy

USA

France

Germany United Kingdom

Denmark I

Sweden

7 8

ain

Japan

Norway Denmark II

You select the character set in one of two ways: with an ESCape code

or with a switch in the back of your printer. The ESCape code in BASIC has the following format:

LPRINT CHR$(27) “R”CHR$(n)

in which n stands for the appropriate number from the list above. In other words, the BASIC command to select the French character set is

LPRINT CHR$(27) “R”CHR$(1)

The other method of selecting an international character set is with the small switches, called DIP switches, in the back of the printer. If you plan to use one of the international sets quite a bit, see Appendix D for instructions for using the DIP switches.

Once you have selected a character set, whether you do it with the ESCape code or the DIP switches, you will be able to print several new characters. The character sets are shown in Tables 6-1, 6-2, and

6-3.

Table 6-1. International characters in NLQ mode

96 123 124 125 126

’

ii ) -

USA FRANCE GERMANY UK DENMARK SWEDEN ITALY # SPAIN

JAPAN #

NORWAY DENMARK II #

$~Aou^*~iju~

# n d

ttilBAUBz0A~

91 92 93

ti#UAti8~b&~

\lfAAtiBb&3i

A * -

Y f *

rFBAiiB:::ij

Table

6-2.

International characters in draft mode

6-3.

International characters in draft italic

The number at the top of each column in the tables is the ASCII

code that prints the characters in that column.

Once you have selected an international character set with the DIP switches or the ESCape “R” code, you can use the tables to see which characters on your standard USA keyboard will produce the international characters you want. Simply type the character from the top row of one of the figures in order to print the corresponding character in the row of the set you have chosen. For example, if you have reset the DIP switches for the UK character set and you press the # key, the f: symbol will be generated. Even though you will see the # symbol on the screen, the 2 symbol will be printed on the paper. For another example, if you have selected the Swedish character set and you press the @ key, the I? symbol will be generated.

If your keyboard does not have one of the keys that you need, you will have to send the proper ASCII number to the printer in another way, such as a programming language or inserted or embedded codes.

Graphics Character Set

The LX-80 printer’s Read Only Memory (ROM) also contains the

32 graphics characters that you see in Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6. Special graphics characters

Undoubtedly you can think of uses for many of the shapes and

symbols available in this set, and you can combine the line graphics

characters (the ones on the first row) to form various sizes and shapes

of boxes and other figures that use straight lines.

To print these graphics characters you must use either a programming language or a computer with a graphics shift or other special key that allows you to send graphics codes.

Sending the codes for these characters to the printer is a two-step process just as it is for the international characters. In BASIC, first you send CHR$(27)“m”CHR$(4) to turn on the graphics character set, then you send the code numbers given in Figure 6-6. After you have used the ESCape code to turn on the graphics character set, the LX-80 prints the codes from 128 through 159 as graphics characters.

You can change pitch and weight with the graphics characters just as you can with the other characters in the ROM of the LX-80. The characters in Figure 6-6 are printed in expanded elite. The printout below shows the characters in pica:

The next printout shows the characters in emphasized expanded

pica:

The design of all the special graphics characters is shown in en-

largements in Appendix A.

Because normal line spacing leaves space between the lines of graphics characters just as it does between lines of text, you must change the line spacing when you combine line graphics characters to form boxes or other figures. For most programs ESCape “1” gives you the best line spacing for combinations of graphics characters. Further details on line spacing are in Chapter 7.

Although you can use any print mode with the graphics characters, we suggest that you not use elite or compressed. These modes cause

small gaps in horizontal lines that are formed by a combination of line

graphics characters.

Chapter 7

Page Formatting

Although the LX-80 printer has many sophisticated commands to set margins, line spacing, and horizontal and vertical tabs, we won’t take up your time with extensive discussions of these because most of these functions are taken care of by applications programs. This chapter merely describes a few commands that the average user might

need. If you want more information, you can find all the commands in Appendixes B and C.

Margins

The LX-80 allows you to set the left and right margins with simple ESCape sequences. The left margin command is ESCape “1” followed by the number of the column you choose for the left margin. The

right margin command is ESCape “Q” followed by the column number of the right margin you want. For the left margin command, be sure to use a lowercase letter 1, not the numeral one.

If your word processing program does not allow you to change the margins, you can send margin commands to your LX-80 with BASIC or another programming language before you print your documents. For example, if you prefer wider margins than your word processing program gives you, run the following BASIC program before printing. This program gives you a left margin of 10 and a right margin of 60, but you can use any numbers you prefer for the margin com-

mands.

L,PRINT CHR$(

20 LPRINT CHR$( 27 ) “Q”CHR$( 60 1 ;

27) “l”CHR$( 10) ;

Such a program will also allow you to choose the margins you prefer for program listings. Just remember that once you run a program that sets margins, those margins are in effect until you change them with new margin commands or turn off or reset the printer.

You should be aware that a few applications programs reset the printer before each document or file they print. These programs will, of course, cancel your new margin settings. See Chapter 2 to find out

how to test for a reset code in your program.

The maximum right margins on the LX-80 printer are 80 in pica,

96 in elite, 137 in compressed, and 160 in compressed elite. For further information on this command see Appendix B.

Justification with NLQ

The NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode offers a justification command that will give you four choices in the formatting of your text. The command is ESCape “a” followed by one of these numbers:

Left justification

Centering

Right justification Full justification

Left justification is the standard format, in which the left margin is even and the right margin is not. This is the way most typewritten pages look.

The centering command centers a line of text between the margins. This is handy for headings, titles, and captions.

Right justification is the opposite of left justification. The right

margin is even and the left is not.

Full justification puts extra spaces between words where necessary

so that both the left and right margins are even. This is the wav most magazines, newspapers, and books (including this one) are printed. With this command, you may need a WIDTH statement. Since different systems use different WIDTH statements, see your computer or programming language manual for the proper format. Remember also to use carriage returns only at the end of paragraphs when you are using auto justification.

When you use any of the justification commands, be sure that you

send the NLQ command first.

The justification command is designed to be used withs BASIC or

another programming languages, not with word processing prog-

rams.

Skip Over Perforation

If you are using continuous pin-feed paper for printing program listings or other material not controlled by an applications program, you may find that the LX-80 prints right over the perforations between pages. The LX-80 has an ESCape code to prevent this: the ESCape “N” command. You send ESCape “N” followed by the number of lines you want the LX-80 to skip at the bottom of a page. For example, in BASIC the following line will make the LX-80 skip six lines after each 60 lines:

LJPRINT

Since a standard page is 66 lines, this will give you one inch of blank space at the bottom of each page. If you prefer to have half of the blank space at the top of the page and half at the bottom, simply set the top of page approximately three lines (1/2 inch) below the perforation. (See Appendix E if you need to refresh your memory on setting the top of page.)

CHR$( 27) “N”CHR$( 6) ;

Line Spacing

Ordinarily you don’t have to worry about how the printer moves the paper so that it doesn’t print lines of text on top of each other; the

LX-80 takes care of this without any special instructions. If, however, you want to understand how line spacing works or you need to change the line spacing for a special application such as graphics, you’ll want to read this brief explanation of line spacing on the

LX-80.

The movement of the paper between lines is called a line feed and the distance the paper moves is called a line space. In ordinary printing the line spacing is 1/6-inch, which produces six lines of print per inch. Figure 7-1 will help you visualize this spacing. As you can see in the figure, the standard (default) spacing is the same as 12 rows of dots. Since the LX-80 characters use nine rows of dots, the 12-dot line spacing leaves three blank rows between the lines of text.

116 inch

1/6 inch

3 blank rows

Figure 7-l. Standard line spacing

The default line spacing illustrated in Figure 7-1 is the only one you need for almost all printing of text, but in some cases you may want to increase or decrease the space between lines. The LX-80 has

several commands to do this. ESCape “0” decreases the line spacing to 9-dot (9/72-inch), ESCape “1” decreases it to 7-dot, and ESCape “2” returns it to 12-dot.

In addition, there are commands to specify the line spacing in 72nds of an inch and 216ths of an inch. If you need to make such fine adjustments in the line spacing, see Appendix B for the proper commands. In the chapter on dot graphics you will see how useful

ESCape “1” can be.

Paper-Out Sensor

Under the platen (the black roller) of your LX-80 printer is a small switch that senses whether or not paper is in the printer. When the end of the paper passes this switch, it sends a signal that sounds the beeper and stops your printing. This saves wear on your print head, ribbon, and platen, but because of the distance between the switch and the print head, it stops the printing about 2 inches from the end of the page. Therefore, if you use single-sheet paper in your LX-80, you can’t print on the last 2 inches of each page without an adjustment.

For most computer systems, you merely send the printer an

ESCape “8” to deactivate the paper-out sensor or change one of the DIP switches described in Appendix D. Then you can print to the end of the page with single-sheet paper. Some systems, however, ignore the ESCape code and the DIP switch setting. If ESCape “8” or the DIP switch setting does not solve this problem for you, see Appendix F for other solutions.

Chapter 8

User-Defined Characters

The LX-80 has 416 different characters stored in its ROM (Read Only Memory). Although this number includes draft, italic, international, special graphics, and Near Letter Quality characters, sometimes you would like to have a few more. For those occasions when you need a special character or a few letters in a different typeface, the LX-80 allows you to create your own characters and print them just as if they were ordinary letters.

Defining Your Own Characters

The printout below displays a few such characters to give you an idea of what can be done, but remember that these characters are truly user-defined-you create what you need or want.

It may seem that designing a character and telling the LX-80 how to print it would be extremely complicated, but we have reduced the task to a simple three-step process: planning your character, running one program that tests your work and calculates the required DATA numbers, and running another program to put the character in your

printer’s RAM (Random Access Memory) for use whenever you

need it.

Because the high-resolution NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode uses many more dots per character than the draft mode, defining NLQ characters is somewhat more complex than defining draft characters. You will find the programs for defining NLQ characters at the end of this chapter.

c-2

v’

it-

After you have created your own characters with our programs,

certain keys that you seldom use will generate the user-defined char-

acters. For example, you will be able to type = to print t .

Your user-defined characters can be utilitarian or imaginative, anything from a scientific symbol to script letters for your initials. Just follow the simple steps below.

The only restriction on your creativity is that the characters you define must follow the same rules that govern the rest of the characters printed by the LX-80. They must fit into an 11x9 matrix, no dot can overlap another, and either the top or the bottom row must be empty. Look at the enlargements of sample letters in Chapter 3 to see how the standard LX-80 characters are designed.

Designing Process

Suppose that you need the Greek letter sigma (2) for your work. Although the LX-80 has a number of special symbols, the sigma is not one of them. You can, however, create and print such a symbol with ease. First, use a grid like the one in Figure 8-l to plan where to place the dots.

123456789

Figure

8-l.

Grid

for

designing

draft characters

Because the last two columns are reserved for the space between characters, we have not included them in the grid. And since most characters do not use the bottom two rows, we have used a heavy line

to indicate the usual lower limit for an LX-80 character.

When you place your dots on this grid, remember that dots cannot go on horizontal lines, but they can go on vertical lines so long as they do not overlap any other dots. As you design your characters, draw the dots as large as you see them in the example on the left in Figure

8-2. If you draw them smaller, you may have overlapping dots with-

realizing it.

out

.overlapping dots

dot on horizontal

Figure 8-2. Correct and incorrect designs

line

If you do accidentally call for overlapping dots, don’t worry. The

program will still work, but only one of the dots will be printed.

First definition program

Once you. have drawn your dots on the grid, type in the following BASIC program and run it. If you are using Applesoft BASIC, see Appendix F.

100 DIM F(9)

110 FOR I=1 TO 9 120 PRINT "WHICH ROWS HAVE DOTS IN COLUMN";1

130 INPUT R: IF R=0 THEN 150

140 F(I)=F(I)+2-(R-1) 150 IF R=0 THEN NEXT I ELSE GOT0 130 160 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(O)CHR$(O)CHR$(O); 170 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(0); 180 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)"<<"; 190 LPRINT CHR$(128); 200 FOR X=1 TO 9 210 LPRINT CHR$(F(X));: NEXT X 220 LPRINT CHR$(B)CHR$(O); 230 LPRINT "YOUR CHARACTER

PICA: < < <" 240 LPRINT "IN EXPANDED EMPHASIZED PICA: "; 250 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!*< < <" 260 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!"CHR$(B)"YOUR DATA NUMBERS:" 270 FOR K=l TO 9: LPRINT F(K);: NEXT K 300 END

So that you can see how the program works, we’ll present the steps used to create the Greek letter sigma. First is the grid we used to design the character.

123456789

Figure 8-3. Design

for

sigma

Running the program

For each of the nine columns, the program will ask for the numbers of the rows in which you want dots to appear. Enter the row numbers one at a time, pressing the RETURN key after each one. When you have entered all the numbers for a column or when you want no dots in a column, press RETURN without a number. Remember that the vertical lines in the grid are the even-numbered columns.

In our example, the program first asks what rows have dots in column 1. Respond with 8, RETURN, and 2, RETURN to indicate that you want dots in rows 8 and 2. Then press RETURN alone to indicate that no more dots go in column 1. For column 2 (the vertical line) enter 7, and 3, with a RETURN after each of them. Then enter RETURN to finish with column 2 and go on to column 3.

For column 3 enter 8, 6, 4, and 2. (From now on we assume that you know to press RETURN after each number and one extra time to end the entries for each column.) For column 4 enter 5; for column 5 enter 8 and 2; in column 6 there are no dots, so press RETURN only; for column 7 enter 8 and 2; for column 8 RETURN only; for

column 9 enter 8, 7, 3, and 2.

Now wait a moment for your computer to calculate the dot patterns and your LX-80 to print the new character in two different typestyles. Your printout also gives you nine numbers, which you will use in the next program. You should get the printout you see below:

When you get to this point with a character of your own, you see

how it looks and whether or not you like it. If you want to make any changes, move the dots as needed and re-run the program.

If you want to put dots in the bottom row, change the number in

line 190 from 128 to 0. Then the usable rows will be as shown in Figure 8-4 below.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

123456789

Figure 8-4. Using the bottom eight rows

Second definition program

Once the character looks the way you want it to, enter, modify, and run the next program. The program as listed creates the sigma character, but you can use it for any characters you create if you make one or two changes that we explain after the program listing.

90 FOR P=58 TO 63: LPRINT CHR$(P);: NEXT P 100 K=l: IF K>3 THEN A=58 ELSE A=60 110 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(0)CHR$(B)CHR$(PI); 120 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(O); 130 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)CHR$OCHR$(A-1tK); 140 FOR Z=l TO K 150 LPRINT CHR$(128); 160 FOR X=1 TO 9 170 READ R

180 LPRINT CHR$(R);: NEXT X 190 LPRINT CHR$(O)CHR$(O); 200 NEXT Z 210 DATA 130,68,170,16,130,0,130,0,198 290 FOR P=58 TO 63: LPRINT CHR$(P);: NEXT P 300 SYSTEM

To use this program for your own character or characters, change the DATA numbers in line 210 by substituting the numbers generated by the first program when you created your own character. If you have created more than one character, put the DATA numbers for each character on a separate line as you see in the example below:

210 DATA 112,8,0,138,116,138,0,8,112 220 DATA 58,68,2,128,0,128,2,68,58

Check your work by making sure that there are nine numbers in

each line and that the numbers are separated by commas.

To define more than one character, use the total number of characters you are defining instead of the 1 in line 100. (You can define as many as six characters at a time. Just run the first program several times and enter all the DATA numbers in this program.)

Running the program

When you run this second program, it prints six characters, then re-defines some or all of them and prints them again, as in the example below.

The two lines when printed by your own program provide you with a key to the characters your LX-80 will now print. When you press the key for one of the characters in the top row, the printer will print the corresponding character in the bottom row. In the example above, if you type = your LX-80 will print t (although your screen will continue to show the character

Because the program puts these new definitions in your printer’s Random Access Memory (RAM), it will print the new characters (the ones in the bottom row) unless it is turned off or receives the reset

code.

If you have designed a few characters and want to use them with your word processing program, for example, just run the second definition program before you start using your word processing program. Then use the two-line printout as your guide to tell you which keys to press for your new characters.

=).

Defining NLQ Characters

Since NLQ characters use many more dots than draft characters, defining NLQ characters is more complex than designing draft ones. If you use the grid and the programs in this section, however, you will be able to design your own NLQ characters.

NLQ grid

Because the NLQ characters can use as many as 18 dots vertically

and 12 dots horizontally, you plan your designs on a different grid

than the one you used for draft characters.

128

64 I

Figure 8-5. Grid

I 1

7 8

for

NLQ characters

1112

On this grid you can use any numbered line or space. As you can

see, that includes the bottom line and the line on the right side. You

should remember to leave one or two columns blank for space be-

tween characters, however.

Each NLQ character definition requires 36 data numbers. Therefore, each vertical column must be divided into three sections for the calculation of data numbers. The process is not difficult once you get some practice using it.

Figure 8-6 shows a single column to make clear how the data numbers are calculated. Notice that in designing NLQ characters we suggest using circles instead of dots to make it easier to keep track of overlapping dots.

128

First data number

Second data

number

Third data

number

(

128

Figure 8-6. Data numbers for one column

128’

=229

=64

To calculate the data numbers for this column, you see which dots are used in the top group (the top eight positions) and add their values together. Then you go down to the middle group (the next 8 positions) and add the values of any dots that are used there. Finally, you look at the bottom group (2 dot positions) and add together the values used there.

If no dots are used in a group, the data number for that group is zero. All zeros must be entered in the DATA statements for the NLQ definition programs.

Now we’ll show you how to use the NLQ character definition with a simple arrow design. Figure 8-7 shows the design drawn on a grid and the data numbers printed at the top or bottom of each column.

128

255

0 0

32 255 0 0 192

0 0

16 a 0 0

64 64

0 0 0 0 0 0

Figure 8-7. Arrow design and data numbers

If you look at each column individually, you can see how the data

numbers were calculated.

First NLQ definition program

Now type in and run the following program. It has the data num-

bers for the arrow design. For a character of your own, change the

data numbers in lines 130-150.

la LPRINT CHR$(27)

"x"CHR$(l)

20 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(I)CHR$(O)CHR$(0);

30 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(O); 40 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)"<("; 50 LPRINT CHR$(O)CHR$(lZ)CHR$(0);

60 FOR X=1 TO 36

70 READ C: LPRINT CHR$(C); 80 NEXT X 90 LPRINT "YOUR CHARACTER IN PICA: < < <"

100 LrjRINT "IN EXPANDED EMPHASIZED PICA: "; 110 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!*< < <" 120 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!"CHR$(0) 130 DATA 4,0,0,8,0,0,16,0,0,32,0,0 140 DATA 64,0,0,255,255,192,64,0,0,32,0,0 150 DATA 16,0,0,8,0,0,4,0,0,0,0,0

When you run this program for your own character, you find out whether or not it looks right to you. If it doesn’t, move the dots as needed, recalculate and change the data numbers, and run the program again.

Second NLQ definition program

When you are satisfied with the character you have created, enter and run the next program. Use your data numbers instead of the ones in lines 130-150. If you want to define more than one character, change line 10 so that J equals the total number of characters you are defining (the maximum is six) and enter the extra data numbers (36 for each character).

10 J=l: IF J>3 THEN A=58 ELSE A=60 20 LPRINT CHR$(27)"x"CHR$(l) 30 FOR X=58 TO 63: LPRINT CHR$(X)" ";: NEXT X 40 LPRINT 50 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(I)CHR$(O)CHR$(0); 60 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(0); 70 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)CHR$(A)CHR$(A-l+J); 80 FOR Y=l TO J 90 LPRINT CHR$(O)CHR$(12)CHR$(0);

100 FOR X=1 TO 36

110 READ C: LPRINT CHR$(C);

120 NEXT X: NEXT Y

130 FOR X=58 TO 63: LPRINT CHR$(X)" ";: NEXT X

140 DATA 4,0,0,8,0,0,16,0,0,32,0,0

150 DATA 64,0,0,255,255,192,64,0,0,32,0,0

160 DATA 16,0,0,8,0,0,4,0,0,0,0,0

When you run this program it prints six characters, then redefines one or more of them and prints them again. As with the draft characters, you use this two-line printout as a guide to the new characters your LX-80 will print. You can use them with an applications program or a program you write yourself.

Chapter 9

Introduction to Dot Graphics

The Epson dot graphics mode allows your LX-80 printer to produce pictures, graphs, charts, or almost any other illustrative or creative material you can devise. numerals, and symbols stored in the LX-80’s ROM (Read Only

Memory), the graphics mode prints dots column by column and line by line. You plan where you want the dots to appear and then use a program to tell the LX-80 where to put them.

Because many software programs take advantage of Epson dot

graphics, you may be able to print graphics like the ones on this page

and the next by simply giving your software a few instructions. The chart on the next page, for example, was created and printed in about

10 minutes.

Instead of using the standard letters,

----

~I;IENCE

MHWZIMS

FIl;TION

---

--------

-------

EE';;T - s;ELLEF;;

Some commercial software programs perform what is called a screen dump, in which whatever is on the computer screen is sent to, and printed by, the printer. This function is sometimes accomplished by a “print screen”

command. If you have a program for screen

dumps or any other software that produces graphics, all you need to

know about Epson dot graphics is how to use the software. If, on the other hand, you wish to do your own programming or merely wish to understand how the LX-80 prints graphics, read on.

Dot Patterns

The LX-80 forms graphic images approximately the same way that

pictures in newspapers and magazines are printed. If you look closely at a newspaper photograph, you can see that it is made up of many small dots. The LX-80 also forms its images with patterns of dots. In fact, the resolution of Epson graphics is higher than that of standard newspaper photographs because the LX-80 graphics mode allows as

many as 240 dot positions per inch horizontally and 72 vertically. The images you print on the LX-80 can, therefore, be as finely detailed as the one on the first page of this chapter.

If you plan carefully where you want the dots to appear and then use or create a program that gives the proper instructions to the printer, your LX-80 will print nearly any pattern or figure you can imagine.

Print Head

The graphics mode on the LX-80 is quite different from the text modes, Instead of sending codes for letters and printing functions, you send codes for dot patterns, one number for each column in a line. Since none of the predefined characters or symbols in the printer’s memory is used, your program controls where each dot is printed.

For each column on a print line, the print head prints the pattern of dots you have specified. In the standard graphics mode it uses only the top eight pins on the print head because the computer uses eight data lines to communicate with the printer. Therefore, each of the top eight pins of the print head corresponds to one of the data lines.

To print figures taller than eight dots, the print head makes more than one pass. It prints one line, then advances the paper and prints another, just as it does with text. To keep the print head from leaving gaps between the graphics lines as it does between the text lines, the line spacing must be adjusted to eliminate the space between lines. When the line spacing is properly adjusted, the LX-80 prints finely detailed graphics images that give no indication that they are made up of separate lines, each no more than 1/8 of an inch wide.

To insure the proper alignment of dots in figures that use more than one pass of the print head, the LX-80 abandons the bidirectional printing it uses for draft text. Instead it prints graphics from left to right only.

Each pass of the print head contains one piece of the total pattern, which can be as tall or short and as wide or narrow as you desire. You don’t have to fill the whole page or even an entire line with your graphics figures. In fact, you can use as little or as much space as you like for a figure and put it anywhere on the page.

Graphics Mode

The graphics mode command is quite different from the other commands covered so far in this manual. For most of the other

LX-80 modes, such as italic and emphasized, one ESCape code turns the mode on and another turns it off. For graphics, the command is more complicated because the code that turns on a graphics mode also

specifies how many columns it will use.

The LX-80 has several different graphics densities, but we’ll keep things simple by using only one in the first exercises. The code for entering single-density graphics mode is ESCape “K” nl n2. In Microsoft BASIC the command is given in this format:

LPRINT

ESCape “K” specifies single-density graphics, and the next two num-

bers (n, and n2) specify the number of columns reserved for graphics.

The graphics command requires more than one number to specify how many columns to reserve because as many as 1920 columns are possible in graphics printing. Since the LX-80 uses eight digit binary numbers, it can’t accept decimal numbers larger than 255. Therefore, the graphics mode command uses two numbers for reserving columns.

The number of columns reserved is the first number plus 256 times

the second number. Since the command is set up for two numbers,

you must supply two even if you only need one. When you need less

than 256 columns, just make nt the number of columns you are reserving and make n2 a zero.

CHR$(Z?)“K’*CHR$(Nl)CHR$(NZ);

Pin Labels

Once you put the printer into graphics mode and reserve the number of columns you want, your next step is to tell the print head which pins to fire in each column. There are 256 possible combinations of eight pins, and you send only one number for each column.

The numbering system that allows you to use a single number to

specify which of the 256 possible patterns you want is shown in Figure 9-1.

128

not used

Figure 9-1. Pin labels

To fire any one pin, you send its number. To fire more than one pin at the same time, add up the numbers of the pins and send the sum to the printer. With these labels for the pins, you fire the top pin by sending 128. To fire the bottom graphics pin, you send 1. If you want to fire only the top and bottom pins, you simply add 128 and 1, then send 129.

By adding the appropriate label numbers together, you can fire any combination of pins you want. Figure 9-2 shows you three examples of how to calculate the number that will fire a particular pattern of pins.

128

not used

‘28

128

0 0

Figure 9-2. Calculating numbers for pin patterns

not used

128

0 0 0 0 0

l 0 0 0

With this numbering system any combination of the eight pins adds up to a unique decimal number between 0 and 255. Although you use a decimal number, it is, of course, converted to a binary number before it goes to the printer.

Now that you know the principles of Epson graphics, we’ll give you two simple exercises, more densities, and then something more complex as a basis for writing your own programs.

First Graphics Program

For your first graphics exercise we could give you a program that

prints a single column of dots, but it is difficult to see the pattern of a single column of dots, so your first graphics program prints the same pattern 40 times.

The first line is the code for 40 columns of single-density graphics.

As usual, our example is in Microsoft BASIC, but you can adapt it to the programming language you prefer.

10 LPRINT CHR$(27)“K”CHR$(40)CHR$(O);

The second line is the data that is printed as pin patterns. Be sure

that you type in the semicolons in both lines:

FOR X=1 TO

That’s it. Run the program to see the result below. Although it is not as interesting as the examples at the beginning of this chapter, it does allow you to see exactly how the mode works.

40: LPRINT CHR$(74);:

NEXT X

Multiple-Line Exercise

Now that you’ve entered and run a simple graphics program, we’ll

go on to an exercise that shows you how the LX-80 combines several

lines of graphics for a figure taller than eight dots.

Start with a line for 100 columns of single-density graphics and lines to print two pin patterns. Notice that since there are two pin patterns in the loop, it is only executed 50 times.

30 LPRINT CHR$(27>"K"CHR$(lOO)CHR$(O);

FOR

NEXT X

If you run the program now, you’ll see how one line of the pattern

looks:

To see a how more than one line combines to form a figure, enter and run the following program, which uses two of the lines you have already typed and adds several more.

X-l TO 50: LPRINT CHR$(85)CHR$(42);

10 LPRINT

FOR

30 LPRINT CHR$(27>“~~“CWR$(lOo)CMR$~O); 40

FOR

50 NEXT 60 LPRIMT 70

FOR

80 NEXT 90 LPRINT

Now run the program to see the six print lines combine into a pattern :

The short and simple program that produced the pattern demonstrates many elements of graphics programming. Therefore, we’ll explain each line. Line 10 changes the line spacing to 7-dot, which is the height of the dot patterns used in the program. Therefore, there is no space between the print lines.

CHR$(

R-l TO 3

X=1

TO 50:

LPRIN?

CHR$(

X-l

LPRINT: NEXT R

CHR$(

27) “1”;

LPRINT CHR$(85)CHR$(42);

27) “K”CHR$( lOO)CHR$(O) ; 50: LPRINT CEJR$(42)CHR$(85);

27) “@‘”

Line 20 begins a loop to produce multiple print lines. Lines 30 and 40 were covered above, but an LPRINT is added to line 50 to produce a line feed after line 40. Lines 60 and 70 are like lines 30 and 40 except that line 70 uses a reversal of the patterns in line 40. As the loop is executed, the program prints lines 40 and 70 alternately so that the patterns of the print lines will fit together well.

Notice that the graphics command can be in effect for only one print line. The command is in lines 30 and 60 so that it is issued each time a new print line is begun. You cannot print more than one line of graphics without having the graphics command issued more than once.

Line 90 is the reset code to return the printer to its defaults.

Density Varieties

Although all the examples so far in this chapter have been in the single-density graphics mode, the LX-80 offers five other eight-pin density modes and two nine-pin ones. Nine-pin graphics is not necessary for most uses, but you can find its command (Escape “ * “) in

Appendix B. All the eight-pin densities and their commands are described in Table 9-1.

Mode

Table 9-l. Graphics modes

Density

Single ESC “K”

/go;bSepeed

High-Speed Double

Quadruple ESC “Z”

Epson none

ox-1 OTM

One-to-one

(plotter)

90 dots/inch none

Alternate

code

ESC “L” ESC “Y”

none

Description

60 dots/inch: 480 dots/8” line

120 dots/inch 960 dots/8 line

120 dot positions/inch Faster than Mode 1; does not print consecutive dots in a row.

240 dot positions/inch; 1920 dot

positionsW

consecutive dots in a row. 80 dots/inch;

640 Matches the screen density of the QX-10, which makes it easy to do screen dumps.

I72 dots/inch: 1576

dotsB” line

Produces the zontallv as verticallv.

circles look round. 90 dots/inch;

720

line. Does not print

dots/W

line

same density

dots/W

line

hori-

which makes

You are familiar with the command format that uses the ESCape

code and a letter, but LX-80 graphics commands can also be in the

following format:

LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(M)CHR$(Nl)CHR$(NZ);

with m being the mode number found in the left column of Table 9-l.

As usual, nl and n2 reserve the number of columns for graphics. The seven modes include six densities, with two speeds for doubledensity.

Reassigning Code

The LX-80 has a graphics command that changes one graphics mode to another. You can use it with many commercial graphics software programs to change the density and shape of your printouts. The code is ESCape graphics codes (K, L, Y, or Z) and n is the number of the new code (O-6).

For example, if you send the following code before you run a graphics program, it will change every instance of mode “Y” (highspeed double-density) to mode 5 (one-to-one).

LPRINT CHR$(27)"@?Y"CHR$(S);

As usual, this example is in MBASIC, but you can send the code in any programming language.

“?s” n, where s is one of the four alternate

Even if you don’t know which code your graphics program uses, a little experimentation should tell you whether the reassigning code can improve your graphics printouts.

Column Reservation Numbers

Now that we’ve introduced you to the rest of the S-pin graphics densities and the reassigning code, we’ll explain in more detail the part of the graphics command that reserves the number of columns for

graphics (the numbers n, and n2 in our examples).

If you need fewer than 255 columns of graphics, n, is the number of columns you want and n2 is zero. As you can see in Table 9-1, however, a single line will hold as many as 1920 columns in quadruple-density. Specifying more than 255 is where the second number

slot

(n2)

fits in. The first number that you send (n,) indicates a num-

ber of columns, but the second does not represent a number of

columns; it is multiplied by 256 and added to

nl.

The command for

the maximum number of dots you can reserve on the LX-SO, then, is:

CHR$(27)"Z"CHR$(128)CHR$(7);

or, in the other format:

which is 128 dots plus 7 times 256 dots, for a total of 1920 dots in one

row.

Once you have chosen the number of columns you want to use, you can have your program do the calculations for you with the following format:

CHR$(27)"L"CHR$(N

N is the total number of columns you want to specify. The MOD (modulus) function calculates the value for function calculates the value for than BASIC, consult your manual for the proper form for these functions.

This format can be used with any graphics density and with any value of N up to the maximum number of columns per line for that

density.

MOD

256)CHR$(INT(N/2~6));

nl,

and the INT (integer)

n2.

For programming languages other

WIDTH Statements

Many computer systems automatically insert the control codes for a carriage return and a line feed after every 80 characters. This insertion is usually no problem with text, but it can spoil your graphics. In

the graphics mode they may insert the control codes after 120 columns, which could be in the middle of a line.

You can usually prevent these unwanted control codes with a

WIDTH statement such as the one below:

WIDTH LPRINT 255

The format for your system may be different. Consult your computer or computer language manual to find the correct format for your system. Then put a WIDTH statement in one of the first lines of all your graphics programs. It is easier to put a WIDTH statement in all but the simplest of your programs than to examine each one to see whether or not such a statement is necessary.

Design Your Own Graphics

In this section we take you through the development of a graphics program. The example is not especially complicated, but it does include the same steps you would use for a more complex figure so that you have the basis for designing graphics on your LX-80.

You will plan your figure with dots on graph paper, but before beginning to place the dots, you should decide which graphics density you want. Figure 9-3 shows the differences between the three most-

used graphics modes so that you can choose the one you want.

Figure 9-3. Designing in different densities

In this figure you can see the main rules for graphics design in the three densities. In single density no dots can be placed on vertical lines. In high-speed double density dots can be placed on vertical lines, but no dots can overlap. In low-speed double density dots can

be placed on vertical lines and they can overlap.

Now look at our figure designed for high-speed double density. It should point you in the right direction for your own designs.

Figure 9-4. Arrow design

After plotting all the dots as in Figure 9-4, you calculate the numbers for each pin pattern by dividing the design grid into separate print lines. For the arrow design the grid was divided into three lines, each seven dots high. Then each column was examined and the sums of the pin values determined. This process for the first line is shown in Figure 9-5. The pin values are on the left side and the sums are at the bottom of each column.

Those of you who have read the previous chapter will see that designing graphics is much like designing user-defined characters.

810888888421000000000234100

4100000000000000000082000

Figure 9-5. First line of arrow figure

The numbers for the second and third lines were calculated in the

same manner. Once the numbers for the pin patterns are calculated,

they go in DATA statements, separated by commas.

First we’ll give you the whole program and its printout; then we’ll

explain two techniques we have not used before:

90 WIDTH LPRINT 255

100 LPRINT CHR$(27)"1"

590

FOR K=l TO 3

600 LPRINT CHR$(27)"Y"CHR$(50)CHR$(0);

610 READ

N: IF N=128

THEN 650

620 IF N>=0 THEN LPRINT CHR$(N);: GOT0 610

630 READ P,R: FOR J=l TO -N

632 LPRINT CHR$(P)CHR$(R);: NEXT J

640

GOT0 610

650 LPRINT: NEXT K: LPRINT CHR$(27)"@": END

800 DATA 8,4,10,1,-6,8,0,4,0,2,0,1,-9,0,0,0

805 DATA 23,8,4,2,1,-2,0,0,0,128

810 DATA 0,0,0,0,64,32,17,10,4,0,-6,0,0,-10

815 DATA 64,0,0,0,0,64,32,17,10,4,128

820 DATA 2,4,10,16,34,64,-5,2,0,4,0,8,0,16

825

DATA 0,-9,32,0,61,2,4,8,16,32,64,0,0,0,128

In this program we used the number 128 in the DATA statements to signal the end of a print line. This is the reason for the IF-THEN statement in line 610 that skips to line 650 and causes a line feed.

The other special technique used in this program is found in lines

620 and 630. Since some of the data numbers are repeated many

times, we save typing by using negative DATA numbers for repetitions. Line 620 tests for a negative number, and if it finds one, reads

the next two numbers and prints their pin patterns the number of times indicated by the negative number.

For example, when the minus 6 in line 800 is read, the program

then reads the next two numbers (8 and 0) and sends them to the

printer six times. This feature is not a necessary part of the program,

but it does allow you to type fewer data numbers.

Otherwise the program is a straightforward graphics program that uses 7-dot line spacing and reads numbers from DATA statements and sends them to the printer. If you want to see the figure in other densities, change the “Y” in line 600 to “L” or “Z”.

Graphics Programming Tips

Now that we’ve shown you how to design your own graphics, we’ll review and emphasize a few elements of graphics programming. As usual, we use MBASIC in the examples, but the principles apply

to any programming language.

Semicolons and command placement

After the graphics command is issued, every number sent to the

LX-80 is interpreted as a pin pattern and printed on paper. Therefore, you must be careful where you put graphics commands in your program.

For example, suppose you want a 50-column graphics line with the

line spacing set to 7-dot. You might enter the following program:

LPRINT

40 FOR G=l TO 50:

This program has all the necessary elements. Line 20 has the command for single-density graphics and specifies 50 columns. (Remember that you must use two numbers to reserve columns even if you only need the first one.) Line 30 has the correct command for 7-dot line spacing, and line 40 calls for the printing of a pin pattern 50 times.

(If you wish, refer back to Figure 9-2 to see a representation of the pin

pattern that 74 produces.)

CHR$(27)“K”CHR$(50)CHR$(0)

CHR$( 27 ) ” 1"

LPRINT

CHR$(74): NEXT G

Although this program has all the necessary elements, it will not give you the single pin pattern that you want, as you can see in the partial printout in Figure 9-6.

Expected pattern

Figure 9-6. Result of incorrect program

Actual result

What went wrong? To help you understand the graphics command

and avoid some of the more common errors made with it, we’ll examine this program in detail.

First look at line 20. ESCape “K” calls for single-density graphics, and the two CHR$ numbers specify 50 columns of dots. Once that command is given, every number sent to the printer is interpreted as a pin pattern and printed on the paper. Since there is no semicolon at the end of the line, the numbers 13 and 10--the codes for carriage return and line feed-are sent to the printer after CHR$(0). Because the graphics command has been issued, these codes are printed as pin patterns.

Line 30 would normally be the command for 7-dot line spacing, but since the graphics mode is still in effect, the command is interpreted by the printer as two pin patterns: 27 and 49 (the ASCII codes

for ESCape and “1”). Since there is no semicolon at the end of this line, the numbers 13 and 10 are sent again, and again they are printed as pin patterns.

In line 40 nothing is sent to the printer until after the LPRINT.

Then the desired pin pattern-74-is finally sent, but since no semi-

colon is after it, 13 and 10 are sent next each time the loop is executed.

Figure 9-7 is an enlarged representation of the first 13 columns of

the printout. In this figure you can see exactly how the printer reacted

to the first part of the incorrect program.

128

84 32

8 4 2 1

(

10 13

Figure 9-7. Pin patterns of incorrect program

)

You may also wonder why the program prints not only the different pin patterns but also the character “J” a number of times. The reason lies in the number of columns you reserved with the graphics command. After the LX-80 receives all the numbers reserved by a graphics command-50 in this case-it leaves the graphics mode and resumes interpreting numbers as printable characters or print commands.

Since the incorrect program has sent many extra numbers, mainly

10s and 13s, the 50 columns reserved are filled before the loop in line 40 has been executed 50 times. Therefore, during the last passes of the loop the LX-80 interprets CHR$(74) as the ASCII code for “J” and prints that character each of the last 35 passes of the loop.

If you want to make the program work correctly, put the line-

spacing command in line 10, delete line 30, and add two semicolons: one at the end of line 20 and one between CHR$(74) and the colon in

line 40.

We have explained this incorrect program in detail so that you will

remember two important tips about using the graphics command:

l Use semicolons to prevent the LX-80 from printing carriage re-

turn and line feed codes as pin patterns.

l Do not put any other commands between the graphics command

and its data.

Our example should help you understand the graphics mode better and may help you find the problem when one of your own programs gives you unexpected results.

String variables

In a long and complicated graphics program, typing in the graphics

command or repetitive data numbers over and over can become time-

consuming. You can avoid much of the repetitive typing by storing commands and data in string variables.

Look at the program below. It is the same as the multiple-line

exercise earlier in the chapter except for the string variables.

G$zCHR$(27>+"K"+CHR$(l00)+CHR(0)

2c3

A$=CHR$( 85 >

B$~~CHR$(42)tCMR$(85)

I,PRINT CHR$(27)"1";

FOR Rr-1 TO 3

LPRINT G$;

+(;EW$( 42

70 FOR X=1 TO 50: L,PRINT A$;: NEXT X 80

LPRINT

InPRINT G$;

100 FOR X=1 TO 50: LPRINT B$;: NEXT X

110 LPRINT: NEXT R

120 LPRINT CE<R$(27) "@"

Notice that the first line stores the whole graphics command in a single string variable. In order to do this you must put plus signs between the elements of the command. Once you have done this at the beginning of the program, each time you enter LPRINT G$; you have issued the graphics command. Lines 20 and 30 do the same thing with the data used in this program. As you can see, the use of string variables saves some typing even in this short program. In a long program it can save you much more time and effort.

Graphics and low ASCII codes

Sending a few of the codes between 0 and 31 with BASIC or another programming language can cause problems on some computer systems. The problem is that most computer systems handle some of these codes in a special way instead of delivering them to the printer.

For example, one computer system handles form feeds by itself. It counts lines to keep track of the top of page. If a program sends the ASCII code for form feed (12) to the printer, the computer system intercepts it and sends instead the code for line feed (10) several times.

If you are in a graphics mode with this system and send a 12 to fire

pins 3 and 4, the computer system will intercept that 12 and send

several 10s instead. You can see how this would ruin your graphics. You would get pins 2 and 4 (whose sum is 10) several times instead of pins 3 and 4 only once.

If your computer system screens out or changes any codes sent to it, you can often design around these problems by using other numbers with similar patterns, and you can see Appendix F for a method to determine which codes may cause problems and for some ideas on overcoming those problems.

Appendix A

ASCII Codes and Character Fonts

This appendix provides information about the way ASCII codes are used on the LX-80 printer and about the character fonts associated with those codes. The first section summarizes the codes. The second section displays the decimal and hexadecimal numbers, a printout, and an enlarged dot matrix for each of the special graphics characters and the draft international characters. Other dot matrixes

are in Chapter 3. The enlarged dot matrix characters are shown in elite to save space.

Sending printer codes is discussed in Chapter 4, and the method of

printing the special graphics and international characters is discussed

in Chapter 6.

A-l

Dee Hex cl

00 none

05 none

07 EEL

OB VT

CC 13 OD 14

OE 15

OF 16

19 13

14 21 15 22

16 23

19 EM

1B zl 1c 29

1D 30

1F i: 20 33

22 35 23 36

37 25 38

40 28 41

29 42 2A 43

2c 45

20 46

2E 47 2F 48

30 49

31 50

32 51

33 52

34 53 35 54 36 55 56 57 58 3A 59 60 61 62

CHR

none none none none

none

BS HT LF

SO Sl

none none

DC2

none

DC4

none

none none

CAN

none

ESC

none none none none

37 7 38 39

38 3C : 3D 3E 3F

Dee

Hex

co Cl c2 c3

c7 ca CQ CA CB CC CD CE

Dl D2

D4 D5 D6 07

DQ DA DB DC

DE DF

EO E2

E3 E4 E5 E6 E7 Ea EQ EA EB EC ED EE EF

FO F2

F5 F6 F7 Fa F9 FA FB FC FD FE FF

CHR

Dee

Hex

64 40 65 41 66 42 67 43 68 44 69 45 70 46 71 47 72 48

73 49 74 4A 75 4B 76 4C 77 4D 78 4E 79 4F

a0 50

i: z: a3 53 a4 54 a5 55 86 56 a7 57 88 58 a9 59 90 5A 91

93 5D 94 5E

’ III 3 % &

(

) t +

.’ 0

3 4

5 6

B 9

‘)

iii: 20’ 97 61 98 62 99 63

100 64 101 65 102 66 103 67 104 68 105 69

106 6A 107 6B 108 6C 109 6D 110 6E 111 6F 112 70 113 71 114 72 115 73 116 74 117 75 118 76 119 77 120 78 121 79

122 7A 123 78 124 7C 125 7D 126 7E 127 7F

A H C D

E F G H

II N 0 P Q R S T u V w x

Y 2 C \

c d e

f :

1 J

1 Ill

P 9

t0 t

CI ” w :<

Y 2

DEL

Dee Hex CHR

128

129

at 130 a2 131

a3 132 a4 133 a5 134

86 135

a7 136

aa 137

a9 138

aA 139

8B 140

141

8D 142 aE 143 8F 144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

155

156

157

158

QE 159 9F 160

A0 161

Al 162 A2

163 A3 164

165

166

167 A7 168

169

170

171

172 AC 173

174 AE 175 AF 176

177

178

179

83 iao 84 iai

85 la2 B6 la3

87 la4

Ba la5 BQ la6 BA la7

la8

BC la9 BD 190

191

192 193 194 195 196 C4 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 CF 208 209 210 211 D3 212 213 214 215 216 Da

217 218 219 220 221 DD 222 223 224 225 El 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 Fl 242 243 244

245

246

247

248

249 250 251 252 253 254 255

A-2

Special Graphics Characters

Dec

129

130

131

132

133

Hex

Character

L..

138

139

140

141

Hex

Character

.,. .:.:.: :.:.I

134

135

136

I-’

142

143

tiiiiil

“I

144

L.1

A-3

Dec Hex Character

145 91

148 94

154 9B

155

156 9C

157 9D

158 9E

-.L.

::,:.

.-:-

150 96

152 98

A-4

-is

159 9F

Draft International Characters

Roman characters

aracters

Italic ch

A-5

Appendix B

Control Codes in Numeric Order

You can use any of the methods explained in Chapter 4 to send these control codes to your LX-80. If you use MBASIC, you send a control code using LPRINT CHR$(27) followed by CHR$(n), where n is a number from the decimal (Dee) column below. For a few

codes, those with a dash in the ESC column, you omit the ESCape code. For the codes above decimal 27, you can use either the character in the symbol column (in quotation marks) or CHR$(n). For example, the command for turning on emphasized can be entered as:

LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(69)orL,PRINT

See Chapter 4 and your system documentation for other methods

of sending codes to the printer.

Some applications programs can use control key codes for decimal

codes O-26. See the control key chart at the end of this appendix or

the Quick Reference Card for a complete list of control key values.

Abbreviations:

ESC Dec Hex Symbol

7 8

cpi = characters per inch cps = characters per second

Function

07 08 BS

NUL

BEL

Terminates horizontal and vertical

tab setting ESCape sequences. Sounds beeper. Backspace. Empties the printer buffer, then moves the print head left 1

space in the current pitch.

Horizontal tab. Empties the printer buffer, then moves the print head to the next tab stop.

CHR$(27)“E”

B-l

ESC Dec

Hex

Symbol LF

DC1

DC2

DC3

DC4

CAN

Function Line feed. Empties the printer buffer,

performs a line feed at the current line spacing, and resets the buffer character count to 0. Vertical tab. Empties the printer buffer, then advances the paper to the next vertical tab stop. Form feed. Empties the printer buffer, then advances the paper to the next top of form.

Carriage return. Prints the contents

of the buffer and resets the buffer

character count to 0. Shift out. Turns expanded mode ON for the length of the line. Can be cancelled by ASCII 20 or ESC “W0”. Works with pica, elite, or compressed mode. Shift in. Empties buffer and turns

compressed (17.16 cpi) ON. Cannot

mix with emphasized or pica. Can also use DIP switch l-l.

When DIP switch 2-2 is OFF, places printer in the active state.

Device control 2. Turns compressed mode OFF. Device control 3. When DIP switch 2-2 is OFF, places printer in the inactive state until a DC1 code is received. Device control 4. Turns the expanded mode set by ASCII 14 OFF. Cancels all text but not control codes in the print buffer.

ESC 25

B-2

Sets the optional cut-sheet feeder. Format:

ESC 25 n where n toggles the cut-sheet feeder: n=0 turns it OFF and n=4 turns it ON. You cannot use “EM” in place of 25. Can also use DIP switch l-3.

Epson LX-80 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Introduction

LX-80 Features

About This Manual

Printer Parts

Printer Location

Paper Feed Knob Installation

Ribbon Installation

Ribbon Replacement

Paper Loading

Control Panel

Test Pattern

Connecting the LX-80 to Your Computer

First Printing Exercise

Choosing Print Modes

Turning SelecType Mode On

Using SelecType

First SelecType Exercises

Testing Your Software for the Reset Code

Mode Combinations

SelecType Cautions and Tips

The Print Head

Bidirectional Printing

Changing Pitches

NLQ Mode

ASCII Codes

ESCape Code

Printer Codes

Embedded codes

Inserted codes

Programming Languages

Demonstration Programs

Pica Printing

Changing Pitches

Cancelling Codes

Resetting the Printer

Pitch Comparison

Near Letter Quality Mode

Bold Modes

Emphasized mode

Master program

Double-strike

Expanded Mode

Mode Combinations

Italic Mode

Underline Mode

Master Select

Superscript and Subscript

Special Characters

International Characters

Graphics Character Set

Margins

Justification with NLQ

Skip Over Perforation

Line Spacing

Paper-Out Sensor

Defining Your Own Characters

Designing Process

First definition program

Running the program

Second definition program

Running the program

Defining NLQ Characters

NLQ grid

First NLQ definition program

Second NLQ definition program

Dot Patterns

Print Head

Graphics Mode

Pin Labels

First Graphics Program

Multiple-Line Exercise

Density Varieties

Reassigning Code

Column Reservation Numbers

WIDTH Statements