Star Micronics NB24-10-15 User Manual

USER’S MANUAL

NOT INTENDED FOR SALE

1 PN 80821223 1

Federal Communications Commission

Radio Fre 8 uency Interference

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 Class B computing device in accordance with the specifications in
Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC Rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protection
against such interference in a residential installation. However, there is no guarantee
that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause
interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the
equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or
more of the following measures:

OReorient the receiving antenna
*Relocate the computer with respect to the receiver
*Move the computer away from the receiver
*Plug the computer into a different outlet so that computer and receiver are on dif-

ferent branch circuits.

If necessary,. the user should consult the dealer or an experienced radio/television techni­cian for additional suggestions. The user may find the following booklet, prepared by

the Federal Communications Commission helpful: “How to Identif
TV Interference Problems.” This booklet is available from the U.
ing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402, Stock No. 004-000-00345-4.

For compliance with Federal Noise Interference Standard, this equipment requires a
shielded cable.

This statement will be applied only for the printers marketed in U.S.A.

Radio interferences regarding this equipment has been eliminated according to Vfg
1046/1984 announced by the DBP.
DBP has been informed about the introduction of this special equipment and has been

conceded the right to examine the whole series.

It is uoon the resnonsibilitv of the user to assume that his own assembled svstem is in ac­cordance with the technical regulations under Vfg 1046/1984.
To observe FTZ-regulations it is necessary, to establish all connections to the printer
with shielded cable.
The equipment may only be opened by qualified service representatives.

This statement will be applied only for the printers marketed in West Germany.

tatement

Self Declaration

and Resolve Radio-

8

. Government print-

-

Trademark Acknowledgement

NB24-10, NB24-15: Star Micronics Co., Ltd.

Apple 11 : Apple computer Inc.
Eas Writer: Information Unlimited Software, Inc.
IBJ PC, IBM Graphics printer, IBM Proprinter: International Business

Machines Corp.

Lotus l-2-3: Lotus Development Corp.
LQ 1000: Seiko Epson Corp.
Microsoft BASIC: Microsoft Corporation
WordStar: MicroPro International Corporation

NOTICE

*All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form what-

soever, without STAR’s express permission is forbidden.
*The contents of this manual are subject to change without notice.
=A11 efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this manual at

the time of going to press. However, should any errors be detected, STAR would be

greatly appreciate being informed of them.
*The above notwithstanding, STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors in

this manual.

“Copyright 19% Star Micronics Co., Ltd.

A Special Message

to the New Owner

Congratulations for choosing this printer, one of the finest
available at any price. Your new printer will reward you with
many years of high-quality document printing, and is backed by
Star Micronics’ more than 30 years in manufacturing precision
parts. You already know that it represents the state of the art in
tack-sharp dot matrix printing with its rugged 24-pin print head.

Its bidirectional, logic-seeking operation gives you Letter-Quali­ty hardcopy at 72 characters per second, and draft-quality print
at speeds of up to 216 characters per second.

Its many features include:

l High-resolution graphics
l Built-in expandable buffer
l An entire range of character sets for printing in thirteen

languages

l Choice of various typestyles
l Easy, front panel operation
l Automatic paper feed

And, best of all, your new printers is compatible with the most
popular personal computers and software packages - so no mat­ter how sophisticated your applications become, it will continue
to meet your needs.

These are just a few of the reasons you chose a product by
Star Micronics, one of the most respected names in dot matrix
printers. We want you to get the most from your printer with
the least effort on your part, so please take a few minutes to
read this easy-to-understand guide. You’ll find that it will help
you produce crisp, clean documents in the shortest time possi­ble.

You will also find that this printer is remarkably simple to set

up and operate, and that it’s virtually maintenance-free. Enjoy
your new Star Micronics printer!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Setting Up Your Printer

Locating the printer
Check the carton contents

Removing the printer cover
Removing the packing tube
Removing shipping screws
Fitting the platen knob
Installing the ribbon cartridge
Installing the mute cover
Installing the interface board
Installing the font cartridge

Getting to Know Your Printer

Controls and parts of the printer

Parts of the printer
Controls and indicators
Extra functions
Other controls

Selecting and loading paper

Loading single sheets

Loading sprocket-feed paper
Adjusting the print head
Testing the printer

Connecting the printer

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9

Chapter 3 Using the Printer with Commercial 25

Software

Using commercial software
Word processing with the printer
General concepts

The escape code
The master reset code
Using Letter Quality (LQ)
Getting the most from your print choices

Using the printer with EasyWriter II

Redefining pitch settings and print control
codes
A sample printout with EasyWriter II
Redefining your own print pitches
Redefining your own print control keys

Using the printer with WordStar

User-defind print commands

Using the printer with Lotus l-Z-3

Using the panel modes

Advanced panel functions

Setting print start position
Setting the top of form
Setting the left and right margins
Clearing the print buffer

Chapter 4

Printing with BASIC

Some basics of BASIC

First steps
ASCII codes and the CHR$ function
Control codes
The escape codes
A note on command syntax

Selecting the right software mode

Some special kinds of text

Draft and Letter Quality characters
Italic printing
Characters in the Font Cartridge
Underlining and overlining
Superscripts and subscripts

Changing the print pitch

Expanded print
Condensed print

Proportional printing
Making words stand out
Mixing print modes

43

Chapter 5

Formatting Text

Lines and line spacing

Starting a new line
Reverse line feeds
Changing the line spacing
Moving down the page without a carriage re­turn

Page control

Form feed
Reverse form feed
Setting the top of form

Changing the page length
Top and bottom margins
Setting left and right margins
Horizontal and vertical tabs

Horizontal tabs

One-time horizontal tabs

Vertical tabs

Vertical tab channels
Centering and aligning text

63

Chapter 6

Special Features of the Printer 87

Now hear this
Resetting the printer
Taking the printer off line
Printing the bottom of the sheet
Backspace, delete, and cancel text

Printing zeroes
Immediate-print
Adjusting the width of space between
characters
Printing at half-speed
Uni-directional printing
The seven bit dilemma
Block graphics characters and special sym­bols

International character sets
Printing characters in the control code area
Printing BIG characters
The optional sheet feeder
Reading a hex dump

Chapter 7

Download Characters and Dot

107

Graphics

Dot matrix printing
Designing your own characters

Assigning a value of character space
Assigning a value to your character

Download character definition command
Printing download characters
The print mode and the download characters

Draft download characters

Letter quality download characters

Storing the download characters
User-designed Dot Graphics

Specifying the graphics data
Compatibility with existing software
Redefining alternate graphics codes

Chapter 8

Caring for Your Printer

Cleaning the printer
Replacing the ribbon
Replacing the print head

125

Appendix A DIP Switch Settings

Switch functions

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D Function Codes

ASCII Code Conversion Chart

Character Code Table

Standard mode characters
IBM mode characters

Character set #l
Character set #2
All Character set

Commands to control print style

Font style controls
Font pitch controls
Special print modes

Controlling the vertical print position

Line feed and reverse line feed controls
Form feed and related commands

Top/bottom margins and vertical tabs
Controlling the horizontal print position
Download character commands
Dot graphics commands
Other commands

131

137

139

1

149

Appendix E Command Summary in Numeric

Order

Standard mode
IBM-G mode
IBM-P mode

Appendix F Technical Specifications
Appendix G

The Parallel Interface

Functions of the connector signals

211

225
229

Appendix H Serial Interfack Specifications

Configuring the serial interface
The serial protocols

Serial busy protocols
XON/XOFF protocol
ACK protocol

Index

233

239

CHAPTER 1

SETTING UP YOUR

PRINTER

Subjects covered in Chapter 1 include-

. Choosing a suitable place for your printer

l Unpacking
l Setting up

LOCATING THE PRINTER

Give some thought to the best place to put the printer. Both
the printer and computer should be used in normal office sur­roundings. For best performance, we recommend:

l Use the printer on a flat surface.
l Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from heat-

producing appliances.

l Use it only in temperatures where you are comfortable.
l Avoid locations with dust, grease, or high humidity.
l Supply it “clean”

same circuit used by large, noise-producing appliances
(such as refrigerators).

l Make sure the line voltage is within 10% of the voltage

specified on the identification plate.

electricity. Don’t connect it to the

CHECK THE CARTON CONTENTS

Open the carton and check each item in the box against
Figure l-l to make sure that you have everything (there should
be six items).

1

Figure l- 1. Check to make sure you have all six items: 1) Printer,

2) Mute cover, 3) Paper guide, 4) Ribbon cartridge, 5) Platen knob,
and 6) User’s manual.

You should also have a parallel interface board to connect
your computer to the printer. Also available are a parallel inter­face board with extra buffer memory and a serial interface
board, both optional. (More on interfaces later.)

W Removing the printer cover

The printer’s cover is important for two reasons - it keeps

dust and dirt away from the printer’s delicate mechanism, and it

absorbs nearly all of the printer’s operating sounds. Don’t take
off the cover unless you have to change the ribbon or make an
adjustment.

To remove the cover, lift up the back of the cover to

disengage the two or three tabs at the front, then lift it off the

rest of the way. To replace the cover, slide the tabs in at the
front and lower it into place. Figure l-2 shows the proper posi­tion and movement for both removing and replacing the cover.

Figure 1-2. Remove the printer cover by lifting carefully.

3

n Removing the packing tube

The printer is shipped with a protective spiral tube to keep

the print head from being damaged during shipping. This tube

Carriage

I

Figure 1-3.

Remove the protective tube from the carriage rail.

4

must be removed before use. First, take off the printer cover.
The protective tube is split along its bottom side to allow easy
removal. Grasp one end of the spiral tube and firmly pull it up­ward and away from the carriage rail.

n Removing shipping screws (15-inch type only)

There are two shipping screws inside the 15-inch type printer,
used to hold the internal chassis securely to the lower case dur­ing shipping. To get at these, remove the printer cover from the

printer. Then remove the red screws with a Phillips screwdriver

as shown in Figure 1-4.

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

-

--

5

foam packing material which held your printer inside the pack­ing box. Be careful to remove the knob before disposing of the
packing pieces.

n Installing the ribbon cartridge

This printer uses a neat, easy-to-change ribbon cartridge with

automatic threading. To fit or change the ribbon cartridge:

.-

I

Figure l-5.

snap into place.

__~.

Press the cartridge into place until the holding springs

1. Turn off the power and remove the printer cover.

2. Slide the print head gently to the center of the printer.
Warning: The print head gets hot during operation, so

let it cool off before you touch it.

3. Set the release lever to either single sheet (P) or

sprocket-feed paper (li).

4. With the ribbon facing away from you, use the guide
holders as a fulcrum, and lightly press the cartridge
down until the two holder springs snap shut to hold the

cartridge firmly in place. See Figure l-5.

5. Check that the cartridge fits so that the drive pins

engage the cartridge teeth, by turning the ribbon ad­vance knob. Advance the ribbon to take up any slack.

6. Gently slide the print head carriage manually all the way

F

to your right or left until the ribbon automatically slips
down into its proper place between the print head and
the silver ribbon guide.

._

‘igure 1-6.

i

To thread the ribbon, slide the print head carriage
manually to the right OP left, and the ribbon will slip down by itself into
its proper position.

7. Replace the printer cover. (A switch on the printer
prevents the printer from operating when the cover is

off .)

n Installing the mute cover

-

1

Printer

1

Figure 1-7. Install the mute cover by holding vertically, then lay

down on the printer cover.

-

-

The mute cover reduces the printer’s operating sounds.

?

Note the position of the guide pins on the mute cover as
shown in Figure l-7. Holding the mute cover at each end, insert
the guide pins into the cutout hooks on the printer cover. Hold
the mute cover down onto the printer.

To remove it, reverse the procedure.

n Installing the interface board

r

cover

7

k.

i

i.

E,
I
L

board

Figure 1-8.

, Interface

Slide the I/F board into the slot.

A parallel interface board comes standard with your printer.
In addition, there are two optional interface (I/F) boards: a serial
interface board that lets you connect to a serial (RS-232C) com­puter port; and the other board contains extra buffer memory
for parallel output. All three boards are installed the same way.

To install or change an I/F board, turn off the power and turn
the printer around. Notice the snap-on cover at the left end.
Take it off by sliding it upwards.

Fit the I/F board into the side slots and slide it all the way
down (don’t force it). Make sure that the board connector is
seated snugly in its socket. Put the cover back on and connect

the cable from your computer - you’re ready to go.

8

n Installing the font cartridge

This printer is mounted the Prestige characters as standard.
You can add one or two different character styles by installing

the optional font cartridges to the printer.

To install or change a font cartridge, start by turing off the

power switch.

Fit the font cartridge into the slot and slide it all the way.

Ggure 1-9. Slide the font cartridge into front slot while the power

CHAPTER 2

GETTING TO KNOW

YOUR PRINTER

i -

/

/ .

: i.

/’ .

Subjects covered in Chapter 2 include-

. Parts of the printer - what they’re for and how

to use them

l Paper selection and loading
l Adjustment
l Testing printer operation

CONTROLS AND PARTS OF THE PRINTER

n Parts of the printer

PRINTER COVER - This protects the ribbon and the print
head from dust and dirt, and cuts down the sound of the printer.
MUTE COVER - This further reduces the sound of the
printer.
PAPER GUIDE - This flat plastic molding guide has two
functions, depending on what kind of paper you are using. If you

are using single sheets, the guide is propped up on top of the
printer, and serves as a guide. If you are using sprocket-feed
paper, the guide is reversed and laid flat on top of the printer,
and serves as a paper separator.
POWER CORD - This cord connects the printer to its power
source, usually a wall outlet. It’s located at the left rear of the
printer.
PRINT HEAD - This is the device that does the actual print­ing. Like the strike lever in a typewriter, tiny pins in the print
head hit the paper through a ribbon.
TRACTOR FEED UNIT - The drive gear and sprockets of

the tractor feed unit move sprocket-feed paper through the

10

Mute cover

Printer cover

Control panel

Interface cover

L--~~--. ~~~

Figure 2- 1.

h

Font cartridge slot

Front and rear views.of the printer.

P

.-

Platen knob

printer.

PLATEN - This is the rubber cylinder that carries paper to

the print head.
INTERFACE COVER - On the back of the printer, this

cover conceals and protects the interface board. The cover is
cut away to expose the external connector to which you attach

11

your computer cable.

SLOTS FOR FONT CARTRIDGES - These are the two

openings at the bottom right of the front of the printer. Insert­ing an optional font cartridge pushes the small door up out of
the way and exposes a connector which accepts the cartridge.

n Controls and indicators

Now let’s go over the controls and indicators of the printer,
starting with the control panel on the right. There are twelve in­dicators and seven keys on the control panel.

I15 inch type1

[lo inch type1

Figure 2-2.

The control panel.

POWER INDICATOR - Glows green when the power is on.
PAPER EMPTY INDICATOR - Glows red when the

printer runs out of paper and when certain printer malfunctions
occur.
FORM LENGTH SWITCH - Tells the printer how long the
pages are.
TYPE STYLE INDICATORS - Glows green to indicate the
character set in use as shown below (set by the Type Style key

or the DIP switch).

Indicator to glow

Type Style
None Roman Internal Characters
Italic Italic Internal Characters
Fl Roman Font 1 Characters
Fl and Italic Italic Font 1 Characters
F2 Roman Font 2 Characters (15” type only)
F2 and Italic

Italic Font 2 Characters

(15” type only)

i

TYPE STYLE KEY - Changes the type style among four or
six styles when the On Line indicator is off.
QUALITY INDICATORS - Either DRAFT or LETTER
glows green to indicate the character quality (set by the Quality

key).

QUALITY KEY - Changes the print quality every time it is
pressed when the On Line indicator is off.
PITCH INDICATORS - Shows the character pitch current­ly set as shown below.

Indicator to glow Print Pitch
Pica

Elite
Cond
Pica and Cond
Elite and Cond
Prop and Pica

Pica pitch (10 CPI)
Elite pitch (12 CPI)
Semi-condensed pitch (15 CPI)
Pica condensed pitch (17 CPI)
Elite condensed pitch (20 CPI)

Pica proportional pitch
Prop and Elite Elite proportional pitch
Prop and Cond

Semi-condensed proportional pitch

(with control code only)

Prop, Pica and Pica condensed proportional pitch
Cond

(with control code only)

Prop, Elite and Elite condensed proportional pitch
Cond

(with control code only)

_-

-

-

PRINT PITCH KEY - Selects one of the seven available
character pitches when the On Line indicator is off as shown

above.

TOP OF FORM KEY - Ejects the current sheet, feeds a new
sheet, and moves the print head to the left margin when the On
Line indicator is off.
PAPER FEED KEY - Advances the paper one line at a time
when the On Line indicator is off. If you hold the key down, you
get consecutive line feeds..
ON LINE KEY and INDICATOR - Glows green when the
printer is ready to receive data from your computer (on line).
When the printer is off line, it sends a signal to the computer in­dicating that it cannot accept data. Pressing the On Line key
switches the printer between on line and off line.

-

13

w Extra functions

There are twelve more functions that are not directly
specified on the control panel. You can access six of them by
pressing one particular key when you turn on the power; six
others are activated by pressing two control keys at once.

Type Style

Panel mode

Figure 2-3.

*+: Hold down
*: Press

Hex dump Self-test 1

Print Pitch
Panel mode

Quality Panel mode

Extra functions while turning on the printer.

Self-test 2

1

Clear the buffer

Left margin set

I

Figure 2-4. You can set many functions by the combinations of theA

Right margin set

control panel keys while in the Off Line mode.

For details, please refer to the end of next chapter.

14

n Other controls

There are other controls, not connected to the control panel.

Some of the more important ones are:

POWER SWITCH - The switch that turns the printer on
and off is at the back, on the left side.
PLATEN KNOB - This knob is at the middle of the right
side and lets you turn the platen by hand, like a typewriter.
Caution: Turn the platen knob only with the Power switch off.
Turning the knob with the power on could damage the drive
gears.
RELEASE LEVER - The release lever is on top of the
printer, near the left rear corner. It controls how strongly the
paper is held against the platen. The release lever has four posi­tions: the top setting is used for inserting paper, the next is for
single sheets, the third is for sprocket-feed paper, and the bot­tom one is used when adjusting the paper.
PAPER BAIL - The bail is the movable bar that holds the
paper against the platen. Its position depends on the setting of
the release lever.
DIP SWITCHES - There are one set of ten switches and one

set of eight switches that are used in interfacing the printer to
your particular computer. There are also switches to set print
pitch, line spacing, and perforation skipping. See Appendix A
for a complete list and explanation.

SELECTING AND LOADING PAPER

Your printer handles two basic types of paper - single sheets
(stationery, envelopes, multipart business forms, etc.) and con­tinuous paper (fan-fold perforated paper).

The release lever controls the pressure of the paper against

the platen. It has four settings:

AYlO
J - The top setting is used when you want to load paper in

the printer.
E - The second setting is for normal single sheets.
fi - The third is for sprocket-feed paper.
4 - The bottom one is used when you want to release the

paper completely to adjust it.

15

The paper bail holds the paper against the platen according to
the setting of the release lever. The bail is opened when the
release lever is in the top position, closed when the lever is in
the second or third positions, and opened by the printer when
the lever is in the bottom position.

I

I

Figure 2-5.

Use friction feed for single sheets and tractor feed for

Release lever

continuous paper.
n Loading single sheets

Instead of feeding the paper in manually by turning the platen

knob, you can use the release lever for automatic feeding (the
printer must be turned on). Single sheets from 5.5 to 8.5 inches
wide (6 to 14.5 inches for the 15-inch type) can be used and the
paper guide must be fitted:

1. Flip the clamp levers backward and move the sprockets
and sheet guides on the tractor feed unit all the way to

the ends.

2. With the ribs of the paper guide toward you and the
sliding adjuster at the bottom left, insert the guide into

the slot at the back of the printer cover.

3. Insert the guide stand in the notches provided for it and

prop up the paper guide.

4. Position the adjuster at the triangle marked on the guide

for standard margins, or set it according to your own re­quirements.

I-- ~--

Figure 2-6.

Raise the paper guide for loading single sheets.

/

Figure 2-7.

Prop up the paper guide by inserting the guide stand in

the notches provided for it.

~_~__-

17

5. Set the release lever for single sheets - the second posi-
tion from the top.

6. Align a sheet of paper on the guide along the adjuster.

7. Turn on the power switch. (The Paper Empty indicator
will glow because there is no paper.)

8. Now set the release lever to the auto-feed setting - the

top position. The printer will advance the paper
automatically.

9. When the paper stops, set the release lever for single
sheets again.

r

L

Release lever

7

in

.

-.

1.

..-

‘.

1

Figure 2-8. You can insert a sheet of paper automatically by using

b_

L.

the release lever.

To align paper that is not in straight-

. Set the release lever to the adjustment setting.

L_

_-

l Straighten the paper and adjust it for the margins you

want.

l Move the release lever back to its original setting.

Remember, you can also use the optional automatic sheet

feeder for single sheets.

n Loading sprocket-feed paper

This is standard computer paper, with the holes along the
sides and perforations between the sheets, It is also called
sprocket, punched, fan-fold, or just plain “computer paper”. It

can be as narrow as 4 inches, and up to 10 inches wide (4 inches
to 15.5 inches on 15-inch type).

1. Turn on the printer and set the release lever for
sprocket-feed paper.

2. If the paper guide is installed, remove it, and put it aside
for a moment.

3. Place a stack of fan-fold paper behind the printer.

4. Open the sprocket covers, on the right and left sprocket
units, as shown in Figure 2-9.

Sprocket cover

-

1

Figure 2-9. Open the sprocket covers to expose the sprocket teeth.

5. Flip the clamp levers backward. This allows the two
sprocket units to move freely right and left so you can
align them with the holes in the paper.

6. Feed the end of the paper into the slot next to the platen

cover plate.

7. Fit the holes in the paper over the sprocket pins so the

paper is even, and clamp the sprocket units in place.

8. Check that the paper is still positioned correctly, and
close the sprocket covers (Figure 2-10).

19

~--

~-~

Figure 2-10. Close the sprocket covGG<w?pGa

tioned correctly.

I

L

I

-

Figure 2-11. Ready to load the sprocket-feed paper. Note the

reversed position of the paper guide.

20

9. Set the release lever to the auto-feed setting. The printer
will advance the paper automatically.

10. When the paper stops, set the release lever for sprocket­feed paper again.

11. Install the paper guide on the printer. See Figures 2-10
and 2-11 for details. When used with sprocket-feed
paper, the guide is turned around and laid flat (Figure 2-

10) or raise (Figure 2-11) on top of the printer as a paper
separator. Make sure that the tabs on the guide fit into
their receivers.

ADJUSTING THE PRINT HEAD

The distance between the print head and the platen must be
adjusted to accommodate papers of different thicknesses. To
make this adjustment, move the adjustment lever, which is
under the printer cover and immediately in front of the release
lever (Figure 2-12). Pulling the adjustment lever towards you
will widen the gap; pushing it away from you will narrow the

gap-

There are four positions; you can feel the lever clicking into
the various notches. The first step (shown) is the one most com­monly used for single sheets of paper.

Try different positions until you get the best printing results.

Figure 2-12.

of paper.

-

The adjustment lever allows for different thicknesses

21

r

TESTING THE PRINTER

Your printer has two built-in programs that printout sample

lines of letters, numbers, and other characters - to show you
that everything’s in good working order. Self-test 1 is the long
version, and self-test 2 is the short one. You can use either one

to show the characters available in the printer, to check the in-

stallation of the ribbon and paper, and to check the adjustment

of the head-to-platen gap.

You can print the self-test without hooking up the printer to

your computer. Simply:

1. Plug in the printer (don’t turn it on yet).

2. Insert a sheet of paper (or sprocket paper, either one).

3. While holding down one of the following keys, turn on
the power switch:

Paper Feed key - Self-test 1 (long)
On Line key - Self-test 2 (short)

When you want to terminate the long self-test function, turn

off the power switch.

CONNECTING THE PRINTER

Now that you’ve assembled and tested your printer, all that re-

mains is to connect it to your computer as follows:

1. Make sure that both your computer and printer are
turned off.

2. Connect the printer end of the interface cable to the con­nector socket at the right rear of the printer as shown in
Figure 2-14.

3. Connect the other end of the cable to your computer as
described in the computer manual.

22

Self-test 2

Standard mode

IBM mode

I-

Figure 2-13. The self-tests show you what the printer can print.

I

-___~

Figure 2-14. Connect the cable like this.

1

I

I

I

-

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24

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CHAPTER 3

USING THE PRINTER

WITH COMMERCIAL

SOFTWARE

Subjects covered in Chapter 3 include-

* Using commercial software

l Controlling the printer with the Panel mode

USING COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE

Many of you purchased this printer to use with commercial
software. You made a good choice because this printer is com­patible with most commercial programs, from word processing
programs to spreadsheet programs to accounting programs.

Many of these programs have a routine for describing your

printer. These routines are often in “installation programs”.
They typically give you a choice of printers or printer types to
pick from. Some typical descriptions that you might pick for
this printer are:
matrix printer”, “Centronics-type printer”, “Dot matrix ASCII
printer” or “Epson LQ-1000”. This printer should work fine
with any of these descriptions.

Some printer lists are not very clear, and may not include
anything that you think describes this printer. If you can’t
decide which description best fits this printer, we recommend
that you narrow the list to two or three choices (you can quickly
eliminate all the daisy-wheel printer types) and then experi-

ment. You won’t hurt anything if you guess wrong; it just won’t
work correctly. This should quickly tell you if your guess is
right. If all else fails, though, your printer dealer will be happy
to give you some advice.

Some programs don’t ask you what kind of printer you have,

“TTY type printer with backspace”, “IBM-dot

I

26

but instead ask some questions about what your printer can do.
The answers to the “most asked” questions are: Yes - this
printer can do a “backspace”, and this printer can do a “hard­ware form feed”.

With these questions answered, you are ready to start print­ing. Read the manual that came with your commercial software
and the next Chapter to see how to make it send information for
this printer to print. This is all you need to know to use this
printer as a regular printer. But this printer isn’t just a regular
printer. This printer has many capabilities that your commercial
software isn’t aware of. We will see what it takes to use some of
the printer’s advanced features with commercial software in the
next section.

WORD PROCESSING WITH THE PRINTER

Not many word processing programs directly support all of
the advanced features of printers. They usually provide a
method for using a few of the more common print features such
as boldface and underlining. But as you are probably beginning
to see from this manual, this printer can do much more than
that.

As a result, most word processing programs provide a way of
sending special codes to a printer. The actual codes used (as
well as the method of entering them) will vary different soft-

ware. The theory behind these methods, however, is basically

the same.

This section discusses two word processing programs and one
spreadsheet program most used by printer owners. The pro­grams also provide a variety of ways to enter the codes
necessary to use the advanced features of this printer. These
concepts can be applied to many other programs besides those
detailed here. The programs are:

EasyWriter II
WordStar
Lotus l-2-3

If your software program is not included in this Chapter, you

should still study the different techniques used. Then, with the

-.

-

27

help of your program manual and the supporting chapters in this
manual, you should be able to figure out how yours works.

GENERAL CONCEPTS

Each word processing program has a way to get out of the

standard text entry mode in order to accept the special printer
function codes. WordStar uses the CONTROL key in different
ways to define the print function codes.

EasyWriter II has a system function which allows you to,
define print pitches and special print functions for use with the
ALT key.

Your word processing User Manual (if it supports this pro­cess) will have a section describing how to get out of the stand­ard program. You will probably have to figure out on your own
which codes are used. The general concepts and details of the
two sample programs should be enough to help you be suc­cessful.

W The escape code

Most of the special print functions start with a code called the
escape code. It can be entered in decimal or hexadecimal values,
by an ASCII character, or by using the control keys on your
keyboard, depending on which program and which computer
you are using.

The escape code tells the printer to interpret the values (or

characters) following it as printer functions. The codes used to
describe the functions are also entered in the same way as the
escape code. In this section, we will show you the format each
word processor uses as well as the general rules to correctly
entering the function codes.

The next chapter covers how to convert the different forms of
ASCII codes. You should review Chapter 4, if you have not
already done so, before working with the function codes.

n The master reset code

There is one function code which turns off all the print func­tions currently being used by the printer. It is called the master

28

reset code and resets the printer to its DIP switch settings.
These print characteristics are the same as the ones used by the
printer when it is first turned on.

The code sequence for master reset is (ESC) “@“. By check­ing the ASCII equivalents in Appendix D, you can see that the
decimal expression is 27 64. You’ll see these numbers several
times in this section.

Technically speaking, initializing the printer clears the print
buffer, and the form length, character pitch, character set, line
feed pitch and international character set are all reset to the
values defined by their respective DIP switch settings.

We suggest you get in the habit of using the master reset code
in any document where you use function codes. If you do not,
the printer will keep the most recently defined characteristics,
and print any following documents the same way.

You could turn your printer off each time (which also resets
the default settings) but that would be hard on the printer cir­cuits. Also, you’ll save time and paper by letting the printer
automatically reset with this code. (If you need more informa­tion on DIP switch settings for your printer, please refer to Ap­pendix A.)

-

n Using Letter Quality (LQ)

With letter quality, the printer prints more dots for each
character than with the draft printing. This process results in a
higher quality look to your text. Draft quality characters print
much faster, so use them for your first drafts and use letter quali­ty for a professional looking finished manuscript.

The escape code sequence to turn the LQ set on is (ESC) “x”

1 and the code sequence to select draft quality is (ESC) “x” 0.

The decimal equivalents are 27 120 1 and 27 120 0, respectively.

n Getting the most from your print choices

After working with the printer for a while, you may find that

you want to add or change some of the print functions we have

described in this chapter.

We suggest you do three things. First, you should review
Chapter 4 and Appendix D to become as familiar as possible
with ASCII codes and the function codes.

Second, read Chapter 4 which describes them in greater detail
and shows examples of how they are used in BASIC programm­ing. The functions will, for the most part, act the same in your
word processing program. Understanding what’s available and
how they perform will help you use them correctly in your

documents.

And third, follow the procedures in this chapter and your pro­gram User’s Manual.

You may want to experiment with expa.nded text in combina-

tion with other print types. You can create some great-looking

results with these functions. If you are unsure of any functions,
review them first, then try some of your own samples.

USING THE PRINTER WITH EASYWRITER II

(Note: If you have not read the “General Concepts” section in

this chapter, you should do so before continuing.)

This printer can be used with most of the standard print func­tions available with your EasyWriter Il word processing pro­gram. These functions require no special adjustments to the
printer or your program. They include:

1. Printing from the Print List Form screen.

2. Setting margins, tabs and lines per inch in the ruler line
of your document. (The pitch settings, however, should
be adjusted to obtain maximum use. They will be
discussed later in this chapter.)

3. Print settings in the System Parameter function which
are either default or new settings edited by you.

You can also redefine the print functions of EasyWriter II to

take advantage of many of the printing capabilities of your
printer. You may already be familiar with reconfiguring the
printer driver from Appendix B of your EasyWriter II User’s

Manual. If not, don’t be nervous; it’s not as hard as it sounds.

We will show you how to make changes in your program
specifically to help you print with this printer.

By changing the pitch settings, you can use the document

ruler line to print pica, elite and condensed width pitches. In ad­dition, you can use a similar method to print in letter quality.

The print control codes can be redefined to enhance the final
product of your document. The boldface, underline, superscript
and subscript functions require only a slight “recoding” of infor­mation in the printer driver. And we have some suggestions for
changing the characteristics of the other print control codes to

use italic, expanded, emphasized and italic-underline print.

With these options, you will have even more flexibility printing
with this printer.

n Redefining pitch settings and print control codes

In order to change the settings used in the document ruler line
and the print control codes, it is necessary to edit ASCII code
decimal values in the System Functions portion of your
EasyWriter Il program. (For more details about ASCII codes,
please refer to Chapter 4.)

Your printer is considered a Type B printer by the
EasyWriter II program. Before making any changes in the
printer driver, you should first check to be sure the printer selec­tion is set for printer Type B (Option 7 on the System Functions
menu.)

Then follow the instructions in Appendix B of your
EasyWriter II User’s Manual to reconfigure Type B printers.
To become more familiar with the reconfiguration process and

its terms and to make the instructions in this section easier to

understand, we suggest you read through Appendix B first.

In these few paragraphs, we’ll show you the ASCII decimal
values we feel provide good flexibility in printing with this
printer. You should follow the instructions hands-on with your
own EasyWriter II program.

The changes you will make are for pitch settings and print con­trol codes (also called font support). However, all the screens in­volved will be explained as you see them displayed.

From the System Functions Menu, choose Option 9 (Recon­figure Printer Type B) and the printer name will be displayed.
Type over the present printer name as follows:

-

1. Printer Name [Letter Quality Printer]

Press RETURN and the Edit Global Sequences screen will be

displayed. These codes control the print functions for form

feed, line feed, margin settings and automatic justification. We

do not recommend that you edit any of these codes.

Press RETURN and the Edit Pitch Table screen will be
displayed. On this screen, you will enter the ASCII decimal
values to define the print pitches. The first two fields in each
line define the pitch range (which in this case are both the same
number). They should be assigned as follows:

10 = Pica 1 = Letter Quality On

12 = Elite
17 = Condensed Pica 3 = Master Reset Code

On this screen, the column labeled “Sequence” is used to
define the print functions in their ASCII decimal values. For

these print pitches, we will use a combination of codes to turn
letter quality on and off and to choose the function code for each

pitch. (For more details on function codes, please refer to Appen-

dix D.)

Follow the sample and enter the (italic) codes for lines 17 - 22.

2 = Letter Quality Off

17. [lo ]

18. [U]

19. [17]

20. [l ]

21. [2 ]

22. [3 ]

23. [120]

24. [120]

25. [120-j

26. [120-j

The codes 120 in lines 23 through 26 can be changed to reflect

more pitch settings. We recommend that until you are more

familiar with using special function codes, you use just the six

we have defined.

When you have finished, press RETURN. You will be

[lo 1

112 1

[I7 1

Cl 1

[2 1

[3 1

El201

11203

[1201
El201

[ 18 27 80 1

[ 18 27 77

[ 15 3

[ 27 120 1

[ 27 120 0 1'

[ 27 64

[ z
r[ 3

E 1

32

transferred to the Edit Line Spacing screen. Do not change
these codes. They define how many lines per inch the printer
uses. Press RETURN to transfer to the Edit Font Support
screen.

Change all of the entry fields to Option 2 (Control Code Sup­port) on the Edit Font Support screen. Also, make changes in
the other fields to look like the figure shown below. Enter the
(italic) codes for lines 41 - 50.

41. Bold/Shadow Face Support [2]

42. Single Underline Support [Zj Using Character [ 95 ] - _

43. Double Underline Support [2l Using Character [0 ]

44. Overstrike Support [2j Using Character from

45. Special (Color) Support [ 21 System Parameters

46. Sub/Superscript Support [ 2j

47. Will underline retain font (Y) or be normal font (N)?
[Iti

49. Start double underline [

50. After double underline [

]

]

When you have finished, press RETURN and the Edit Font
Sequences screen will be displayed. Here you will define print
control codes for use in your documents. As with the pitch set-

tings, ASCII decimal values are used that correspond to the
print function assigned to each control key. Table 3-l shows the
current control function, the print function we will assign to it

and the keyboard keys used.

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-.

Table 3-1

EasyWriter II control keys

Enter the (italic) codes for lines 51 - 66.

51. Normal to Bold

52. Bold to Normal

53. Normal to Shadow

54. Shadow to Normal

55. Normal to Underline

56. Underline to Normal

57. Normal to Double

58. Double to Normal

59. Normal to Overstrike

60. Overstrike to Normal

61. Normal to Special

62. Special to Normal

63. Normal to Subscript

64. Subscript to Normal

65. Normal to Superscript

66. Superscript to Normal

[ 27 71
[ 27 72
[ 27 52
[ 27 53
[ 27 45 1
[ 27 45 0
[ 27 87 1

[ 27 87 0

[ 27 69

[ 27 70

[ 27 52 27 45

[ 27 53 27 45

[2783 1

[ 27 84

[ 27 83 0

[ 27 84

When you have finished, press RETURN. You’re done! You

will be transferred out of the Reconfigure Type B Printer func-

tion and back to the System Functions Menu.

n A sample printout with EasyWriter II

Let’s look at a short example to demonstrate how pitch set­tings and print control keys can be used in a document. The ex­ample below shows the use of expanded and italic prints used in
combination with condensed and pica pitch settings. Use your
EasyWriter II program hands-on and type the example below.

1
3
3
3
;

1

1 1

01

1
3

1

SUBJECT: ORDERING STATIONERY SUPPLIES

I would like to place an order for stationery supplies
from your mail order catalog.
and a check for $247.67. Please process this order as

soon as possible. Thank you.

Enclosed is my order form

With the cursor under the “S” in “SUBJECT”, set the print

pitch in the ruler line to condensed width pitch. Name the ruler
line “condensd” (without the quotes) and change the character
pitch to 17 and the line spacing to 6. To make the subject title ex­panded, use the ALT and = keys (in the line mode) to highlight
the line.

34

Now, change the pitch setting in the next line to pica by set­ting a new ruler line: Ruler Name - pica; Character Pitch - 10.
Use the print control key S (for italic) to highlight the second
sentence in the paragraph. Move the cursor to the “E” in

“Enclosed” and (in the sentence mode) use the ALT and S keys

to highlight the sentence. (You’ll have to press S twice to get the

. 67.)

At the end of the document, reinitialize the printer to its
default settings with a new ruler line using the Master Reset
code. Ruler Name - reset; Character Pitch - 3.

Print the document. Your printout should look like this:

SUBJECT:

I would like to place an order for stationery supplies

from your mail order catalog.

and a check for $247.67. Please process this order as

soon as possible. Thank you.

ORDERING STATIONERY SUPPLIES

Enclosed is my order form

The subject title will print in expanded condensed characters
which are twice the width as standard condensed characters.
The sentence in the paragraph is printed in italic pica print. The
last ruler line will reinitialize the printer. (See the general con­cepts section for more details on master reset.) This is just one
example; you should be able to apply most of the function codes
to the setup used here.

W Redefining your own print pitches

If you want to define a new print pitch (Edit Pitch Table),
enter your function code to choose the print you want.

For example, if you find yourself frequently using italic print
for large blocks of text in pica pitch, you can combine italic and
pica pitch to define italic pica and use it in the ruler line of your

document. The ASCII code sequence would be 27 80 27 52 to
print italic pica pitch.

W Redefining your own print control keys

The ASCII codes to redefine the print control keys (Edit Font

Sequences) are pretty straightforward. There are individual

ASCII decimal values to turn on and off different prints. You

want to affect that aspect but not the print pitch itself. Leave
that for your document ruler line. Remember, all the codes can

be found in Appendix D of this manual.

Also, keep in mind that print control keys can be combined in
your document such as boldface and underline. EasyWriter II
uses three methods of highlighting on the display screen. It
highlight, underlines and shows reverse image characters. You
cannot combine print control functions that use the same
method of highlighting.

For example, in our definitions, underline and. expanded
prints are both displayed as underlined on the screen.
Whichever function you use last will cancel out any previous

modes.

USING THE PRINTER WITH WORDSTAR

(Note: If you have not read the “General Concepts” section in

this chapter, you should do so before continuing.)

This printer supports many of the standard WordStar print-

ing capabilities without requiring any changes. You can:

1. Print documents from the No-File Menu.

2. Use dot commands except for lines per inch and
characters per inch.

3. Print boldface, underline, double-strike, strikeout,
superscript and subscript characters as well as use print
pause.

4. Select and print variable information for marge letters,

etc.

n User-defined print commands

There are several CONTROL-P ( * P) commands that
automatically work with this printer and require no changes.
They_ include:

PS Underscore

- PD Double-strike
^ PT Superscript

* PB Boldface
1 PX Strikeout

PV Subscript

* PC Print Pause

36

It is also possible to define the - PA (alternate pitch) com­mand to change the print pitch of your document. The Word­Star User’s Manual fully describes the use of these * P func­tions. You should refer to your manual if you need help with
them.

There are four alternate ^ P codes that can be defined during

the installation of your WordStar program to perform other
printer functions. They are
process of defining

^ P commands is called “patching” and is a

- PQ, ^ PW, * PE, and * PR. The

fairly complicated process. Once you have successfully defined
these codes, they are inserted in your text exactly like other * P
commands. If you wish to use them, refer to the WordStar
User’s Manual for instructions or contact your dealer for
assistance.

Perhaps the most useful user-defined - P command is A PE.
If you define this as an escape (ASCII code 27), you can then ac-

cess nearly all of the advanced features of this printer. Without
this patch, you cannot place an escape in the WordStar docu­ment and subsequently, you are limited to using WordStar’s
repertoire of print functions. A shame when you have a power­ful printer!

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USING THE PRINTER WITH LOTUS l-2-3

Lotus is one of the integrated software packages that include
a spreadsheet, a database manager and graphics. We will look at
how to print Lotus l-2-3 spreadsheet.

Lotus l-2-3 uses the /Print command to print spreadsheets.
When you enter /P, a menu appears that presents you with a
number of choices. Lotus l-2-3 gives you a lot of flexibility in
printing spreadsheets through this menu, but you have to define
the range to print. All the other items have default values that
make getting started easy.

If you do change several of the things listed in the /Print
menu, Lotus l-2-3 will remember the selections that you have
made and use them each time you print the spreadsheet. They
are even saved with the spreadsheet so that they will be the
same the next time that you use the spreadsheet.

37

You can specify the range to print in all the normal ways: by
pointing, by typing the cell addresses of the endpoints, by enter­ing a range name, or by using the F3 key to point to a range
name.

After you have specified a range to print, and changing any of
the other options that you wish, start printing the spreadsheet
by selecting the Go option. Lotus l-2-3 will split the spreadsheet

into sections to fit onto pages if it won’t all fit on one page.

Let’s look at some of the other options on the /Print menu, and

see how they add to the flexibility of printing spreadsheets.

The Line option advances the paper one line. Use this to put

space between different sections of your spreadsheets when you
print them. The Page option advances the paper to the top of a
new page. Use this option to start on a new page.

Selecting the Align option tells Lotus l-2-3 that you have

moved the paper to the top of a new page. Use this option after
using the Paper Feed key to move the paper or after inserting a
new single sheet of paper.

The Clear option allows you to clear any or all of the other op­tions that you have selected. The Quit option ends the /Print
command and returns you to Ready Mode.

Selecting Options from the /Print menu presents you with
some additional page format selections.

You can add Headers or Footers to each page of your output. A
header is a line that prints at the top of each page, while a footer
is a line that prints at the bottom of each page.

Lotus l-2-3 has three characters that perform special func­tions when they are included in a header or a footer. You can in­clude sequential page numbers on each page by including the #
character where you want the page number to print (For exam­ple, Page #).

The current date will be printed if you include the @
character in a header or footer. (For example: As of @I.)

You can direct sections of headers and footers to the left,
right, or center by using the ( character. Each header or footer
is divided into three sections; Left, center, and right. The 1
character shows the limits of these sections. So to print a header
with the date to the left, a title in the center, and a page number
to the right, the header might look like this:

38

Spreadsheet Title : Page 1)

@ :

And, on August 12, 1986, the results might look like this:

12-Aug-86

Spreadsheet Title

Page 1

Another of the selections under Options is Setup. This selec-

tion allows you to create a setup string that will be sent to the
printer before each section of the spreadsheet is printed. You
can include non-printing codes in the setup string by using a
backslash (\) followed by a three digit number that consists of
the decimal ASCII value for the code that you wish to send (with
leading zeros if required). For example, to print a worksheet in
condensed print, use the setup string \015. This sends ASCII

15 which is the code for condensed printing. The following table
shows how many character columns will fit with different print­ing width, and the setup string to get each width.

Table 3-2

Print columns on a page with Lotus l-2-3

USING THE PANEL MODES

At the end of this chapter, we’ll explain about the “Panel”
mode, which is powerful function of the printer. Some commer­cial software does not support defining your own selections. In

-

this case, use the “Panel” modes.

Selection of any of the Panel Modes at power-on ensures that
your choices remain in effect until you turn the power off. This
means that the printer will ignore any codes sent by the soft­ware that you are using. The Panel Modes allow selection of the
following printing attributes:

Key Type of Panel mode
Type Style Type Style Panel mode
Quality Quality Panel mode
Print Pitch Print Pitch Panel mode
Top Of Form

All Panel mode

s

39

I

Panel mode

Type Style Quality Panel Print Pitch I

’ Panel mode mode

Type Style & Print Pitch

Panel mode

I

Print Pitch
Panel mode

Panel mode ’

All Panel mode

L

Figure 3- 1. The Panel Modes - hold down keys while turning

power on.

If you want to set only one attribute, for example, the Print
Pitch Panel mode, press the PRINT PITCH key on the control
panel when you turn on the power. After a second, you will hear
a beep, and the ON LINE indicator will glow. To change the
pitch to another, press the ON LINE key, select the desired
pitch, and press the ON LINE key again. The Print Pitch Panel
mode is now set to the pitch of your choice.

Similarly with Draft and LQ - turn on the power while
holding the QUALITY key, and wait for the ON LINE indicator
glow. If you want to change the character, press the ON LINE

key, press the QUALITY key once again to make your choice,
and press the ON LINE key again.

To select the Type Style Panel mode, press the TYPE
STYLE key while turning on the power. To change the
character set to another, press the ON LINE key, select the
desired type, and press the ON LINE key again. The Type Style
Panel mode is now set to the character set of your choice.

More than one attribute may be set in this way. For example,

if you wish to set both print pitch and print quality, press both
the PRINT PITCH and QUALITY keys when turning on the
power, and after the ON LINE indicator glows, make further
selections as necessary.

If you wish to set all three panel modes, you can use the TOP

OF FORM key instead of using the three keys.

ADVANCED PANEL FUNCTIONS

The printer has the capability to do some basic formatting
from the control panel, as well as move the platen by precise

amounts. The following formatting and platen movements may
be performed from the control panel.

Key

On Line & Paper Feed
On Line & Top Of Form
Print Pitch & Top Of Form
Quality & Top Of Form
Quality & Paper Feed
On Line & Type Style

Functions
Forward micro-feed
Reverse micro-feed
Top of form setting
Setting of left margin
Setting of right margin
Clear the print buffer

-

n Setting print start position

When you want to align the print start position, you can set it

by the micro-feed operation with the control panel, instead of
turning the platen knob manually.

1. Set the Off Line mode by pressing the On Line key.

2. While holding down the On Line key, press one of the
following keys.

Paper Feed key - Forward micro-feed
Top Of Form key - Reverse micro-feed

-

-.

-

41

**: Hold down
*: Press

*

**

Forward micro-feed II

*

*

**

I

I

Clear the print buffer

Figure 3-2. You can set many functions by the combinations of the

control panel keys in the Off Line mode.

3. When you can set the print start position, release the
Paper Feed key or the Top Of Form key first, then
release the On Line key.

n Setting the top of form

When you turn on the printer, the top of form is automatically
set to the current position. If you want to change the position,
you can reset it by the following procedures.

l--l Right margin set

1 Left margin set

1

1. Set the Off Line mode by pressing the On Line key.

2. While holding the Print Pitch key, press the Top Of
Form key. Your printer acknowledges the new top of

form with the sound of beep.

n Setting the left and right margins

As you’ll learn in Chapter 5, you can set the left and right
margins with the control codes. In addition, you can set them
manually just like a typewriter by the following procedures.

1. Set the Off Line mode by pressing the On Line key.

2. While holding the Quality key, press one of the following
keys.

Top Of Form key - Left margin set

42

Paper Feed key - Right margin set

3. While holding the two keys, the print head moves across
the page step-by-step.

4. When the print head goes to the position where you want
to set margin, release the two keys. So the printer
acknowledges the margin with the sound of beep.

H Clearing the print buffer

You can clear the contents of the print buffer with the control
panel by the following procedures, instead of turning off the
printer.

1. Set the Off Line mode by pressing the On Line key.

2. While holding the On Line key, press the Type Style
key.

3. While holding the two keys more than three seconds, the

contents of the print buffer are cleared with the sound of

beep.

CHAPTER 4

PRINTING WITH BASIC

Subjects covered in Chapter 4 include-

. Listing BASIC programs on the printer

l How a program prints things
l Control codes, escape codes, and command syn-

tax

l Selecting the right software mode
l Letter quality (LQ) characters
l Fixed and proportional character spacing
l Special printing-

Printing in italics
Underlining and overlining

Superscripts and subscripts
Boldface and emphasized text
Mixing print modes

To show you how to control your printer from a program, we
have chosen BASIC because it is easy to learn and easy to use.
Also, more personal computer users program in BASIC than in
any other language.

The rest of this manual will show you a little BASIC - just
enough for you to use your printer. We’re not going to try to
make you an expert programmer, though, only get you started.
There are many excellent books that will teach you BASIC, so if
you discover that you like to program you should have no trou­ble learning more about it.

44

SOME BASICS OF BASIC

4 First steps

The first things that a beginner learns to do are to list a pro­gram and to print a character string. Certainly these are the
easiest operations one can do, but even they may depend on

what computer you have. In Microsoft BASIC, we can list all

the steps in a program by entering LIST. This lists them on the
CRT screen; if we want to print them on a printer, we prefix the
command with an L (enter LLIST).

The Microsoft BASIC command for outputting information is
PRINT. Like the LIST command, this displays the information
on the CRT screen so we have to add an L (-+ LPRINT) if we

want to use the printer. Just put whatever you want to print be-

tween quotes and after LPRINT (anything enclosed in quotes is
called a character string). For example, we would use LPRINT
“Hello!” to output “Hello!” to the printer. We’ll see later how to

LPRINT more than just character strings.

We started with Microsoft BASIC because it is the most wide­ly used version of BASIC. The programs in this manual are
written in Microsoft BASIC so they should run on most com­puters. But if strange things happen when you try to run a pro­gram, check the BASIC manual that came with your computer.

Let’s consider Apple II computers for a minute. These
popular computers use their own brand of BASIC. To use an

Apple II, enter the following -

--

-

PR#l PR#l

LIST PRINT "Hello!"

PR#O PRf10

The PR#l tells the Apple to send everything to the printer,
the LIST or PRINT command sends it, and the PR#O returns
output to the screen.

Now that we know how to address the printer, let’s try listing
a BASIC program. We will load a program into memory ready
to program printer operation - just as soon as we learn a little

bit about the ASCII codes.

45

w ASCII codes and the CHR$ function

You can talk to your computer in BASIC, but your computer
and your printer talk to each other in what are known as ASCII
codes. In the ASCII code, each number from 0 to 255 has a par­ticular meaning - 36, for example, makes the printer print a
dollar sign. Some numbers cause the printer to do other things,
too. For instance, sending a 7 sounds the printer’s bell.

Taken together, these numbers and their meanings make up
the ASCII code (pronounced ask-key), which stands for the
American Standard Code for Information Interchange. There are

ASCII codes for all the letters of the alphabet (upper case and
lower case), 0 to 9, most punctuation marks, and some (but not
all) of the functions of the printer.

There are a number of different ways to represent an ASCII

code, depending on how you are using it. For example, the
ASCII codes for the upper-case letter “A” are 65 (decimal) or
&H41 (hexadecimal). Or you can just call it “A”. Appendix C
shows all of the ASCII codes.

BASIC uses the CHR$ function to represent ASCII
characters and many functions. To print the letter “A” we
would enter LPRINT CHR$(65). To make the printer’s bell
sound, we would enter LPRINT CHR$(7). In general, we print a
character by entering LPRINT CHR$(ASCII code) to the
printer.

We can also use hex ASCII codes. Although we use only
decimal ASCII codes in this manual, in some applications it will
help if you understand what a hex code is. “Hex” is short for hex­adecimal and refers to a base-16 number (the numbers we use in
everyday life are base 10). Since the hex system needs 16 digits,
it uses the numerals 0 through 9 and also the letters A through
F. In BASIC programs, you can always tell that a number is in
hexadecimal by the “&H” immediately preceding it. The ASCII
code for the letter “A” (65 in decimal) is &H41 in hex.

n Control codes

ASCII codes with values of 32 or less do not correspond to
keys on the keyboard. These codes control many of the printer’s
functions, so we call them control codes. To enter a control code
from the keyboard, we have to press two keys at the same time

4fi

- the “control” key and one other. The other key determines

what code is sent - pressing the control (CTRL) key and A

sends ASCII code 1, CTRL B sends ASCII code 2, and so on.

Your printer has a lot of control codes to let you do some

useful things. Let’s try one that we’ve mentioned several times

already:

10 ' Demo of ASCII code

20 LPRINT CHR$(7)
30 END
RUN

That’s the printer’s bell (we call it that even though it sounds
like a buzzer). We’ll learn more about it in later - we just
wanted to show you a control code that would get your attention
right away!

There are four common ways of referring to a control code:
the name of the code or its abbreviation, the decimal ASCII
value, the hexadecimal ASCII value, and the “CTRL-” value.
For example, the ASCII code that causes the printer to advance
the paper one line is decimal 10. This code may be referred to
by any of the following:

-

line feed - the name of the code
(LF) - its abbreviation

ASCII 10 - its decimal value

ASCII &HOA -

its hexadecimal value (the &H signifies

hex)
CHR$(lO) - the way it’s used in BASIC
CTRL- J

- the way you send it from a keyboard

Of course, most of the time we don’t need to bother with
these. The computer is smart enough to know that when we
press the “A” key we want to print the letter “A” - it takes
care of all the intermediate steps.

Appendix C is a table that shows the various names for each
code so you can convert back and forth. The microcomputer
world is not very consistent in describing ASCII codes, so it’s

important that you have a basic knowledge of them.

-

-

47

B The escape codes

Back when the ASCII system was set up, computer equip­ment was relatively simple and thirty-three control codes were
considered sufficient at the time. The American Standards peo­ple realized that eventually more control codes would be need­ed, so they included the escape (ESC) code to allow almost any
number of additional codes to be defined when they became
necessary.

ESC allows us to “escape” from the ordinary set of control
codes so we can specify additional functions and other informa­tion needed for a printer function. In this manual, we’ll write the

ESC code inside broken brackets, like this - (ESC).

(ESC) - decimal 27 - is always followed by at least one
other number; it is never used alone. The whole series of related
numbers is called an escape sequence.

n A note on command syntax

Because the readers of this manual will be running such a
wide variety of applications on so many different computers, we
can’t show the exact way of sending codes to the printer for
each one of them. Instead, as we introduce you to each new com­mand, we will show the commands as in this example:

(ESC) “W” 1

This command turns on expanded printing. (ESC), as we
mentioned earlier, is the escape code (which is ASCII code 27).
A letter or number in quotes (such as the “W” above) means that
the character should be sent to the printer, but without the
quotes. In our example, you should send a capital W following
the escape code. In BASIC, you could do this in a couple of
ways: by sending the character itself (e.g. LPRINT “W”;), or by
using the CHR$ function to send the ASCII code for the
character (e.g. LPRINT CHR$(87);).

Many of printer commands end with a 1 or 0. When shown as
in the above example (i.e., no quotes and no “CHR$“), you can
use either ASCII code 1 (i.e., CHR$(l)) or the character “1”
(which is ASCII code 49). The same principle applies to com­mands ending with 0.

So for our example above, any of these BASIC statements will

have the same result:

LPRINT CHR$(27);CHR$(87);CHR$(l)

LPRINT CHR$(27);CHR$(87);CHR$(49)

LPRINT CHR$(27);"W";CHR$(l)

LPRINT CHR$(27);"W";CHR$(49)

LPRINT CHR$(27);"Wl"

Even though there are many commands that require the use
of ASCII code 0 (the (NUL) character), the number “0” (zero or
ASCII code 48) cannot be substituted. In these cases, instead of
an unadorned 0 we will show CHR$(O) each time these com­mands are referenced.

That’s it for the basics. You are now ready to learn how to use

the many features of your printer.

n Selecting the right software mode

For this printer to correctly respond to control codes, you

must make sure that you’ve set the DIP switches properly.

The rest of this manual discuss the various control codes to

control this printer. You’ll find that many features have dif-

ferent codes for either the Standard mode or the IBM modes.

The Standard Mode emulates the Epson LQ-1000 printer.

The IBM-G Mode emulates the IBM Graphics printer and the

IBM-P Mode emulates the IBM Proprinter. You can select one

of these modes by setting DIP switches 2-1 and 2-2. (For details,
please refer to Appendix A.)

SOME SPECIAL KINDS OF TEXT

If you looked carefully at your printer’s self test, you probably
noticed that it can print in italics. But that’s not all! Your printer
can underline or overline characters, print superscripts and
subscripts, and perhaps most exciting, print letter quality
characters.

49

n Draft and Letter Quality characters

This printer’s Letter Quality (sometimes abbreviated as LQ)
character set is ideal for correspondence and other important
printing, as it produces very high quality characters. In addi­tion, your printer prints draft quality characters. This is ade­quate for most work and has the fastest printing speed. For the
final printout, try Letter Quality. The program below shows an
example.

10 ’ Demo of Draft and LQ characters
20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"xO";
30 LPRINT "This line shows DRAFT characters."

40 LPRINT CHRS(27);"xl";

50 LPRINT "This line shows LETTER QUALITY!"

In this program, line 20 selects draft characters with (ESC)
“x” 0 command. Line 30 prints a sample before line 40 switches
printer back to LQ characters with an (ESC) “x” 1. When you
run the program you should get this:

This 11 ne shows DRAFT charact,ers.

This line shows LETTER QUALITY!

Now turn off the power switch. After you turn on the power
switch while holding the Quality key down on the control panel,
set the LQ mode with the Quality key while in the Off Line
mode. Then run the program again. You should get like this:

This line shows DRAFT characters.

This line shows LETTER QUALITY!

As you can see, now the printout only contains LQ characters.
This is because we set the printer to the “Quality Panel” mode
at power on, so the printer ignored the control codes to set or
cancel LQ characters. This is a very useful way to print LQ
characters if you are using a packaged software which does not
support the LQ character mode.

50

Table 4-1

Letter quality commands

Function

Letter quality ON

Letter quality OFF

Control code

(ESC) “x” 1
(ESC) “I” 2 (IBM-P mode only)
(ESC) “x” 0
(ESC) “I” 0 (IBM-P mode only)

n Italic printing

Italic letters are letters that are slanted to the right. Your

printer can print all of its letters in italic as well as the roman
(standard) letters you are accustomed to. Italics can be used to
give extra emphasis to certain words. The commands to turn
italic on and off are shown in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2

Italic commands

Function

Italic ON

Italic OFF

Control code

(ESC) “4” (except IBM-P mode)’
(FS) “4” (IBM-P mode only)
(ESC) “5” (except IBM-P mode)
(FS) “5” (IBM-P mode only) *

Use this program to see italic characters:

10 ’ Demo of italic and roman

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);“4”;

30 LPRINT "This line is in ITALIC characters."
40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"5";
50 LPRINT "This line is in ROMAN characters."

-

Here is what you should get:

This line is in ITALIC characters.

This line is in ROMAN characters.

In this program, line 20 turns italic on with (ESC) “4”, and

line 40 turns italic off with (ESC) “5”.

Now, set the “Type Style Panel” mode, as described in

Chapter 3, and set the Italic type, then run the program again.
You should get like this:

This line is in ITALIC characters.
This line is in ROMAN characters.

As you can see, this time the printer ignored the control codes

to set or cancel italic characters.

n Characters in the Font Cartridge

This printer offers you the Prestige LQ characters as stand­ard. If you want to use other LQ character styles, use the op­tional font cartridges.

You can install those font cartridges following the procedures
described in Chapter 1. You can control the characters in those

font cartridges as shown below:

Demo of optional characters

10 ’

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"k";CHR$(l);
30 LPRINT "This line shows Font 1 characters.”

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"k";CHR$(2);

50 LPRINT "This line shows Font 2 characters."

60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"k";CHR$(O);

70 LPRINT "This line shows Internal Characters."

When you’ve installed the Gothic Font Cartridge to the font
slot 1, and the Orator Font Cartridge to the font slot 2 with the
15-inch type, the results of this program look like this:

This line shows Font 1 characters.

THIS LINE SHOWS FONT 2 CHARACTERS,

This line shows Internal Characters.

In this program, line 30 selects the characters on the font slot
1, with (ESC) “k” CHR$(l) command. Line 40 prints a sample
with the LQ characters in the font cartridge installed on the font
slot 1. Line 50 selects the font cartridge slot 2 with (ESC) “k”
CHR$(2) command. Line 60 prints a sample with the font slot 2

52

characters before line 70 switches printer back to internal LQ
characters with an (ESC) “k” CHR$(O) command.

You can control the font styles with the extra functions with

the control panel.

Table 4-3

Font selection commands

Function

Selects font slot 1

Selects font slot 2 (15~inch type only) (ESC) “k” CHR$(B)

Selects internal characters

Control code

(ESC) “k” CHR$(l)

(ESC) “k” CHR$(O)

n Underlining and overlining

Not only can your printer print all styles of printing in both
roman and italic, but it can underline and overline them too. The
control codes are shown in Table 4-4.

Table 4-4

Underline and overline commands

Function Control code

Underline ON (ESC) “-” 1
Underline OFF (ESC) “-” 0
Overline ON (ESC) “A” 1
Overline OFF

(ESC) “-” 0

It’s that simple. Let’s try it with this program:

10 ’

Demo of underlining and over

20 LPRINT "Demo of ";
30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-1";
40 LPRINT "UNDERLINED";

50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-0";

60 LPRINT w and ";

70 LPRINT CHR$(27);" 1";

80 LPRINT "OVERLINED";

90 LPRINT CHR$(27);"-0";

100 LPRINT w printing."

lining

It should come out like this:

Demo of UNDERLINED and m printing.

53

In this program underline is turned on in line 30 with (ESC)

“

-

” 1, and then off in line 50 with (ESC) “ -” 0. The overline is
turned on in line 70 with (ESC) “-” 1, and then off in line 90
with (ESC) “-” 0. There’s a new aspect to this program,
though. The semicolons at the end of the lines told BASIC that
those lines were to be continued. Therefore, BASIC didn’t send
a carriage return and line feed at the end of those lines. We just
did this to illustrate that all these control codes can be used in

the middle of a line. It’s easy to underline, overline or italicize on­ly part of a line.

n Superscripts and subscripts

Your printer can print in two different heights of characters.

The smaller characters are called superscripts and subscripts and
are half the height of normal characters. Superscripts print even-
ly with the tops of regular printing while subscripts print evenly
with the bottom of regular printing. They are frequently used to
reference footnotes, and in mathematical formulas.

Table 4-5 has the codes for using superscripts and subscripts.

Table 4-5

Superscripts and subscripts commands

Try this program to see them work:

Demo of superscripts and subscripts

10 '
20 LPRINT "Look! ";

30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"SO";

40 LPRINT "SUPERSCRIPTS ";

50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"T";

60 LPRINT "& ";

70 LPRINT CHR$(27);"Sl";

80 LPRINT "SUBSCRIPTS ";

90 LPRINT CHR$(27);"T";

100 LPRINT "on one line."

Look! suPERscRIPTs & suasca~p~s on one line.

54

Here line 30 turns on superscripts with (ESC) “S” 0. It’s
turned off in line 50 with (ESC) “T”. Then between printing
text, subscripts are turned on in line 70 with (ESC) “S” 1, and
finally off in line 90. Again, everything prints on one line
because of the semicolons.

CHANGING THE PRINT PITCH

In “printer talk,” the number of characters that can be printed

in one inch is called the print pitch or character pitch. Normally,
your printer is set for 10 characters per inch, which is called pica
(and is the same as the pica pitch on most typewriters). This
works out to 80 characters per line for the lo-inch type, or 136
characters per line for the 15-inch type.

You can also print 12 character per inch (elite pitch) which

gives you 96 or 163 characters per line, or 15 character per inch
(semi-condensedpitch) which gives you 120 or 204 characters per
line.

You can set these pitches by using the Print Pitch key on the
control panel manually, or by software as shown in the table
below.

Table 4-6

Print pitch commands

Try this program to see how these three pitches work. Be sure

to set the printer to Standard mode.

10 ' Demo of print pitches
20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"g";
30 LPRINT "This line is SEMI-CONDENSED pitch."

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

50 LPRINT "This line is ELITE pitch."

60 LPRINT CHRS(27);"P";

70 LPRINT "This line is PICA pitch (norma

l)."

-

When you run this program you should get this:

This line is SEKI-CONDENSED pitch,

This line is ELITE pitch.

This line is PICA pitch (normal).

Line 20 turns on semi-condensed pitch with (ESC) “g”. Line

30 prints the line at 15 characters per inch. Line 40 turns on elite

pitch with (ESC) “M”, and line 50 prints the line at 12
characters per inch. The (ESC) “P” in line 60 resets the printer

to pica pitch and line 70 prints the line in pica pitch.

n Expanded print

Each of the print pitches can be enlarged to twice its normal

width. This is called expanded print. Try this program to see

how it works:

10 ’

Demo of expanded print
20 LPRINT “Demonstration of I’;
30 LPRINT CHR$(14);

40 LPRINT “EXPANDED” ;
50 LPRINT CHR$(20);
60 LPRINT ” printing. ”
70 LPRINT “Notice that ” ;

80 LPRINT CHR$(14);

90 LPRINT “EXPANDED mode”
100 LPRINT “automatically turns off at the end

of a line.”

55

Demonstration of EXPANDED printing.

Notice that EXPANDED

automatically turns off at the end of a line.

mode

Expanded print set with CHR$(14) is automatically cancelled
at the end of the line. This is convenient in many applications,
such as for one line titles. Note that you didn’t need to put an
(ESC) in front of the CHR$(14), although (ESC) CHR$(14)
works just the same.

You can also cancel one line expanded print before a carriage

return with CHR$(20), as done in line 50.

Sometimes you may wish to stay in expanded print for more

than one line. Change your program to this:

10 ’ Demo of permanent expanded mode

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"Wl";

30 LPRINT "Permanent expanded"
40 LPRINT "mode stays on until"
50 LPRINT "it is ";

60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"WO";

70 LPRINT "turned off."

Now the results look like this:

Permanent
mode

i-t is turned off.

stays on until

expanded

When you turn on expanded print with (ESC) “W” 1 it stays

on until you turn it off with (ESC) “W” 0.

Table 4-7

Expanded print commands

n Condensed print

Each of the print pitches except the semi-condensed pitch also
can be condensed to its normal width. This is called condensed
print. Try this program to see how it works:

Demo of condensed print

10 ’

20 LPRINT "Demonstration of ";

30 LPRINT CKR$(15);

40 LPRINT "CONDENSED";

50 LPRINT CHR$(18);

60 LPRINT ' printing."

57

Demonstration of CONDENSED printing.

Condensed print set with CHR$(15) stays on until you turn it
off with CHR$(18). Note that you don’t need to put an (ESC) in
front of the CHR$(15), although (ESC) CHR$(lS) works just
the same.

Table 4-8

Condensed print commands

Function

Condensed ON

Control code

CHR$(15) or (ESC) CHRW5)

Condensed OFF CHR$(18)

By combining expanded print and condensed print with the
three pitches, this printer has ten different character widths
available.

Enter this program to see how the print pitches, expanded
print and condensed print can be combined:

Demo of various print pitches

10 '
20 LPRINT CHR$(15);

30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

40 LPRINT "This line is CONDENSED ELITE pitch."

50 LPRINT CHRS(27);"P";

60 LPRINT "This line is CONDENSED PICA pitch."

70 LPRINT CHR$(18);

80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"g";

90 LPRINT "This line is SEMI-CONDENSED pitch."

100 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

110 LPRINT "This line is NORMAL ELITE pitch."

120 LPRINT CHR$(27);"P";

130 LPRINT "This line is NORMAL PICA pitch."

140 LPRINT CHRS(27);"Wl";

150 LPRINT CHR$(15);

160 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

170 LPRINT "This line is EXPANDED CONDENSED ELITE."

180 LPRINT CHRS(27);"P";

190 LPRINT "This line is EXPANDED CONDENSED PICA."

200 LPRINT CHR$(18);

210 LPRINT CHR$(27);"g";

220 LPRINT "This is EXPANDED SEMI-CONDENSED."

230 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

240 LPRINT "This is EXPANDED ELITE."

250 LPRINT CHR$(27);"P";

260 LPRINT "This is EXPANDED PICA."

270 LPRINT CHR$(27);"WO"

280 END

Here’s what you should get from this program:

This line is CON3ENSED ELITE pitch.

This line is CONDENSED PICA pitch.

This line is SEMI-CONDENSED pitch,

This line is NORMAL ELITE pitch.

This line is NORMAL PICA pitch.

This line is EXPANDED CONDENSED ELITE.

This line

This

This

This is

is EXPANDED SEMI-CONDENSED.

is EXPANDED CONDENSED PICA.

is EXPANDED ELITE,

EXPANDED

PICA,

n Proportional printing

Have you ever looked closely at the printing in books and
magazines? Doesn’t it look nice? The main reason is that each
character is given an amount of space proportional to its actual
width. A typewriter (and most printers), on the other hand, give
every character the same amount of space, no matter how wide
it is. (Pica pitch, for example, gives a “w” and an “i” l/10 of an
inch each. Looking at these letters you see that a “w” is two or
three times as wide as an “i”.)

Well, you too can enjoy professional-looking proportional
printing. You can turn proportional printing on and off with the
following commands.

Function

Proportional ON
Proportional OFF

Table 4-9

Proportional commands

Control code

(ESC) “p” 1

(ESC) “p" 0

59

Try this program to see how the proportional spacing works.

10 ' Demo of proportional printing

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"M";

30 LPRINT "This line is NORMAL ELITE printing."
40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"pl";
50 LPRINT "This line is PROPORTIONAL ELITE."
60 LPRINT CHRS(27);"P";

70 LPRINT "This line is PROPORTIONAL PICA."
80 LPRINT CHRS(27);"pO";

90 LPRINT "This line is NORMAL PICA printing."

100 END

When you run this program you should get this:

This line is NORMAL ELITE printing.
This line is PROPORTIONAL ELITE.
This line is PROPORTIONAL PICA.

This line is NORMAL PICA printing.

c

h

i.

k%

c

ib

L

i,

Line 20 selects the elite pitch and line 40 turns on the propor-

tional printing with (ESC) “p” 1. Line 50 prints a line with pro-

portional elite pitch. Then, line 60 selects the pica pitch, so that

line 70 prints a line with proportional pica pitch. Finally,line 80

resets the proportional printing and line 90 prints a line in nor-

mal pica pitch.

NOTE: 1) You cannot use the proportional spacing with the
draft characters.

2) When you set the “Print Pitch Panel” mode by the Print Pitch
key on the control panel at power-on, these control codes
related print pitches except expand print mode are ignored.

MAKING WORDS STAND OUT

Your printer has good print density when it’s just printing nor­mally. But sometimes you may want something to stand out
from the rest of the page. This printer provides two ways to do

60

this: boldface and emphasized print. Both of these go over the
characters twice, but they use slightly different methods to
darken the characters. Let’s try them and see what the dif­ference is.

The following table shows the control codes for getting into

and out of boldface and emphasized modes.

Table 4-10

Print emphasis commands

Try them now with this little program:

10 ' Demo of boldface and emphasized

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"G";

30 LPRINT "This line is BOLDFACE printing."

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"E";

50 LPRINT "This line is BOLDFACE and EMPHASIZED."

60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"H";

70 LPRINT "This line is EMPHASIZED printing."

80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"F";

90 LPRINT "This line is normal printing."

100 END

Run this program. The results will look like this:

This line is BOLDFACE printing.

This line is BOLDFACE and EMPHASIZED.

This line is EMPHASIZED printing.

This line is normal printing.

Line 20 turns on boldface with (ESC) “G” and line 30 prints a

line of text. In line 40 emphasized is turned on with (ESC) “E”.
Line 50 prints a line of text in boldface and emphasized. Line 60
then turns boldface off with (ESC) “H” so that line 70 can print
in emphasized only. Finally, line 80 turns emphasized off, so

your printer is set for normal printing.

Look closely at the different lines of printing. In the line of

boldface printing each character has been printed twice, and the

paper was moved up slightly the second time they were printed.
In emphasized printing, the characters are moved slightly to the
right the second time the printer prints. The second line combin­ed both of these so that each character was printed 4 times.

MIXING PRINT MODES

We have learned how to use the various print modes in­dividually and together. Now we’ll see how to combine them
more efficiently.

You have at your disposal a unique command that lets you
choose any valid combination of print modes and pitch. This is
the Master Print mode command. It looks like this:

(ESC) “!” n

Here, the value of n defines the print style to be selected. The
value of n can range from 0 to 255, which is the range of values
that can be stored in one eight-bit byte. If you look at each bit in
this byte, you’ll find that each one represents a printing style
variation. Adding the binary values of the selected bits gives the
value of ti for a particular combination of print styles.

Table 4-11 shows the decimal values of the bits in the Master
Print byte. To calculate the value n for a particular combination
of printing styles, just add the decimal values of the features
that you want to combine.

Table 4- 11

Values of mixing print styles for Master Print

For example, if you want to select elite expanded boldface

print, you would calculate the value of n like this:

Elite 1

Boldface

16

Expanded 32

n=

49

The command would look like this:

CHR$(27);“!“;CHR$(49)

To better understand the way the print modes work, consider
that each mode except pica (pica is the default) has a separate
switch that can turned on and off via software. Once the switch
is on, it stays on until turned off. However, when two modes

that conflict are turned on at the same time, the printer must

choose which one to use.

For example, suppose you turn on both Elite and Emphasized

modes. These cannot combine, so the printer must make a

choice; in this case, the printer chooses Elite.

Summary notes

1) Pica is the default pitch and is active when Elite is turned
off.

2) When two modes conflict, the one of lesser priority bit­wise is cancelled. For example, Condensed and Em­phasized can not be printed at the same time, printing is
Emphasized.

3) Elite cancels Emphasized.

4) Underline, Expanded and Italics modes combine with any
print modes.

5) Emphasized will not mix with Elite or Condensed.

CHAPTER 5

FORMATTING TEXT

Subjects covered in Chapter 5 include-

* The carriage return and line feed

l The amount of space between lines

l Moving to the next page
l The number of lines on a printed page
l Horizontal and vertical tabs
l Setting margins - left, right, top and bottom
l Centering and aligning

Chapter 4 showed us the basic techniques for using the
printer. Now we’re ready for the more advanced ones. We’ll con­centrate on changing the appearance of the page to suit our
needs.

.

LINES AND LINE SPACING

n Starting a new line

Up until now the only time we have thought about printing on
a new line is when we didn’t want it to happen. We learned that
putting a semicolon (;) at the end of a BASIC line will not end the
line of printing. So somehow, the computer tells the printer
when to end one line and start another.

There are two codes that are used to end one line and start

another. They are carriage return (CHR$(lS)) and line feed
(CHR$(lO)). Like the escape codes, they have been given ab­breviations which you’ll find many texts (including this one):

(CR) and (LF). The codes are simple, but their action is a little

confusing (especially with BASIC). Let’s begin with the carriage

64

return. Each time the printer receives a CHR$(13) it returns the
print head to the left margin. It does not advance the paper (if
DIP switch 2-6 is on; see below).

Line feed is more complicated. Each time the printer receives

a CHR$(lO) it both advances the paper one line and returns the

print head to the left margin, ready to start a new line.

Now to add a little confusion - most (but not all) versions of
BASIC add a line feed (CHR$(lO)) to every carriage return
(CHR$(13)) that they send. If your version of BASIC doesn’t do
this, then you should turn DIP switch 2-6 off, or send (ES0 “5”

1 command to the printer with the IBM-P mode, so that your
printer will add the line feed for you. When you have DIP siwtch
2-6 off, or sent (ESC) “5” 1 command to the printer with the
IBM-P mode, the printer will do the same thing when it receives
a carriage return as it does when it receives a line feed.

If you find that your printer double spaces when it should
single space, then you probably need to turn DIP switch 2-6 on,
or send (ESC) “5” 0 command to the printer with the IBM-P
mode.

--

n Reverse line feeds

Your printer can move the paper up or down. The unique trac­tor design allows the paper to be fed in either direction without
jamming. This allows you to move around the page at will. You
can use this feature to print several columns of text side by side,
or to print a graph and then move back up and insert descriptive
legends. As you experiment you’re bound to come up with more
uses!

The simplest form of reverse paper feeding is a reverse line
feed. The code is (ESC) (LF), which causes the paper to move
down (in effect, moving the printing up) one line. A “line” used

in a reverse line feed is the same size as a line in a regular line
feed (this is normally l/6 inch). When you change the line spac­ing (which you’ll read about next), both forward and reverse line
feeds change.

-

Table 5-l

Line feed commands

65

Function

Return print head to left margin
Advance paper one line
Reverse paper one line
Adds (LF) to every (CR)

Control code

CHR$(lS)
CHR$( 10)
(ESC) CHR!$(lO)
(ESC) “5” 1 (IBM-P mode only)

Restore normal function of (CR) (ESC) “5” 0 (IBM-P mode only)

n Changing the line spacing

When you turn your printer on, the line spacing is set to 6
lines per inch (or 8 lines per inch if DIP switch 2-8 is off). This is
fine for most printing applications, but when you want
something different, the printer makes it easy to set the line
spacing to whatever you want.

Try this program to see how easy it is to change the line spac­ing:

NEW

’ Demo of line spacing

10

20 FOR I=1 TO 25

30 IF I=13 THEN 60

40 LPRINT CH.R$(27);"A";CHR$(I);
50 LPRINT "THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO";1
60 NEXT I
70 LPRINT "LINE SPACING IS SET TO l/6 INCH (NORMAL)."

80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"2"

90 END

Line 40 changes the line spacing. The command (ESC) “A”

CHR$(n) changes the line spacing to n/60 of an inch. The loop
that is started in line 20 increases the value of n (the variable I in
this program) each time it is executed. So the line spacing in­creases as the program continues. Line 30 just shortcuts the
loop when I = 13, since BASIC won’t let us send CHR$(13)

without adding an unwanted CHR$( 10) to it. Finally, the (ESC)

“2” in line 80 resets the line spacing to 6 lines per inch. This is a

shortcut that is the same as (ESC) “A” CHR$(lO).

66

This is what you will get with the Standard mode:

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 9

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 10

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 11

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 12

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 14

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 15

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 16

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 17

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 18

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 19

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 20

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 21

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 22

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 23

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 24

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 25

LINE SPACING IS SET TO l/6 INCH (NORMAL).

You may wonder why l/60 of an inch was chosen as the incre­ment for the line spacing command. There’s a good reason: the
dots that the printer makes are l/l80 inch apart. So this means
that you can vary the line spacing in increments as fine as three

dots - unless you want finer spacing, like one dot spacing.

-

The (ESC) “3” CHR$(n) command sets the line spacing in in-

crements of l/180 inch. Change line 40 in your program to this:

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"3";CHR$(I);

and run the program again. Now the results will look like this:

THIS

THIs

TfI‘[S

THIS

THIS LINE

THIS LINE

LINE SPAC

SPACING IS SET TO 24

SPACING

I

NG IS SE T TO l/6 INCH ( NORMAL).

IS SET TO 25

6'7

The program works just the same as before, but the line spac-

ings are just one-third what they were. This is because (ESC)

L

L

“3” CHR$(n) sets the line spacing to n/180 inch.

Now, let’s consider the IBM modes. When you run the first
program with the IBM modes, you cannot change the line spac­ing. The (ESC) “A” CHR$(n) command in the IBM modes only

defines the line spacing; the (ESC) “2” command changes the

line spacing to the amount defined by the previous (ESC) “A”

For the IBM modes, you need to change the following lines in
the first program as shown below:

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"A";CHR$(I);CHR$(27);"2";

80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"A";CHR$(12);cHRs(27);"2"

i

i

and run the program again. Now the results will look like this:

68

THIS

LINE SPACING

IS SET TO 9

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 10

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 11

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 12

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 14
THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 15

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 16

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 17

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 18

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 19

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 20

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 21

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 22

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 23

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 24

THIS LINE SPACING IS SET TO 25

LINE SPACING IS SET TO l/6 INCH (NORMAL).

By comparing with the results between the Standard mode

and the IBM modes, you’ll notice that the (ESC) “A” CHR$(n)
command with the IBM modes defined the line spacing as n/72
of an inch, instead of n/60 of an inch.

This is because that the IBM Graphics printer and Proprinter

are normally sets the line spacing to n/72 of an inch with this
command, and most software programs use this command to set
the line spacing. And we’ve thought the compatibility with
those programs. In addition, the (ESC) “3” CHR$(n) command
sets the line spacing to n/216 of an inch with the same reason.

Table 5-2 shows all the line spacing commands, including

several “shortcut” commands for commonly used line spacings.

Table 5-2

Line spacing commands

-

l/8 inch
7160 inch
7172 inch

Set line spacing to l/6 inch

Set line spacing to n/60 inch

Set line spacing to n/72 inch

Set line spacing to n/180 inch

Set line spacing to n/216 inch

Define line spacing to n/72 inch

Use ’ ESL jl

--A de~mition

One-time line feed of .-,Ion I--L I’ESC) “J” C”‘(n)

One-time line feed of n/216 inch
One-time reverse line feed of

n/180 inch
One-time reverse line feed of

n/216 inch

pi

\~ljJb,
IFS, “k

(‘ESC, “A” CHR$(n)

(FS> “A” CHR$(n)

(ESC> “3” CHR$(n)

( ESC, “3” CHR$(n)

:ESC, “A” CHR$(n)

ICC3L) L

(ES0 “J” CHR$(n)

iESCi “j” CHR$(n)

(ESC> “j” CHR$(n)

, ”

(Standard mode only)

(IBM modes only)

(Standard modes only)

(IBM modes only)

(IBM modes onlv)
~IDlVl IIloues urlly~

(Standard mode only)

(IBM modes only)

(IBM modes only)-

(IBM modes)

n Moving down the page without a carriage return

So far, all the commands that move the paper also move the

print head back to the left margin. Normally this is what you

want. Sometimes, though, you may wish to move down the page
without moving the printhead back to the left margin. The
following commands do just that.

The (ESC) “J” CHR$(n) command causes the printer to make

one line feed of n/180 inch (n/216 inch with the IBM modes), but
does not change the setting of the line spacing. Try this program
to see how it works:

70

NEW

' Demo of one-time line feeds

10

20 LPRINT "LINE NUMBER 1."

30 LPRINT "LINE NUMBER 2.";

' One-time line feed

40
50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"J";CHR$(lOO);

60 LPRINT "LINE NUMBER 3."

70 LPRINT "LINE NUMBER 4."

80 END

Here is what your printer will produce with Standard mode:

LINE NUMBER 1.

LINE NUMBER 2.

LINE NUMBER 3.

LINE NUMBER 4.

The (ESC) “J” CHR$(lOO) in line 50 changes the spacing to

100/180 inches for one line only without moving the printhead.
The rest of the lines printed with the normal line spacing.
Notice that both line 30 and line 50 end with semicolons. This
prevents the normal line feed from occurring.

The (ESC) “j” CHR$(n) command works the same way ex­cept that the paper moves in the opposite direction. Try this sim­ple change to your program to see the difference.

40 ' One-time reverse line feed
50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"j";CHR$(lOO);

LINE NUMBER 3.

LINE NUMBER 4.
LINE NUMBER 1.

LINE NUMBER 2.

PAGE CONTROL

Now that we have seen how to control line spacing, we can go
on to page control - positioning the printing on the page and ad­justing the paper length.

n Form feed

The simplest forms control code is the form feed. Form feed
(or (FF)) is CHR$(12) and causes the printer to move the paper
to the top of the next sheet. Try it by changing lines 40 and 50 to
this:

' Form feed

40

50 LPRINT CHR$(lZ);

Before you run the program, turn your printer off and adjust
the paper so that the top of the sheet is even with the top of the
ribbon guide on the print head, then turn the printer back on. If

you don’t remember how to do this, review Chapter 2. When
you run the program, the results will look like this:

-a- --__

: LINE-Fvi:----

01

t

The form feed (CHR$(12)) in line 50 caused the printer to

move to the top of a new page before printing the last two lines.

L

LINE NUMBER 2.

t

1

-a- -w-----m------

r LINE NUMBER 3.

01

LINE NUMBER 4.

I
I

72

n Reverse form feed

Just as your printer can perform a reverse line feed, it can do a
reverse form feed. This code moves the paper so that the print
head is positioned at the top of the current page. This can be

used, for example, to print text in a multi-column magazine for-

mat; print the first column, then reverse form feed back to the
top of the page to start the second column. The code for reverse
form feed is easy to remember: (ESC) (FF).

Table 5-3

Form feed commands

n Setting the top of form

When you turn on the printer, the top of form is automatically
set to the current position. If you want to change the position,
you can re-set it by the following control code with the IBM-P
mode.

(ESC) “4”

In addition, you can re-set it with the control panel as de-

scribed in Chapter 3.”

n Changing the page length

You may have some computer forms that are not 11 inches
high. That’s no problem, because you can tell your printer how
high the forms are that you are using. There are two commands
for doing this, shown in this table.

Table 5-4

Form length control

Function

Set the page length to n lines
Set the page length to n inches

Control code

(ESC) “C” CHR$(n)
(ESC) “C” CHR$(O) CHR$(n)

73

Let’s set up a 7 inch high form length, which is typical of

many computer checks. The following program will do it.

NEW
10 ' Demo of variable form lengths

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"C";CHR$(O);CHR$(7);

30 LPRINT "PAY TO THE ORDER OF:"

40 LPRINT CHR$(lZ);

50 LPRINT "PAY TO THE ORDER OF:"

60 END

This program should print “PAY TO THE ORDER OF:”
twice, and they should be 7 inches apart. Line 20 sets the form
length to 7 inches. After line 30 prints, line 40 sends a form feed
advance the paper to the top of the next form. Line 50 then
prints its message.

After you have run this program, turn off the printer and ad-

just the top of form position. When you turn the printer back on

the page length will reset to its normal setting (usually 11
inches).

TOP AND BOTTOM MARGINS

Some programs don’t keep track of where they are printing on
the page. This causes problems when you get to the bottom of a
page because these programs just keep on printing, right over
the perforation. This makes it very hard to read, especially if a

line happens to fall right on the perforation.

The printer has a solution to this predicament. This printer

can keep track of the position on the page, and advance the
paper so that you won’t print too near the perforation. There are
two commands to do this. One controls the space at the top of
the page (top margin) and the other controls the space at the bot­tom of the page (bottom margin). The control codes are given in
the following table:

Table 5-5

Top and bottom margin commands

Function

Set top margin to n lines
Set bottom margin to n lines
Cancel top and bottom margins

Control code

(ESC > “r” CHR$(n)
(ESC) “N” CHR$(n)
(ESC) “0”

In both cases the value of n tells your printer how many lines

to skip, although there is a slight difference in the usage. When

you set the top margin with (ESC) “r” CHR$(n), the value of n

tells the printer what line to start printing on. When you set the

bottom margin with (ESC) “N” CHR$(n), the value of n tells
the printer how many blank lines should be left at the bottom of
the page.

Let’s try a simple application to see how these margins work.

Enter this program, which will print 150 lines without top and

bottom margins.

' Demo of top and bottom margins

10

60 LPRINT CHR$(12); : ' form feed

70 FOR I=1 TO 150

80 LPRINT "THIS IS LINE";1

90 NEXT I
110 LPRINT CHR$(12); : ' form feed

120 END

When you run this program it will print 150 lines right down
the page and across the perforations. When it’s done line 110
sends a form feed to advance to the top of the next page.

Now add the following lines to your program. (Don’t forget

the semicolons or you won’t get quite the same results that we

did.)

Leave 6 blank lines at the bottom of page

20 '
30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"N";CHR$(6);

Start top of page at line 6

40 '

50 LPRINT CHR$(27);"r";CHR$(6);

100 LPRINT CHR$(27);"0" : ' clear top and

bottom margins"

-

Now when you run the program, your printer skip the first six
lines and the last six lines on each page. Always send a form
feed after setting the top margin, or it will not work on the first
page printed. That’s because the top margin only takes effect
after a form feed.

Line 50 sets the top margin, line 30 sets the bottom margin,
and line 100 clears

I i

both margins when we are done.

75

76

SETTING LEFT AND RIGHT MARGINS

The left and right margins of this printer work just like a
typewriter - once they are set all printing is done between
them. You can set margins either by using the keys on the con­trol panel, as described in Chapter 3, or by escape commands.
The commands to set the margins are given in the following
table:

Table 5-6

Left and right margin commands

Function

Set left margin at column n

Set right margin at column n

Set left margin at column nl and (ESCj ,,X,y CHR$(nl) CHR$(n2)
right margin at column n2

Control code

(ES0 “1” CHR$(n)
(ES0 “Q” CHR$(n)

(except IBM-P mode)

(FS) “Q” CHR$(n)(IBM-P mode)

Try setting the margins with this program:

Demo of margins

10 ’

20 GOSUB 70

30 LPRINT CHR$(27);“l”;CHR$(lO);
40 LPRINT CHR$(27);‘1Q”;CHR$(70);
50 GOSUB 70

60 END

70 FOR I=1 TO 80
80 LPRINT “X”;
90 NEXT I
300 LPRINT

110 RETURN

-

The first thing that this program does is to branch to the
subroutine that starts in line 70. This subroutine prints 80 X’s in
a row. The first time that the subroutine is used, all the X’s fit in
one line. Then line 30 sets the left margin to 10, and line 40 sets
the right margin to 70. Once again the subroutine is used, but

this time the X’s won’t all fit on one line since there is now only
room for 60 characters between the margins.

77

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Run the program. The results will look like this:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When you want to reset the margins to the default values, you
have two choices. You can either turn the printer off and back
on, or you can set margin values equal to the default values.
This means that you should set a left margin of 0 and right
margin of 80 or 136 in pica pitch.

If you change the pitch of your printing after you set your

margins, the margins will not change. They stay at the same
place on‘the page. So if you set the margins to give you 65 col­umns of printing when you are using pica type, and you change
to elite type, you will have room for more than 65 columns of
elite printing between the margins.

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL TABS

Suppose you need to move across the page to a certain posi­tion several times in a document. It’s not much fun to type in
space after space. You don’t have to - you can “tab” your way
across the page.

Your printer’s tabs are like those on a typewriter, but much
more powerful. You have both horizontal and vertical tabs
which can be used for both text and graphics - and they’re real­ly handy for indenting paragraphs and making tables.

n Horizontal tabs

Horizontal tabs are set automatically every eight positions. To
move the print head to the next tab position, send CHR$(S).

Try this program to see how the default tabs work.

10 '

Demo of horizontal tabbing

20 LPRINT "ONE";CHR$(9);"TWO";CHR$(9);"THREE";

CHR$(9);"FOUR"

Here’s what you should get-

78

ONE

TWO THREE

FOUR

Even though the words are different length, they are spaced

out evenly by the horizontal tabs.

Now add the following line to your program to set different

horizontal tabs:

15 LPRINT CHR$(27);"D";CHR$(7);CHR$(l4);CHR$(21);

CHR$(O);

(ESC) “D” is the command to begin setting horizontal tabs. It
must be followed by characters representing the positions
where you want the tabs set. In our program we are setting tabs
in columns 7, 14, and 21. The final CHR$(O) ends the string of
tabs. In fact, any character that is not greater than the provious
one will stop setting tabs. This means that you must put all your
tab values in order, from least to greatest, or they won’t all get
set.

When you run the program now it produces this:

ONE

TWO THREE FOUR

.-

The words are now closer together, but still evenly spaced.

To reset the default tabs, use one of the following programs:

LPRINT CHR$(27);"eO";CHR$(8)

LPRINT CHR$(27);"R"

The (ESC) “e” 0 CHR$(n) command sets the horizontal tabs
to every n columns, and the (ESC) “R” command restores the
default tab positions.

Table 5-7

Horizontal tab commands

79

Function

Advance to next tab position

Set tabs at nl, n2, etc.
Set tabs every n columns

Restore the default tab positions (ESC) “R”

Control code

CHR$@)

(ESC) “D” CHR$(nl) CHR$(n2) . . . . .

CHWO)
(ESC) “e” 0 CHR$(n)

(IBM-P mode only)

n One-time horizontal tabs

Suppose you need to move to a position across the page, but

you only need to do it once. It doesn’t make much sense to set

up a tab to use only one time. There is an easier way.

The solution is called a one-time tab. Table 5-8 show the three

commands.

Table 5-8

One-time horzontal tabs

Function

One-time horizontal tab of n
spaces
Absolute horizontal tab

Relative horizontal tab

Control code

(ESC) “f” 0 CHR$(n)
(ESC) “$” CHR$(nl) CHR$(nZ)

(ESC) “\” CHR$(nl) CHR$(nZ)

(except IBM-P mode)

(FS) “\” CHR$(nl) CHR$(azZ)

(IBM-P mode)

The first command in Table 5-8 moves the print head n col-

umns to the right. It has the same effect as sending n spaces to
the printer.

The absolute horizontal tab command moves the print head to
a specified position on the page. The position that you want the
print head to move to (measured from the left margin) is
specified by the values of nl and n2 in 1/604nch units using the
formula nl + n2 x 256.

Try this program to see how this works.

10 ’

Demo of absolute horizontal tabs

20 FOR I=60 TO 70 STEP 2

30 LPRINT I ; “ttttt” ;

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"$";CHR$(I);CHR$(O);

50 LPRINT "Horizontal tab."

60 NEXT I

70 END

In this program, the print head is positioned before the “H” in

“Horizontal” is printed.

60 +++++ Horizontal tab.

62 +++++ Horizontal tab.
64 +++++ Horizontal tab.
66 +++++
68 +++++
70 +++++

Horizontal tab.

Horizontal tab.

Horizontal tab.

The relative horizontal tab command can move the print head
right from the current position. The formula for calculating how
much the print head moves is the same as in the absolute
horizontal tab command. However, the units by which the print
head actually moves vary with the print pitch you are using, as

shown in Table 5-9.

Table 5-9

Units of motion for the relative

horizontal tab commands

Unit of motion

Print pitch

Pica pitch

Draft characters

l/120 inch

Elite pitch l/l20 inch

Semi-condensed &

Condensed pitch

11240 inch

Try this program to see how this works.

' Demo of relative horizontal tabs

10

20 FOR I=1 TO 3

30 LPRINT "Relative";

Letter Quality
characters

l/180 inch

l/180 inch

11180 inch

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"\";CHR$(I*2O);CHR$(O);

50 LPRINT "Horizontal";

60 LPRINT CHR$(27);"\";CHR$(I*lO);CKR$(O);

70 LPRINT

80 NEXT I

90 END

Relative Horizontal Tab.

Relative Horizontal Tab.
Relative

"Tab . '

Horizontal Tab.

n Vertical tabs

Vertical tabs have the same kinds of uses that horizontal tabs
do - they just work in the other direction. Horizontal tabs allow
you to reach a specific column on the page no matter where you
start from. Vertical tabs are the same. If you have a vertical tab
set at line 20, a vertical tab (or (VT)) will move you to line 20

L

whether you start from line 5 or line 19.

Vertical tabs are not set at the power-on default. If you send a

c.

CHR$(ll) which is the ASCII code for (VT) before we have set

up tabs, the command advances the paper only one line. Enter

this program to see how this works.

i

L

I.

i

i
L

i.

L

I

F

10 ’

Demo of vertical tabs

40 LPRINT CHR$(ll);"FIRST TAB."

50 LPRINT CHR$(ll);"SECOND TAB."

60 LPRINT CHR$(ll);"THIRD TAB."

70 LPRINT CHR$(ll);"FOURTH TAB."

Now, let’s set some vertical tabs of our own. Add these lines

to the program:

20 LPRINT CHR$(27);"B";CHR$(lO);CHR$(l5);

30 LPRINT CHR$(25);CHR$(3O);CHR$(O);

(ESC) “B” is the command to set vertical tabs. Like the

horizontal tab setting command, tab positions must be defined

82

in ascending order. Our example sets vertical tabs at lines 10,

15,25 and 30. Then the CHR$(ll) in each of the following lines
advances the paper to the next vertical tab. The printout is
shown below.

FIRST TAB.

SECOND TAB.

THIRD TAB.

FOURTH TAB.

Add one more line to the program to demonstrate one more

feature of vertical tabs.

80 LPRINT CHFt$(ll);"FIFTHH TAB."

Now when you run the program the first page looks just like
before, *but line 80 sends one more (VT) than there are tabs.
This doesn’t confuse the printer - it advances the paper to the
next tab position, which happens to be the first tab position on
the next page.

There’s a one-time vertical tab command that works just like

83

the one-time horizontal tab command. Try this program to see
how these commands work.

Demo of print positions

10 ’

20 LPRINT
30 LPRINT

40 LPRINT

50 LPRINT
60 LPRINT

70 LPRINT

80 LPRINT

90 LPRINT

‘I* 1st Line, 1st Column”

CHR$(27);“fl”;CHR$(3);

‘I* 5th Line, 1st Column”

CHR$(27);“fO”;CHR$(7);

I’* 6th Line, 7th Column”
CHR$(27);“fl”;CHR$(2);
CHR$(27);“fO”;Cl%R$(5);

‘I* 9th Line, 5th Column”

100 END

In this program, line 30 sends a one-time vertical tab with

(ESC) “f” 1 command. Line 50 sends a one-time horizontal tab
with (ESC) “f” 0 command. Finally, line 70 and line 80 send
one-time vertical tab and one-time horizontal tab, so the line 90
prints text at the specified position.

* 1st Line, 1st Column.

* 5th Line, 1st Column.

* 6th Line, 7th Column.

* 9th Line, 5th Column.

Table 5-10

Vertical tab commands

Function

Advance paper to next tab position

Set vertical tabs at nl, n2, etc.
Set vertical tabs every n lines

One-time vertical tab

Control code

CHR$(ll)

(ESC) “B” CHR$(nl) CHR$(nZ) . . . . .

CHRW)

(ESC) “e” 1 CHR$(n)
(ESC) “f” 1 CHR$(n)

H Vertical tab channels

Vertical tab channels are especially hefpful in two situations.
The first occurs when you are writing a program to accompany
a preprinted form that can accommodate verious types of

responses. The second occurs when you create a multipage
form or report with different vertical tabs on each page.

Table 5- 11

Vertical tab channel commands

Function

Set vertical tabs at nl, n.2, etc. as (ESC) “b” CHR$(nO) CHR$(nl)
channel nO
Select vertical channel nO

Control code

CHR$(nZ) . . . . . CHR$(O)

(ESC) “/” CHR$(nO)

You can store up to eight channels of tab stops. They are

numbered from 0 to 7. If you have already stored a set using

(ESC) “B” command, your printer has labelled it as channel 0.

Try this program how to see the vertical tab channels work.

’ Demo of vertical tab channels

10

20 LPRINT cHR$(27);"b";CHR$(1);CHR$(lO);CHR$(2O);

30 LPRINT CHR$(27);"b";CHR$(2);CHR$(l5);CHR$(25);

CHR$(O);

40 LPRINT CHR$(27);"b";CHR$(3);CHR$(l7);CHR$(28);

CHRS(O);

’ Use vertical tab channels

50

60 FOR I=1 TO 3

70 LPRINT "TOP OF FORM"

80 LPRINT CHR$(27);"/";CHR$(I);

90 LPRINT CHR$(ll);

100 LPRINT "1ST TAB OF CHANNEL";1

110 LPRINT CHR$(ll);

120 LPRINT "2ND TAB OF CHANNEL";1

130 LPRINT CHRS(12);

140 NEXT I

150 LPRINT CHR$(27);"@"

160 END

When you run this program the printout should look like this.

TOP OF FORM

Ti

LST TAB OF CHANNEL 1

2ND TAB OF CHANNEL 1

‘R)P OF FORM

tST TAB OF CHANNEL 2

2ND TAB OF CHANNEL 2

POP OF FORM

LST TAB OF CIIANNEL 3

2ND TAB OF CHANNEL 3

In this program we set tabs at 10 and 20 in channel 1 in line

20. In line 30 we set tabs 15 and 25 in channel 2, and in line 40

L.

L.

we set tabs 17 and 28 in channel 3.

Because the channels are stored, you must make the printer to
recall one before you use it, so we used (ESC) “/” CHR$(nO) in
line 80.

c.

i.

CENTERING AND ALIGNING TEXT

Text can be arranged in any of four formats: left aligned or
left-justified (normal printing with “ragged” right margin),
centered between the margins, right aligned (right-justified) or
fully aligned. These are selected by the following commands:

Table 5-12

Alignment commands

Function

Left-justified printing
Centered printing
Right-justified printing
Fully-justified printing

Control code

(ESC) “a” 0
(ESC) “a” 1
(ESC) “a” 2
(ESC) “a” 3

Try this program to see how easy it is.

10 ’ Demo of aligning and centering
20 LPRINT CHR$(27);“1”;CHR$(20);
30 LPRINT CHR$(27);“Q”;CHR$(60);

40 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “a0” ;

50 LPRINT “THIS LINE IS LEFT JUSTIFIED.”

6C LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “al” ;

70 LPRINT “THIS LINE IS CENTERED.”

80 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “a2” ;

90 LPRINT “THIS LINE IS RIGHT JUSTIFIED.”
100 LPRINT CHR$ (27) ; “a3” ;
110 LPRINT “THIS LINE IS LEFT AND RIGHT (FULL) JUSTIFIED.”

When you run this program, you should get like this:

THIS LINE IS LEFT JUSTIFIED.

THIS LINE IS CENTERED.

THIS LINE IS RIGHT JUSTIFIED.
THIS LINE
JUSTIFIED.

IS LEFT AND RIGHT

(FULL)

CHAPTER 6

SPECIAL FEATURES OF

THE PRINTER

Subjects covered in Chapter 6 include-

. Printer’s bell

l Master reset
l Uni-directional printing
l International character sets
l Printing BIG characters
l The optional sheet feeder
l Reading a hex dump

In the previous chapters we have learned about several
groups of control codes. In this chapter we will look at more con­trol codes. These codes don’t fit neatly into any of the groupings
that we have looked at so far, but they add a lot of useful
features to your printer.

n Now hear this

You may have heard the printer’s bell if you have ever run out
of paper. And you may have wondered why it’s called a bell
when it beeps instead of ringing! It’s a long story that goes back
to the early days of computers, when teletype machines were us­ed for computer terminals. These mechanical marvels were
equipped with a bell that could be heard for blocks. This bell
was used to signal the operator that something needed atten­tion. The code that the computer sent to the teletype machine to
ring the bell was, reasonably enough, called a bell code. The
name bell code is still with us, even if the bell has changed to a
beeper, and a lot of people still call the beeper a bell, even if it
doesn’t sound like one.

88

-

The code to sound the “bell” is CHR$(7), which is ASCII code
7 or (BEL). Any time your printer receives this code it will
sound the bell for a quarter of a second. This can be used to re­mind the operator to change the paper or to make other ad-

justments to the printer.

You can try this by typing:

LPRINT CHRS(7)

w Resetting the printer

Up to now when we wanted to reset the printer to the power
on condition we have had to either turn the printer off and on
again, or to send the specific codes that reset the particular
features. There is an easier way. The control code (ESC) “a”
will reset all of the printer’s features to the power on condition

(as determined by the DIP switches), with two exceptions. The
exceptions are that (ESC) “a” will not erase any characters
that you have stored in the printer’s RAM memory (Chapter 7
tells you how to create your own characters), and if you set the
“Panel” modes by the control panel settings at power on, these
functions will remain with this control code.

n Taking the printer off line

You know how to put your printer off line with the On Line

key on the control panel. The printer has another off line state
that can be controlled from the computer. When you turn the
printer off line from the computer, the printer will ignore
anything that you send it, except for the code to go on line again.

CHR$(lS) ((ESC) “Q” 3 with the IBM-P mode) is the code to
turn the printer off line; CHR$(17) turns the printer back to on
line status.

n Printing the bottom of the sheet

Sometimes when you are using individual sheets of paper you
may want to print near the bottom of a sheet. The paper-out
detector usually stops the printer when you are about 1 inch
from the bottom of the sheet. This is notify you if you are run­ning out of continuous paper.

Your printer has the ability to print right to the bottom of the

89

sheet. You can disable the paper-out detector so that it doesn’t
stop the printer. This will allow you to print to the end of the
sheet, and even beyond if you are not careful. The codes to con­trol the paper-out detector, along with the other codes that we
have just looked at are in the following table.

Table 6-1

Some miscellaneous commands

Paper-out detector off
Paner-out detector on
Move print head back one space
Delete last character sent
Cancel text in print buffer
Print “slash zero”
Print “normal zero”

,- ~---- ~~~ ~-~

(ESC) ..8”

I(ESC)

CHR$@)
CHR$(127)
CHR$(24)

-, II . . 1

(ESC) “‘v”
(ESC)

,~

“b” 0
“i” 1
“i” 0

-----,--. ----A, .

n Backspace, delete, and cancel text

Backspace (CHR$@)) “backs up” the print head so that you

can print two characters right on top of each other. Each time

your printer receives a backspace it moves the print head one

character to the left, instead of to the right. You can strike over
multiple letters by sending more than one backspace code.

Delete (CHR$(127)) also “backs up” one character, but then it
“erases” the previous character (it’s erased from your printer’s
buffer, not from the paper).

Cancel text (CHR$(24)) deletes all the text in the print buffer;
that is, in the line before the delete text command. Since your
printer prints one line of text at a time, only that line will be
deleted.

90

The following program shows how these codes works.

lo LPRINT "BACKSPACE DOES NOT";

20 LPRINT CHR$(8);CHR$(8);CHR$(8);

30 LPRINT u=== WORK"

40 LPRINT "DELETE DOES NOT";

50 LPRINT CJJR$(127);CHR$(127);CHRs(

60 LPRINT "WORK"

70 LPRINT "CANCEL LINE";

80 LPRINT CHRS(24);

90 LPRINT "DOES NOT WORK"

127);

Here is what this program will print:

BACKSPACE DOES WQ? WORK

DELETE DOES WORK

DOES NOT WORK

The backspace codes in line 20 move the print head a total of
three spaces to the left so that the first part of line 30 will over­print the word “NOT”. The delete codes in line 50 “erase” the
three letters in the word “NOT” so that it doesn’t even print.

In line 80, CHR$(24) deletes the words in line 70. The
semicolon at the end of line 70 prevents a line feed from causing
that line to print before the printer receives the CHR$(24) code.
The text in line 90 prints as it normally would because it is after
CHR$(24).

n Printing zeroes

There are two types of zeroes. There is the one we use every
day - 0 - and this is what your printer will print as its default.

The other type is used almost exclusively in computers and

engineering. It is called the “slash zero” and is written like this

- 8. The line through the number prevents you from

misreading it as the letter “0”.

n Immediate-print

This printer can print at the quick rate of 180 characters per

second with draft characters. But it will also print more slowly

at the speed of your typing. In the immediate-print mode, the

print head prints one character at a time, as you send it. The
printer also moves the paper up so that you can see the current
line and then down to continue printing.

You can turn the immediate-print mode on with (ESC) “i” 1.
Before looking at it, let’s review the normal operation of the
print buffer. Enter this program.

20 A$="" : INPUT ' TYPE A CHARACTERS ",A$
30 IF A$="" THEN 50
40 LPRINT A$; : GOT0 20
50 LPRINT :LPRINT CHR$(27);"@"

Now type several characters, and after each press the

RETURN key. The printer simply puts the characters into its
buffer while it waits for a carriage return code. (In this program
the RETURN key doesn’t send a carriage return code.) To end
this program and print the contents of the buffer, press
RETURN alone.

Now add this line:

10 LPRINT CHR$(27);"il";

.

‘

And RUN the program. Your printer will now respond to your

typing

- immediately.

When you are finished, press RETURN alone.

W Adjusting the width of space between characters

This printer provides a command that adjusts the space be-

.

L.

i

i.

tween all the characters that it prints with the Standard mode.
The (ESC) CHR$(32) CHR$(n) command adds blank space be­tween the characters. The units of space that are added vary
with the print pitch you are using, as shown in Table 6-2.