Delta User’s Manual 1 :i’ THE ____ PDWER BEHINDTHE PRINTED WORD.
Federal Communications Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement - 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.
c. i i. L L- A Special Message to the New Owner ‘L c Your new Delta printer and this manual are both setting new standards for the computer printer industry - and you’re part of it! Congratulations, and welcome aboard! First, about this manual.
iv Delta User’s Manual As a first example, look over the Table of Contents and you’ll see what we mean, Whether you’re a greenhorn or a wizard, everybody will find what they need to know to fulfill their expectations. We suggest that each new owner/user, before you even unpack the box, read or at least scan Chapters 1 and 2 - “A Closer Look” and “Getting Started with Delta” - as well as Appendix A, “Unpacking and Installation.” Now you can unpack the box and start putting things together.
Table of Contents i Chapter 1 A Closer Look Components and Controls Paper Selection and Loading Loading single sheets Loading roll paper Loading sprocket-feed paper Bottom feeding Delta-15 Ribbon Installation Adjusting the Gap Self-Test Chapter 2 Getting Started With Delta Using Commercial Software First, some terminology Using Delta with SuperCalc Using Delta with word processors Using this book without learning BASIC Some Basics about BASIC Establishing communications The CHR$ function Control codes T
Delta User’s Manual vi - Changing Line Spacing Moving down the page without a carriage return Forms Controls Form feed Changing the Page Length Top and Bottom Margins Summary Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 - Formatting Your Output A one-shot tab command Setting Left and Right Margins Using Vertical Tabs A one-shot vertical tab command Summary 55 Special Features of the Delta Printer Now hear this Initializing Delta Putting Delta to sleep Printing to the bottom of the sheet Unidirectional printing B
vii Table of Contents Mixing Print Modes with Download Characters A Utility Program Summary ..
- Delta User’s Manual -.
ix Table of Contents Program listings Chart program Special character chart program Macro program Bridge hand program Numeral program Download utility program Delta plot program Pie chart program Appendix G Commodore VIC-20 and C-64 Computers Setting the switches Using Commodore BASIC Listing programs Program listings Chart program Special character chart program Macro program Bridge hand program Numeral program Download utility program Delta plot program Pie chart program 211 Appendix H DIP Switch S
Delta User’s Manual X Summary L Command Appendix M ASCII Code Conversion Appendix N Technical Appendix 0 The Parallel Interface Functions of the Connector Signals 293 Appendix P Serial Interface Specifications Configuring the Serial Interface Delta’s Serial Protocols Serial busy protocols XONlXOFF protocol ACK protocol 297 Order 283 291 303 Response DIP Switch Quick Reference 309 311 Inside back cover Warranty Command Chart Specifications Index Consumer in Numeric 279 Append
Table of Tables Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table 3-1 3-2 3-3 3-4 3-5 3-6 4-l 4-2 4-3 5-1 6-1 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-5 6-6 6-7 7-l 7-2 7-3 Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table 8-l 8-2 B-l H-l H-2 O-l P-l P-2 P-3 P-4 Print pitch commands Expanded print commands Print emphasis commands Italic commands Underline commands Superscript and subscript commands Line spacing commands Form length commands Top and bo
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.- 1. i. i. N. . i i \.. ‘L. Chapter I A Closer Look ._ _. L, *Ii. In this chapter, we’ll introduce you to your Delta printer. We’ll cover: l Components and controls l Paper selection and loading l Adjusting the gap-for different paper thickness l Self-test-print-out of available characters Components and Controls First, the components. You saw most of these when you unpacked your printer.
2 Delta User’s Manual what they do. (For directions on how to set up Delta, see Appendix A.) Roll paper holder / Printer cover - guide ‘igure l-l. For instructions on attaching the various components, see Appendix A. Printer cover - protects ribbon and print head from dust and dirt - and also reduces the sound level. Paper separator and paper guide - used with roll paper and sprocket-feed paper. Roll paper holder and holder shaft - used only with roll paper.
Cover , _~ .- I- - _. .~ Platen knob [ml *_. Power switch ..- i_- Control panel i_- ‘igure 1-2. All of Delta’s controls are on the right side. h... . II- --. .- . -. Control panel - on top right corner. These three buttons and four “status” lamps are your day-to-day operational controls. Here’s what they do: Power lamp - glows green when the power is on. Ready lamp - glows green when the printer is ready to accept data. This light flickers during transmission.
.- 4 Delta User’s Manual L.F. button - stands for “Line Feed.” When you’re off-line this allows you to advance the paper one line at a time. If you hold the button down, you’ll get multiple line feeds, one after the other. Around the backside are some important components and connectors. From right to left, they are: Figure 1-3. Around on the back of Delta you’ll find the interface connectors.
A Closer Look 5 them, ready to print. For starters, Delta can handle single sheetswhether standard-size stationery, envelopes, multi-part carbonless business forms, or almost any other kind of individual sheets. You can also print on continuous paper-either in rolls or fanfolded perforated paper. Here’s a good place to spend a minute talking about the release lever, which you’ll be using often. This lever controls the pressure of the paper against the platen. It has two settings - “F” and “T”.
Delta 6 User’s Manual Paper press bar \ Release lever ‘- ‘igure l-5. Inserting ne feed button. a single sheet ofpaper can be done “under power” __ with the Now, instead of rolling the paper in manually by turning the platen knob, we’re going to use the L.F. button, with the power switch turned on. (This means we’ll have to use the “F” (friction feed) position of the release lever.) Remember what we told you about that L.F.
A Closer Look 7 NOTE: To straighten paper (if it’s in crooked): l Move the release lever to “T” position. l Position the sheet where you want it, moving right or left if necessary to get the paper located between the margins of the printing area. l Move release lever back to “F” position. 8. Push the paper press bar back to its original position, flush against the paper. 9. Replace the printer cover. 10.
,,-;“ -. 8 Delta igure l-6. The roll paper holder is attached User’s Manual to the back of Delta. -_ .- Figure 1-7. Inserting roll paper into Delta is similar to loading single sheets.
A Closer Look -..“. L ..*. -- L L. i c. Li L - L L L 10. Press the L.F. button to move the paper in until the leading edge appears on the front side of the platen, about where you want the first line to start printing. NOTE: To straighten roll paper (if it’s in crooked): l Move the release lever to the “T” position. l Position the sheet where you want it, moving it right or left if necessary to get the paper located between the margins of the printing area.
Delta 10 User’s Manual .- Figure 1-8. Replace the tractor unit by placing the hooks against the stoppers lower the front into place while holding the snap levers. am Tractor cover - Figure 1-9. Open the tractor covers to expose the sprocket teeth.
A Closer 11 Look 9. Return the paper separator to its original flat position, 10. Pull the paper up, past the sprocket units. 11. When holes fit snugly over the nubby teeth in both sprockets, close the tractor covers and snap the clamp levers back into their locked position (Figure l-10). 12. With the platen knob, roll the paper up or down until the correct “start-print” position is reached.
12 Delta User’s Manual .~ - -- - Figure l-11. The perforation should be lined up with the top of the ribbon guide. To use Delta-15 this way, you’ll need to install the tractor unit, the paper separator, and the paper guide if you haven’t already. If you’re unsure how to do it, see Appendix A and Figure l-8. The steps for bottom loading Delta-15 1. Turn the power switch off and remove the printer cover. 2. Pull the release lever to position “T” (Figure l-4). 3. Raise the paper press bar. 4.
A Closer 13 Look 12. With the platen knob, roll the paper up or down until the correct “start-print” position is reached. This position is achieved by lining up the horizontal perforation with the top of the ribbon guide as shown in Figure l-11. 13. Now we’re ready to roll - replace the printer cover, and turn on the power switch. Speedy printing! L Figure 1-12. Delta-15 con be loaded from the bock like Delta-10 or from the bottom, OS shown here.
Delta User’s Manual 14 Thickness adjustment lever I I Figure l-13. Adjusting the print head gap lever allows you to obtain optimum print quality on paper rongingfrom .07 mm to 28 mm thick-even ~-part carbonless sets. To make the adjustment, move the “thickness adjustment lever” which is immediately in front of the “release lever” shown in Figure l-13. Pulling the thickness adjustment lever towards you will widen the gap; pushing it away from you will narrow the gap.
A Closer Look 15 Best of all, you don’t have to wait another minute-you can print the self-test without hooking up the Delta to your computer! It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3 . . . 1. Plug the printer’s power cord into a 120 VAC outlet. 2. Insert a sheet of paper. 3. While holding down the L.F. button, turn the power switch on.
16 Delta User’s Manual .
Chapter 2 Getting Started With Delta You have assembled and tested your printer, and seen a quick sample of Delta’s capabilities in the self-test. Now it’s time to do what you bought Delta to do: print information from your computer. But first you need to connect Delta to your computer. Figure 2-l shows where the cables connect, but there’s more that you need to know. Complete instructions for connecting Delta to many popular computers are given in the appendix.
Delta User’s Manual 18 advice on connecting Delta to your computer. When everything is connected, come back here and we will check it out! - Dip switch 2 - - Parallel interface connector Parallel interface plug Serial interface plug / Serial interface \ Clip connector Figure 2-1. Delta has both serial and parallel interfaces. - Using Commercial Sojtware Many of you purchased Delta to use with commercial software.
, ‘. Getting Started With Delta 19 Many of these lists of printers are not very clear, and may not include anything that you think describes Delta. If you can’t decide which description best fits Delta, we recommend that you narrow the list to two or three choices (you can quickly eliminate ail the daisy-wheel printer types) and then experiment. You won’t hurt anything if you guess wrong; it just won’t work right. This should quickly tell you if your guess is right.
Delta User’s Manual 20 10) Since hex needs 16 digits, it uses the numbers 0 through 9 and then it uses the letters A through F for digits. The ASCII code for the letter “A” is 41 in HEX. Of course, most of the time we don’t even need to think about this code system. Our computers are smart enough to know that when we press the “A” key on our keyboard we want to print the letter “A”. The computer takes care of all the rest. But there are a number of ASCII codes that don’t have keys on the keyboard.
Getting Started With Delta L 21 you find the method that your program uses, then you can shop through this manual to find the function that you want to use. By translating the codes from the system that we use, to the system that your commercial software uses, you should be able to use many of Delta’s advanced features. It may help, however if we look at a couple of examples. Using Delta with SuperCalc SuperCalc is typical of the many spreadsheet programs that are now available.
22 Delta User’s Manual features of printers like Delta. They usually provide for some method of making bold characters and underlining. But Delta can do much more than that. The people that write word processing programs do, however, know that there are a lot of different printers on the market, and so they usually, (but not always) provide a way of sending special codes to a printer. We will study one example of this to see how a typical word processor handles it.
Getting Started With Delta 23 install program that comes with WordStar. The procedure is fairly involved, but it is explained in the WordStar manual. If you have trouble figuring it out, ask for assistance where you bought WordStar. Using this book without learning BASIC ._ Throughout most of this book we will be teaching you how to use Delta’s features using the BASIC programming language in our examples.
Delta User’s Manual 24 - memory, just type: - - PR#l LIST PR#g - The PR#l says “send everything to the printer”, the LIST sends it, and the PR#O says “Ok, back to the screen now”. (There are some slightly different versions of these commands in Appendix C.) Some other computers require you to open the printer as a numbered device, and then direct the output to that device.
Getting Started With Delta 25 Welcome back. Let’s try what we learned. Type the following: L NEW 18 LPRINT "TESTING" RUN i Remember-we use LPRINT, you may have to use something c else! i At any rate, you should have the word “TESTING” on your printer. Quite an achievement, isn’t it? Let’s get done with this simple stuff so that we can go on to something interesting. i The CHR$ function We mentioned CHR$ earlier as one way to express ASCII codes.
Delta User’s Manual 26 about it in Chapter 6. We just wanted to illustrate a code that causes Delta to perform a function. The escape code There’s one particular ASCII code that we are going to be using more than all the rest. This is ASCII 27, which is called escape. In BASIC it’s CHR$(27). With all of Delta’s advanced features, there weren’t enough single ASCII codes to go around. So escape is used to start sequences of control codes that open a wider range of functions to us.
Getting Started With Delta 27 our program looks like this: . \..- L.. 5 ESC$=CHR$(27) l@ LPRINT ESC$ “4”; Turn your printer off and back on now, or you will be printing in italic for quite a while! Some problem codes Before we go too far we need to mention some codes that may cause you problems. Like most of the subjects in this chapter, we have to be a little vague because of the differences in computers. Nearly all BASICS change some of the ASCII codes between your BASIC program and your printer.
28 Delta User’s Manual - - - -.
Chapter 3 Printing Text With Delta Beginning with this chapter we will be exploring all the features of Delta. All our examples will be given in Microsoft BASIC as used by the IBM Personal Computer, but remember that you don’t need to know BASIC to use Delta’s features. Just use the same ASCII codes as we do in our examples. If your computer doesn’t use Microsoft BASIC, look in the appendix to see what changes you need to make for your BASIC.
30 Delta User’s Manual ._ will investigate is changing the width of the characters that Delta prints. Changing the print pitch In “printer talk,” character width is called pitch. Normally, Delta prints 10 characters per inch. This is called pica pitch because it’s the same spacing as a standard pica typewriter. Delta can also print 12 characters per inch. This is called elite pitch because it is the same spacing as an elite typewriter.
31 Printing Text With Delta Line 10 turns on elite pitch with ( ESC > “B” CHR$(2). Line 20 prints a line at 12 characters per inch. The (ESC) “B” CHR$(3) in line 30 changes Delta to condensed pitch and line 40 prints a line in condensed pitch. Line 50 resets Delta to pica pitch and line 60 prints a line in pica pitch. Pica pitch and condensed pitch can be set with “shortcut” codes. Instead of using (ESC) “B” CHR$(n), you can set them with a single code.
32 Delta User’s Manual When you turn on expanded print with (ESC) “W” CHR$(l) it stays on until you turn it off with (ESC) “W” CHR$(O). That’s what we added line 30 for. Table 3-2 Expanded print commands 1 I Function 1 I -.- Control code I CHR$(14) One line expanded Expanded ON ExDanded OFF - (ESC) “W” CHR$(l) ‘,ESC) “W” CHR$fOI - - By combining expanded print with the three pitches, Delta has six different character widths available.
Printing 33 Text With Delta 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 double-strike and emphasized modes. Table 3-3 Print emDhasis commands L. i c a Function Control code Double-strike ON Double-strike OFF Emphasized ON Emphasized OFF ‘,ESC) (ESC) (ESC) (ESC) “G” “H” “E” “F” Try them now with this little program: ~ j L. I ) I IN...
34 Delta User’s Manual printed. In emphasized printing, they are moved slightly to the right the second time Delta prints. The last line combined both of these so that each character was printed 4 times. Now that’s pretty nice printing, isn’t it? -. Some Special Kinds of Text We’re just getting started on the kinds of text that Delta can print. Still to come are italic characters, underlined characters, superscripts and subscripts.
Printing 35 Text With Delta This program is easy; line 10 turns italic on with (ESC) and line 30 turns it off with (ESC) “5”. “4”, UnderJining Not only can Delta print all the styles of printing that we have seen in both roman and italic, but it can underline them too. The control codes are shown in Table 3-5. Table 3-S Underline commands Function Underline Underline Control code ON OFF (ESC) (ESC) “-" CHR$(l) “-"CHR$(O) Again, that’s simple.
36 Delta User’s Manual can also 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 with the tops of regular printing while subscripts print even with the bottom of regular printing. They are frequently used to reference footnotes, and in mathematical formulas. Table 3-6 has the codes for using superscripts and subscripts.
Printing Text With Delta 37 modes for even more printing effects. Condensed, italic, doublestrike, underlined subscripts are something that you are probably just itching to print! There are 288 “theoretical” combinations of the modes that we have learned. Of these, a mere 112 will work! (Some combinations, like expanded superscripts, just don’t work.) Instead of trying to list all the combinations that work, we have a program that prints a chart showing all the combinations.
.- Delta User’s Manual 38 1140 fllllll'SP~CIA~ PRINT ~~~~~Ill,llllllllllIt EMPHASIZED$ = CHR$(27)+ 1151a 116g NOT.EMPHASIZED$ = CHR$(27)+ DOUBLE.STRIKE$= CHR$(27)+ 11.7g 1180 NOT.DOUBLE.STRIKE$ = CHR$(27)+ UNDERLINED$ = CHR$(27)+ 1190 CHR$(l) 12pl0NOT.UNDERLINED$ = CHR$(27)+ CHR$(69) CHR$('I@) CHR$(71) CHR$(72) CHR$(45)+ CHR$(45)+ - CHR$(0) 1210 SUPERSCRIPT$ = CHR$(27)+ CHR$(83)+ CHR$(0) -. 1220 SUBSCRIPT$ = CHR$(27)+ CHR$(83)+ CHR$(l) 1230 NOT.SCRIPTED$ = CHR$(27)+ CHR$(84) 1240 RESET.
Printing Text With Delta 39 3050 ITALICS = FALSE 3060 UNDERLINED= FALSE NOT.UNDERLINED$; 3070 ENLARGED = FALSE 3080 PICA = FALSE 3090 .. b. i i . . 1. IIIIII~~~II~~~RINT :LPRINTROMAN$; :LPRINT :LPRINTNOT.
Delta User’s Manual an Here is the chart it produces: NOKMF=lL CONDENSEDELITE --F’ICA tHEtULARX bBcd%, APcdX”v, h&d%, ABcd-‘v, ABcdX” ABcd”“v,- fEMF’HAS1 ZEDt ... . .,.a ,... .. .. ABcd ABcd *IfOUHLE III. I”’ STRIKE .. . . .,,. ENL-eRGED CONDENSEDELITE vy ABcd ABcd ..I. ..I. ---P I CA CIRcd FIEcd ABcd m--m m--w FlBcd FlBcd .m.m cSEcd EC e..=cd % EMPHAS I ZEDlr ABcd ABcd . . . . . . . .
41 Printing Text With Delta CHR$(15) CHR$(14) (ESC) CHR$(14) (ESC) “W” CHR$(l) (ESC) “W” CHR$(O) (ESC) “G” ( ESC) “H” (ESC) “E” (ESC) “F” (ESC) “4” (ESC) “5” (ESC) “ - ” CHR$(l) (ESC) “ - ” CHR$(O) (ESC) “S” CHR$(O) (ESC) “S” CHR$(l) (ESC) “T” Sets condensed pitch One line expanded One line expanded Expanded on Expanded off Double-strike on Double-strike off Emphasized on Emphasized off Italic on Italic off Underline on Underline off Superscript on Subscript on Super & subscript off
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Chapter 4 Line Spacing and Forms Control We have learned how to print in many different ways, but so far we haven’t looked at how to position the printing on the page. In this chapter we will learn how to change the vertical spacing and the length of the page. Starting New Lines Up until now the only time we have thought about printing on a new line is when we didn’t want it to happen. We learned that putting a semicolon (;) at the end of a BASIC line will not end the line of printing.
Delta User’s Manual 44 when to end one line and start another. There are two codes that are used to end one line and start another. They are carriage return (CHR$(13)) and line feed (CHR$(lO)). The codes are simple, but their action is a little confusing (especially with BASIC). Carriage return is the easiest. Each time that the printer receives a CHR$(13) it returns the print head to the left margin. It does not advance the paper (if DIP switch 2-4 is off; see below). Line feed is more complicated.
45 Line Spacing and Forms Control This is what you will get: i-- i L j L i or : c- c DELTA DELTA DELTA DELTA HAS HAS HAS HAS VARIABLE LINE SF-AC I NG VARIABLE VAR I ABLE LINE VAR I ABLE LINE LINE SPAC I NG St-AC I NG SF’ACING DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SF’AC I NG DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SF’AC I NG DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SPACING DELTA HAS VARIAELE LINE WAC DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SPACING DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SFACI DELTA HAS VARIABLE LINE SPACING DELT
Delta User’s Manual 46 increments like this: of l/144 inch. Change line 30 in your program so it is 3!i!J LPRINT CHR$(27)“3” CHR$(I); and run the program again.
Line Spacing and Forms Control 47 mand does not change the setting of the line spacing, but it does cause the printer to make one line feed of n/144 inch.
Delta User’s Manual 48 - paper n lines (using whatever the current line spacing is) without moving the printhead. Change line 30 of your program so that it is like this: 3@ LPRINT CHR$(27)"a" CHR$(3); - Now when you run the program the results will look like this: LINE LINE NUMBER NUMBER 1 2 LINE LINE NUMEEl3 NUMBER 3 4 - The new line 30 moves the paper up 3 lines, but the printhead doesn’t move.
Line &acing and Forms Control 49 run the program, the results will look like this: -L--p----0 ~ LINE NUi'lEEFi LINE NUMBER 1 2 O ~ --L----p-- o/ 0 / ’ O O/ LINE NUMBEH :Z LINE NUMBER 4 I I 0 ~ The form feed (CHR$(12)) in line 30 caused the printer to move to the top of a new page before printing the last two lines. A note to TRSSO users: CHR$(12) is a problem code for the TRSSO. To send a form feed command to Delta you must add 128 to it making it CHR$(140).
Delta User’s Manual 50 Let’s set up a 7 inch high form length, which is typical of many computer checks. The following program will do it. - NEW l@ LPRINT CHR$(27)"C" CHR$(@)CHR$(7); 2@ LPRINT "PAY TO THE ORDER OF:" 3@ LPRINT CHR$(12); 49 LPRINT "PAY TO THE ORDER OF:" This program should print “PAY TO THE ORDER OF:” twice, and they should be 7 inches apart. Line 10 sets the form length to 7 inches. After line 20 prints, line 30 sends a form feed to advance the paper to the top of the next form.
LineSpacing andFormsControl 51 In both cases the value of n tells Delta how many lines to skip, although there is a slight difference in the usage. When you set the top margin with (ESC) “R” CHR$(n), the value of n tells Delta what line to start printing on. When you set the bottom margin with (ESC) “N” CHR$(n), the value of n tells Delta how many blank lines should be left at the bottom of the page. Let’s try a simple application to see how these margins work.
Delta User’s Manual 52 - Summary - Control code Function CHR$(lO) CHR$(13) (ESC) “A” CHR$(n) (ESC) “3” CHR$(n) ( ESC > “0” (ESC) “1” (ESC) “2” (ESC > “J” CHR$(n) (ESC) “a” CHR$(n) Line feed Carriage return Set line spacing to Set line spacing to Set line spacing to Set line spacing to Set line spacing to One-time line feed Advance the paper - n/72 inch n/144 inch l/8 inch 7/72 inch l/S inch of n/144 inch n lines -
/ I L- LineSpacing andFormsControl L CHR$(12) (ESC) “C” CHR$(n) (ESC) “C” CHR$(O) CHR$(n) (ESC) “R” CHR$(n) I j L 1 / II - (ESC) “N” CHR$(n) ESC) “0” 53 Form feed Set page length to n lines Set page length to n inches Set top margin; start printing on line n Set bottom margin; leave n lines blank Clear top and bottom margins
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Chapter 5 Formatting Your Output You have probably used the tab and margin features on a typewriter. They make it easier to format the text on a page. Delta also has tabs and margins that you can set. But it goes beyond the capabilities of a typewriter because besides having tabs that go across the page, called horizontal tabs, Delta has vertical tabs that go down the page. In this chapter we will discover how to use the tabs and margins on Delta.
Delta User’s Manual 56 Try this one line program default horizontal tabs. to demonstrate - the use of the NEW 29 LPRINT "ONE" CHR$(9) "TWO" CHR$(9) "THREE" CHR$(9) "FOUR" - Here’s what will print: .- ONE I-Wcj THREE FOUR - Even though the words are different lengths, they are spaced out evenly by the horizontal tabs. CHR$(S) is a problem with some computers. Some BASICS convert CHR$(S) to a group of spaces that act like a sort of pseudotab.
Formatting Your Output 57 When you run the program now it produces this: iiNE TWO THREE FCIIJR The words are now closer together, but still evenly spaced. Turn your printer off and on again to reset the default tabs. If you set tabs in one pitch, such as pica, and then change the pitch, say to elite, the tab settings will also change. If, for example, the tabs are set every eight spaces, when you change pitch they will still be set every eight spaces, but the spaces will be a different width.
Delta User’s Manual 58 __ 3!2 LPRINT CHR$(27)"Q" CHR$(7@) 4121GOSUB l@ 5B END 1(&ZFOR I = 1 TO 8@ ll@ LPRINT "Xl'; 12plNEXT I 13@ LPRINT 149 RETURN - The first thing that this program does is to branch to the subroutine that starts in line 100. 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 20 sets the left margin to 10, and line 30 sets the right margin to 70.
.. Formatting Your Output 59 at line 20, a (VT) (or vertical tab) will move you to line 20 whether you start from line 5 or line 19. The default vertical tab settings are every six lines. If you send a CHR$(ll), which is the ASCII code for (VT), before we have set up tabs it will advance the paper to one of these preset tabs. Enter this program to see how this works. NEW 2plLPRINT CHRfJ(1.
Delta User’s Manual 60 _. - -- - .- Figure 5-1. A one-shot vertical tab command -. There’s a one-time vertical tab command that works just like the one-time horizontal tab command. It is (ESC) “a” CHR$(n), and it causes the paper to advance n lines. It doesn’t change the settings of the vertical tabs. - Summary Control code CHRW) (ESC) “D” nl (ESC) “b” n (ESC) “M” n (ESC) “N” n CHR$(ll) (ESC) “P” nl (ESC) “a” n Function Horizontal tab n2 n3. . .
i, i . e L i Chapter L Special Features of the Delta Printer i .i h e ! c r i i L 6 In the previous chapters we have learned about several groups of control codes. In this chapter we will look at more control codes. These codes don’t fit neatly into any of the groupings that we have studied, but they add a lot of capability to Delta. So here goes. Now hear this You may have heard Delta’s bell if you have ever run out of paper.
62 Delta User’s Manual - days of computers, when teletype machines were used for computer terminals. These mechanical marvels had a bell in them that could be heard for blocks. This bell was used to signal the operator that something needed attention. The code that the computer sent to the teletype machine to ring the bell was, reasonably enough, called a bell code.
i- Spedal Features 63 have one stored in Delta’s RAM (this chapter will tell you how to create a macro). c c_ i. i Putting Delta to sleep You know how to put Delta off-line with the ON LINE button so that you can use the FF and LF buttons. Delta has another offline state that can be controlled from your computer. When you turn Delta offline from your computer, Delta will ignore anything that you send it, except for the code to go on-line again.
64 Delta User’s Manual Table 6-3 Printing direction Function Control code Print in one direction Print in both directions (ESC) “U” CHR$(l) (ESC > “U” CHR$(o) Try this program to see the difference direction makes. - that printing in one - NEW l/aLPRINT CHR$(27)"A" CHR$(7); 2@ FOR I = 1 TO lp, 3!2 LPRINT "1" 4!2 NEXT I 50 LPRINT : LPRINT 60 LPRINT CHR$(27)"U" CHR$(l); 70 FOR I = 1 TO l/a 80 LPRINT "1" 90 NEXT I 100 LPRINT CHR$(12)CHR$(27)'9'; - - Here is what you will get.
Special Features 65 Let’s analyze the program. Line 10 sets the line spacing to 7/72 of an inch so that the characters that we print will touch top to bottom. Lines 20-40 print 10 vertical line characters. Then line 60 sets one-direction printing and the vertical lines are printed again. Finally line 100 sends a form feed to advance the paper to the top of a new page, and then uses the master reset to restore Delta to the power-on condition.
Delta User’s Manual RR computers to use Delta’s block graphics characters and special symbols if Star’s engineers hadn’t thought of a solution. (All of these characters have ASCII codes greater than 127 which means that the eighth bit must be on to use them.) The solution lies in the three control codes given in the following table.
Special Features 67 3pl LPRINT I II=11CHR$(I)CHR$(9); 4pI NEXT I : LPRINT : NEXT J Figure 6-l shows what this program will print. If your chart doesn’t look like this because it has regular letters and numbers instead of the special symbols, then your computer is only using seven bits (unless you have set DIP switch 2-3 on by mistake).
68 Delta User’s Munual If you have a y-bit interface, program given above. add the following lines to the 5 LPRINT CHR$(27)")"; 70 LPRINT CHR$(27)"="; In this program line 10 sets the line spacing to 6 dots which is the height of the graphics characters. Then lines 20-50print the figure, and line 60 resets the line spacing to l/6inch.
Suecial Features 69 Table 6-6 International character sets lCountrv 1 35 1 92 I93 194 I96 1123 1124 1125 11261 control code. The term macro is from the jargonese macro-instruction which refers to an instruction that “calls,” or uses a group of normal instructions. In computer programming macro-instructions (which are similar to subroutines) save programmers a lot of time and effort. Delta’s macro can save you a lot of time and effort also. Here is how Delta’s macro works.
‘:‘.
Iji. 71 Special Features Summary i \.. ! i. f A, I L. j L” ! L. i Control code CHRW (ESC) “Y” CHR$(O) (ESC) “Y” CHR$(l) ( ESC) “@” CHR$(lS) CHR$(17) (ESC) “8” (ESC) “9” (ESC) “U” CHR$(l) (ESC) “U” CHR$(O) CHRW) CHR$(127) (ESC) “)” (ESC) ‘I=” (ESC) “#” (ESC) “7” n (ESC) “+“. . . CHR$(30) (ESC) ‘I!” Function Bell Disable bell Enable bell Reset Off-line On-line Paper-out detector off Paper-out detector on Unidirectional printing Bidirectional printing Backspace .
72 Delta User’s Manual -
Chapter 7 Creating Your Own Characters In the previous four chapters of this manual you’ve learned how to control the Delta printer to give you dozens of different typefaces. By using various combinations of pitches, character weights, and font selections, you can create nearly any effect you want to in text. And with international character sets and the special text and graphics characters described in Chapter 6, you can print almost any character you can think of.
Delta User’s Manual 74 ._ Dot Matrix Printing In order to create download characters, you’ll need some understanding of how dot matrix printers work. They’re called “dot matrix” because each character is made up of a group of dots. Look closely at some printed characters produced by your Delta and vou will see the dots. Figure 7-l shows how the letter “A” is formed by printing 17 dots. - Figure 7-1.The letter “A” is created by pnntlng 17 dots.
Creating Your Own Characters 75 1 00 00 0 0 leeS &fee :eee: : : : l l eeg l l l l e l ee J igure 7-2. As the printheadmovesacrossthe page, each of the wires printsone row of dots. user-defined characters. These are characters that you design and download into Delta. When download characters are defined they are stored in RAM (random access memory), which allows you to define or modify them at any time.
- Delta User’s Manual 76 Defining Your Own Characters You’ve seen how the engineers at Star designed their characters by using a grid to lay out the dots. Now you can define characters exactly the same way. Make up some grids (photocopy Figure 7-4 if you wish) and get ready to be creative! (Just in case you are not feeling creative, and to make our explanations a little clearer, we’ll be using a heart as an example of a download character. You can see how we’ve laid it out in Figure 7-5.
Creating Your Own Characters 77 letters, and most special characters use only the top seven pins of the printhead. This is also the standard for download characters, so our grid is only seven dots high. It’s also possible to use the bottom seven pins, just as the “g”, “ P “, “q”, and “y” of the standard character sets do. These are called descenders (because the bottom of the character descends below the baseline of the rest of the characters).
Delta User’s Manual 78 the boxes. If we tried to print overlapping dots, Delta’s print head would have to slow down and back up to print both dots-not very efficient! To avoid this inefficiency, Delta will not allow you to define a character like Figure 7-6. (Actually, you can define it, but when it prints, Delta will leave out the overlapping dots, so that it would print like Figure 7-5.) - m,m,m,m,m5m,m,m,nww-h, - 1 2 4 8 WRONG! 16 32 64 Total Figure 7-6.
Creating Your Own Characters 1 2 4 l a o-a - 2 79 l - 1 l - 1 l - 2 4 l l - 2 4 .0 - 8 16 0 0 - 32 64 l - 16 32 64 0 - 32 Sum 42 0 - 64 127 71 ... Figure 7-7. By adding the values of each dot in a column, you’ll get a unique description for any combination of dots. answers!). Across the top of the grid you’ve probably noticed the cryptic labeling of each column: ml, m2, m3, etc. These labels correspond to the labels in the command syntax statement, which we’ll get to shortly.
80 Delta User’s Manual Assigning a value to your character We’ve done a pretty thorough job of designing and describing a user-defined character. But the Delta has room for 189 download characters-how does it know which user-defined character we want to print? Exactly the same way it knows which standard character we want to print: every character is assigned a unique number. The standard characters are assigned the ASCII codes-numbers from 0 to 255.
.-,,--. Creatinn Your Own Characters 81 R = LMscemr ‘16 Fwmal ESE~i”,P,m + Wdl” m, Figure 7-9. Character designs for the four card suits. Like the other Delta commands, it starts with an (ESC) (CHR$(27)). The next character is an asterisk (*), which is CHR$(42), followed by a CHR$(l). nl is the value we assign to the character-in the case of the heart it is CHR$(72).
Delta User’s Manual 82 Figure Y-10. The attribute byte (n2) for our heart character. You’ll probably recognize ml. . .mll from the top of our layout grid. That’s right, each column is described by one byte. Now we’ve got everything we need to download one character to the printer. The complete command for our heart character is shown in Figure 7-11.
Creating Your Own Characters 83 100 LPRINT 110 DATA 72,11,4,10,20,10,52,72,52,10,20,10,4 120 DATA 83,11,16,8,20,8,86,41,86,8,20,8,16 130 DATA 67,11,8,16,8,18,65,62,65,18,8,16,8 140 DATA 68,11,8,0,28,0,62,65,62,0,28,0,8 When you run this program, it looks like nothing happens. That’s OK. We’ll see why in just a moment. Save this program. We’ll need it again shortly. Printing Download Characters You’ve now defined and sent four characters to the Delta.
- Delta User's Manual 84 10 20 30 40 50 LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(36)CHR$(l) FOR I=33 TO 126 : LPRINT CHR$(I); : NEXT I FOR 1=16g TO 254 : LPRINT CHR$(I); : NEXT I LPRINT LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(36)CHR$(@ -. - Nope! Just four characters in the download set. This is inconvenient for a couple of reasons. First, every time you wanted to use a download character you would have to switch back and forth between character sets. Knowing that you wouldn’t want to do that, Delta won’t even allow it.
L i 85 Creating Your Own Characters printout test includes the characters with ASCII values from 160 to 254, but nothing prints. The (ESC) “*” CHR$(O) command copies only the standard ASCII characters (those in the range of 33 to 126) to download RAM; it does not copy any block graphics characters. L. L ’ “#$%!GZ (1 t+! -. /0123456789: ;JKLMN~POK+TU~WXYZC\~~~.,_ L qr stuvwx L ; .:::=:>?@AB~FGv ‘ab&defghi$klmnnp yr I ! 3.* Figure T-12.
86 Delta User’s Manual 2020 LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(43)CHR$(27)CHR$(36) 'Macro CHR$(0) CHR$(27)CHR$(69)CHR$(30) instructionis used to select standard characters,emphasized 2g3@ LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(42)CHR$(0) 'Loadstandardcharactersin RAM 2p14@ FOR I=1 TO 4 'Thisloop reads data for the four 2050 LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(42)CHR$(l); 'card suit charactersand sends it 2jJ6@ FOR J=l TO 13 'to the printer 2070 READ X : LPRINT CHR$(X); 2(38@ NEXT J 2898 NEXT I 2100 LPRINT 2110 RETURN 2120 DATA 72,11,4,10,20,10,52,72,52,1
Creating Your Own Characters a7 4170 LPRINT 4180 NEXT SUIT 4190 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!" CHR$(9) "SOUTH" 42jap; LPRINT CHR$(27)"$!ICHR$(l)CHR$(27)CHR$(70); 4210 HAND = 4 4220 FOR SUIT = 0 TO 3 4230 LPRINT CHR$(9); 4240 GOSUB 4300 4250 LPRINT 4260 NEXT SUIT 4270 LPRINT CHR$(27)"$" CHR$(@)CHR$(27)CHR$(70) 4280 RETURN 4290 'Printone line 4300 LPRINT SUIT$(SUIT); 4310 FOR CARD = 13 TO 1 STEP -1 4320 IF DECK(SUIT*13+CARD)=HAND THEN LPRINT CARD$(CARD); 4330 NEXT CARD 4340 RETURN Note that we didn’t have to re-enter
Delta User’s Manual 88 Download - Table 7-l character dejfinition commands Function Define download character Control code (ESC) ‘I*” CHR$(l) nl n2 ml.. Copy ROM to download RAM (ESC) - . ml1 ‘I*” CHR$(O) - Proportkmal Up until now, all the characters that your Delta has printed have been of a fixed width-either 10, 12, or 17 (or 5, 6 or 8.5 in enlarged mode) characters per inch. Whichever pitch you select, all the characters are the same width.
Creating igure Your Y-14. Own These 89 Characters download characters are defined as proportional characters.
- Delta 90 User’s Manual One thing to remember about defining proportional characters: a character cannot be wider than the specified width. That seems obvious enough! For example, if you specify a width of 6 for a character, the seventh through eleventh columns of dots [if you specified any) will not print. You must, however, send information (even if it is 0) for those columns when you define a character; Delta expects eleven characters following the (ESC) “*” CHR$(l) nl n2 sequence.
Creating Your Own Characters Hi ssi Standard 91 ssippi characters without proportional spacing proportional spacing Mississippi Download characters without Download characters with Figure 7-15.
Delta r igure 7-m. Lacn alglt 1s up 0J Jour mcllvldual User’s Manual characters. 10 'Programto define and print numerals 20 'Each numeral is made up of 4 characters (2 wide x 2 high) 38 DEF.DOWN.CHAR$= CHR$(27)+CHR$(42)+CHR$(l) 4$JDOWN.CHAR.PROP$= CHR$(27)+CHR$(88)+CHR$(l) 50 NOT.DOWN.CHAR.PROP$= CHR$(27)+CHR$(88)+CHR$(0) 60 LINE.7$ = CHR$(27)+CHR$(49): LINE.12$ = CHR$(27)+CHR$(50) 70 FOR Nl = 160 TO 200 '4 ASCII CHARS/NUMERAL 80 LPRINT DEF.DOWN.
Creating Your Own Characters 210 NUMERAL.BOT$(NUM)= CHR$(ASCII+ 2) + CHR$(ASCII + 3) 220 ASCII = ASCII + 4 230 NEXT NUM 240 BLANK$ = CHR$(200) 250 LPRINT DOWN.CHAR.PROP$;LINE.7$ 260 FOR NUM = 0 TO 9 270 LPRINT NUMERAL.TOP$(NUM);BLANK$; 280 NEXT NUM 290 LPRINT 300 FOR NUM = 0 TO 9 310 LPRINT NUMERAL.B~T$(NUM);BLANK$; 320 NEXT NUM 330 LPRINT NOT.DOWN.CHAR.PROP$; LINE.
Delta User’s Manual 94 630 DATA 11,64,0,96,1,48,15,48,15,16,15,0 640 ' SIX 650 DATA 11,0,96,0,112,0,=0,0,92,0,102,0 660 DATA 11,98,0,98,0,98,0,70,0,~4,0,6 670 DATA 11,7,8,23,8,55,8,99,0,65,0,64 680 DATA 11,0,96,0,112,1,62,1,30,1,14,0 690 ' SEVEN 700 DATA 11,0,16,8,6,8,6,8,6,8,6,8 710 DATA 9,70,8,102,8,54,8,6,0,2,0,0 720 DATA 11,0,64,0,96,0,120,0,124,0,30,1 730 DATA 9,6,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 740 ' EIGHT 750 DATA 11,0,0,0,0,24,36,24,102,24,102,0 760 DATA ii,67,0,67,0,99,28,34,28,34,28,0 770 DATA 11,12,18,4~+,
Creating Your Own Characters 95 TaMe Mixing download characters 7-3 with various print Normal width (Escape $1 Standard Characters modes Proportional (Escape X) * * Italic Pica * 1Elite I A Utility * * I - I Program If you’ve followed along this far you’ve probably become pretty proficient at designing download characters. And even the addition is getting easier! But this is a good computer application-computer Aided Design (CAD) for download characters.
96 Delta User’s Manual 139 Pl=l:M$=CHR$(179)+ STRING$(2,32):N$=STRING$(2,196)+ CHR$(197):L$=STRING$(2,196)+CHR$(193) llt(Tl LOCATE 4,lp:PRINT CHR$(218);CHR$(196); 15pIFOR I=1 TO la:PRINT CHR$(l96);CHR$(l94);CHR$(196); :NEXT I 16g PRINT CHR$(l96);CHR$(l9l):LOCATE 5,lg:FOR K=l TO 12:PRINT M$;:NEXT K:PRINT 17@ FOR J=l TO 6:LOCATE 5+Pl,l@:Pl=Pl+l:PRINT CHR$(195); lS@ FOR K=l TO l@:PRINT N$;:NEXT K 19@ PRINT CHR$(l96);CHR$(l96);CHR$(l8@):LOCATE s+Pl,lp:Pl=Pl+l 2@g FOR K=l TO 12:PRINT M$;:NEXT K 21@ PRINT:NEX
Creating L i ir I 1 j L : L- &. L . Your Own Characters 97 480 Z(G,H)=l:COLOR31,l:LOCATEX+4,Y+l@:PRINT SC$;:COLOR 7,g:RETURN 490 Z(G,H)=@:COLOR7,g:LOCATEX+4,Y+l@:PRINT CS$;:COLOR 7,g:RETURN 500 REM,**** GET OUT OF EDIT MODE **** 510 FOR I=2 TO 10:LOCATE 1,55:PRINT STRING$(20,32);:NEXTI 520 IF Z(G,H)=l THEN LOCATE X+4,Y+@:COLOR 7,g:PRINT SC$;:GOTO 540 530 IF Z(G,H)=@ THEN LOCATE X+4,Y+l0:COLOR7,g:PRINT 'I '1 .
Delta 98 User’s Manual 790 FOR I=20 TO 23:LOCATE 1,S:PRINT STRING$(55,32);:NEXTI 800 IF SH=l THEN SH=16 ELSE SH=0 810 Nl=AS:N2=PR+SH 820 FOR I=1 TO ll:MM$=MM$+CHR$(MM(I)):NEXT I 830 LPRINT CHR$(27);"*";CHR$(l);CHR$(Nl);CHR$(N2);MM$ 840 IF AN$="N" THEN LPRINT CHR$(27);"$";CHR$(l) :GOTO 860 850 LPRINT CHR$(27);"X";CHR$(l) 860 FOR I=1 TO 20:LPRINT CHR$(Nl);" ";:NEXT 1:LPRINT 870 LPRINT CHR$(14);:FORI=1 TO l@:LPRINT CHR$(Nl);" ";:NEXT 1:LPRINT CHR$(20) 880 LPRINT CHR$(lS);:FORI-l TO 20:LPRINT CHR$(Nl);" ";:
