by Steven Flintham (15A) Introduction This is a simple printer driver for
View which supports bold and
underlined text with correct printing
of pound and hash signs. It also
allows the use of microspacing.
Assembling the driver To assemble the driver just run the
program EpsonS, which creates a file
called Driver. You will need BASIC 2
or later to do this. A pre-assembled
version is supplied for convenience so
you only need to assemble the driver
if you modify it.
Using the driver To load the driver into View just use
the command:
PRINTER DRIVER
Once loaded you can use the PRINT
command to print text, which may
contain highlights 1 and 2 to toggle
underlining and bold on and off. These
effects continue until they are
explicitly switched off and are not
automatically cancelled at the end of
a line. Pound and hash signs will be
printed correctly by switching between
the UK and US character sets as
appropriate.
To use microspacing type:
MICROSPACE 12
after loading the driver. I don't know
how to turn microspacing off after
turning it on, so the driver may or
may not work correctly if you turn
microspacing off afterwards. Having to
specify 12 after the command is
annoying but I don't think there's any
way round it.
Customising the driver To customise the driver you will need
to modify EpsonS and reassemble it.
The easiest modification is to change
the control codes used for various
functions, which are set up at the end
of the program. As noted in the
comments in the program you cannot
send codes greater than 127 and you
should avoid changing the order of the
sequences. Each sequence can be as
long as you like (subject to View's
restriction that the whole driver fits
in 256 bytes); the last byte in each
sequence is detected by the fact that
it has had 128 added to it. (This does
not affect the byte sent to the
printer as the driver removes the 128.)
If you are not using a font with 10
characters per inch you will need to
alter the variable font#pitch in
PROCinit. This is the width of each
character in 1/120ths of an inch; it
is not the pitch of the characters.
Rather confusingly 10 pitch has
characters 12/120ths of an inch across
and 12 pitch has characters 10/120ths
of an inch across. You also need to
use the new value of font#pitch in the
MICROSPACE command given to View to
turn microspacing on.
Warning I have not tested the driver
extensively and it may not work
correctly. You use it entirely at your
own risk.
Contacting me If you have any problems or
suggestions for improvements then feel
free to write to me:
Steven Flintham
6 Laythorpe Avenue
Skegness
Lincolnshire
PE25 3BX
I can't promise to fix any problems or
make any suggested improvements,
however. If you want a reply then
please enclosed a stamped
self-addressed envelope. If you are
sending a disc I can handle any
standard Acorn format (DFS/ADFS, 40/80
track, 5.25/3.5 inch).
Copyright The driver is genuine public domain
software and I impose no restrictions
on it's use whatsoever. I would be
grateful if you credited me and
distributed this documentation (or a
suitably modified version of it) with
any drivers based on it but I do not
(and cannot, having placed the driver
in the public domain) insist on this.