8-Bit Software Online Conversion

                        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.                   