Star Micronics user manual Getting Started With Delta, First, some terminology

Page 31

‘

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. If ail else fails, though, your Star dealer will be happy to give you some advice.

Some programs don’t ask you what kind of printer you have, but instead they ask some questions about what your printer can do. Here are the answers to the “most asked” questions. Delta can do a “backspace”. Delta can do a “hardware form feed”.

With these questions answered, you are ready to start print- ing. Read the manual that came with your commercial software to see how to make it send information for Delta to print. This is ail you need to know to use Delta as a regular printer. But Delta isn’t just a regular printer. Delta has many capabilities that your com- mercial software isn’t aware of. A little later we will see what it takes to use some of Delta’s advanced features with commercial software.

First, some terminology

Delta knows what to print because it knows how to interpret the codes that the computer sends to it. These codes are numbers that the computer sends to Delta. Both the computer and Delta know the meaning of these codes because they are a set of stand- ard codes used by almost ail microcomputers. This set of codes is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which is usually referred to as ASCII (pronounced ask-key). There are ASCII codes for all the letters of the alphabet, both lower case and capital, the numbers from 0 to 9, most punctuation marks, and some (but not all) of Delta’s functions.

ASCII codes are referred to in several different ways, depend- ing on the way they are used. Some times these codes are treated as regular numbers. For example, the letter “A” is represented by the number 65 in ASCII. Appendix M shows ail of the ASCII codes.

In BASIC, ASCII codes are used in the CHR$ function. This function is used to print the character that is represented by the number in the CHR$ function. The BASIC statement PRINT CHR$(65) will print an “A” on the terminal.

In some other programming languages, ASCII codes are referred to by their hex value. “Hex” is short for hexadecimal which is a base-16 number system. (Our usual numbers are base-

Page 30 Page 32
Image 31
Page 30 Page 32
Contents Delta User’s Manual @Copyright 1983 Star Micronics, Inc Special Message to the New Owner Delta User’s Manual Table of Contents Formatting Your Output Special Features Delta PrinterCreating Your Own Characters Getting It All Together Maintenance Appendix E Osborne, Kaypro and CP/M Computers Appendix D TRS-60 ComputersAppendix F Atari 400/800 Computers Appendix Appendix DIP Switch SettingsAppendix Character Style Charts Appendix Commodore VIC-20 ComputersSerial busy protocols XONlXOFF Protocol ACK protocol Index Consumer Response 309 DIP Switch Quick ReferenceWarranty Inside Back Cover Command Quick Reference Delta User’s ManualTables Xii Delta User’s Manual Closer Look Roll paper holder and holder shaft used only with roll Paper separator and paper guide used with roll paperPage Paper Selection and Loading Parallel interface connector the place where you hookLoading single sheets Delta User’s Manual Loading roll paper Delta User’s Manual Loading sprocket-feed paper Closer LookOpen the tractor covers to expose the sprocket teeth Figure I-10.Delta ready to run with sprocket-feed paper Bottom feeding Delta-15Delta User’s Manual Ribbon Installation Self-Test Closer Look Delta User’s Manual Getting Started With Delta Using Commercial Sojtware First, some terminology Getting Started With DeltaAscii Using Delta with word processors Using Delta with SuperCalcPage Getting Started With Delta Using this book without learning BasicOPEN4,4 CMD4 List PRINT#4 CLOSE4 ListEstablishing communications CHR$ function NEW Lprint Testing RUNNEW NEW LPRINTCHR$7 RUNEscape Code NEW LPRINTCHR$27CHR$52 2$3LPRINT Testing RUNESC$=CHR$27 l@ LPRINTESC$ Some problem codesDelta User’s Manual Chapter Printing Text With DeltaLprint NOW WE are Back to Pica Pitch Printing Print pitch Commands@ Lprint this is Elite Pitch Printing Lprint Condensedis the NarrowestpitchH153 LPRINTCHR$27W CHR$@NOW Were Back to NormalExpanded print I sMaking Delta print darker Print CommandsLPRINTCHR$14EXPANDEDELITE Pitch Lprint NOW WE are Back to Unexpandedpica PrintingLprint this is DOUBLE-STRIKEPRINTING Print EmDhasis a CommandsItalic printing Italic CommandsSuperscripts and subscripts UnderJiningNEW Lprint Thisline Uses Superscript Subscript commandsMixing modes Build Instructionset Return LPRINTRESET.ALL$Lprintelites Elite LPRINTPICA$ Pica LPRINTRESET.ALL$ Return REGULAR.HEADING$= STRING$27,*+ RegularIf ENLARGED= True then Lprint Italics = False LPRINTROMAN$Repeatwith Italics If Pica = False then LPRINTFOUR.DOT$ GOTO3590Control Code Function Here is the chart it producesPage Delta User’s Manual Line Spacing and Forms Control Changing Line Spacing This is what you will get Run the program again. Now the results will look like this Line spacing CommandsMoving down the page without a carriage return NEW Lprint LinenumberForm feed Forms ControlsChanging the Page Length Form length commandsLprint PAY to the Order Top and bottom margin commandsLineSpacingandFormsControl51 Control code SummaryESC Delta User’s Manual Formatting Your Output NEW Lprint ONECHR$9TWOCHR$9THREE CHR$9 Four Left and right margin commands One-shot tab command13@ Lprint Return 5B ENDLPRINTCHR$27P CHR$l@ CHR$Z@CHR$@ Control Code Function One-shot vertical tab commandNow hear this LChapterInitializing Delta Bell commandsUnidirectional printing Some Miscellaneous commandsPutting Delta to sleep Printing to the bottom of the sheetNext Lprint LprintPrinting Direction Backspace and delete NEW Lprint Backspacedoes notLprint I===WORK Lprint Deletedoes not Lprint WorkEighth Bit controls Block graphics characters and special symbols3pl Lprint I II=11CHR$ICHR$9 4pI Next I Lprint Next J International character sets International Character set commandsMacro control code Macro instruction Commands END Macro StartdefinitionMacro Lprint CHR$18 Pica OFF RegularprintControl code Function Bell Disable bell Enable bell Reset Off-lineOn-lineDelta User’s Manual Creating Your Own Characters Dot Matrix Printing 000 0 eeeS&fee Rule I Download characters are seven dots high Defining Your Own CharactersRule 2 Dots cannot overlap Add up each column of dots 8WRONGCreating YourOwn Characters Assigning a value to your character Download character definition commandCharacter designs for the four card suits Figure Y-10. The attribute byte n2 for our heart character Next MPrinting Download Characters LPRINTCHR$27CHR$36CHR$@ DEFINTA-Z DECKCARD=X Next Card Return Read X LPRINTCHR$XNext J Next Lprint ReturnLPRINTSUIT$SUIT Proportkmal Characters Download Character dejfinition commands12@ Lprint CHR$BITS 138 Next Only Difference Is the way They Are Accessed Creating Your Own Characters Lprint DEF.DOWN.CHAR$ NUMERAL.BOT$NUM= CHR$ASCII+ 2 + CHR$ASCII+ Mixing Print Modes with Download Characters Utility Program Gosub 950RETURN Gosub 660 Return REM **** Display Menu for Edit Mode Summary
Top Page Image Contents