FX-286 can put a dot (dot positions), but only half of them can be used on any one pass of the print head. Having twice as many possible dot positions enables high-speed double-density designs to have a higher resolution than single-density ones even though consecutive dots are not used.

You are familiar with the command format that uses the ESCape code and a letter, but FX-286 graphics commands in the Epson mode can also be in the following format:

LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(m)CHR$(n1)CHR$(n2);

with m being the mode number found in the left column of Table 6-1. As usual, n1 and n2 reserve the number of columns for graphics. The eight modes include seven densities, with two speeds for double- density

Reassigning Code

The FX-286 (in the Epson mode only) has a graphics command that changes one graphics mode to another. You can use it with many commercial graphics software programs to change the density and shape of your printouts. The code is ESCape "?s" n, where s is one of the four alternate graphics codes (K, L, Y, or Z) and n is the number of the new code (O-6).

For example, if you send the following code before you run a graphics program, it will change every instance of mode “Y” (high-speed double-density) to mode 5 (one-to-one).

LPRINT CHR$(27)"?Y"CHR$( 5)

As usual, this example is in BASIC, but you can send the code in any programming language.

Even if you don’t know which code your graphics program uses, a little experimentation should tell you whether the reassigning code can improve your graphics printouts.

Column Reservation Numbers

Now that you’ve seen the rest of the eight-pin graphics densities and the reassigning code, this section explains in more detail the part of the graphics command that reserves the number of columns for graphics (the numbers n1 and n2 in the examples).

6-10