Graphics Character Set

The LX-80 printer’s Read Only Memory (ROM) also contains the 32 graphics characters that you see in Figure 6-6.

Figure 6-6. Special graphics characters

Undoubtedly you can think of uses for many of the shapes and symbols available in this set, and you can combine the line graphics characters (the ones on the first row) to form various sizes and shapes of boxes and other figures that use straight lines.

To print these graphics characters you must use either a programming language or a computer with a graphics shift or other special key that allows you to send graphics codes.

Sending the codes for these characters to the printer is a two-step process just as it is for the international characters. In BASIC, first you send CHR$(27)“ m”CHR$(4) to turn on the graphics character set, then you send the code numbers given in Figure 6-6. After you have used the ESCape code to turn on the graphics character set, the LX-80 prints the codes from 128 through 159 as graphics characters.

You can change pitch and weight with the graphics characters just as you can with the other characters in the ROM of the LX-80. The characters in Figure 6-6 are printed in expanded elite. The printout below shows the characters in pica:

52