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If you selectnear letter quality, the character box is the same size but
nowhas 16 (high)x23 (wide) dot positions.Each dot is represented bytwo
adjacentsharp signs,occupyingits ownposition andthe positionto the right.
Thisreflects the fact that the printer stillcannot print horizontally adjacent
dots, but that even skippingevery other dot, the dots appear joined when
printed.
Anear-letter-qualitycharacter is represented by 46 bytes of dot data,
two bytesfor each column. Near-letter-quality charactersare printed in two
passesof the print head, the paper scrollinghalf adot up betweenthe passes.
The first 23 bytes of dot data represent the first pass; the next 23 bytes
representthe second pass.In each columnthe first, third,fifth, ...dots belong
to the first-pass byte and the second, fourth, sixth, ... dots belong to the
second-passbyte.
Amaximumof 78 near-letter-quality characters can be defined.
The filecreated by this program contains the following printer com-
mands:
1. <Esc >“:” <() ><()> <()> (standard mode) or <Fs >“:” <0>
<()><0> (IBM mode) to COpythe printer’sregular characters into
download memory. If you leave adownload character undefined, the
regular character willbe printed.
2. <ESC>“ < > < E > “ < s draft or near letter
quality,
3. One <ESC>“&” <O> <cc> <cc> <a> <pl >... command for
eachcharacter defined. <cc> is thecharacter code, <a>isthe attribute
byte, and <PI >... are the 11(draft) or 46 (near letter quality) bytes
of dot data. This program usesonly the most significant bit of the at-
tribute byte. It does not set the other bits, which are concerned with
proportional spacing.
Thisprogram is coded in Microsoft BASIC for IBM-PC. The WIDTH
255 command in line 1010means infinite line width and prevents the
computer from inserting unwanted line feedsin the character data. Some
versionsof BASICdo not need the WIDTH command. Check your BASIC
manual and make any changesnecessary.
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