Star Micronics SG-15, SG-10 user manual 000 1011 = Ildecirnal

We’ll be discussing proportional character widths in detail later in this chapter; for now, we’ll leave it at 11. The descender data was discussed earlier: to use the top eight pins, this bit should be 1; to use the bottom eight pins this bit should be 0. Figure 9-10 shows the bits of the attribute byte as we’ll use them for our flask character. By now you’ve probably seen an easier way to determine the value of the attribute byte. Instead of translating everything to binary, merely assign the descender data a value of 128 (the value of the first bit) if you dont’t want descenders, or 0 if you want descenders. Then just add the descender data to the proportional width. This way, it’s simply a matter of adding two decimal numbers. (In our case, it’s 128 + 11 = 139.)

0 000 1011 = Il(decirnal) /

DescenderStartingEnding

data print column print column

Figure 9-10.The attribute byte (m0) for our flask character.

You’ll probably recognize ml...mlZ from the top of our layout grid. That’s right, each column is described by one byte. Now we’ve got everything we need to download one character to the printer. The complete command for our flask character with the STAR mode is shown in Figure 9- 11.

~R$(27)CHR$(42)CHR$(l)CHR$(~6~)CHR$(~6~)CHR$(~~~)

Escape *1 nl n2 m9

CHR$(2)CHR$(5)CHR$(8)CHR$(241)CHR$(@)CHR$(@)

ml m2 m3 m4 m5 m6

CHR$(24l)CHR$(8)CHR$(5)CHR$(2)CHR$(@

m7 m8 m9 ml9 ml1

Figure 9-11. This is the complete command to send our flask character to the SG-lo/15 printer.

Now let’s send the information to the printer. But, before you send the information, be sure that the DIP switch l-5 is set off position. If not, set it correctly while the power is off, then, turn the power on again. The following program will send the character definitions for all three characters with the STAR mode to the

printer. Enter the program and run it.

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