Epson LX-80, Operating Manual

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Graphic s
If yo u fi nd s trange dot patterns appearing in the middl e of your
gra ph ics, a nd a t the end of the line of graphics there are text c h arac -
ters yo u did not intend , y our computer may be sending a carriage
ret u rn a nd line feed when you did not expect them. You m ay need
to c h ange t h e print width with a command like the WIDTH com -
ma n d in M icrosoft BASIC . See your computer document a ti on.
Ma n y co mput e rs have probl e ms sending one or more of th e codes
be t wee n 0 a nd 13. Try to avoid these characters if possibl e . You
may also be abl e to bypass th e printer interface softw a r e which
removes so m e of these code s. Where solutions are known th ey are
given later i n thi s appendix .
Seven -b it co mputers cannot use the eighth pin (128). If y ou h ave a
7 - bit com puter and any of your graphics data numbers is lar ge r than
127, yo u wi ll have to redesign the graphics . This is covered l a t er in
this appe n dix in gre a ter detail than is possible here.
Be sure t h at no other commands or carriage returns come b etween
t h e grap h ics command and its data . See Chapter 9 .
If the pr in te r " fre e zes " in graphics mode, you have sent a di fferent
n um ber of da t a codes from the one you specified in the comm and.
T h e printer ex pects a certain number of pin patterns, determin ed by
n1 a n d n 2. I t will wait patiently until the quota is fulfilled. T a k e extra
care w i t h 9- pin graphics mode since it requires two data b y t es for
eac h co lumn o f graphics.
W idth problems
If yo u a r e no t able to get a full page in width, check wheth e r you
have set th e margins by switching off and on again. You m ay n eed
to c h a n ge th e print width with a command like the WIDTH c om-
ma n d in Mi c rosoft BASIC . See your computer document a ti o n .
If you are se tting the width with a 7-bit computer , rememb e r you
a r e l im it e d t o widths of 0-127, 256-383 , 512-639 , etc. S ee the
7 - b it subsec ti o n later in this appendix.
Problem s with irregular darkness of printing
Check that t h e ribbon i s s eat e d correctly . It may need repl ac in g if
yo u h ave bee n using it for a long time or for a large amoun t of
printing. It may occur in conjunction with the next problem .