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Chapter 1

Incorrect

Ribbon

Incorrect

Correct

Figure 1-4C

Wind the ribbon tight again with the little plastic knob, and it’s all set to go.

You may notice a sticker with the words EXCHANGE TIMES pasted on the

ribbon cartridge. This is a remnant of an early plan to refill the cartridges when
the ribbon wears out. That idea was abandoned, at least for the time being.

Matching the Printer to the Computer

At this point, a decision should be made. If the information we need isn’t
available, we’ll decide to defer the decision. Isn’t that how all good bu-

reaucracies work?

Some computers, like the Apple, tell the printer to roll the paper up one line

each time the print head returns to the left after printing a line. Technically, we

say each CR (Carriage Return) is accompanied by an LF (Line Feed).

Other computers, like the TRS-80, rely on the printer to know enough to insert
its own LF when it receives a CR. Either way is just fine with the MX-70 since it
can be wired either way.

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Summary of Contents for MX-70

Page 1: ...User s Manual for MX 70 Printer by David A Lien COMPUSOFT PUBLISHING A Division of CompuSoft Inc P O Box 19669 l San Diego California 92119 U S A ...

Page 2: ...ransmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical photocopying recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions Neither is any liability...

Page 3: ...his equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equip ment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient the receiving antenna Relocate the computer with respect to the receiver Move the computer into a different outlet so that computer and re ceiver are on differe...

Page 4: ...Trademark Acknowledgements TRS 80 is a Trade Mark of Radio Shack Centronics is a Trade Mark of Centronics Inc Apple is a Trade Mark of Apple Computers Inc Microsoft is a Trade Mark of Microsoft Inc ...

Page 5: ...king for top value in a printer for general utility use and high resolution graphics WHO NEEDS A LEARNERS MANUAL FOR A PRINTER The answer ALMOST EVERYONE EXCEPT A COMPUTER PROFESSIONAL Today s printers are very sophisticated compared to those of even a year ago Most are not fully utilized because the instructions are too vague and confus ing We re doing our best to eliminate that problem with the ...

Page 6: ...vi ...

Page 7: ... Dump Program Appendix A ASCII Charts for MX 70 Appendix B Control Codes Appendix C Character Set Appendix D TRS 80 Differences Appendix E Use with Atari Appendix F Use with Apple Appendix G Special Notes on Other Computers Languages Interfaces Appendix H Technical Specifications Appendix I Control Circuit Board and Initialization Appendix J Pinout Chart Appendix K Parallel Interface Timing Append...

Page 8: ...USER S SERVICE MANUAL WARNING High voltage exists inside this unit and the case should be opened only by a qual ified person viii ...

Page 9: ...USER S SERVICE MANUAL WARNING High voltage exists inside this unit and the case should be opened only by a qual ified person v i i i ...

Page 10: ...res so closely parallel the printers What s taught here applies to all computers though not all are powerful enough to utilize every MX 70 feature More on that in good time Impatient readers should head for the appendices and usual reference materials at the back The rest of us will believe that this is no ordinary printer and take the time to learn to use it right the first time A good working kn...

Page 11: ...X ...

Page 12: ... paper We also need a cable to connect the printer to our particular computer Your Epson dealer can provide cables that match the Apple TRS 80 and other computers If you use a non Epson cable make sure it is wired properly We have tried many other cables that should work but don t The MX 70 uses the Centronics Standard Parallel Interface scheme Users whose computers require other interfacing schem...

Page 13: ...ect the MX 70 from damage during shipping Shipping Screws Turn the printer over and lay it on a soft surface Using a Phillips type screw driver remove the shipping screws and save them in case you decide later to lend the printer to Aunt Bernice in Ohio These screws are in place during ship ping to protect the printer from damage and are located as shown in Figure l 3 Shipping Screws Figure 1 3 Tu...

Page 14: ...m its box and turn the plastic knob coun terclockwise so the ribbon is tight Figure l 4A Figure 1 4A Hold the cartridge by its vertical fin sounds like a shark Steer the 4 tabs on its sides into the 4 slots in the printer s metal frame Figure 1 4B Press the cartridge firmly into place Figure 1 4B Using a pencil or your fingers lift the ribbon onto the slot in front of the print head as shown in Fi...

Page 15: ...r to the Computer At this point a decision should be made If the information we need isn t available we ll decide to defer the decision Isn t that how all good bu reaucracies work Some computers like the Apple tell the printer to roll the paper up one line each time the print head returns to the left after printing a line Technically we say each CR Carriage Return is accompanied by an LF Line Feed...

Page 16: ...over the 4 holes so the screws won t fall out when we tip the printer right side up again Figure 1 6 Now tip the printer right side up again Gently wiggle the top cover loose Wires are booked to it We are not going to completely remove the cover only open it enough to gain access to the main wiring board Lift the cover up mostly from the left side and slide it gently to the right to free it from t...

Page 17: ... pull up gently on its colored top To lock a wire in place insert it fully in a terminal and press the colored top down Pull gently on the wire to be sure it is securely locked If the auto wire is connected to the red or orange terminal the printer relies on the computer to send its own LF along with CR That s what s needed for Apple type computers If the auto wire is connected to the white termin...

Page 18: ...s If not sure put it back together and don t tighten the screws The cover goes back on the way it came off very carefully Printer Cable Connection We re getting closer to the good stuff Be sure both the computer and printer are turned off Connect the printer cable to the printer only not to the computer It plugs into the only jack on the back of the MX 70 case Epson dealers can supply cables to ma...

Page 19: ...he MX 70 accepts pin feed paper between 4 and 10 wide Both the left and right hand tractors are adjustable to match the spacing between the drive holes We never get too far from the land do we Position the box or stack of paper behind and below the printer Reliable operation depends somewhat on the weight of the paper keeping itself taut Figure 1 9 Figure 1 9 8 ...

Page 20: ...or position lock levers are shown in Figure l 10 Position the paper holes on top of the tractor teeth and close the tractor covers Adjust one or both tractors so the paper is centered as you wish it and is held firmly in place Push the bail back up against the paper Roll the paper forward with the roller knob The printer moves paper forward only and never looks back If we must turn the roller back...

Page 21: ...ll it towards the front of the printer Push the lever towards the rear of the printer to produce slightly darker print Figure 1 11 Plugging it in One more item and we ll be off and running Printers sold in the U S and Canada are designed for a standard 12OV 60Hz outlet and have a 3 wire ground plug Do not attempt to defeat the grounding When you ve located a proper outlet see that the POWER switch...

Page 22: ...the printer with plenty of paper Turn the printer OFF Hold the FEED button down and turn the printer back ON at the same time GO WOW Look at that son of a gun go Watch the head printing Move the paper bail out of the way to see it better but keep your fingers and hair out of the hardware When the printer stops advance the paper forward with the FEED button and tear off the self test run Hang it up...

Page 23: ...al dot is printed To take advantage of these fea tures however the comptuer has to be able to send these special code numbers As we will see each with his own computer not all computers can send all code numbers With printer technology advancing faster than computer technology the computer has replaced the printer as the weak link in the system The Code Courier In many cases the easiest way to sen...

Page 24: ...o print HI RES graphics on the MX 70 even if they can t print those same graphics on their video screen Think about that one for a minute To meet the needs of the maximum possible number of users the first 7 chapters assume use of a simple 16K non disk system Users with more elabo rate systems can either pull the disk controller card and follow along or see Appendix F for special BASIC disk consid...

Page 25: ...astric acidity I respectfully suggest referring to a copy of the second edition of The BASIC Handbook by your humble servant If you are using an Apple computer continue straight ahead If it s a TRS 80 System 80 PMC 80 or any other machine using a similar Microsoft type BASIC GOSUB immediately to Appendix D Atari users GOSUB to Appendix E If it s any other computer that requires a special interface...

Page 26: ...OR P 1 TO 24 TRS 80 and most other Microsoft 20 PRINT P 30 NEXT P BASICS use LPRINT in Line 20 and RUN If the printing is single spaced 6 lines per inch skip to the next paragraph If the printing is double spaced go back inside the printer to switch the auto wire to the other terminal Don t forget to turn off all the power first Remember RED CAP NO LF ADDED WHITE CAP ADDS LF TO EACH CR RECEIVED If...

Page 27: ...ing it OFF and ON Yep just like they had to do on the first space shuttle flight It may even be necessary to shut the computer down cold and start over from the beginning The printer has its own internal computer and the two computers talk to each other If one decides to throw a temporary snit we have to get in between them and cool things down It doesn t happen often but as with any computer a gl...

Page 28: ... inserting a REM before each line removing the REMs as we progress A third alternative is to leave the program intact and temporarily insert an END at Line 15 shifting it down the program as we progress Take your pick Line 10 is straightforward It PRINTed the greetings starting 14 spaces from the left Type it in and RUN watching the head action as it prints G R E E T I N G S F R O M T H E G R A P ...

Page 29: ...inting the double width feature is automatically turned off Now that we understand line 20 let s add it in and RUN our 2 line program G R E E T I N G S F R O M T H E G R A P H I C M X 7 0 Figure 2 5 Pretty nice eh If you wish do another LIST Look at the printout to feel confident that DOUBLE WIDTH really got switched off The programming in line 30 is a bit more exotic It consists of only 1 PRINT s...

Page 30: ...will just sit and wait until that quota is satisfied CHR 0 tells the printer that we decline to send another 256 charac ters If that latter point seems a bit obscure don t worry We ll get a more detailed explanation of what that means and plenty of practice in the graphics chapter Just follow along with the act for now Model I TRS 80 users note the Model I cannot send a CHR 0 reliably to the print...

Page 31: ... now Line 70 starts out with a TAB and two character codes It s back to the ASCII chart Appendix A to see that 98 and 121 are the codes for lower case b and y We ve already used CHR 14 and seen that it puts the printer in double width mode Add line 70 70 PRINTTAB 20 CHR 98 CHR l2l CHR l4 EPSON and RUN Very nice This has been a feature packed chapter but it gave us a good introduction to some varie...

Page 32: ...Chapter 2 Special Escape Codes CHR 27 The BASIC ASCII combination for Escape Special code used with letter codes K The letter K Kicks ON graphics mode when preceded by Escape Example PRINT CHR 27 K 22 ...

Page 33: ...e simply switch back and forth between single and double WIDTH The result is quite impressive Type in this simple program 9 PR 1 Apple only Apple disk uses 9 PRINT CHR 4 PR 1 10 PRINT TAB 10 TRS type uses LPRINT 20 PRINT CHRS 14 DOUBLE CHR 20 WIDTH CHARACTERS 30 PRINT ADD CHRS 14 EMPHASIS 39 PR 0 Apple only Apple disk uses 39 PRINT CHR 4 PRO and RUN Figure 3 l Note carefully where the spaces are p...

Page 34: ...n 13 is used Both sizes are 81 wide with no more than 8 used for printing Standard typewriter or printer spacing is 6 lines per inch or 66 lines per 11 inch page 78 lines for a legal length page A new line is started each l 6 As we ve already seen standard character spacing is 80 characters per line or 10 per horizontal inch Having reviewed and documented these dull facts and traditions we re plea...

Page 35: ...e the paper is in position cycle the printer OFF then on again This electronically sets the top of form memory known in the biz as TOF at the current paper position Despite what follows the printer always remembers where the top of the next sheet of paper is even if WE don t It has a memory like an elephant Type in this new program 9 PR l 20 FOR N 1 TO 66 30 PRINT N 40 NEXT N 49 PR 0 and RUN Apple...

Page 36: ... from Hmmmm Knit 1 Pearl 2 That s right Every PRINT statement automatically sends a Line Feed to the printer We forgot to include a trailing semicolon in Line 45 to surpress it Sounds simple enough Let s change Line 45 to 45 PRINT CHR 12 and RUN again Time Out for Controlled Confusion We are genuinely on the horns of a dilemma Since the Apple PR 0 disconnects the printer before the final Line Feed...

Page 37: ...ata lines or even from the keyboard then printing it in a specific format on the forms Understanding and appreciating that concept is vital to understanding how FF is used Now if we can delay execution of the extra Line Feeds caused by sending form control commands we can effectively forget them Sort of like taxes Delay them long enough and they don t matter We learned long ago in our study of Ele...

Page 38: ...r us to set the form length Add line 10 10 PRINT CHR 27 C CHR 33 ESC C followed by CHR establishes how many lines are to be on the form the Form Length It also resets the Top Of Form to the current print head position so be careful when using it The form length can be from 1 to 127 lines long We will set it to 33 The semicolon at the end of Line 10 delays the inevitable LF until the program ends S...

Page 39: ...re designed for the 40 column Apple screen TABS past the 40 column limit are treated as strings of blank spaces There are 50 blank spaces between the 45 and 50 What s this business about an Apple a day There are several ways around the problem One is to TAB over with PRINT statements containing blanks between the quotes A nicer way not available on the Apple II is to use STRING See The BASIC Handb...

Page 40: ...unt from 0 to 255 to specify the above 256 codes 2 to the 8th power is 256 If you aren t fluent in Binary math it still does Hang in there Many computers and printer interfaces only support 7 bits of code data hence transmit to the printer only the ASCII code numbers between O 127 At this writing Epson s Apple parallel interface card is in this category since Apple BASIC does not control the eight...

Page 41: ...atrix or grid system where each letter number and punctua tion mark is formed by an arrangement of dots As we have seen this complex printing process takes place very quickly The pins fire only in groups or clusters The firing patterns are already pro grammed inside the printer matching the alphanumerics letters and numbers and symbols found in our ASCII charts No we cannot fire an individual need...

Page 42: ...s high What Appendix C doesn t show is that the spacing between the lines is a fixed 5 dots This makes each text line a total of 12 dots high Blank Space Blank Lines Blank Lines Figure 4 4 Top of Line Top of Line Here s another way of looking at it There are 12 dots from the top of one row of text to the top of the next row Since the spacing between each pin on the print head is l 72 each line req...

Page 43: ...ws of graphics The Line Spacing is Variable Now that we understand the dot matrix concept and standard 12 dot top to top vertical spacing let s learn how to change it to suit our specific needs Type in this NEW program 9 PR l 20 PRINT LINE ONE 30 PRINT LINE TWO 40 PRINT LINE THREE 49 PR 0 Apple Apple and RUN L I N E O N E L I N E T W O LINE THREE Figure 4 5 Nothing new here Just like we re used to...

Page 44: ...e printer To dramatically illustrate the possibilities this feature opens up DELETE lines 30 and 40 and change the following lines 5 S l 1 DOT TRS use S 129 9 PR 1 Apple 10 PRINT CHR 27 A CHR S 20 PRINT LINE ONE S TRS use S 128 49 S S 1 GOT0 10 Line 5 starts us off with a dot spacing of l 72 Line 10 brings in the dot number S as a variable Line 20 prints the dot spacing in 72nds of an inch Line 49...

Page 45: ...when we STOPped the program That spacing is now the new standard replacing our power up value of 12 dots l 6 We can however easily shift back to the original default line spacing by just sending PRINT CHR 27 2 Try it then type LIST Ah Sanity has returned Whenever we send ESC 2 the spacing returns to the power up value of 6 lines per inch 12 vertical dots per line There are two other ways of return...

Page 46: ...derlin ing dashes in the right places TRS 80 zealots can refer to Chapter 2 open up the printer and move the auto line feed wire to the red terminal This means absolutely no line feeds unless we send a CHR 10 each time one is needed This technique does permit underlining but for all practical purposes it s impractical Underlining should not be confused with just moving down one line then printing ...

Page 47: ...in that category We d better drop the underline down one dot UNDERLINE WORKS Figure 4 6 Change line 10 to 10 PRINT CHR 27 A CHR l and RUN Compare this RUN with the previous one It s looking better isn t it Let s drop the underline position down one more dot Go ahead can you figure out what to do Here is how the program works Line 10 sets line spacing to 1 DOT 1 Line 20 PRINTS something we want to ...

Page 48: ...mal 12 DOTS Line 50 PRINTS more text to show that all is normal and that s plenty to think about in this chapter Code Summary CHR 27 A CHR SETS LINE SPACING TO DOTS O 85 CHR 27 2 RETURNS LINE SPACING TO 12 DOTS CHR 10 LINE FEED CHR 13 CARRIAGE RETURN CHR 95 UNDERLINE CHARACTER 39 ...

Page 49: ...ots plus 1 blank column That comes to 480 columns in each row Good grief Fortunately we don t have to fill all 480 columns on every line In fact the first thing we do when entering graphics mode is tell the printer how many columns of dots we will send it a row at a time Warp 3 The graphics mode is entered by sending the printer a cluster or sequence of 3 codes FORMAT ESC K N1 N2 EXAMPLE CHR 27 K ...

Page 50: ...CHR 1 Since N2 CHR 1 256 is added to N1 44 256 300 Not really so bad Pass the Saki Enter these lines but don t RUN 9 PR 1 Apple 10 PRINT CHR 27 K CHR 50 CHR 0 TRS 80 Model I use 10 LPRINT CHR 27 K CHR 50 CHR 2 The Model I can t send CHR 0 reliably and ANY EVEN number is inter preted as a zero in the ESC K sequence here in Graphtrax II How many columns is line 10 reserving 50 or 306 Answer 50 Don t...

Page 51: ...at fire the respective pins CHR 128 fires the top pin while CHR 1 k es the bottom one CHR 7 fires the bottom three 4 2 1 Just no way to escape Binary math when dealing with computers is there Add these lines 20 FOR P 1 TO 5 0 30 PRINT CHR l 40 NEXT P 50 PRINT 59 PR 0 Apple and RUN Sure enough fifty little dots CHR 1 in line 30 caused the bottom pin to fire The semicolon suppressed the line feeds T...

Page 52: ... pins labeled 1 4 and 16 Think it through now How about 1 4 1 6 2 1 Let s try 30 PRINT CHR 21 and RUN Oh winning is so much fun Don t be too concerned about what movie is playing on your video screen It may not know how to handle these codes It s what s happening on the printer that counts The Grand Scheme This is starting to make sense The logic pattern must be Pin Labels 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1...

Page 53: ...bit caper Like the lost chord Sigh Once again the printer can out perform a computer In the Apple s case the Epson Parallel Interface card deactivates the eighth bit so Apple users can control only 7 pins If it didn t bit 8 from the Apple would be on all the time firing pin 8 every time Most TRS 80s can control all 8 pins without difficulty Back to the Welcome Program We ve seen that each pin is a...

Page 54: ...er Line 50 of the welcome program does just that 50 PRINT CHR 2 INT 3 4 SIN I l The entire expression to the right of the exponent sign chooses an appropriate exponent for 2 The exponents determine which pin is fired giving us a nice sinusoidal curve Math types love it Who Sez We Ain t Got No Class Let s put the printer through some aerobic exercises with this NEW program 9 PR 1 Apple 10 PRINT CHR...

Page 55: ...or 7 pin graphics The G clef is printed in three lines Line 20 takes care of the looping Line 30 moves the figure away from the left margin Line 40 kicks the printer into graphics mode 14 columns per line Lines 50 70 read each code from the DATA lines and send it to the printer The NEXT R in line 70 sends control back to line 20 to start the next line Line 80 returns the line spacing back to 6 lin...

Page 56: ...active pins in graphics mode With that common computer deficiency in mind the examples in the remaining chapters are limited to 7 dots per line The limitation is not a crippling one We just have to adjust for it The same field of corn can be harvested by a 2 row corn picker as by a 4 row it just takes a little longer Users with superior computers can follow right along at our 7 dot clip knowing th...

Page 57: ...mal power up figure of 12 by ending every program with 900 PRINT CHR 27 2 999 PR 0 Non Apple owners use END instead Now we can RUN After 3 passes of the print head our printout should look like this Figure 6 1 What Are We Trying To Do We are creating a universal program that will READ and process large amounts of DATA and is simple to use READ and DATA statements are used since the DATA need be en...

Page 58: ...r of times something is to be repeated The second value of the pair will specify the desired combination of pins to be tired For example 100 DATA 42 127 means fire all 7 pins 127 42 times Think that one through before con tinuing Got it We also have to tell the printer the number of columns to print on each line Let s dedicate the first number in each DATA line to that purpose Enter this line of D...

Page 59: ...HEN PRINT CHR X GOT0 120 TRS 80 Model I 60 IF X 0 POKE 14312 X GOT0 120 65 IF PEEK 14312 63 THEN 65 If X is negative the line 60 test fails and execution falls through to Line 70 below where the G FOR NEXT loop is reset and the next value READ into Y from the DATA line Line 100 PRINTS it ABS X times Add these lines 70 G G X l 80 READ Y 90 FOR P 1 TO ABS X 100 PRINT CHR Y 110 NEXT P TRS Model I 100...

Page 60: ...120 70 G G X l 80 READ Y 90 FOR P 1 TO ABS X 100 PRINT CHR Y 110 NEXT P 120 NEXT G 130 PRINT 900 PRINT CHR 27 2 999 PR 0 Non Apple use END 1020 DATA 55 0 3 7 15 31 63 63 42 127 63 63 31 15 7 3 Summary of TRS 80 Model I changes 30 LPRINT CHR 27 K CHR N CHR 2 60 POKE 14312 X 65 IF PEEK 14312 63 THEN 65 100 POKE 14312 Y 105 IF PEEK 14312 63 THEN 105 Finally we are ready to try it out so RUN Figure 6 ...

Page 61: ... GOT0 900 TRS 80 etc use on ERROR GOTO 130 PRINT GOT0 20 Line 130 creates an infinite loop sending execution back to the READ statement after printing each line Line 15 gives the program a smooth ENDing when the DATA is all READ When there is no more DATA an OUT OF DATA error message appears and the program is cleanly ended even resetting the printer line spacing back to its power up default Let s...

Page 62: ...gram blew up For Experts Only The errors caused by these codes do not always occur but it is best to avoid them if possible Short of rewriting the program to circumvent these numbers one way is to bypass the PRINT statement and POKE our graphic codes directly to the printer driver in the computer s memory That memory address is 49296 CO90 Hex in the Apple and 14312 37E8 Hex in the TRS 80 Model I S...

Page 63: ...to type a few more lines Think of it as the price of greatness 1030 DATA 5 6 1 1 1 2 7 1 2 3 1 2 4 1 2 6 2 8 1 2 7 1 2 6 1 2 4 1 2 3 11 127 1040 DATA 5 5 0 9 6 1 2 0 1 2 7 1 2 6 7 1 2 7 6 3 1 5 3 1 2 5 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 2 4 1 2 6 1 6 1 2 7 1 2 6 1 2 4 1 2 0 1 1 2 1 2 5 3 1 5 6 3 7 1 2 7 1 2 6 1 2 7 1 2 0 9 6 1050 DATA 5 2 4 0 1 1 2 6 0 9 4 1 1 1 1 1 9 1 1 9 1 2 3 1 2 3 3 2 1 2 7 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 9 1 1 ...

Page 64: ...now have all the tools needed to design and print our own graphics Be sure to save the finished program as we will use it in the next chapter Code Summary 49296 POKE LOCATION FOR APPLE TO SEND INFO TO PRINTER 14312 POKE LOCATION FOR TRS 80 MODEL I 57 ...

Page 65: ...ailing semicolons on the ends of lines as needed to keep the printer from doing unwanted Line Feeds A few swift chops to our existing program will demonstrate the point We can use it as a SUBroutine to READ and PRINT a graphics string Change the following 10 PRINT CHR 27 A CHR l0 15 GOT0 140 130 RETURN Line 10 increases the line spacing to give our next figure a little breathing room 10 dot line h...

Page 66: ... parts 15 columns of graphics 30 columns of text 5 characters 15 columns of graphics Now we have to mix and match graphics and text on the same line First the graphics 160 GOSUB 20 1 7 0 D A T A 1 5 1 2 7 8 2 8 6 2 9 3 8 2 8 0 0 and RUN Figure 7 2 Then text 180 PRINT 82 CM and RUN Figure 7 3 And more graphics 190 GOSUB 20 200 DATA 15 0 0 8 28 93 62 28 8 127 and RUN 60 ...

Page 67: ...ample can send a full range of ASCII codes 0 to 255 8 bits via the CHR function A few must be poked as we ve seen These computers can therefore choose any graphics width from 0 to 480 columns Printer cards for Apple type computers typically pass ASCII numbers from 0 to 127 7 bits This forces us into extra programming and devious means to utilize the MX 70 s complete range of 480 graphics columns I...

Page 68: ...r lines up to the maximum of 480 columns To specify a line length greater than 255 the last number in the ESC K Nl N2 sequence must be a 1 Instead of changing line 30 we can accommodate the entire range of line widths by adding 25 IF N 255 THEN PRINT CHR 27 K CHR N 256 CHR l GOT0 40 If the desired line width N is greater than 255 CHR 1 adds 256 columns and CHR N 256 takes care of the difference Le...

Page 69: ...trings of more than 255 columns Unfortunately the biggest number of columns 7 bit computers can send is 383 the sum of 256 127 We can print 256 columns by making N2 equal to 1 plus the maximum of 127 more If we try and print 384 columns that extra 128 is intercepted reduced to zero and we end up with 256 If these details interest you play with line 150 Apple Pie BUT fear not We couldn t end this h...

Page 70: ... 1 TO 5 READ A 1 NEXT I 40 DATA 8 107 92 107 8 60 FOR R l TO 5 80 READ N 90 FOR I 1 TO N GOSUB 300 100 NEXT I PRINT 120 NEXT R 130 DATA 30 25 17 11 8 140 PRINT CHR 27 2 198 PR 1 Apple 199 END 300 PRINT CHR 27 K CHR S CHR B 310 FOR C l TO 5 320 PRINT CHR A C 330 NEXT C RETURN TRS 80 Model I 300 LPRINT CHR 27 K CHR S CHR 2 and RUN Figure 7 8 64 ...

Page 71: ... add a few labels and move the whole works over a bit 20 PRINT PRINTCHR 27 A CHR 7 50 GOSUB 200 PRINT 70 PRINT TAB 5 1990 R 80 GOSUB 200 READ N 110 GOSUB 200 PRINT 200 PRINT TAB 12 CHR 27 K CHR 5 CHR PI 210 FOR I 1 TO 5 PRINT CHR 127 NEXT I 220 RETURN TRS 80 Model I 200 LPRINT TAB 12 CHR 27 K CHR 5 CHR 2 and RUN Figure 7 9 That s better Subroutine 200 prints the vertical bar that separates the lab...

Page 72: ...3 CHR 14 POPULATION PROJECTION 140 PRINT PRINT TAB 37 GOSUB 300 150 PRINT 1 000 and RUN Figure 7 10 That s plenty for this chapter Code Summary PRINT CHR 9 255H Allows Apple users to print past column 255 without heartburn 66 ...

Page 73: ...ed to the Apple as the MX 80 graphics replicate the TRS 80 s this particular software is of interest only to Apple users Knowing this crazy field however some ingenious software writer work ing in his garage will probably come up with a partial HIRES program for use with our popular computers Meanwhile if you are using your MX 70 with another brand of computer you can just as well ignore this chap...

Page 74: ...llows is the HIRES diskette catalog of sample programs and files The CATALOG includes these programs HELLO HIRES INSTRUCTIONS EPSON HIRES OBJ The HELLO program loads the screen dump routine and prompts us with questions This is the program we are running now The HIRES INSTRUCTIONS program gives hints on how to use the screen dump The EPSON HIRES OBJ program is the actual screen dump routine writte...

Page 75: ...the picture we want to print Let s try PORTRAIT The computer reports LOADING PICTURE then IS THIS THE CORRECT PICTURE Y N flashes before our very eyes We type Y RETURN It wants to know more WHAT SIZE R REGULAR L LARGE Oh regular size is fine R RETURN Still more options so the next query is NORMAL N OR REVERSE R This can be a bit confusing NORMAL prints every white dot on the screen as a black dot ...

Page 76: ...No fair peeking until it finishes All together now PEEK Figure 8 2 Wow how long do you think it took the artist to create that picture Can you imagine arranging all those little dots the way we learned in the last few chapters There are on the market cameras and digitizers that will convert pictures to electronic impulses and place them in the computer s memory We can create pictures in memory by ...

Page 77: ...n the paper Return to BASIC and type PR l RUN HIRES INSTRUCTIONS I Don t worry if the screen says Epson TX 80 HIRES GRAPHIC ROUTINE it s been modified for the MX 70 Abort the program then enter PR 0 Tear off this list of instructions so we can refer to them as we scurry along According to these instructions we can write our own program to fill a memory page with HIRES graphics then use the USR fun...

Page 78: ... radius as a function of the angle We are using polar coordinates in case you hadn t guessed If you don t really care it doesn t really matter the picture is still pretty Line 60 converts from polar to rectangular coordinates and plots a single point Whew It s a good thing computers don t require a good math background Why All This Math Using Math equations to create graphics is easier than by doi...

Page 79: ... A 4 Change line 40 to 40 FOR A 0 TO 26 STEP 01 and RUN Figure 8 3 When you see one you like add this screen dump linking routine to hook the BASIC program to the HIRES program 80 POKE 10 76 POKE 11 00 POKE 12 96 90 PRINT BLOAD EPSON HIRES OBJ 100 PRINT USR 0001 and RUN ...

Page 80: ...RES instructions we use the machine language routine named EPSON HIRES OBJ Line 90 and where A PAGE O PG l l PG 2 B SIZE O SMALL l LARGE C PICTURE O REG l INVERSE D PRINTER SLOT 1 TO 7 Therefore our line 100 calls the routine to print the picture with Page 1 Low of memory Small size Regular picture and Printer slot 1 Change the USR statement in line 100 to suit your printing desires 74 ...

Page 81: ...ogram Never give up Commencement Address Now that we ve learned everything there is to know about the MX 70 and HIRES graphics our education is ready to begin I d enjoy hearing from you and seeing some of your artistic creations 75 ...

Page 82: ...APPENDIX A Appendix A ASCII Charts for MX 70 79 ...

Page 83: ...ppendix A This is the standard ASCII character set The codes that are highlighted are understood by the MX 70 printer The rest are for your information only and serve no function on the MX 70 printer 80 ...

Page 84: ...to the next top of form Empties printer buffer Carriage Return CR Empties printer buffer Turns on double width Turns off double width ASCII code for ESCAPE ASCII A Sets line spacing of line feed Range 0 85 72 ASCII C Sets form length Default is 66 lines Range 1 127 lines NOTE Numbers flagged with a may require the addition of 128 to make them work reliably on the TRS 80 Numbers flagged with a must...

Page 85: ...APPENDIX C Appendix C Character Set 83 ...

Page 86: ...Appendix C 84 ...

Page 87: ...128 to certain code numbers but not when in graphics mode For example if CHR 27 A CHR 12 doesn t work use CHR 27 A CHR 140 The problem is with the computer TRS 80 Model I Without Expansion Interface Model I TRS 80 owners may use Radio Shack printer interface 26 1411 in place of the Radio Shack expansion interface if necessary TRS 80 Model I With Expansion Interface Graphics Codes Sending graphics ...

Page 88: ...gram in a delay loop until the printer is ready Entering Graphics Mode 0 is also used to enter the graphics mode For example 10 LPRINT CHR 27 K CHR 50 CHR 0 ESC K Nl N2 Since the MX 70 interprets all even numbers as 0 we can change the last part of the above line to CHRS 2 The POKE alternate is 10 LPRINT CHR 27 K CHR 50 POKE 14312 0 20 IF PEEK 14312 63 THEN 20 TRS 80 Model II The MX 70 works fine ...

Page 89: ...he computer reference manual if more details are desired Using the MX 70 with a Standard Radio Shack Cable There is a difference between the official Epson printer cable and the ones supplied by Radio Shack They are wired slightly differently The Epson cable allows separation of the CR carriage return and the LF line feed commands This in turn allows such things as underlining overstrikes to slash...

Page 90: ... is the printer port usually used by the Atari To use the ASCII control codes we often need to add 128 Atari uses codes O 31 for its graphics characters If inverse characters are sent as data in the bit image mode the eighth bit will be set causing the top pin to fire for every character Highly undesirable The Atari 8 50 interface has a 4 second time out If it does not receive an acknowledge signa...

Page 91: ...e preceded by a CTRL D CHR 4 For example 10 PRINT CHR 4 CATALOG gives a CATALOG LISTing of all files on the disk The DOS commands most frequently needed are PR l and PR O They can usually be issued from either inside a program with a line number or outside the program at the command level In most cases a simple PR l or PR O will do fine In Chapter 3 while we re learning printer control it is essen...

Page 92: ...PR O If the value stored at location 49601 ClCl Hex is negative the printer has not yet picked up the DATA and stored it in its buffer If location 49601 is positive the printer is ready to receive more DATA By using this test we outflank the funny code numbers like 9 and 13 Screen Width Versus Printer Width The Apple video screen display is limited to 40 characters per row Unfortu nately it restri...

Page 93: ...s SYNTAX ERROR Not to worry Try pressing a few keys on the keyboard followed by return The video is disconnected but the printer works fine If there is a program in memory it will LIST fine up to 80 columns wide To regain control of the video use the CTRL key again CTRL I I RETURN A cleaner way to do the same thing is with the BASIC language CHR 9 Try PRINT CHR 9 80N This kicks us into the printer...

Page 94: ...er Parallel Interface Cable Apple II Apple III EPSON I F P N 8131 EPSON Cable P N 8230 Apple Centronics Parallel I F Same as above Run in Apple II emulation Atari 400 Atari 800 Atari 400 800 with 850 I F TRS 80 Model I without expansion I F TRS 80 Model I with expansion I F TRS 80 Model II TRS 80 Model III 2Macrotronics P N A4P 3 2 Macrotronics P N A8P 3 Macrotronics P N A85OE Radio Shack P N 26 1...

Page 95: ...cing is pro grammable in increments of l 72 inch 8 Columns 80 columns normal size 40 columns enlarged size 9 Prrntrng Speed a Text mode 80 characters per second b Bit image mode Not defined 10 Printing Direction Unidirectional from left to right May be returned to home position from any column position 11 Line feed time Approx 200 msec at 116 inch line 12 Ribbon Cartridge ribbon exclusive use Blac...

Page 96: ...ol paper feed control etc are performed by the one chip microprocessor 8049 located on the con trol circurt board The microprocessor has a 2K byte ROM and a 128 byte RAM The print head and two stepper motors are driven by the 16 driver transistors fig 1 shows the control circuit diagram Transistor STROBE_ Fig 1 Control Circuit Diagram 99 ...

Page 97: ...ed remotely by activating the INIT signal to the parallel interface connector This line should be driven by a TTL driver or its equivalent The minimum INIT pulse width is 50µsec at the receiving terminal 3 Upon application of the initialization signal the following sequence of events takes place in the Printer a The print head returns to its home position b The print buffer is cleared c The line s...

Page 98: ...gnal Direction 1 1 9 STORAGE I n 2 20 DATA 1 In 3 21 DATA 2 In 4 22 DATA 3 In 5 23 DATA 4 In 6 24 DATA 5 In 7 25 DATA 6 In 8 26 DATA 7 In 9 27 DATA 8 In 10 28 ACKNLG out Description STROBE pulse to read data In Pulse width must be more than 0 5µs at receiving terminal The signal level IS normally HIGH read In of data IS performed at the transit to LOW level of thus signal These signals represent i...

Page 99: ...terminal 3 2 ERROR Out A l w a y s H I G H l e v e l P u l l e d u p t o 5 V v i a 3 3 κ Ω r e s i s t o r 3 3 GND S a m e a s w i t h P i n N o s 1 9 t o 3 0 34 RESET Out R e s e t s i g n a l g e n e r a t e d w h e n t h e P r i n t e r i s p o w e r e d o r w h e n t h e I N I T s i g n a l i s a p p l i e d t o t h e P r i n t e r 3 5 P u l l e d u p t o 5 V v i a 3 3 κ Ω resistor 3 6 NC Not ...

Page 100: ...ritten in the print buffer of the MX 70 BUSY ACKNLG DATA STROBE D a t a s h o u l d b e h e l d d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d T E a c h i s T T L l e v e l c o m p a t i b l e OµS min 0 5µs min Fig 3 1 Paralell Interface Timing This timing chart also reveals that the ACKNLG signal from the MX 70 can be used in place of the STROBE signal This allows the Printer functions to be checked without use o...

Page 101: ... the AUTO FEED function By the above operating steps the MX 70 operations including the interface can be checked Unlike the self test self diagnostic function by the built in program this method permits the Printer operations to be checked along with the parallel interface operation 104 ...

Page 102: ...rtable range of temperatures The safe operating range is 5 C 40 F to 35 C 95 F Periodic Maintenance Clean it periodically with a soft brush to remove paper and dust particles The exterior can be cleaned with a mild detergent and water or denatured alcohol The interior can be cleaned with denatured alcohol The ribbon cartridge has an expected life of 3 million characters Replacements are readily av...

Page 103: ...on cable not the head connector block and pull gently but firmly to your right You have just removed your first Epson print head Shades of the French Revolution To install a new print head assembly push the new ribbon cable into the head connector lay the print head on its mount and turn the head lock lever coun terclockwise Voila Back in business And it took less time than solving the Rubik cube ...

Page 104: ...Appendix M Schematic Diagram ...

Page 105: ...64 Horizontaltabs 28 Line Feedcommand 37 87 Linespacing 34 36 49 LIST 18 LLIST 18 85 LPRINT 15 16 85 89 Maintenance 105 Pagelength 24 25 28 Paperfeeding 8 9 10 Paper standards 24 Paper thickness adjustment 10 PEEK 52 53 86 87 92 Pinoutsignals 101 POKE 14 37 52 53 55 86 92 Power Light 10 ll Requirements 10 Switch 10 PR Apple 14 23 91 Print head 105 Printer Initialization 15 Interfacing 1 4 95 Rack ...

Page 106: ...NOTICE Please send your comments suggestions and any errors you might find to THE EDITOR MX 70 Manual 60x 19669 San Diego California 92119 U S A Thank You 111 ...

Page 107: ... of Epson the product has been damaged by accident misuse neglect improper packing or improper modifications or service by other than an authorized Epson Service Center This warranty is in lieu of all other express warranties statements or repre sentations and unless stated herein all such warranties statements or repre sentations made by any other person or firm are void All implied warranties in...

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