Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hello, 2011/5/6 Henrique Peron : > The number refers to the hex code (Unicode). Naturally, every dot would > be a "0" and every "@" would be a "1"; with a little math, we have pixel > data for any printer. > > The following step would be to create association files. I would prepare > them. > > Let

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Well, as said, you can just concentrate on the printer-interfacing stuff (select hardware or software codepage, and load a character table), all the rest is already done (DISPLAY). But not QBASIC, but NASM ;) Aitor 2011/5/5 Henrique Peron : > Hi Eric, > > ok, so printing in graphics mode it

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hello, 2011/5/5 Eric Auer : > I believe Aitor also wrote some tool long ago which works > similar but for hardware TEXT modes: The tool reads the VGA > hardware font and uses that when printing the text that you > see on the screen in text mode, printing a picture of that. I think you refer to on

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi, 2011/5/4 Henrique Peron : > Hallo Eric! Wie geht's, mein Freund? :) > > If I understood you correctly, by using FreeDOS GRAPHICS, I could send a > codepage directly to the printer's RAM (naturally, one which wasn't > already hardcoded into it). Am I right? It would be great. All the > codepage

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi, What an interesting topic. With the information above, one can easily write a new hardware handler for DISPLAY, called EPSON or ESC, to control this (well, one would usually write this printer-specific hardware handlers appart from VGA/EGA, into a so-called PRINTER.SYS). I had been searching

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi! > ... all the required sizes are multiple of six ... > A simple way is to reduce the character width is to > look for 2 consecutive columns with the same bits, > and delete one (as contain redundant information) > You need to deleted 2 columns on each glyph to get > a 6 columns matrix. That

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Well Marco, let me tell you how it is, in detail, this glyph database of mine. used a program to extract data from the 8x16 font files (*.F16) that I had created. 1) The first 8x16 font file (cp437.f16), after being analyzed by the program I have (which was developed by Mateusz Viste), gener

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Very nice site, Marco - I'll contact Czyborra. Thank you, Henrique Em 6/5/2011 21:00, Marco Achury escreveu: > Henrique: > > Read this: http://czyborra.com/unifont/ > > Unifont uses 8x16 matrix for latin characters and many others with low > complexity. For chinese and > other complex character

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

I found very interesting that all the required sizes are multiple of six, so is wise that glyph designer to use a matrix with 6 pixels... Only 9 pins high-res is exact multiple of eigth A simple way is to reduce the character with is to look for 2 consecutive columns with the same bits, and dele

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Alain, the answer is to interpolate the glyphs but I don't know how to do it - by the way, at least on what concerns Epson printers, I think that there's a native way to interpolate low-resolution glyphs. Anyone wishing to develop the printer driver would also have to check Panasonic documentat

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

In the printes, fonts should have Low Res 9 pin: 72/6 = 12 pixels Low Res 24 pin: 180/6= 30 pixels Hi Res 9 pin: 144/6= 24 pixels Hi Res 24 pin: 360/6= 60 pixels This for the whole line (glyph + spacing). Can tou imagine how to convert your database to work with these resolutions? Alain Em

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Henrique: Read this: http://czyborra.com/unifont/ Unifont uses 8x16 matrix for latin characters and many others with low complexity. For chinese and other complex characters use 16x16, so complex chartacters will take 2 text positions on the printed output. The hex unifont is at: http://www.czy

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Eric, Mark, Ok - I have a glyph database of 8x16 chars in a single text file. Would that do for a start? Or the idea is to wait for someone volunteer on developing software to automatically convert screen fonts to the printer? Henrique Em 6/5/2011 17:09, Eric Auer escreveu: > Hi Mark, Henriq

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Mark, Henrique, ghostscript in general is a nice tool and there are ports for DOS which work in FreeDOS or are even made for FreeDOS, I think that for example Blair made one such port. Using 32 bit DOS C compilers is no big problem, things still run on 16 bit DOS but you will need a 386 or new

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Henrique Peron wrote in news:4dc42724.7020...@terra.com.br: > Hi Mark, > > it's not about "willing to accept". Unfortunately, printing on > graphics mode seems to be the only common denominator among all > brands and models of printers. > > Naturally, if someone needs a character table which i

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Freely available, Marco. I just didn't upload it into the FreeDOS database because it was meant for (my) internal work only. I sent a copy of that huge file to Viste for him to include it as an internal database for his Foxtype Unicode text file viewer. However, should any software developer be

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Sounds very interesting. Look around for the TT font named "GNU Unifont", contains a very big subset of unicode and is not vectorial, is based on bitmaps, looks ready for dot matrix printing. Your gliph file is freely available? Best regards Marco Achury El 06/05/2011 03:30 a.m., Henrique Per

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

On 24 pin Epson printers, you can print graphics as fast as printing text. there is a special mode where consecutive high definition dots cannot be on, which is the text mode printing trick... But I believe that even if you use the more universal mode, it will be fast enough, specially if compa

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Mark, it's not about "willing to accept". Unfortunately, printing on graphics mode seems to be the only common denominator among all brands and models of printers. Naturally, if someone needs a character table which is already hardcoded to his/her printer, all (s)he will have to do is to se

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Henrique Peron wrote in news:4dc2ebc0.30...@terra.com.br: > I just read a PDF file "Epson ESC/P Reference Manual". It explains > that 24-pin printers can "receive" definitions on 241 characters > into its RAM but those 9-pin LX printers cannot. They can only > receive 6 characters. It seems that

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Yes Eric, now that you mentioned that, it was what I did with that Epson LX-800 printer that I had - but, as I had said, I used MS-DOS 6.0 and QBASIC for that. Developing a wholly independent program for that is something else - which I don't know how. My question is still up, Eric: Would you

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi, I have some sources for graphical printing onto Epson FX-80 compatible printers and and for converting fonts to/from binary representation for this program. While there is no distinctive license present, it seems like phrase "these sources can be freely used and modified" puts it into public do

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Henrique, Bret, > interesting to know that there's someone out there, familiar to FreeDOS, > still using those 9-pin printers. At least here in Brazil they're still > used on lots of places because of their low operational cost. > > Well, Eric and Konstantyn... So much for the museum idea!

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Bret, interesting to know that there's someone out there, familiar to FreeDOS, still using those 9-pin printers. At least here in Brazil they're still used on lots of places because of their low operational cost. Well, Eric and Konstantyn... So much for the museum idea! Yes Bret, I can only

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

FWIW, I still have and occasionally use a 9-pin dot-matrix printer. It's a Panasonic, and to print graphics (like from a DOS CAD program I used to use all the time) I have to tell the program I have an IBM Graphics Printer, not any kind of Epson. You should also at least consider the implicati

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Eric, ok, so printing in graphics mode it is. Yes, it would be slow, but there would be no limitations. There would be no dependence on codepages, either hardcoded or not. Programming in QBASIC was a long time ago. I don't program on any language anymore for almost 20 years. It seems, then,

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Henrique, > I just read a PDF file "Epson ESC/P Reference Manual". It explains that > 24-pin printers can "receive" definitions on 241 characters into its RAM > but those 9-pin LX printers cannot. They can only receive 6 characters Well 241 is enough for normal purposes, control chars do no

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Eric, it is not confusing; I got the idea. Thanks! :-) I just read a PDF file "Epson ESC/P Reference Manual". It explains that 24-pin printers can "receive" definitions on 241 characters into its RAM but those 9-pin LX printers cannot. They can only receive 6 characters. It seems that uploa

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Henrique, > If I understood you correctly, by using FreeDOS GRAPHICS, I could send > a codepage directly to the printer's RAM (naturally, one which wasn't > already hardcoded into it). Am I right? It would be great. No. You could print a screenshot of DOS showing text in some (possibly user-

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hallo Eric! Wie geht's, mein Freund? :) If I understood you correctly, by using FreeDOS GRAPHICS, I could send a codepage directly to the printer's RAM (naturally, one which wasn't already hardcoded into it). Am I right? It would be great. All the codepages which I *created* for FreeDOS could b

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi Henrique, while I agree that it would be interesting to know which character byte corresponds to which character shape for lots of ancient printers, I almost cannot imagine any pre-ESC/P printer to be still working and for those it is always an (although slow) option to print text using graphi

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Ok Константин, no problem. Thank you for your reply anyway. Yes, dot-matrix printers are old. Yes, I might buy a modern color inkjet or laser printer, no doubt about that. I don't have a dot-matrix printer (anymore - I've already had an Epson LX-800 and, later, an Epson LX-300 and, after that,

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

That is the point, Marco - I am not interested on any particular documentation. I am interested on all of them. Any documentation, related to any printer, from any manufacturer. The idea is to provide as many encodings as possible, for FreeDOS. You see, I'm particularly interested on those har

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Yes Alain, thank you! ...And any other manuals which I could put my hands on! :) Em 4/5/2011 14:04, Alain Mouette escreveu: > There is a manual here > > and some info here: > > > is th

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

There is a manual here and some info here: is this what you want? Alain Em 04-05-2011 14:31, Henrique Peron escreveu: > Thank you very much my friend! :) > > > Em 4/5/2011 07:53, escap

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Thank you very much my friend! :) Em 4/5/2011 07:53, escape escreveu: > Hello Henrique > > I have an good-old dot-matrix printer, but unfortunately without any > manual. But I think it's not a big problem, as in-printer codepage can > be printed. Still I bet, that in this case there is only two o

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

If you inform manufacturer and model is easier to find help. Many Epson printers use Esc/C control language, also I remember was possible to make a "hardware" config with litltle switches. El 04/05/2011 07:23 a.m., escape escribió: > Hello Henrique > > I have an good-old dot-matrix printer, but

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hello Henrique I have an good-old dot-matrix printer, but unfortunately without any manual. But I think it's not a big problem, as in-printer codepage can be printed. Still I bet, that in this case there is only two options possible: cp437 or some slight variation of cp866. I will send you results

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hello Константин, Please calm down a bit and do not deliver your personal and highly subjective opinion as something common to everyone else. On 28.04.11 11:59, Садовой Константин wrote: > Hello Henrique. Sorry, but I do not know about dot matrix printers - it a > museum exponat only. This is a

Re: [Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hello Henrique. Sorry, but I do not know about dot matrix printers - it a museum exponat only. This is a very old stuff to print the texts. You may buy or grab from some office modern color inkjet or laser printer and use it, but your dot matrix printer must be put into wasterbacket. Sorry, but

[Freedos-user] Code pages in dot-matrix printers

Hi all, is there anyone out there which happens to have user guides/reference manuals of those old dot-matrix printers? If so, there are, in general, pages on those guides that show tables of characters ("Code pages"). My e-mail address is hperon AT terra.com.br ; in case someone wants to hel