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 Post subject: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 9:18 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:30 am
Posts: 5
Is there a trick to setting a BOLD font in the APE printer setup? Mine won't 'take'.

Can I send esc-*** sequences to the Windows printer? (to set fonts, form size and such). I could using direct-port printing, but that requires a parallel port. How can I do it using the USB port on the printer?

I am using APE 3.0.6.

Thanks.

Bob


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:36 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 9:55 am
Posts: 1042
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Hi Bob,

I have sent you an update that should address setting a font with styles like Bold.

The TrueTtype printer does not recognize any printer escape codes.

You can set the printer output to Virtual MX-80 and you can then use the entire MX-80 command set, but that renders more like a dot matrix printer that you would use to print something from The Print Shop, etc.

Steve


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 5:41 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:30 am
Posts: 5
I'm not sure what you mean by TrueType Printer... If I have an HP printer on a parallel port and print directly to the port with APE, it runs just the same as if it is on my Atari parallel port. If I have a USB-only printer, I cannot Print-to-Port and it will not recognize control characters. I am looking for a hardware parallel port to USB printer adapter, but so far, no luck. If APE could give me that capability, it would be great ($$).

Some printers have no native language built-in. The system sends them 'raster data' rather than characters. I was careful to chose a printer with an internal PCL6 processor, so it should work. I would assume that if we connect a PCL6 printer using a PCL6 driver that somewhere in the system, things get organized.

There are some odd schemes out there that use the network interface as a shared printer. Evidently, this works when you send data to the locally attached printer over ethernet since the 'remote' computer is supposed to be managing the data stream.

Of course, I know zilch about Windows and such. Perhaps we should make a hardware solution that interfaces SIO with a USB port... oh, we already have one of those, don't we?

:>)

Bob


Bob


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:52 pm 
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Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2003 9:55 am
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Location: Cleveland, Ohio
In Windows there is a graphics abstraction called GDI that applications use to essentially draw what they want to print as a bitmap, then the printers driver translates that into whatever language the printer speaks (raster, PCL, etc) and it is sent to the printer.

Check in your printer driver advanced properties. Some allow you to simulate a legacy parallel port for doing just this sort of thing, bypassing the windows GDI layers.

So when I said 'Truetype printer' above, I meant that when you send print to APE via the 'Windows printer driver' selection, it renders that text using the TrueType font you specified, then sends it to the Windows printer driver as a graphical representation of what the final page should look like when printed.

If you really want to use the native features of your printers PCL control language, getting a virtual LPT port set up is probably the way to go. Also look into using the 'NET USE' function to map an LPT port to your printer, which you can share locally even on the same machine.

You can also try using the Virtual MX-80 printer setting, but it will render dot-matrix text, not truetype.

Steve


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:40 pm 
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I added an option to bypass the GDI layer completely. Check your e-mail for details and a new version.

Steve


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:35 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:30 am
Posts: 5
Works great, now. You can either print to the Windows driver, which ignores the control codes (perfect for listing your Basic programs), or the RAW driver, which acts on them correctly (where you execute your Basic program).

Both my HP printers now work on USB interfaces through APE.

Thanks, Steve!

Bob


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 Post subject: Re: APE Printer questions
PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:44 am 
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Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:09 am
Posts: 128
Location: Galactic 0,0,0
so how can one obtain the fixed copy or ape that prints like this?



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