rap@ardent.UUCP (Rob Peck) (03/10/88)
Given a proliferation of different printers now available at a massive range of prices, I've often seen postings from folks about "does anyone know how I can get a printer driver for model XXX-1001" and so on. At one time, long ago and far away, I recall some Amiga user group somewhere volunteering to maintain a library of printer drivers, thus to become the ultimate source for a new user to go to - in other words, $5 and a postage stamp, and maybe a blank disk as well could buy you a driver for your printer. Did this ever happen? Is there one source that a dealer could recommend to a new user who could provide a printer driver for most anything? (Sure the PRTDRVGEN program can help much of the time, but does everyone have to reinvent the wheel?) Just thought I'd check. Responses via EMAIL please... I'll post a summary of the responses I get on this topic. Seems if we want to keep pushing the machine, it'd be nice to find a way to make it easy to bring a user up to speed. This is, as I understand, one of the sources of frustration. Rob Peck ...ihnp4!hplabs!ardent!rap
jones@uv4.eglin.af.mil (Calvin Jones, III) (09/28/89)
Original From: WINS%"<bear@bucsb.uucp>" 27-SEP-1989 10:55 > > ... Much deleted > Now, here's the suggestion: Some ambitious programmer out there > should write a good driver creation program. I've seen the PD > one for 1.2 and it's a bear to use aside from it being 1.2. CBM > writes their drivers somehow. Maybe they could enlighten us as > to how they did it. Failing that, maybe the author of the PD driver > generator program could release the source so we could hack it > to 1.3. The next logical step would be to create an archive somewhere to make the drivers available to all net-land.
EVERHART%ARISIA.decnet@crdgw1.ge.com (10/14/89)
I have an old C.Itoh Starwriter F10 for which I've cobbled up a driver. It's a daisy wheel printer, and the driver handles spacing and the like just fine. However, there are no abilities in the printer itself to do automatic underlines, bolding, etc. These can be done (and are done by some software like Word Perfect) by using backspace-underline to underline text, or double striking to get bolding. I'd like to get these effects by modifying the printer driver, as it seems Nature (should have?) intended. The RKMs I have are however not clear how one does this. Some hints there suggest that the dospecial() entry may see the cmd_write function, at which point I may have access to the text (about to be) printed. That's what I want. Can anyone confirm this or otherwise let me know how the heck I can keep track of the entire text stream going to the printer so that I can work my own special effects? Incidentally, I have posted the existing code to several BBSs and am more than happy to share the results of any such hacking help with others likewise. Thanks to all who reply. Glenn Everhart Everhart%Arisia.decnet@crd.ge.com 215 354 7610 voice
black@rpi.edu (Jerry Glomph Black) (11/14/89)
Are there any printer drivers available in source-code form? The Okidata_92 driver has an obnoxious bug in it when commanded to set left margin=0. [Yeh, I know it's illegal]. I really need to fix this, as some software I have issues this command!
sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould) (01/05/90)
I am trying to write a program to generate printer drivers. There seems to be little documentation as to what a printer driver should contain. Does anyone know of any good documentation as to the layout and contents of a printer driver for the amiga, any good books with this in ?? And NO I don't want to know about how good xxxx piece of software is at generating drivers, I want to know how to do it myself .. Thanx S.J.R +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ | Simon Raybould | BT Fulcrum | Are all your pets called | | path : sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk | Birmingham | Eric ??? - Python | +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+
fgd3@jc3b21.UUCP (Fabbian G. Dufoe) (01/06/90)
From article <R}J!|$@masalla.fulcrum.bt.co.uk>, by sie@fulcrum.bt.co.uk (Simon Raybould): > Does anyone know of any good documentation as to the layout and contents > of a printer driver for the amiga, any good books with this in ?? Get the Native Developers' Update from Commodore. It costs $20 and consists of four disks. One disk contains the autodocs, another has the 1.3 include files, a third had the 1.3 includes with comments stripped out, and the fourth has a series of articles on how to handle autoboot and how to write printer drivers. It's an essential developer's tool and it's a bargain. Write to Commodore Amiga Technical Support 1200 Wilson Drive West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380 I've forgotten to whose attention you should direct it, but the folks at CATS will be able to figure it out. You will also need the Rom Kernel Manual: Libraries and Devices. --Fabbian Dufoe 350 Ling-A-Mor Terrace South St. Petersburg, Florida 33705 813-823-2350 UUCP: ...uunet!pdn!jc3b21!fgd3