pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) (09/08/88)
I recently picked up Pro Write (which is working quite well) but have a question about the 1.3 printer drivers that come with it. I have an Okidata 292 with the IBM personality card. Im running the 1.3 preferences program, printer device, and Okidata_292I printer driver. Under 1.2 the preferences the print quality selection (letter or draft) would have an effect on output directed to prt: With the 1.3 print driver the printer is always in draft mode no matter which way I set preferences. Is this a bug in the final 1.3 print driver or is ProWrite shipping an early copy? Also, I wrote a driver for another printer under 1.1 and 1.2. Is information available on (i.e. a sample driver) how to write printer drivers for 1.3? Do I need to be a registered developer? Paul Jatkowski
scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) (09/08/88)
In article <388@richp1.UUCP> pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) writes: > ... Im running the 1.3 preferences > ... >Do I need to be a registered developer? Who gave you the 1.3 print stuff, eh? -scott
pds@quintus.uucp (Peter Schachte) (09/09/88)
While we're on the topic of 1.3 printer drivers and ProWrite, I too have
ProWrite 2.0, and I have an Epson JX80 Printer. This printer is capable
of pretty high resolution in it's best graphics mode (I think it's 360
dpi horizontally, although of course the pins are bigger than that, so
it'll never look as good as that number would indicate). The hitch is
that you have to make 2 passes for each line (one for odd pixels, and
one for evens). The 1.3 driver only makes 1 pass, so it doesn't get the
best resolution the printer can deliver.
So the questions are:
1) Am I confused about the 1.3 driver or Epson X printers? Is there
some way to get it to make two passes?
2) Has someone built an Epson X printer driver that gets better quality
than the 1.3 driver? If so, can I get it?
3) What do I read to find out how to write one myself? Can I get my
hands on an example 1.3 printer driver?
Thanks in advance for any help.
-Peter Schachte
pds@quintus.uucp
..!sun!quintus!pdshrlaser@pnet02.cts.com (Harv Laser) (09/09/88)
scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) writes: >In article <388@richp1.UUCP> pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) writes: >> ... Im running the 1.3 preferences >> ... >>Do I need to be a registered developer? > >Who gave you the 1.3 print stuff, eh? > >-scott Maybe New Horizons did when he bought ProWrite 2.00... or maybe Infinity did when he bought Shakespeare... or maybe Micro Systems did when he bought excellence!... or..... need I go on scott? eh? :-) Harv Laser, Sysop, The People/Link AmigaZone. Plink: CBM*HARV UUCP: {ames!elroy, <backbone>}!gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser INET: hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com <---open Push down while turning close tightly--->
scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) (09/09/88)
In article <371@quintus.UUCP> pds@quintus.UUCP (Peter Schachte) writes: >While we're on the topic of 1.3 printer drivers > >1) Am I confused about the 1.3 driver or Epson X printers? Is there > some way to get it to make two passes? >2) Has someone built an Epson X printer driver that gets better quality > than the 1.3 driver? If so, can I get it? >3) What do I read to find out how to write one myself? Can I get my > hands on an example 1.3 printer driver? The answers to these and other burning 1.3 print driver questions can be found on the 'readme' disk in the Omega 7/8 kit, now available to developers from CATS. There are complete descriptions of HowToCall and HowToWrite 1.3 print drivers, as well as the sources to several drivers (including EpsonX). I'm almost finished updating my old LA50 driver. -scott
scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) (09/09/88)
In article <800@applix.UUCP> scott@applix.UUCP (I foolishly) writes: >In article <388@richp1.UUCP> pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) writes: >> ... Im running the 1.3 preferences >> ... >>Do I need to be a registered developer? > >Who gave you the 1.3 print stuff, eh? > >-scott Aarg, I missed your line: "I recently picked up Pro Write (which is working quite well) but have a question about the 1.3 printer drivers that come with it." ^^^^^^^^^^^ My apologies. -scott
andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (09/09/88)
In article <371@quintus.UUCP> pds@quintus.UUCP (Peter Schachte) writes: >While we're on the topic of 1.3 printer drivers and ProWrite, I too have >1) Am I confused about the 1.3 driver or Epson X printers? Is there > some way to get it to make two passes? I don't remember what version of the 1.3 drivers went out on ProWrite, but in the final version you select densities using the density selection from Preferences. We have the following choices: Density XDPI YDPI 1 120 72 2 120 144 3 240 72 4 120 216 5 240 144 6 240 216 -- andy finkel {uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!andy Commodore-Amiga, Inc. "If we can't fix it, it ain't broke." Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.
daveb@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Berezowski) (09/09/88)
In article <371@quintus.UUCP> pds@quintus.UUCP (Peter Schachte) writes: >While we're on the topic of 1.3 printer drivers and ProWrite, I too have >ProWrite 2.0, and I have an Epson JX80 Printer. This printer is capable >of pretty high resolution in it's best graphics mode (I think it's 360 >dpi horizontally, although of course the pins are bigger than that, so >it'll never look as good as that number would indicate). The hitch is >that you have to make 2 passes for each line (one for odd pixels, and >one for evens). The 1.3 driver only makes 1 pass, so it doesn't get the >best resolution the printer can deliver. > >So the questions are: > >1) Am I confused about the 1.3 driver or Epson X printers? Is there > some way to get it to make two passes? > No, not without altering the current code. This strangness of only printing every second dot is a hardware/software limitation of SOME printers. It is a hardware limitation in that they physically can't do it without over heating the print head. It is a software limitation in that printers which have this hardware limitation SHOULD (in my opinion) make up for it in software. In other words, they printer itself should be smart enough to know that it has to do a second pass. There are some printers like this; the Nec line of printers appears to do this. The trouble with trying to write a printer driver (like the EpsonX) that works over a wide range of printers is that you don't know if the printer is going to have the abovbe smarts or not. If you code the smarts into the printer driver then some printers will be doing twice the work. If you don't then some printers will miss every second dot. Its a tough call. >2) Has someone built an Epson X printer driver that gets better quality > than the 1.3 driver? If so, can I get it? > Not that I'm aware of. However, we did give you interleaved densities under V1.3 (ie. getting 216 y dpi out of a 72 y dpi printer). >3) What do I read to find out how to write one myself? Can I get my > hands on an example 1.3 printer driver? > The DevCon (Amiga Developer's Conference) notes contained an article entitled 'Writing a V1.3 Graphics Printer Driver'. This article was also published in a recent issue of AmigaMail. CATS will be releasing disks with sample code for some of the V1.3 drivers to qualified developers. Regards, David Berezowski
ranjit@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Ranjit Bhatnagar) (09/10/88)
In article <4695@cbmvax.UUCP> daveb@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Berezowski) writes: >>1) Am I confused about the 1.3 driver or Epson X printers? Is there >> some way to get it to make two passes? >> > No, not without altering the current code. This strangness of >only printing every second dot is a hardware/software limitation of SOME >printers. It is a hardware limitation in that they physically can't do >it without over heating the print head. It is a software limitation in >that printers which have this hardware limitation SHOULD (in my opinion) >make up for it in software. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of printers don't, and that's tens of thousands of reasons why the printer driver should support 2-pass printing for higher resolution. If we had made excuses like "the Amiga SHOULD do windowing in hardware," Intuition would be pretty boring. >The trouble with trying to write a printer driver (like the EpsonX) >that works over a wide range of printers is that you don't know if the >printer is going to have the abovbe smarts or not. If you code the smarts >into the printer driver then some printers will be doing twice the work. >If you don't then some printers will miss every second dot. Its a tough >call. It could be a configurable option, or there could be two printer drivers, one with two-pass and one without. It's just silly to throw away the highest resolution mode of (say) a quarter of all printers, because they SHOULD have been designed better in the first place. I can't imagine it would take more than 100 bytes of code to support two-pass printing. Not to disparage the designers of the printer drivers - overall, the software's pretty neat. But making excuses like this doesn't seem quite right... -Ranjit One season I was born/ Fell down like an acorn I am the only tree/ And everybody leaves "Trespassers w" ranjit@eniac.seas.upenn.edu ucbvax!rutgers!super!eniac!...
zofka@cernvax.UUCP (zofka) (09/12/88)
In article <388@richp1.UUCP> pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) writes: >Okidata 292 with the IBM personality card. Im running the 1.3 preferences >program, printer device, and Okidata_292I printer driver. >Under 1.2 the preferences the print quality selection (letter or draft) >would have an effect on output directed to prt: >With the 1.3 print driver the printer is always in draft mode no matter which >way I set preferences. I have also noticed this bug on latest version of 1.3 >Is this a bug in the final 1.3 print driver or is ProWrite shipping an early >copy? 1.3 is in Omega version and not a final release and some bugs may remain... Quiet normal. If it works with your ProWrite package, what do you need more ??? You have luck to have some 1.3 stuff in official way but remember that 1.3 is NOT finished. >Paul Jatkowski Milan ZOFKA
kjohn@richp1.UUCP (John K. Counsulatant) (09/15/88)
In article <800@applix.UUCP> scott@applix.UUCP (Scott Evernden) writes: >In article <388@richp1.UUCP> pej@richp1.UUCP (Paul Jatkowski) writes: >> ... Im running the 1.3 preferences >> ... >>Do I need to be a registered developer? > >Who gave you the 1.3 print stuff, eh? > >-scott Scott, Don't be so quick to jump on Paul, he said he was using v1.3 of Preferences (NOT AmigaDos v1.3). Preferences and the v1.3 printer drivers have been distributed with a few products I know of, in Paul's case (since I work with him :-) I believe the guilty product is Shakespere :-). I'm just a flamin' fool, KJohn -- | Amiga /// | Disclaimer: This is only a dream, it's only a dream ........ | | Manic///.5K | One liners: I'm from the government, I'm here to help.... | | \\\/// 1K | MS/D*S is the best damn OS I have ever used.... | | \XX/ 2K | kjohn@richp1 or [purdue | att | cs.ubc | spl1]!richp1!kjohn |
cc1@valhalla.cs.ucla.edu (Michael Gersten) (09/22/88)
In article <4690@cbmvax.UUCP> andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) writes: >but in the final version you select densities using the density selection > >Density XDPI YDPI > 1 120 72 > 2 120 144 > 3 240 72 > 4 120 216 > 5 240 144 > 6 240 216 I hope there will be more. I hope this isn't final. I have a epson fx-800, it has 8 different densities, and I don't think more than 2 (if even that) are here. In particular, there is a "plotter" setting--X and Y DPI are 72. Note that none of the listed densities are one to one. Please, tell me that I can at least tell the driver: Use "^[esomestring" as in init string, and expect ____ dots horizontally and ____ dots vertically. (After all, I can't get all the print modes (proportional? Sorry) from preferences now)