siegman@sierra.Stanford.EDU (Anthony E. Siegman) (01/15/90)
Does anyone know of software which will make the combination of a Mac and an Imagewriter I or II act like an old-fashioned electronic typewriter -- that is, when you hit a key the Imagewriter just types the corresponding letter right where the print head happens to be. (Arrow keys might make the paper move up/down/left/right just like the platen on a typewriter.) We need this capability for filling out preprinted forms and other old-fashioned typewriter-style applications? It's frustrating having to keep an old IBM Selectric around, just to fill out various kinds of preparinted application forms and recommendation forms. Thanks... Internet: siegman@sierra.stanford.edu Bitnet: rw.aap@forsythe
rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer) (01/17/90)
In article <462@sierra.stanford.edu> siegman@sierra.UUCP (Anthony E. Siegman) writes: >Does anyone know of software which will make the combination of a Mac >and an Imagewriter I or II act like an old-fashioned electronic >typewriter -- that is, when you hit a key the Imagewriter just types >the corresponding letter right where the print head happens to be. >(Arrow keys might make the paper move up/down/left/right just like the >platen on a typewriter.) > >Internet: siegman@sierra.stanford.edu >Bitnet: rw.aap@forsythe I don't beleive this is possible. Not that the software would be especially difficult to write; it probably would take only a day or two. The problem is that the ImageWriter (like most dot-matrix printers) does not print characters one at a time. It collects an entire line of text then prints it all at once. Thus, characters are a uniform size and evenly spaced. Ray Fischer rcfische@polyslo.calpoly.edu
levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) (01/17/90)
In article <25b3ec78.6cbb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer) writes: |I don't beleive this is possible. Not that the software would be especially |difficult to write; it probably would take only a day or two. The problem |is that the ImageWriter (like most dot-matrix printers) does not print |characters one at a time. It collects an entire line of text then prints |it all at once. Thus, characters are a uniform size and evenly spaced. This is all true, except that the ImageWriters (maybe just the II?) do have a built in proportional font (not evenly spaced horizontally). A corresponding screen font is available with the shareware DA miniWRITER. /JBL = Nets: levin@bbn.com | "There were sweetheart roses on Yancey Wilmerding's or {...}!bbn!levin | bureau that morning. Wide-eyed and distraught, she POTS: (617)873-3463 | stood with all her faculties rooted to the floor."
eirikur@ddif.enet.dec.com (Eirikur Hallgrimsson) (01/18/90)
In article <51020@bbn.COM>, levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) writes... >In article <25b3ec78.6cbb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer) writes: >|I don't beleive this is possible. Not that the software would be especially >|difficult to write; it probably would take only a day or two. The problem >|is that the ImageWriter (like most dot-matrix printers) does not print >|characters one at a time. It collects an entire line of text then prints >|it all at once. Thus, characters are a uniform size and evenly spaced. I don't think this is true from my own experience doing fancy things with printers. If it was true of the Imagewriter, it would still be perfectly possible to fake the desired behavior by "printing" a line containing one character at a time, or better yet, by doing something in graphics mode. Eirikur Hallgrimsson eh@ddif.enet.dec.com
bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) (01/18/90)
In article <7538@shlump.nac.dec.com> eirikur@ddif.enet.dec.com (Eirikur Hallgrimsson) writes: >>In article <25b3ec78.6cbb@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> rcfische@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Raymond C. Fischer) writes: >>|I don't beleive this is possible. Not that the software would be especially >>|difficult to write; it probably would take only a day or two. The problem >>|is that the ImageWriter (like most dot-matrix printers) does not print >>|characters one at a time. It collects an entire line of text then prints >>|it all at once. Thus, characters are a uniform size and evenly spaced. > >I don't think this is true from my own experience doing fancy things with >printers. If it was true of the Imagewriter, it would still be perfectly >possible to fake the desired behavior by "printing" a line containing one >character at a time, or better yet, by doing something in graphics mode. Sure! The approach of 'printing' a line containing one character at a time would work fine - until you came up against a person who wanted to print more than one character on each line. I know what you're saying - you want the ImageWriter to print each character as it receives it, without sending a linefeed. The problem is that the ImageWriter was not built to do this. Characters are bufferred until a linefeed is received, at which time the entire line is printed. Therefore you can EITHER print one character at a time each on a seperate line, OR more than one character on a line all to be printed at the same time (when a linefeed is received). You *might* be able to fake it by sending one character, then a carriage return (without a linefeed), then a space and another character, then another CR, then two spaces and a character, and so forth ad nauseum, but even a mediocre typist would outrun this method in no time, and the physical abuse it puts the printer mechanisms through would not be desireable. Doing it in graphics mode is not possible either - usually, bitmapped fonts are too tall for the print head to draw all in one pass. By the time you've drawn the entire letter, the print head will be at its bottom - unable to go back up to draw another character on the same line. The bottom line: If you want a typewriter, you'd be best off buying one rather than simulating one. << Brian >> -- | Brian S. Kendig \ Macintosh | Engineering, | bskendig | | Computer Engineering |\ Thought | USS Enterprise | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU | Princeton University |_\ Police | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET | | Systems Engineering, NASA Space Station Freedom / General Electric WP3 |
Armadillo@cup.portal.com (Russ Armadillo Coffman) (01/18/90)
>Does anyone know of software which will make the combination of a Mac >and an Imagewriter I or II act like an old-fashioned electronic >typewriter -- that is, when you hit a key the Imagewriter just types >the corresponding letter right where the print head happens to be. >(Arrow keys might make the paper move up/down/left/right just like the >platen on a typewriter.) I found two DAs in my collection, Typer DA and TypeNow. I no longer have an IW to check these on, but one or both will do what you ask. If you can't find 'em locally, perhaps I could BinHex 'em and email 'em. They're fairly old, no guarantee they'll still work. -Russ
mxmora@unix.SRI.COM (Matt Mora) (01/19/90)
I wrote a typewriter emulator for a diablo daisy wheel printer once. I wrote that in ms basic. I don't think it would be to hard to write one for an imagewriter. When I was designing printing routines for an imagewriter to print on form fed forms I wrote a little hack to record the print commands to play back latter. So it is possible. The only problem is that the printhead hides where it will print so you have to guess. -- ___________________________________________________________ Matthew Mora SRI International mxmora@unix.sri.com ___________________________________________________________
bannon@andromeda.rutgers.edu.rutgers.edu (Ron Bannon) (01/19/90)
>I found two DAs in my collection, Typer DA and TypeNow. I no longer have an >IW to check these on, but one or both will do what you ask. If you can't find >'em locally, perhaps I could BinHex 'em and email 'em. They're fairly old, >no guarantee they'll still work. -Russ I believe TypeNow is commercial software. Ron Bannon bannon@andromeda.rutgers.edu :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Is George Bush a traitor? Read "October Surprise" by Honegger. Send for details. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::