either of these capabilites on and off, as a mode, with an ESCape
sequence.
Half-Speed Mode
The FX can print at the fine rate of 160 characters per second (cps).
But it will also print more slowly if you want it to: the Half-Speed
Mode prints at
80
cps. The command sequence uses lowercase s plus
zero and one as a toggle:
LPRINT CHR$(27)"sl"
turns Half Speed Mode on, and, as usual, the zero version of the
command turns the mode off. If your system can’t send lowercase
letters, use the longer format:
LPRINT CHR$(27)CHR$(l15)CHR$(l)
to get the same results.
The FX uses Half-Speed, as we explained in Chapter
4,
to enable
extra-dense printing. But why would you want to make the printer
work at half its normal speed? The main advantage to Half-Speed
printing is a quieter run (e.g., for those late night printing sessions).
Immediate-Print Mode (FX-80 only)
The FX-80 can move even more slowly-at the speed of your typ-
ing. In the Immediate-Print Mode, the print head prints one character
at a time, as you send it. The FX-80 also moves the paper up so that
you can see the current line and then down to continue printing. This
kind of instant feedback can be especially helpful in telecommunica-
tions.
You turn Immediate Print on with
CHR$(27)“il”
or, to avoid the
lowercase i, CHR$(27)CHR$(105)"1". But before looking at it, let’s
review the normal operation of the printer buffer. Enter this program:
NEW
20
A$=“”:
INPUT "TYPE A LETTER ",A$
30
IF A$="" THEN 50
40 LPRINT A$;: GOT0 20
50 LPRINT
Now type several characters, and after each press the RETURN key.
True to form, the printer just stuffs the characters into its buffer while
it waits for a carriage-return code. To end this version of the program
89
To Next Page
Loading...
Need help?
General
