82143a missing functions - for Angel Martín or anybody interested

[Vincent Weber]

Hi Angel, all,

I was just wondering if one of your amazing roms deals with the following:
The 82143a direct printer is the only printer emulated in i41cx+ on ios and go41cx on Android. Yet it misses a few features that only the 82162a HP-IL printer has. They are not worth the complex emulation of HP-IL, but it could be nice to have these functions for the 82143a as well:
-FMT, that centers or justifies text. I understand the code is directly in the printer firmware, the function in the HP-IL module just triggers an escape sequence. The 82240 IR printer handles this differently, it does not have the code in its firmware, whereas the IR module has this code. So I was wondering if it would be simply possible to extract the FMT code in the IR printing module, retarget it to the 82143a printer, and put it in one of your roms ? Also, the PANAME ROM has a more powerful function, dealing with more columns than just 2. Would be nice to extract it as well;
-A parse mode, able to avoid word cutting. I understand that no easy function is provided to activate this mode, you have to use a complex escape sequence to trigger it. Again, the PANAME ROM has functions to do that...
-PMT is able to print a time stamp on top of the program listing, should a TIME module or CX be there;
-Also, the 82240 has an underline mode, that would be nice to have as well on the 82143a.

Any miracle has been / could be done ?

Many thanks and best regards,

Vincent

[Ángel Martin]

(04-16-2021 08:24 PM)Vincent Weber Wrote:  Any miracle has been / could be done ?

Greetings Vincent, well not quite a miracle but a few of those functions (see list below, notably the easier ones to implement from your own list) are in the Advanced Printer ROM already. The CL mnemonic is ADVP, it's an 8k module that also includes several FOCAL programs on the same subject...

Code:

-ADV PRT+    Section Header    
8BIT        Set 8-bit mode     PANAME
ACD            Accumulate Display    AECROM
ACAXY    ACA by X and Y    CCD MOD
ACLX    Accumulate Line by X    CCD MOD
CLBUF    Clear Printer Bbuffer    AECROM
CLPBF    Clear Printer Buffer    PANAME
ESCAPE    Send Escape Char    PANAME
PARSE    Sets PARSE Mode    PANAME
PLC        Print Line w/ 1st. Char  PANAME
PRAXY    PRA by X and Y    CCD MOD
PRD            Print Display    AECROM
PRL        Print Line    CCD MOD
TABCOL    Tabulate Column    PANAME
UNPARSE    Clears Parse Mode    PANAME
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PS> see attached MOD file for V41 / 41X usage

[Vincent Weber]

Hi Angel,

Many thanks for your kind reply.

I tried this module in i41cx+, and could not get the PARSE and TABCOL functions to work. I either get "NONEXISTENT" or "ERROR G". This makes me suspect that these functions have not been altered to support the direct 82143a printer, and still expect the HP-IL/82162a combination, which is useless to me (there is no HP-IL emulation on i41cx+). Am I correct ?

Also, TABCOL, even if it worked, would not be a substitute for FMT (no centering).

Finally, this ROM is in conflict with the CCD module (at least this is what i41cx+ is telling me), which bugs me because I wish to have the CCD module installed...

So I guess there is no solution to my problem. At least for now...

Thanks anyway and cheers,

Vincent