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With this numbering system, every combination of the eight pins adds
up to a decimal number between 0 and
255,
and no numbers are
duplicated.
Since there are
24
pins in each column, you must make a calculation for
each of the three sections in each column.
As you
can see, this method of
planning and printing dot graphics requires considerable calculation.
Because triple-density uses 180 columns per inch, printing a single line of
triple-density graphics only one inch long requires
540
numbers.
Fortunately, commercial software can do the calculations for you.
Before you can put these numbers in a graphics program, you need to
know the format of the graphics command.
The graphics command
The graphics mode command is quite different from the other commands
used by the printer. For most of the other printer modes, such as
emphasized and double-wide, one ESCape code turns the mode on and
another turns it off. For graphics, the command is more complicated
because the code that turns on a graphics mode also specifies how many
columns it will use. After the printer receives this code, it interprets the
next numbers as pin patterns and prints them on the paper.
Your printer has one command that allows you to use any of the 11
graphics options. The format of the command is:
ESC *
m
n7
n2
data
In this command,
m
selects the graphics option and
nl
and
YL?
specify the
number of columns to reserve for graphics. The available graphics
options are listed in the following table.
4-16
Using Software and Graphics