RetroPrinter Support

The very good thing is that, for whatever reason, the 1 x 1 single denisty dump with the 24 epson pin setting on the RetroPrinter seems to print out a perfect circle when you draw one on the Art Studio screen using the default settings, so the representation looks very accurate - to me it looks perfect.

It's all for fun, so not important, but if there was only one other print format option I could have, it would be a 2 x 2 - i.e twice the size of the 1 x 1 single density dump, but this option is "greyed out" for some reason. In contrast, when you select the double density menu option 2 x 2 and 2 x 3 options are available, but as disccused they print out "thin" The visual difference between single and double density is not obvious to me on the print outs so, as long as, the print out is twice the size of the 1 x1 keeping about the same proportions, it would'nt matter to me whether it was single or double density.

Is it worth me experimenting by inputting some different dot numbers in answer to the Art Studio set up questions,(or something else) that might widen the "thin" dump print outs that appear when I select double denstiy mode, or would that be a waste of time?

If you thought it might be worth a try, do you have any suggestions I could experiment with?

Thanks again

Paul.

Paul,

I don't see how you can achieve it unfortunately - you could of course set the page_size to A5 which would have the effect of making the image bigger, but may be problematic when printing.

The parameters in Art Studio will not help - Art Studio is peculiar in that when it talks of double density printing, whilst it doubles the number of pixels sent for the blank sides of the printout, it does not double the number of pixels for the actual graphic, which is what it should do - which would leave the image the same size on the page (but on a normal printer would have improved the image quality)!!

What you are trying to do is NOT print in double density, but zoom into the image - it might be interesting to see what happens if you use the same codes to enter each mode, but use 30 pixels for double density which should have the effect of zooming in?

Great conclusion

Advanced Art Studio's default printer control settings for an MX-80 are automatically set, if you just enter pass the installation questions without keying in anything. The only other things to do in the installation load is select the drawing interface you are going to use (e.g. joystick or mouse) and the printing interface you are using. I am using a Kempston E Centronics interface (with the Retroprinter and a HP Envy 5546 wi-fi printer.)

Where I came unstuck, was spending time trying to work out all the answers to the printer control questions in the installation process. The Advanced Art Studio manual I downloaded made no mention of the do nothing defaults for the Epson MX-80. This infomation is in the standard Art Studio manual, but I was unaware of this until I had already spent lots of time trying to work the answers to the installation questions out!

After simply installing the defaults, Advanced Art Studio works without any further intervention. In single density mode a circle on the screen, prints out as a perfect circle on paper. Although it did take me 5 minutes to work out that the 2 x 2 double size option only works, if you select horizontal, or is it vertical printing. Since single density print outs look exactly the same quality to me as double density ones, the narrowed printouts that occur when you select the double density option, don't really matter- there's no need to use them. Not being able to use the 3,4 and 5 x size options is not important either, as because of their size they print out over multiple A4 sheets and I only use an A4 printer. I suspect the options I can't use and don't need are for different printer set ups, including, may be, old "printer plotters".

The bottom line is I have everything I would like working and I'm pretty sure the functions I have are the ones Advanced Art Studio would have supported back in the 80's on a Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer.

Thanks again Rich for your patience and time helping me out. I am delighted with the RetroPrinter and having great fun with it too!