Correct installation settings.for OCP Art studio ZX Spectrum

[PaulY]

I'm using the Epson 9 Pin driver on my Retro Printer. Anyone know how I accurately answer these questions in the printer installation process of OCP Art Studio on the ZX Spectrum?

"How many wires in your print head?" (Assume the answer is 9 as in pins?)

"Is the top wire the m.s.b. ?

"Enter the control codes to be sent to the printer before a screen dump, separated by commas?'

"Enter number of dots in single density, mode?'

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, separated by commas?"

"Enter the number of dots in double density mode?"

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, seperated by commas!"

"Enter control code for carriage return?" (I assume 13)

"Enter control code for line feed?" (I assume 10)

[RWAP]

I'm using the Epson 9 Pin driver on my Retro Printer. Anyone know how I accurately answer these questions in the printer installation process of OCP Art Studio on the ZX Spectrum?

Never used it - so it is a complete guess here

"How many wires in your print head?" (Assume the answer is 9 as in pins?)

Yes, 9 - although this could support 24 pins too!

"Is the top wire the m.s.b. ?

Yes

"Enter the control codes to be sent to the printer before a screen dump, separated by commas?'

Should not be anything - unless you need to reset the printer with ESC @

"Enter number of dots in single density, mode?'

No idea - 60 dpi graphics, so it depends on the width of the screen

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, separated by commas?"

ESC K nL nH

(nL and nH are the number of bytes being sent = nH*256 + nL, so I guess this will be calculated by the program or possibly you need to work out the answer to the above question and divide it by 8

"Enter the number of dots in double density mode?"

No idea - 120 dpi or 240 dpi

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, seperated by commas!"

ESC L nL nH (this is 120 dpi)
ESC Z nL nH (this is 240 dpi)

"Enter control code for carriage return?" (I assume 13)

13

"Enter control code for line feed?" (I assume 10)

10

[RWAP]

Reading the manual on Velesoft.cz, it looks as though the defaults should be for an Epson MX-80 printer ayway - however, comparing the comments in that manual and the mnaual for the C64 version of the software, best guess at the parameters:

"How many wires in your print head?" (Assume the answer is 9 as in pins?)

Yes, 9 - although this could support 24 pins too!

"Is the top wire the m.s.b. ?

Yes

"Enter the control codes to be sent to the printer before a screen dump, separated by commas?'

27,65,8 (set line spacing to 8/72")

"Enter number of dots in single density, mode?'

480

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, separated by commas?"

27,75 (ESC K)

"Enter the number of dots in double density mode?"

960

"Enter control codes to be sent to the printer to select this mode, seperated by commas!"

27,76 (ESC L)

"Enter control code for carriage return?" (I assume 13)

13

"Enter control code for line feed?" (I assume 10)

10

[PaulY]

Frustratingly I realised only a few days ago that I have been using ,"Advanced" Art Studio, not Art Studio. The "Advanced" version is basically the same software, but with some enhancmens. The Advanced version's manual does'nt mention the software will default to MX80 controls. Maybe be it assumes users of the earlier version would know that already. It also might explain why I overlooked the first comment on this thread saying this defaults were for an MX80. On the assumption that the Advanced version would also default to MX80, I just entered passed all the questions without keying in anything and a low and behold it worked first time However, in single density mode, whilst I get a perfect screen dump with proper screen proportions, only the 1X size option is selectable. On the other hand, if I select doulble density mode there are two additional larger screen dump sizes selectable, but all of them, including the 1x size, print out with the ratio narrowed significantly. Too thin - squashed in from the sides.

Anyone any thoughts on why this narrowing happens in double density mode only? Would changing the dots per inch, or something else when answering the install questions on double density be worth trying to return the print out to the proper screen ratio? Thank you. Paul

[RWAP]

Hmm that is an interesting interaction with the double density mode - it is possible that it is difference in the ESC/P (9 pin) and ESC/P2 (24 pin) calculations, although I thought it only affected line spacing not line width.

Could you add some photos to the post to show what you mean and maybe email me a couple of raw files to check at this end - it could of course be a fault in the emulation routine as I assume the double density uses a different control code sequence to choose the graphics mode on the printer.

[PaulY]

Given your thoughts on 9 or 24 Pin setting - I have been using the 24 Pin setting because my Windows 95 computer can exploit this and it did'nt seem to matter on my Spectrum. However I print on my Windows 95 machine rarely, whereas I'm printing on my Spectrum all the time, so could change the setting back to 9 pin before sending you the information you have requested, if you think that could be the cause?

[RWAP]

It is a complete guess as to whether the 9 pin or 24 pin will correct this, but it does affect the supported graphics routines, so possibly.

[PaulY]

I've gone back to 9 pins setting in the RetroPrinter and the print outs look very similar to the 24 Pin ones. Single Density dumps are still pretty much in the correct proportions. Dual Density dumps are still notably narrowed i.e. the width is shorter than it should be in proportion to height, so the print out looks squashed from the sides compared to the orignal screen image.

"633.raw" is the 1x1 single-density dump.
"634.raw" is the 1x1 double-density dump.
"635.raw" is the 2x2 double density dump.

I also noticed that the 9 pins single density dump is slightly wider (less height I think) than the earlier 24 pin setting equivalent "623.raw", but it's only a small difference so does'nt show much.

[RWAP]

It is of course possible that this is the intention if the original 1x1 dump outputs all of the information the double density dump has more graphic information to send to the printer!!

[RWAP]

I have had a look at the code and checked the figures.

For the 1 x 1 dump, each line of graphics is sent as 480 bytes, and we plot a pixel which is 12 dots wide (60 pixels per inch).
For the 2 x 1 dump, each line of graphics is sent as 960 bytes, and we plot a pixel which is 6 dots wide (120 pixels per inch).

This looks correct (as obviously the double density is supposed to be twice as many dots per square inch, hence 960 bytest of graphics data instead of 480).

However, the issue is the printout from the Art Studio - by comparing the lines with data on them, in BOTH single and double density modes, just 208 non-zero bytes are sent (ie the bit where there is not blank space).

Hence the graphic appears squashed.

The difference in height is down to the difference in how vertical movements are calculated on Epson ESC/P (72 pixels per inch), compared to Epson ESC/P2 (60 pixels per inch).