[Coco] DriveWire printing options

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 2:02 AM, Bob Devries <devries.bob at gmail.com> wrote:
> Aaron, you asked:
>
>> Is there one printer model that would cover a majority of applications?
>
> Sadly, even the Tandy printers used different codes for their various
> printing modes. I wonder if the graphics printing could be implemented as a
> separate module, which can be replaced with the correct type for the printer
> in use, along the lines of a DLL?
>

Java is able to do dynamic class loading, but that might be pushing
the limits of where we want to go in terms of complexity.   It is a
possibility.

For simple things like bold, italics, font selection, basically text
manipulation I think a simple translation table would do (byte pattern
X = bold, byte pattern Y = doublestrike, etc).   I'll need to
understand more about how graphics are done before I can guess what
would be required there.

Maybe a better place to start would be what applications are most
important to support?  If there is a printer with good functionality
that is shared amongst the most desired apps, I could start working on
that and see where it leads.  Like I mentioned, I never got into
printing things so I don't have a good idea of what would be the most
popular printing tasks.
You mentioned printing source code.. is this just dumping ascii text
to the printer, or is there a tool you use that "pretty prints" the
code?


> Regards, Bob Devries
>
> --
> Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's
> native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.
>
> Edsger W.Dijkstra, 18 June 1975
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Wolfe" <aawolfe at gmail.com>
> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Friday, December 25, 2009 5:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [Coco] DriveWire printing options
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 25, 2009 at 12:59 AM, Bob Devries <devries.bob at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Aaron,
>>
>> I'm sure there are some of us who still like to do development work on the
>> real thing, and often being able to list all or part of a source file is
>> useful.
>>
>> How likely is it to be able to catch the large range of Tandy printers
>> that
>> were used, and convert their output (usually in various graphics modes) to
>> a
>> raster image for printing on a Windows printer, or to a PDF or other
>> graphics file such as jpeg? If this was a possibility then various
>> programmes which produce graphics output could be used.
>>
>
> Java has good support for rendering 2D graphics, and once you have an
> image, its simple to output it to a jpeg, a PDF, send it to a local
> printer, etc.  The real trick would be turning the bytes sent to the
> printer port into a 2D graphic :)
>
> Is there one printer model that would cover a majority of
> applications?  I could implement things in a modular style so that
> additional bytes -> image converters could be plugged in its place
> easily enough if people wanted additional printers, but focusing on
> one to start at least would be more practical.
>
> -Aaron
>
>
>
>> Regards, Bob Devries
>> Goulburn, NSW, Australia
>>
>> --
>> Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's
>> native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.
>>
>> Edsger W.Dijkstra, 18 June 1975
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Aaron Wolfe" <aawolfe at gmail.com>
>> To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>> Sent: Friday, December 25, 2009 4:50 PM
>> Subject: [Coco] DriveWire printing options
>>
>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> First off, Merry Christmas to everyone :)
>>>
>>> As we are finishing up a feature set for the first release of the Java
>>> based DriveWire server, I realize that I haven't put in anything for
>>> printing support yet. I don't use printers much myself, never really
>>> had much need.
>>>
>>> What (if anything) would be useful to people in the printing
>>> department? Options range from dumping the bytes to a text file, to
>>> displaying them on a web page, to even emulating some sort of Coco
>>> printer and rendering the output in a PDF, etc...
>>>
>>> Anybody still print with their Coco? If there's something that would
>>> be useful, let me know and I'll try to implement it.
>>>
>>> -Aaron
>>>
>>> --
>>> Coco mailing list
>>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>>> http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>>
>>
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