Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Try doing a "COPY filename PRT:"
    
    

    Any one solved the graphic printing of CR's on the LA50 yet?
    
    You get the effect if you select a font and print graphic
    in the notebook when there are blank lines between text.
    (The paper is color is white and the text is black.)
    
    ... Rich

Re: .2

>   Any one solved the graphic printing of CR's on the LA50 yet?
>   
>   You get the effect if you select a font and print graphic
>   in the notebook when there are blank lines between text.
>   (The paper is color is white and the text is black.)

I have an LA50 on a 2000 and do not have this problem.  In fact, I am not sure I
understand what the problem is.

	Paul

re. 3
    
    Must be my LA50 or the version of the LA50 driver. Could you point me to
    one that works for you so that I can eliminate this possibility?
    
    Here a more detailed observation. The LA50 print head seems to like to
    stay in the middle of the carriage. When I print graphic files that
    have a white background, the first line of non-white pixels is offset
    by where the carriage is currently sitting instead starting from
    column 0 all the way at the left of the carraige. It's not only
    first occurance. The effect happen when evey I have full carriage
    line of background (white).
    
    Here's an examle: (Say the *'s are pixels in graphic mode)
                                 **     **    **
                                 **     **    **
    **     **
    **     **   
    *********    **
    *********    **
    **     **    **
    **     **    **
    **     **    **

and what I expect to get is

    **     **    **
    **     **    **
    **     **
    **     **   
    *********    **
    *********    **
    **     **    **
    **     **    **
    **     **    **

    What I think causes this is that the graphic carriage return ($)
    returns the carriage to the middle of the carriage not the left
    most margin. Oh, It works fine in text mode. 
    
    My LA50 is one of the first ones built. I was contemplating a LA75, but
    was holding off to because I feared the same problem it.
    
    ... Happy Holidays
     Rich

    The LA75P is very easy to use with the Amiga. I have had mine set
    up for a couple of weeks now and I am very satisfied. In fact, since
    the LA75P can emulate the IBM ProPrinter, and the CBM MPS1000 also
    emulates a ProPrinter.... It's a piece of cake.
    
    Also, with WordPerfect, it is possible to create a new printer driver
    (only for WordPerfect). I have already done that. I will try to
    create a new note on that in the near future...

Re: .4

I haven't got the driver I use on the vax right now.  I will upload it again
when I have a chance if you can't find it elsewhere.  It does sound like your
problem could be either the driver or your printer.

	Paul

    
    	As the original author of the LA50 driver I'm interested in
    any problems you are having. I have not been able to reproduce
    the problem on my system.
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    Steve,
      
     I'll try downloading LA50.ARC again. Which one should I use.
    I mostly use Dave Weckers VT100 V2.6 with KERMIT.
    
    Thanx,
      Rich
     
    
    

re .4

I've had the same problem with dpaint in some screen modes (never in lo-res)

I used the version 2.1 of the LA50 driver.

I have found that sometimes DPaint tell the driver to dump the grafic buffer 
containing even without telling it wich pixel is to be drawn and wich
not, first.

This results in dump  of an empty buffer on the printer and the driver seems 
not  to like it very much.

So I changed the render routine of the driver in order to check how many 
pixels are to be dumped before dumping the entire buffer, and in case of 
empty buffer it do nothing.

I did this changes and now DPaint works, but I think would be better if 
the author will do this in an official way .

Note however that the grafic dump of the workbench always worked right.

Hope this helps enough.
		
Roberto.



    
    

    Could you post your version of the driver and sources?
    
    Thanks,
    John
    

    I would appreciate that version greatly.
    
    Thanks,
    
    Rich

ok!

But until weekend, I'll not able to upload it.

After, it will on MISSU1::[milos.amiga]la50.arc

Note: MISSU1 has 48.269 as decnet address.

Stay tuned....
			ciao.
			Roberto

    In any of the LA50xx.arc files, I notice many .asm files, a couple
    .c files, etc..
    
    What is the proper sequence/procedure to build the driver, i.e.
    what I'm looking for is the procedure to reconstruct the driver
    from the sources...  
    
    such as...
    
    asm68k render.asm
    asm68k pgmxxx.asm
    lc data.c
    lc pgmxxx.c
    
    blink a.o,b.o,c.o etc.
    
Are there any other "special" headers, include files, support funcs,
    whatever that aren't part of a normal compiler (I have Lattice).
    
    
Thanks,
    
    John
    

    
    I don't think the current version of blink cannot build device drivers.
    You need to use Alink.  I believe Toebes is working on this for
    the next release...

re.13

John if you look in MISSU1::$DISK1:[MILOS.AMIGA] you'll find an arc file 
containing my version of the driver (look previous replies).

Also include in this arc there is a file (CompTrace) that describes exactly
what you ask.

I don't remeber what is the exact syntax for this (I'm going to upload it in 
next  hour). In next reply I'll describe it.

This also corrects the previuos location (I missed the disk name) where to find
my version of the driver.

Regards...
		Roberto.

    Thanks all for the help...
    
    Where this is leading is the creation of a print driver for an LN03+.
     I may have solved the problem by just purchasing an LN03X-IC cartridge
    which should allow the printer to emulate a ProWriter.  Since a
    driver already exists for this, no problem.
    
    I would like to know how to write a driver from scratch, however.
     All my recent hacking around has been through a PD program called
    PRTDRVGEN.  Doesnt seem to enable me to talk to the printer in anything
    other than text mode...
    
    Again,
    Thanks
    
    -john-
    

    
    
    	If you want to write your own driver I have a couple of programs
    that I used to test different driver subroutines. You need a copy
    of the ROM Kernel manual. Also on a early Fred Fish disk are some
    example drivers and extra information. I'll look for it tonight.
    
    
    Some Hints.
    
    	BLINK will not work. You have to use ALINK.
    
    	The postion of code in the executable is important. This
    	means the order of file names in the ALINK command is 
    	important.
    
    	If you write the driver in C your driver doubles in size due
    	to the libraries that are linked in.
    
    	All the documentation and examples use 32 bit ints. The default
    	for lattice C.
    
    	Be careful to save all registers before use and restore them
    	when done. You CAN NOT use AmigaDos functions from inside the
    	driver. The drive must contain all code needed to run. Be
    	careful to allocate and release memory correctly. The driver
    	and buffers are not loaded into CHIP memory.
    
    	There is no way to remove the driver once loaded And no easy
    	way to find or Debug it.
    
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    Many Thanx...
    
    rich

I need to get a copy of the current LA50 driver.  I have gotten a copy
off the network but on a 5� floppy.  I haven't been able to get it onto
my A500 since I don't have any comm software running and the local PC
place hasn't been able to copy it to a 3� form me.  Rather than to
track down all of the other ways of copying it I'd like to get a copy
on a 3� disk.  If anyone would like to help me out, contact me at
SAHQ::KASPER (Atlanta) and give me an address to mail a blank disk to.

Thanks,
Terry