Re: overprinting ASCII on Laserjet?

Neil Franklin wrote:

> Robert Wood <rob...@ionet.net> writes:
> >
> > > : >make it treat a CR(Carriage return) as what it should be (reset to left
> > > : >margin, but do not advance the line).  But no matter how I set Line
> > > : >Termination, it always prints a line, hits the CR, and advances the
>
> Well actually the printer is obeying the CRs. They just have no
> discernable result on the output.
>

Ah, but it does, it is interpreting the CR as a line feed, if it "had no
discernible
result", everything would be ok on my end.

>
> > combination are interpreted.  But in another place in the HP codes it says tha
> t
> > the LF (linefeed) ASCII 10 is interpreted as CR (carriage return) ASCII 13.
>
> Which is true.
>
> Try <blank> <any-character> <CR> <second-char> <CR> <LF> <FF>
>
> And you should find <second-char> <any-character> on the page.
>

It actually prints as ...
<any character>
<second-char>

> Lasers (and most inkjets) are page printers. In these the entire page
> is rendered onto an large slab of RAM (like an video cards display
> RAM) and then tranfered at once to paper.
>
> Overprinting simply sets RAM bits, which are allready set. So you see
> no effect, despite them being set twice. Bits are 0 or 1, setting them
> twice does not make an 2 out of them.
>
> The nearist thing you can do is get an program that understands
> overstriking and converts it into escape sequences for bold
> printing. Like the GNU "less" file viewer does.
>

Huh?  These "poster" files have nothing to do with "bold" printing.  The
same
character is not be printed in the same place.  It is usually a 0
overwritten by a #
then overwritten by a X.


> BTW: printing the line twice with CR is the wrong way for most of
> these programs, they usually want <char1> <BS> <char1> <char2> <BS>
> <char2> ..., they also user <unserscore> <BS> <char> to underline.

Have you ever looked at one of these files?  Before Dot matrix all there
was were
line printers, so therefore you had to print a whole line at a time.  So
you print a
line of 0's, then you overprint with a line of #'s, then you print a
third time on the
same line with X's.

I understand that Laser printers are page printers and that each
character is sent
to the printer as a bunch of dots to fill up a space.  We will assume we
are using a
mono spaced font (since it is required for these type of line posters)
and that each
character will partially fill in a rectangle of dots (hence the 300x300
dot
resolution from Dot matrix that is also a part of Laser printing).  So
"overprinting" on a Laser printer is simple a matter of filling in the
rectangle
that will hold the three characters that occupy the same space.  If you
start with a
0 then put a # in the same space you should fill in more or the dots in
our
"rectangle", that when you add the X to the mix you fill in even more
dots in our
rectangle.   I still think some combination of the use of the
"Transparency" setting
on the HP may solve this, but I have not been able to find a good
example of how to
use it in this situation, and my trial and error hasn't produced any
usable results.

I have seen too many print errors where text overwrote other text on my
laser to
just give this up as hopeless.  I was sure that someone in this group
would have
already worked out how to print the old line printer posters on a laser
printer.  I
can not believe I am the first to try this.  The Dot Matrix printer will
eventually become an oddity that is only used in special circumstances,
so for
posterity sake, these "works of computer art" will have to either be
converted to a
new format or a method worked out to output them to the general printer
in use
(which is now the laser).

    Robert

Related ASCII art in the Gallery

Explore these categories from our collection of 11,000+ artworks:

(‘-‘)

   _
 _(_)_
(_)@(_)
  (_)\
     |
    \|/
  \\\|//jgs
^^^^^^^^^^^

    \\__  o
|\/    o\  o
>       < o
|/\   __/
    //

 |\__/,|   (`\
 |_ _  |.--.) )
 ( T   )     /
(((^_(((/(((_/

  , _ ,
 ( o o )
/'` ' `'\
|'''''''|
|\\'''//|
   """

 ,~~--~~-.
+      | |\
|| |~ |`,/-\
*\_) \_) `-'

Make your own ASCII art

Turn images, text or 3D into ASCII, or draw your own – right in your browser.