Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!hermes!jpexg
From: jpexg@hermes.ai.mit.edu (John Purbrick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: 2-pass DEGAS printout program?
Summary: Done!
Message-ID: <3330@hermes.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 12 Apr 89 05:24:00 GMT
References: <4112@druhi.ATT.COM> <16853@cup.portal.com>
Organization: MIT AI Lab, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 32


In article <22854@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>, c60c-3ds@web-1b.berkeley.edu
(John Kawakami) writes:
> In article <16853@cup.portal.com> Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
> >Eric Terrell asks about a "multi-pass" DEGAS file printer program..
> > 
> >It uses only one pin of the printhead, and advances the paper only 2/3 of
> > 
> >BobR
> 
> Please, DON'T USE THIS PROGRAM!  DENSITY.PRG will almost certainly destroy
> your printhead.  There must be a better way, like using all 8 pins, pushing
> the paper 2/3 a dot, and making another pass.  Each pin will do 1/8 of the
> work.

Over a year ago I wrote a program which substantially does this task, and I
uploaded it to one of the archives (sorry, I forget which). What it does is to
print a Degas file (monochrome only) on an Epson-compatible 9-pin printer,
using all NINE pins. Because the pin spacing is 1/72 inch, the printing is done
sideways, which is the only way it fits an 8.5x11 sheet. The result is much
better than Atari's partial printout of a distorted screen (ie, X and Y scales
are different using plain alt-help, and the right hand side of the screen is
missed completely).

I haven't used the program for a while, though, because I got a 24-pin printer
and rewrote the program for it. That baby will print a screen horizontally
either in 1x scale (1 dot = 1 pixel) or 2x (2 dots = 1 pixel). The 1x printout
is only 3.5 inches wide. This program still needs a little work before going
public.

						John Purbrick
						jpexg@hermes.ai.mit.edu