I'm starting to work on a FreeDOS program to simulate a dot matrix printer, to show the output of each page in SVGA mode. (Also considering adding PC spkr support, so it makes noises as it "prints.") The first version will be a plain ASCII (7-bit) 9-pin printer. I'll add CP437 and ESC/P support in later versions.
Here's what I'm planning: This will be an "idealized" dot matrix printer. I'll reserve 6x9 for each character box, but will actually draw characters in a 5x8 box. Using 8 rows means I can easily simulate a "print head" that prints characters as a series of 1-byte bit patterns (5 columns, each column is 1 byte). I'll reserve the 9th row for "underline." That also makes the math easy. I'll reserve an extra "6th" blank column as a space between letters, and an extra (10th) blank row as a space between lines. If I assume 10 CPI and 6 LPI, that means a US Letter page will have 60 DPI in both horizontal & vertical dimensions (that means square pixels): 10 char/inch x 6 dots/char = 60 DPI 6 lines/inch x 10 dots/line = 60 DPI That means the resolution needs to be: 60 dots/inch x 8.5 inches = 510 pixels 60 dots/inch x 11 inches = 660 pixels ..so I can display the page in 1024x768 resolution. I think my math is right. :-) _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
