Trying to remember Printer Control Codes lead me toward the creation of this program for the NEC 8023, Prowriter 8510 and PMC DMP-85 printers (which are essentially the same machine). This listing, when run on an Atari 400, 600XL, 800 or 800XL, will program any of these printers for various font choices, margins, tabs and spacing... eliminating the need to search for the correct coding.
The final push I needed to make up Proset came when I had to set "form length" to lengths other than 66 or 72. As the three printer owner's manuals do not provide a form length setting program compatible with the Atari, I made several calls to Leading Edge, NEC and numerous computer stores, and visited two Atari computer clubs -- all to no avail. Two weeks after my first call, I received a partial program from a technician at NEC. From that listing, Lines 850 through 930 emerged.
Program overview
Lines 40-260 form the first menu, which gives the user font characteristic choices, sets them and accesses the second menu. Lines 330-780, the second menu, define options and set form and line-spacing characteristics. Lines 270-300 and 790-820 give the user the option of combining menu choices. Lines 840-930 set form length, while Lines 960 and 970 reset the printer to its default settings.
After selecting the perforation skip-over, the printer will list 60 lines on a page, skip over the fanfold paper perforation and continue printing. A form length of X can be set by changing the 60 in Line 860 to X and the 62 in Line 890 to X+2.
When setting margins and tab stops, one should first set up the font size, since the settings will not change to coincide with font size changes. Note how many characters will be permitted on a printed line -- and do not exceed these numbers when setting either the margin or tabs. When entering these numbers, remember that they must be three digits long and (in the case of tabs) the numbers must be separated by commas.
All settings will remain enabled until the printer is turned off, this program is rerun, the program's reset option is selected by the user, or changes are received from the Atari.
0 DATA 585,796,966,244,596,595,132,599
,142,603,175,641,774,783,341,7972
60 DATA 413,274,546,694,169,63,330,72,
176,783,556,559,562,566,210,5973
210 DATA 536,561,538,408,548,506,910,7
81,782,769,713,46,661,187,840,8786
360 DATA 884,689,662,11,68,173,695,574
,580,610,406,597,609,347,439,7344
510 DATA 581,707,53,801,721,646,57,635
,403,732,49,292,437,642,472,7228
660 DATA 681,433,28,759,48,807,369,585
,133,582,670,405,238,106,769,6613
810 DATA 773,300,745,300,30,171,810,80
3,351,791,780,844,743,440,503,8384
960 DATA 933,183,1116