Controlling The Printer From Basic - Epson FX-80 User Manual

Chapter 2
Controlling the Printer from BASIC
In this manual you'll be testing the printer with BASIC programs.
So the logical starting point is to learn just how the BASIC in your
computer interacts with the FX-80.
One of the simplest things you can do with the FX-80 is print listings
of your BASIC programs. You merely load a BASIC program into the
computer and send the LISTing output to the printer instead of to the
screen.
Unfortunately, different computers access the printer in different
ways. For example, the TRS-80 and most other Microsoft BASICs use
an L before the usual PRINT or LIST commands (e.g., LPRINT,
LLIST, etc.). Some other computers use PRINT# in place of LPRINT.
A third group (Apple in particular) uses PR#l to route information to
the printer and PR#O to restore the flow of information to the screen.
Most likely your computer uses one of these three methods. Be sure to
consult your computer manual.
We will use the LPRINT and LLIST commands for our examples in
this manual. The widespread acceptance of Microsoft BASIC makes
these commands as close to a standard as we have in this industry. But
remember that you may need to modify some of the programs to
match the unique aspects of your system.
Once you have discovered how your computer communicates with
the printer, load a BASIC program into memory. Now list it onto the
printer, using your computer's version of the LLIST command. Some
examples are shown in Table 2-1.
21