15 Oct
2008
15 Oct
'08
1:09 p.m.
On 15 Oct 2008 at 12:16, Brent Hilpert wrote:
I sure do remember that: as an undergrad, my first
task for an OS
research project was to convert the system troff-style fixed-pitch text formatter
to support proportional font spacing. Output was to a daisy-wheel printer (don't
recall the actual printer manuf/model) using that same sort of micro-spacing feature.
This would have been late-'79/early-'80, so the same time frame as your task.
The first impact printer that I owned was a Diablo 1340 (? the one
with the very noisy separate PSU). Raw 12- bit interface. I hooked
it to a 3-port S-100 parallel I/O board and then went about figuring
out how to make it act like a regular printer under CP/M, including
bidirectional logic seeking. I even wrote up proportional spacing
tables and still have the code somewhere.
Sometime in the late 70's, I picked up a copy of "Proportional
Spacing with WordStar". It seems that WordStar 3.0+ did have hooks
for PS, but they were a bit buggy. The document I purchased (still
have it if anyone's interested) gives patches and workarounds for the
bugs. I used it for quite awhile.
FWIW, I have a Diablo 1620 (RO, serial interface) for adoption if
anyone wants to see to packing and shipping. It works.
Cheers,
Chuck