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Epson LX-80 User Manual

Epson printer user's manual
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EPSON
LX-80™ PRINTER
User's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Epson LX-80

  • Page 1 ® EPSON LX-80™ PRINTER User’s Manual...

  • Page 2: Fcc Compliance Statement For American Users

    * All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this manual. However, should any errors be detected, EPSON would greatly appreciate being informed of them. * The above notwithstanding, EPSON can assume no responsibility for any errors in this manual or their consequences. @ Copyright 1984 by EPSON CORPORATION Nagano.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    ......Printer Parts Printer Location ..... . . Paper Feed Knob Installation Ribbon Installation Ribbon Replacement .
  • Page 4 LX-80 Features ..Demonstration Programs ..Pica Printing Changing Pitches Cancelling Codes Resetting the Printer ..Pitch Comparison ..
  • Page 5 Dot Graphics ....Switches Using the Optional Tractor Unit Printer Location ... . . Tractor Unit Installation Loading Continuous Paper .
  • Page 6 ........Printer ........

  • Page 7: List Of Figures

    Cable connection SelecType setting and functions A capital T ... . The three pitches of the LX-80 . . LX-80 dot matrix characters . . . Emphasized and single-strike Double-strike and single-strike Expanded and standard characters Italic and pica .
  • Page 8 List of Tables SelecType modes Mode combinations Summary of LX-80 pitches International characters in NLQ mode International characters in draft mode ..International characters in draft italic ..

  • Page 9: Introduction

    Introduction The Epson LX-80 printer combines low price with the high quality and advanced features formerly available only on more expensive printers. LX-80 Features In addition to the high performance and reliability you’ve come to expect from an Epson printers, the LX-80 offers:...

  • Page 10: About This Manual

    LX-80, a quick reading of the first chapter may be all you need. If, on the other hand, you are new to computers and printers, you will find this manual easy to follow and the LX-80 easy to use.

  • Page 11: Setting Up Your Lx-80 Printer

    Setting Up Your LX-80 Printer Setting up your LX-80 printer is a simple matter of attaching two parts, putting in the ribbon and paper, and connecting the printer to your computer. This chapter will have you printing a test pattern within fifteen to twenty minutes and doing more complicated work not long after.

  • Page 12: Printer Location

    Paper Feed Knob Installation Now that you have chosen where to set up your LX-80, the first and simplest piece to install is the paper feed knob, which you use to manually advance the paper-just as you do on a typewriter. To install the knob, merely push it onto the shaft found in the hole on the right side of the printer.

  • Page 13: Ribbon Installation

    Figure 1-2. Paper feed knob installation Ribbon Installation The LX-80 printer uses a continuous-loop, inked fabric ribbon, which is enclosed in a cassette that makes ribbon installation and replacement a clean and easy job. The parts of this cassette are labelled in Figure 1-3.
  • Page 14 To install the ribbon, first open the lid at the front of the LX-80 so that you can see the print head assembly shown in Figure 1-4. Move the assembly by hand to the center of the printer so that the other parts of the printer will not get in your way.

  • Page 15: Ribbon Cassette Installation

    Then hold the ribbon cassette so that the small knob is on top and the exposed section of ribbon is away from you. Insert the cassette in its holder by first sliding the pins at the back of the ribbon cassette under the small hooks on the holder.

  • Page 16: Ribbon Replacement

    Be careful not to touch it. Also remember never to move the print head by hand when the printer is turned on.

  • Page 17: Paper Loading

    Paper Loading Now put a sheet of paper in your LX-80 so you can test it. Figure 1-7 shows the names of the parts that you need to know. Friction lever Figure 1-7. LX-80 ready for paper loading...

  • Page 18: Control Panel

    See that the printer is turned off, open the front lid, and push the friction lever back and the paper bail forward. Then move the print head by hand to the center of the printer and feed the paper into the paper slot in the top of the printer, When the paper will not go any farther, turn the paper feed knob to advance it as you would with a typewriter.

  • Page 19: Selectype

    Their primary functions are described below: The POWER light glows green when the power is on. The READY light glows green when the printer is ready to accept data. This light flickers somewhat during printing. The PAPER OUT light glows red to indicate that the printer is out of paper or the paper is loaded incorrectly.

  • Page 20: Test Pattern

    Test Pattern Now you’ll see your LX-80 print something even though it’s not connected to a computer yet. Make sure that your printer has paper in it and that the power switch is off. Now, hold down the LF button on the control panel while you turn the printer on with the power switch.

  • Page 21: Connecting The Lx-80 To Your Computer

    Figure 1-10. Plug one end of your printer cable into the cable connector of your LX-80 printer. The plug is shaped so that there is only one way it will fit the connector. Now secure the plug to the printer with the wire clips on each side of the connector.

  • Page 22: First Printing Exercise

    LX-80 print. If you plan to use your LX-80 for printing program listings, load a program and use your computer system’s listing command (LLIST for Microsoft™...

  • Page 23: Selectype

    LX-80. In this chapter you’ll learn how Epson’s SelecType feature puts the most-used print modes at your fingertips. With a few taps on the panel buttons of the LX-80, you can change your printing from i ! +, 1”) (I: / cl r’ ( : : I <i i >...

  • Page 24: Turning Selectype Mode On

    (ON LINE and FF) at the same time, as illustrated in Figure 2-1. The LX-80 will beep to signal that it is in SelecType mode. The READY light also turns off, and the ON LINE light begins flashing.

  • Page 25: Using Selectype

    mode, all the panel buttons have new functions (also shown in Figure 2-1). Exit Figure 2-1. SelecType setting and functions In SelecType mode, the ON LINE button tions, the FF button SelecType off, returning the panel buttons to their former operation. Using SelecType Once you have turned on SelecType, you select the print functions you want according to Table 2-1.

  • Page 26: First Selectype Exercises

    Then press the ON LINE and FF buttons at the same time. The LX-80 beeps to tell you that it is in SelecType mode, the READY light turns off, and the ON LINE light begins blinking.

  • Page 27: Testing Your Software For The Reset Code

    5) Push the LF button once to return the panel buttons to their standard functions. Now you have set the LX-80 to print in compressed mode. Merely push the ON LINE button to put your printer back on-line and list your program once more.

  • Page 28: Mode Combinations

    SelecType as described above. If your example is once again printed in pica, turn your printer off and back on. Then try the steps above one more time to be sure that you made no mistakes.
  • Page 29 LF button to leave SelecType. Don’t worry about harming your printer if you try to combine two modes that the LX-80 can’t mix. Your settings cannot damage the printer because it is prepared for the possibility of receiving codes for conflicting modes.

  • Page 30: Selectype Cautions And Tips

    2) Press the ON LINE button once and then the FF button once. Since one is the code for NLQ, you have now set the LX-80 for that mode. 3) Press the ON LINE button one more time and then the FF button once.

  • Page 31: Elements Of Dot Matrix Printing

    The Print Head The LX-80 uses a print head with nine pins or wires mounted vertically. Each time a pin is fired, it strikes the inked ribbon and presses it against the paper to produce a dot. This dot is about 1/72nd of an inch in diameter.

  • Page 32: Bidirectional Printing

    Bidirectional Printing In nearly all of our discussions in this manual, we describe the action of the LX-80 print head as moving from left to right, as a typewriter does. During its normal operation while printing in the draft mode, however, the LX-80 prints bidirectionally. That is, the print head goes from left to right only on every other line.

  • Page 33: The Three Pitches Of The

    I---- a. 00 Figure 3-2. The three pitches of the LX-80 The dot pattern of each character is carefully designed so that in pica mode no dot overlaps another. The reason is that in normal high-speed printing of pica the pins cannot fire and retract and fire again quickly enough to print one dot overlapping another.

  • Page 34: Nlq Mode

    The NLQ letters are more fully formed than the draft letters be- cause they are made up of many more dots. Two differences between draft and NLQ printing enable the LX-80 to print such a large num- ber of dots for each character. In the NLQ mode, the head moves more slowly, so that dots can overlap horizontally, and each character is printed with two passes of the print head.
  • Page 35 SelecType makes it especially easy to change from draft to NLQ, but you can also select and cancel the NLQ mode with a software command or with a special switch in the back of your printer. You can find the software command in Chapter 5 and the operation of the...

  • Page 36: Printer Control Codes

    If you are an advanced user or a programmer, you may want to turn to Appendix B, which has a full summary of all the LX-80 ASCII Codes When you write a document with a word processing program, you press keys with letters on them.

  • Page 37: Escape Code

    0 through 127, computer and printer manufacturers soon extended this range (to 0 through 255) in order to make room for more features. On the LX-80, for example, the codes from 160 through 254 are used for italic characters. Because even this extended range is not enough for all the features used on modern printers, the range is further extended with a special code called the Escape code.

  • Page 38: Printer Codes

    With this information and possibly some help from your dealer or the manual for your applications program, you can take advantage of all the features of the LX-80 that you want to use. Incidentally, there is no standard terminology for software codes;...

  • Page 39: Embedded Codes

    ~~.III< Please note that these are not the same as the control key codes mentioned above. Once you tell such a program that you are using an Epson printer, it will know which codes to send. (Often you don’t even need to specify which Epson printer you are using.) You usually tell the...

  • Page 40: Programming Languages

    Appendix B. Again, if this sounds terribly complicated, don’t worry. Use your LX-80 with the standard features of your word processing program until you become more familiar with both of them. Then you can decide whether or not you need or want to learn to use inserted codes.

  • Page 41: Demonstration Programs

    Beginning with this chapter we describe many of the printing fea- Demonstration Programs Along with our discussion and examples of the LX-80 features, we include demonstrations in the BASIC programming language so that you can see these features in action. Although we know that you will...

  • Page 42: Pica Printing

    We have designed these chapters so that you can concentrate on using the features of the LX-80 instead of on programming, but a few instructions arc necessary. Because the examples in this manual are in...

  • Page 43: Changing Pitches

    As you saw in the third version of the print pitch program, you must cancel a code when you do not want it any more. With very few exceptions, the LX-80 modes stay on until they are cancelled. It is important to remember this because an LX-80 mode can stay on even if you change from BASIC to another type of software.

  • Page 44: Pitch Comparison

    By resetting the printer, a method explained in the next section. Resetting the Printer Resetting your LX-80 cancels all modes that are turned on. You can reset the printer with one of two methods: Sending the reset code (Escape “a”) Turning the printer off and back on.

  • Page 45: Near Letter Quality Mode

    In fact, if you need even more than the 132 characters per line that compressed gives you, you can combine elite and compressed for a mode we call compressed elite. It is not really another pitch, because the size of the characters is the same as in the compressed mode; only the space between the characters is reduced.

  • Page 46: Summary Of Lx-80 Pitches

    Elite pri.rrt r.oepr essej 0’ ! . nt ~iqtt-ess~ ei 1 te f3-if-$ Remember that you don’t have to use BASIC to change modes; you can use any method that sends the printer the proper codes. Summary of pitches LX-80 10.00...

  • Page 47: Bold Modes

    Print Enhancements and Special Characters Now that you have seen how you can change the pitch of your LX-80 printing, we can show you many more ways to vary and enhance your printing. So that you won’t have to type in dozens of programs to try all the features, we give you just one master program that can demonstrate any feature.
  • Page 48 Emphasized works only in draft pica and NLQ modes. In elite and compressed the dots are already so close together that even with the reduced print speed, the LX-80 cannot fire, retract, and again fire the pins quickly enough to print overlapping dots.
  • Page 49 The code to turn off emphasized is ESCape “F”. Double-strike The other bold mode on the LX-80 is double-strike. For this mode the printer prints each line, then moves the paper up slightly and prints the line again. Each dot is printed twice, with the second one slightly below the first as you can see in Figure 6-2.

  • Page 50: Mode Combinations

    SelecType feature. For example, can a title be made especially vivid by combining expanded and emphasized? The answer is that you can combine nearly all of the print modes on the LX-80. Indeed, your...

  • Page 51: Italic Mode

    Italic Mode You may occasionally want to print italic words for emphasis, titles, or other uses. The LX-80 has italic mode to enable you to use italic characters for any purpose. Although characters produced by the previous modes in this manual are modifications of the standard pica characters, the LX-80 uses completely different characters for the italic mode.

  • Page 52: Underline Mode

    ESCape codes is an alphanumeric character, not a numerical value. Underline Mode The LX-80 also has a mode that will underline characters and spaces. You turn it on with ESCape “-1” and off with ESCape “-0”. Note that the underline code is like the expanded code in that it uses a...

  • Page 53: The Underline Mode

    Chapter 4. Master Select The LX-80 has a special ESCape code called Master Select that allows you to choose any possible combination of eight different modes: pica, elite, compressed, emphasized, double-strike, expanded, italic, and underline.
  • Page 54 If you try to combine emphasized with either of the two narrow pitches, you won’t harm your printer; it will simply use a priority list in its memory to determine which mode to use. This...

  • Page 55: Superscript And Subscript

    If you use ESCape “!” 64 to turn on italic, your LX-80 will begin printing in italic pica instead of italic elite because the 64 code does not include elite. Use 65 for italic elite.

  • Page 56: International Characters In Nlq Mode

    Denmark I Sweden You select the character set in one of two ways: with an ESCape code or with a switch in the back of your printer. The ESCape code in BASIC has the following format: LPRINT CHR$(27) “R”CHR$(n) in which n stands for the appropriate number from the list above. In other words, the BASIC command to select the French character set LPRINT CHR$(27) “R”CHR$(1)

  • Page 57: International Characters In Draft Mode

    @ key, the I? symbol will be generated. If your keyboard does not have one of the keys that you need, you will have to send the proper ASCII number to the printer in another way, such as a programming language or inserted or embedded codes.

  • Page 58: Graphics Character Set

    LX-80 prints the codes from 128 through 159 as graphics characters. You can change pitch and weight with the graphics characters just as you can with the other characters in the ROM of the LX-80. The characters in Figure 6-6 are printed in expanded elite. The printout...
  • Page 59 The next printout shows the characters in emphasized expanded pica: The design of all the special graphics characters is shown in en- largements in Appendix A. Because normal line spacing leaves space between the lines of graphics characters just as it does between lines of text, you must change the line spacing when you combine line graphics characters to form boxes or other figures.

  • Page 60: Page Formatting

    Appendixes B and C. Margins The LX-80 allows you to set the left and right margins with simple ESCape sequences. The left margin command is ESCape “1” followed by the number of the column you choose for the left margin. The right margin command is ESCape “Q”...

  • Page 61: Justification With Nlq

    See Chapter 2 to find out how to test for a reset code in your program. The maximum right margins on the LX-80 printer are 80 in pica, 96 in elite, 137 in compressed, and 160 in compressed elite. For further information on this command see Appendix B.

  • Page 62: Skip Over Perforation

    The LX-80 has an ESCape code to prevent this: the ESCape “N” command. You send ESCape “N” followed by the number of lines you want the LX-80 to skip at the bottom of a page. For example, in BASIC the following line will make the LX-80 skip six lines after each 60 lines: 10 LJPRINT CHR$( 27) “N”CHR$( 6) ;...
  • Page 63 The default line spacing illustrated in Figure 7-1 is the only one you need for almost all printing of text, but in some cases you may want to increase or decrease the space between lines. The LX-80 has several commands to do this. ESCape “0” decreases the line spacing to 9-dot (9/72-inch), ESCape “1”...
  • Page 64 Paper-Out Sensor Under the platen (the black roller) of your LX-80 printer is a small switch that senses whether or not paper is in the printer. When the end of the paper passes this switch, it sends a signal that sounds the beeper and stops your printing.

  • Page 65: User-Defined Characters

    For those occasions when you need a special character or a few letters in a different typeface, the LX-80 allows you to create your own characters and print them just as if they were ordinary letters.

  • Page 66: Grid For Designing Draft Characters

    LX-80. They must fit into an 11x9 matrix, no dot can overlap another, and either the top or the bottom row must be empty.

  • Page 67: Correct And Incorrect Designs

    When you place your dots on this grid, remember that dots cannot go on horizontal lines, but they can go on vertical lines so long as they do not overlap any other dots. As you design your characters, draw the dots as large as you see them in the example on the left in Figure 8-2.

  • Page 68: Design For Sigma

    So that you can see how the program works, we’ll present the steps used to create the Greek letter sigma. First is the grid we used to design the character. Figure 8-3. Design Running the program For each of the nine columns, the program will ask for the num- bers of the rows in which you want dots to appear.

  • Page 69: Using The Bottom Eight Rows

    Now wait a moment for your computer to calculate the dot pat- terns and your LX-80 to print the new character in two different typestyles. Your printout also gives you nine numbers, which you will use in the next program. You should get the printout you see...
  • Page 70 90 FOR P=58 TO 63: LPRINT CHR$(P);: NEXT P 100 K=l: IF K>3 THEN A=58 ELSE A=60 110 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(0)CHR$(B)CHR$(PI); 120 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(O); 130 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)CHR$OCHR$(A-1tK); 140 FOR Z=l TO K 150 LPRINT CHR$(128); 160 FOR X=1 TO 9 170 READ R 180 LPRINT CHR$(R);: NEXT X 190 LPRINT CHR$(O)CHR$(O);...

  • Page 71: Nlq Grid

    The two lines when printed by your own program provide you with a key to the characters your LX-80 will now print. When you press the key for one of the characters in the top row, the printer will print the corresponding character in the bottom row. In the example above, if you type = your LX-80 will print t (although your screen will continue to show the character =).

  • Page 72: Grid For Nlq Characters

    64 I Figure 8-5. Grid On this grid you can use any numbered line or space. As you can see, that includes the bottom line and the line on the right side. You should remember to leave one or two columns blank for space be- tween characters, however.

  • Page 73: Data Numbers For One Column

    First data number Second data < number Third data number Figure 8-6. Data numbers for one column To calculate the data numbers for this column, you see which dots are used in the top group (the top eight positions) and add their values together.

  • Page 74: Arrow Design

    Figure 8-7. Arrow design and data numbers If you look at each column individually, you can see how the data numbers were calculated. First NLQ definition program Now type in and run the following program. It has the data num- bers for the arrow design.
  • Page 75 la LPRINT CHR$(27) 20 LPRINT CHR$(27)":"CHR$(I)CHR$(O)CHR$(0); 30 LPRINT CHR$(27)"%"CHR$(l)CHR$(O); 40 LPRINT CHR$(27)"&"CHR$(O)"<("; 50 LPRINT CHR$(O)CHR$(lZ)CHR$(0); 60 FOR X=1 TO 36 70 READ C: LPRINT CHR$(C); 80 NEXT X 90 LPRINT "YOUR CHARACTER IN PICA: < < <" 100 LrjRINT "IN EXPANDED EMPHASIZED PICA: "; 110 LPRINT CHR$(27)"!*<...
  • Page 76 As with the draft charac- ters, you use this two-line printout as a guide to the new characters your LX-80 will print. You can use them with an applications prog- ram or a program you write yourself.

  • Page 77: Introduction To Dot Graphics

    Introduction to Dot Graphics The Epson dot graphics mode allows your LX-80 printer to pro- duce pictures, graphs, charts, or almost any other illustrative or crea- tive material you can devise. Instead of using the standard letters, numerals, and symbols stored in the LX-80’s ROM (Read Only Memory), the graphics mode prints dots column by column and line by line.

  • Page 78: Dot Patterns

    “print screen” command. If you have a program for screen dumps or any other software that produces graphics, all you need to know about Epson dot graphics is how to use the software. If, on the other hand, you wish to do your own programming or merely wish to understand how the LX-80 prints graphics, read on.

  • Page 79: Print Head

    Print Head The graphics mode on the LX-80 is quite different from the text modes, Instead of sending codes for letters and printing functions, you send codes for dot patterns, one number for each column in a line. Since none of the predefined characters or symbols in the prin- ter’s memory is used, your program controls where each dot is...

  • Page 80: Pin Labels

    The graphics command requires more than one number to specify how many columns to reserve because as many as 1920 columns are possible in graphics printing. Since the LX-80 uses eight digit binary numbers, it can’t accept decimal numbers larger than 255. Therefore, the graphics mode command uses two numbers for reserving col- umns.

  • Page 81: Calculating Numbers For Pin Patterns

    With these labels for the pins, you fire the top pin by sending 128. To fire the bottom graphics pin, you send 1. If you want to fire only the top and bottom pins, you simply add 128 and 1, then send 129.

  • Page 82: First Graphics Program

    Multiple-Line Exercise Now that you’ve entered and run a simple graphics program, we’ll go on to an exercise that shows you how the LX-80 combines several lines of graphics for a figure taller than eight dots. Start with a line for 100 columns of single-density graphics and lines to print two pin patterns.
  • Page 83 30 LPRINT CHR$(27>"K"CHR$(lOO)CHR$(O); 40 FOR X-l TO 50: LPRINT CHR$(85)CHR$(42); NEXT X If you run the program now, you’ll see how one line of the pattern looks: To see a how more than one line combines to form a figure, enter and run the following program, which uses two of the lines you have already typed and adds several more.

  • Page 84: Density Varieties

    Density Varieties Although all the examples so far in this chapter have been in the single-density graphics mode, the LX-80 offers five other eight-pin density modes and two nine-pin ones. Nine-pin graphics is not neces- sary for most uses, but you can find its command (Escape “ * “) in Appendix B.

  • Page 85: Column Reservation Numbers

    You are familiar with the command format that uses the ESCape code and a letter, but LX-80 graphics commands can also be in the following format: LPRINT CHR$(27)"*"CHR$(M)CHR$(Nl)CHR$(NZ); with m being the mode number found in the left column of Table As usual, nl and n2 reserve the number of columns for graphics.

  • Page 86: Width Statements

    the maximum number of dots you can reserve on the LX-SO, then, is: CHR$(27)"Z"CHR$(128)CHR$(7); or, in the other format: which is 128 dots plus 7 times 256 dots, for a total of 1920 dots in one row. Once you have chosen the number of columns you want to use, you can have your program do the calculations for you with the following format: CHR$(27)"L"CHR$(N...

  • Page 87: Designing In Different Densities

    The example is not especially complicated, but it does in- clude the same steps you would use for a more complex figure so that you have the basis for designing graphics on your LX-80. You will plan your figure with dots on graph paper, but before beginning to place the dots, you should decide which graphics density you want.

  • Page 88: First Line Of Arrow Figure

    Figure 9-4. Arrow design 9-4, After plotting all the dots as in Figure you calculate the num- bers for each pin pattern by dividing the design grid into separate print lines. For the arrow design the grid was divided into three lines, each seven dots high.
  • Page 89 Otherwise the program is a straightforward graphics program that uses 7-dot line spacing and reads numbers from DATA statements and sends them to the printer. If you want to see the figure in other densities, change the “Y” in line THEN 650 and causes a line feed.

  • Page 90: Graphics Programming Tips

    Semicolons and command placement After the graphics command is issued, every number sent to the LX-80 is interpreted as a pin pattern and printed on paper. Therefore, you must be careful where you put graphics commands in your program.
  • Page 91 27 and 49 (the ASCII codes for ESCape and “1”). Since there is no semicolon at the end of this line, the numbers 13 and 10 are sent again, and again they are printed as pin patterns.
  • Page 92 10s and 13s, the 50 columns reserved are filled before the loop in line 40 has been executed 50 times. Therefore, during the last passes of the loop the LX-80 interprets CHR$(74) as the ASCII code for “J” and prints that character each of the last 35 passes of the loop.
  • Page 93 If a program sends the ASCII code for form feed (12) to the printer, the computer system intercepts it and sends instead the code for line feed (10) several times.

  • Page 94: A Ascii Codes And Character Fonts

    ASCII Codes and Character Fonts This appendix provides information about the way ASCII codes are used on the LX-80 printer and about the character fonts associ- ated with those codes. The first section summarizes the codes. The second section displays the decimal and hexadecimal numbers, a printout, and an enlarged dot matrix for each of the special graphics characters and the draft international characters.
  • Page 95 Dee Hex CHR Dee Hex cm none none none none none none none none none none none none none none none none none none iii: 20’ ’ & .’ ‘) Dee Hex CHR ” :< Dee Hex CHR...

  • Page 96: Special Graphics Characters

    Special Graphics Characters Character I-’ “I Character .:.:.: :.:.I tiiiiil...
  • Page 97 Dec Hex Character 150 96 Dec Hex Character -.L. : : , : . .-:-...

  • Page 98: Draft International Characters

    Draft International Characters Roman characters Italic ch aracters...

  • Page 99: Control Key Chart

    Control Codes in Numeric Order You can use any of the methods explained in Chapter 4 to send these control codes to your LX-80. If you use MBASIC, you send a control code using LPRINT CHR$(27) followed by CHR$(n), where n is a number from the decimal (Dee) column below. For a few codes, those with a dash in the ESC column, you omit the ESCape code.
  • Page 100 Device control 2. Turns compressed mode OFF. Device control 3. When DIP switch 2-2 is OFF, places printer in the inac- tive state until a DC1 code is re- ceived. Device control 4. Turns the ex- panded mode set by ASCII 14 OFF.
  • Page 101 Hex Symbol ESC 33 ESC 37 ESC 3 8 & Function Escape. Prepares the printer to re- ceive control codes. Master Select Selects 1 of 64 unique print mode combinations. Format: ESC “!” n where n stands for a number between 0 and 255.
  • Page 102 ESC Dec Symbol ESC 4 2 ESC 4 5 ESC 4 7 ESC 4 8 ESC 4 9 ESC 5 0 ESC 5 1 ESC 5 2 ESC 5 3 ESC 5 6 ESC 5 7 ESC 5 8 ESC 60 Function Turns graphics mode ON.
  • Page 103 ESCape “‘$” command. Format: ESC “?s” n where s is K, L, Y, or Z and n is O-6. Reset code, which resets the printer to its power-up state, including reset- ting top of page. Clears all text and control codes from the print buffer.
  • Page 104 32 horizontal tabs in the current pitch. Tabs may range up to the max- imum width for the character and printer size. For example, the max- imum tab for pica characters on an 8-inch line is 79. Tab settings are not affected by subsequent changes in pitch.
  • Page 105 Hex Symbol ESC Dec ESC 76 ESC 7 7 ESC 78 ESC 79 ESC 80 ESC 81 ESC 82 Function Turns low-speed double-density graphics mode ON. Prints 960 dots per 8-inch line. Format: ESC “L” n followed by n data numbers, where n = total number of dot columns, ni = n MOD 256, = INT (n/256).
  • Page 106 ESC Dec Hex Symbol ESC 90 Function Turns script mode ON. Either type of script is printed in double-strike. Format: ESC “S”CHR$(n) where n = 0 produces superscript, and 1 produces subscript. Turns script mode OFF. Turns unidirectional mode ON. Prints each line from left to right.
  • Page 107 = total number of dot columns, nl = n MOD 256, n2 = INT (n/256). The printer expects two data num- bers for each column of print. The d selects the density, where 0 produces single-density and 1 produces double- density.
  • Page 108 ESC Dec Hex Symbol ESC 102 66 ESC 115 ESC 120 B-10 Function Prints spaces or line feeds without carriage returns. Horizontal format: ESC “f0” n where n is the number of spaces and equals 0-127. Vertical format: ESC “f1” n where n is the number of line feeds and equals 0-127.
  • Page 109 The printer’s high- order control codes from 128 to 155 mirror their low-order counterparts (O-27). In some cases it is necessary or more convenient to use the high-order codes instead of the low-order ones. For example, if your system will not send a 9 for a horizontal tab, use 137 instead.
  • Page 110 Control Key Chart Some applications programs can use control key codes for decimal values 0-27. The table below gives you the proper values. The Con- trol key column indicates that you press the control key at the same time you press the key for the letter or symbol in that column. For example, you press the control key and A at the same time to send the value 1.

  • Page 111: Near Letter Quality Mode

    Control Codes by Function This appendix shows most of the control codes in Appendix B, but this time they are arranged by categories. If your computer cannot generate lowercase letters, use the equivalent decimal ASCII values. This appendix enables you to find a particular code quickly but does not give all the details on the format and use of each code.

  • Page 112: Print Enhancement

    ESC “-0” ESC “-1” Mode and Character-Set Selection ESC “!” ESC “4” ESC “5” ESC “@” ESC “R” ESC “m” Special Printer Features ASCII 8 ESC 25 ESC “<” ESC “U0” ESC “U1” ESC “s0” ESC “s1” Line Spacing ESC “0”...

  • Page 113: Page Format

    Forms Control ESC “8” Turns the paper-out sensor OFF. ESC “9” Turns the paper-out sensor ON. ESC “C” 0 Sets the form length in inches. ESC “C” Sets the form length in lines. ESC “N” Turns variable skip-over-perforation ON. ESC “O” Turns skip-over-perforation OFF.

  • Page 114: D The Dip Switches

    The DIP Switches Several tiny switches called DIP (for Dual In-Line Package) switches are in the back of your LX-80 printer. They control a num- ber of important printer functions. For most uses they can be left as they were set at the factory, but you may want to change some settings.

  • Page 115: Dip Switch Functions

    Any changes made while the power is on will be ignored until you turn the printer off and back on. So set all switches with the power off.
  • Page 116 Switch 2-4 enables the beeper to sound when it is OFF; when it is ON, the beeper cannot sound. Switch 2-3 controls line feeds. When it is ON, the LX-80 performs an automatic line feed with each carriage return; when it is OFF, the computer system sends the line feeds.

  • Page 117: Continuous Paper With Printer Stand

    Printer Location When you use the tractor and continuous paper, you must put your LX-80 where the paper can flow freely in and out of the printer. Use a printer stand or any other arrangement that fits your working area. Just make sure that the paper coming out of the printer does not interfere with the paper going in and that the paper going in does not catch on the printer cable.

  • Page 118: Continuous Paper Without Stand

    Figure E-2. Continuous paper without stand Tractor Unit Installation To install the removable tractor unit, first pull the friction lever toward the front of the printer. Then hold the tractor with the gears to the right as shown in Figure E-3. Figure E-3. Tractorplacement...

  • Page 119: Paper Separator And Paper Guide

    The separator keeps the paper that is coming out of the printer from being pulled back in. Pull out the paper guide at the back of the printer. This guide helps keep the incoming paper from catching on the printer cable.

  • Page 120: Tractor Release Levers

    When you want to use single sheet paper in your LX-80, you can remove the tractor unit quite easily. Just push back the two tractor release levers shown in Figure E-5, tilt the unit backwards, and lift it Figure E-5. Tractor release levers Loading Continuous Paper Once your tractor is installed, you can load continuous paper.
  • Page 121 Figure E-6. Pin feed bolder adjustment Next, open the pin feed covers as shown in Figure E-7 and feed the paper under the paper separator and into the paper slot; push the paper through until it comes up between the ribbon guide and the platen.
  • Page 122 Figure E-8. Figure When you turn on your LX-80, it will remember this top of page setting and will use it when any program tells it to move to the top of the next page. If you later find that your word processing or other...

  • Page 123: Problem/Solution Summary

    Troubleshooting and Advanced Features This appendix approaches troubleshooting from several directions. The first section uses a columnar format to match solutions with problems. Other sections cover beeper error warnings, hexadecimal data dumping, coding and seven-bit solutions, and specific solutions for several popular personal computer systems. Problem/Solution Summary Possible problems are listed on the left and solutions on the right.
  • Page 124 If this happens, take your LX-80 to a qualified service person; d o not attempt to re- move the label yourself. and nz. It will wait...

  • Page 125: Method

    5) Press the LF button to exit SelecType. 6) Press the ON LINE button. Computer systems that monitor printer cable pin 12 will ignore both ESCape “8” and the setting of switch l-5. These systems will stop the printing when no paper...
  • Page 126 This cancels all SelecType settings, returns your LX-80 to its defaults, resets the top of page, and empties the contents of the buffer, any including user-defined characters that you...
  • Page 127 Occasionally you may wish to cancel one or more modes with SelecType instead of resetting the printer with power switch. cancel all modes controlled by SelecType, simply enter SelecType mode and then press the FF button without pressing the ON LINE button.

  • Page 128: Beeper Error Warnings

    Data Dump Mode The LX-80 has a special feature that makes it easy for experienced printer users to find the causes of problems. Called the data dump mode, it gives a printout of exactly what codes reach the printer.
  • Page 129 Now you can follow a data dump printout on your own. Some computer systems change one or more codes when sending them from BASIC to the printer. The ability of the LX-80 to dump in hexadecimal lets you determine which codes are creating problems for your system.

  • Page 130: Coding Solutions

    Put the printer in data dump mode and then RUN the program. Remember to press the ON LINE button to make the LX-80 print the final line. Then compare your printout with the list of hex codes in order in the middle columns of page A-2 in Appendix A. If any are skipped or repeated, you will know that your BASIC language changes some codes before it sends them to the printer.
  • Page 131 The TRS-80™ Model I version of the CHR$ function does not correctly pass on the values of 0, 10, 11, and 12. Zero is a particular problem as it is very important to the ESCape codes of the LX-80 printer.

  • Page 132: Special Printer Drivers

    Special printer drivers An even better (but more difficult) way to overcome these lems is to modify the printer driver so that the codes are passed correctly to the printer without any PEEK want to write such a driver yourself, your computer dealer may be able to help you.

  • Page 133: Solutions For Specific Systems

    If you have a 7-bit system, you need to understand what happens to the control codes you send. The LX-80 automatically interprets these codes the way your system sends them-as the lower half of the range. There is something you can do when you want to send the...
  • Page 134 The printer interface card furnished with the Apple II computer only passes seven bits to the LX-80, which means that you have a 7-bit system. Should you need an 8-bit system, the simplest solution is to purchase a new printer interface card from your computer deal- er.
  • Page 135 First you open the printer as a random file: O P E N “IJ’TI : ” AS Although this allows you to send any code to the printer, you can no longer use the LPRINT command. Instead, you must use a PRINT...
  • Page 136 QX-10™ solutions There are two types of computer-printer interface problems that you owners of Epson QX-10s may need to address. The first is making a width statement when a line is to be more than 80 characters wide. The second is changing any occurrence of the number nine to some other number.

  • Page 137: Printer Maintenance

    See your Epson dealer for replacement ribbon cassettes. Rarely Once in a great while your printer should be lubricated. Epson recommends two lubricants: O-2 (Epson Part No. B710200001) and G-2 (Epson Part No. B70020001). Every 6 months or one million lines, use O-2 lubricant on the shafts and platen bearings, wiping off excess with cloth.

  • Page 138: Printing

    Technical Specifications Printing Printing method ....Impact dot matrix Printing speed ....100 characters per second per line in Paper feed speed .

  • Page 139: Printer

    Number of copies ... . . One original plus one copy; Printer Ribbon ..... . Cassette ribbon, black MTBF .

  • Page 140: Environment

    Environment Temperature ....O perating 41°F to 95°F (5°C to 35°C) Humidity ....Operating 10% to 80% (no condensa- Shock .

  • Page 141: Pins And Signals

    The Parallel Interface The LX-80 printer uses a parallel interface to communicate with the computer; this appendix describes it. Connector pin assignments and a description of respective interface signals are shown in Table I-1. Sji,l Return Signal STROBE DATA1 DATA2...
  • Page 142 To prevent noise, these cables should be shielded and con- nected to the chassis of the host computer or the printer. All interface conditions are based on TTL level. Both the rise and the fall times of each signal must be less than 0.2 microsecond.

  • Page 143: Data Transfer Sequence

    ACKNLG signal or when the level of the BUSY signal is LOW.) 5. Under normal conditions, printer cable pins 11, 12, and 32 are activated when the paper-end condition is detected. The ESCape “8” code disables pins 11 and 32, but not pin 12. Those computers that monitor pin 12 halt printing when the paper is out, making ESCape “8”...
  • Page 144 Table I-2. Signal interrelations On-Line ]SLCTlN IERROR 1 BUSY ) HIGH/LOW HIGH HIGH HIGH <-When SLCT IN is at high level, data entry is enabled, but the input data will be disregarded until SLCT IN is at low level. Note: ERROR status is assumed to rest only in off-line state, and the ERROR status does not always mean SLCT IN.
  • Page 145 American Standard Code for Information Interchange. See ASCII Apple computers, F-10, F-11-12 See also Seven-bit systems ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), 29-30 codes listed for all characters, A-2 Automatic test. See Test pattern Bail. See Paper bail Beeper, F-6 Bidirectional printing, 24 Board, interface, 13 Bold printing.

  • Page 146: Graphics Modes

    Emphasized mode, 41-43 ESCape “E” turns it on; ESCape “F:” turns it off. Can also be set with SelecType Environment, specifications for, H-3 Epson computer, 80, F-14 ESCape code, 30 listed by function, C-l-3 listed by number, B-1-10 ESCape “!“. Master select, 47-49 ESCape “%“.
  • Page 147 ESCape “E”. Turns emphasized mode on, 41-43 ESCape “F”. Turns emphasized mode off, 41-43 ESCape “G”. Turns double-strike mode on, 13 ESCape “H”. Turns double-strike mode off, 43 ESCape “J”. Produces an immediate line feed, B-6 ESCape “K”. Turns single-density graphics mode on, 76 ESCape “L”.
  • Page 148 Graphics, 73-89 column reservation numbers, 81-82 densities, 80-81 designing, 83-85 nine-pin, B-9 problem codes with, 89 reassigning code, 81 special graphics characters, 52-53 summary table, 80 Head. See Print head Hex dumping. See Data dump mode IBM Personal Computer, F-13-14 Inserted codes, 32-33 Interface, 13, I-1-4 International characters, 49-51, A-5...
  • Page 149 Location of printer, 4, E-1-2 Lubrication, G-1 Maintenance, G-l Margins, 55-56 Master Select, 47-49 Matrix. See Dot matrix Near Letter Quality (NLQ) mode, 12, 26-27, 39 Can be set with SelecType, DIP switch, or ESCape code Nine-pin graphics. See Graphics...
  • Page 150 Print head and dot graphics, 75-78 and dot matrix printing, 23 Print pitch summary table, 40 Printer driver for problem codes, F-10 Protective lid. See Lid Quadruple-density. See Graphics densities QX-10, 80, F-14 Reset code, 38 with user-defined characters, 67...
  • Page 151 Technical specifications, H-l-3 Temperature, H-3 Test for reset code, 19-20 for seven-bit system, F-11 pattern, 12 Top of page, E-6 Tractor, optional, E-1-6 Troubleshooting, F-1-14 TRS-80, F-9-10, F-13 Underline mode, 46-47 ESCape “-1” turns it on; ESCape “-0” turns it off. User-defined characters, 61-72 ESCape I‘&”...
  • Page 152 ® Spectrum LX-80 Printer...
  • Page 153 Control Codes by Function Near Letter Quality Mode ESC “x” 1 ESC “x” 0 ESC “a” Character Width (Pitch) ASCII 15 ASCII 18 ASCII 14 ASCII 20 ESC “M” ESC “I”’ ESC “W0” ESC “W1” Character Weight ESC “E” ESC “F” ESC “G”...

  • Page 154: Forms Control

    Special Printer Features ASCII 8 ESC 25 ESC I‘<” ESC “U0” ESC “U1” ESC "s0" ESC “s1” Line Spacing ESC “0” ESC “1” ESC “2” ESC “A” n ESC “3” n ESC “J” n Forms Control ESC “8” ESC “9”...

  • Page 155: Dot Graphics

    User-defined Characters ESC “&” ESC “:” ESC “%” Dot Graphics ESC “+” ESC I“” ESC “K” ESC “L” ESC “Y” ESC “Z” ESC “ / & , 7, SelecType Feature lode Reset Emphasized Double-strike Compressed Elite Defines characters in user RAM. Copies the character set from ROM to RAM.

  • Page 156: Ascii Codes

    ASCII Codes Dee Hex CHR Dot Hex CHR none none none none none none none :‘R none none none none none none none none none ‘26 1‘55...

  • Page 157: Control Keys

    Control Keys Decimal Hexadecimal Control key...

  • Page 158: Limited Warranty

    This warranty does not apply if the Epson label or logo, or the rating label or serial number, has been removed from your Epson product, or if, in the sole opinion of Epson, your Epson product has...

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