Digital Equipment LASO User manual

EK-OLASO-RM-002
LASO Printer
Programmer Reference Manual

EK-OLASO-RM-002
LASO Printer
Programmer Reference Manual
Prepared by Educational Services
of
Digital Equipment Corporation

1st Edition, August 1982
2nd Edition, March 1983
Copyright© 1982, 1983 by Digital Equipment Corporation
All Rights Reserved
The reproduction of this material, in part or whole, is strictly prohibited. For
copy information, contact the Educational Services Department, Digital
Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Digital
Equipment Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors that may
appear in this document.
Notice: This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy. It has
been type tested and found to complywith the limits for a Class Bcomputing
device in accordance with the specifications in Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC
Rules, which are designed to provide reasonable protectionagainst radio and
television interference in a residential installation. However, there is no
guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this
equipmentdoescause interference to radio or televisionreception, the useris
encouraged to try to correct the interference.
Printed in U.S.A
The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard,
Massachusetts.
DEC DECnet IAS
DECUS DECsystem-10 MASSBUS
DIGITAL DECSYSTEM-20 PDT
Digital Logo DECwriter RSTS
PDP DIBOL RSX
UNIBUS EduSystem VMS
VAX
OMNIBUS VT
OS/8

CONTENTS
CHAPTER1 FEATURES
1.1
1.1.1
1.1.2
1.1.3
1.2
CHAPTER 2
2.1
2.1.1
2.1.1.1
2.1.1.2
2.1.1.3
2.1.1.4
2.1.1.5
2.1.1.6
2.1.1.7
2.2
2.2.1
2.2.2
2.2.3
2.3
General . .... ... .. .... .. ........ .... .. ..... .... ... ... . 1
Text Mode .. ... .... .. ........ .... .. ..... .... ... .. .. 2
Graphic Mode .. .... ... ... ... .. .. ....... ....... ... . 2
LA50 Features .. .... ... ... ... .. .. ........... ... ... . 2
Specifications .. ... ... .. ... .. ... ... ... ... .. .... ... ... . 2
COMMUNICATIONS
Data Interface ............. ..... ........ .............. 5
Interface Signals ..... ..... .......... .............. 5
Receive Data ...... ............... .............. 5
Send Data .............. ....... ... .............. 6
Terminal Ready .. .. ......... .. . .. ....... .. ...... 6
Request to Send ......... ... ................ .... 6
Ready/Busy .. .. .... .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. .... . .. .. .. .. 6
Protective Ground ....... . ...... .............. ... 6
Signal Ground................................... 6
Data Synchronization .. ... ... . ..... ... ... ... ... .... .. 6
Input Buffer........................................ 7
XON/XOFF Protocol . .... .. . .. .. .. .. . .... .. .. . .. . .. 7
Ready/Busy Protocol .. ... .. .. .. .. ........... .. .. .. 8
Data Transmission .................. ...... ........... 8
iii

iv CONTENTS
CHAPTER3
3.1
3.2
3.2.1
3.2.2
3.2:3
3.2.4
3.2.5
3.2.6
3.3
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.3.3
3.3.4
3.3.5
3.3.6
CHAPTER4
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.2
4.3
CHA.PTER 5
5.1
5.2
5.2.1
5.2.2
5.2.3
5.2.4
5.2.5
5.2.6
PRINTER CONFIGURATION
General .............................................. 11
Front Panel Indicators and Switches ......... ...... .. 11
Ready Indicator. ..... .............................. 12
FAULT Indicator ................................... 12
POWER Indicator .................................. 12
READY Switch .. ... .. . .. .............. .. ... ........ 12
LINE FEED Switch ................................. 12
FORM FEED Switch . ... . .. . .. . .. ............ ...... 12
Configuration Switches. ...... ..... ............. ...... 12
National Character Set Switches .. .... .... .. ..... . 14
Graphics Aspect Ratio Switch SW1-5 ....... . ...... 14
XON/XOFF and Ready/Busy Protocol
Switches SW1 -6 and SW1 -7 ...... .. . .. ... .. ... ... . 14
Right Margin Switch SW1 -8 ... .. ... .... .... .. .... . 16
Baud Rate Select Switches
SW2-1, SW2-2, SW2-3 ................. : .. . .. ... .. . 16
Data Format Switches
SW2-4, SW2-5, SW2-6 .. ... ... .... .... .... .. ...... . 17
TEXT MODE CHARACTER PROCESSING
Text Mode Character Processing ... .. .. .... ... ... ... . 19
Active Column and Active Line .................... 19
Horizontal Advance Increment ..................... 21
Vertical Advance Increment ........................ 21
Printable Characters ................................. 21
Control Characters ............. ............... ....... 21
ESCAPE AND CONTROL SEQUENCES
General .............................................. 27
Escape and Control Sequences ...................... 28
Partial Line Paper Motion ......................... 29
Horizontal Pitch Selection ......................... 29
Vertical Pitch Selection ........................ .- ... 32
Page Length Selection ....................... ..... 34
Character Set Selection ..... ...................... 35
Printing Density Selection ......................... 36

5.2.7
5.2.8
5.2.9
5.2.10
5.2.11
5.2.12
5.3
5.3.1
5.3.2
5.3.3
5.3.4
5.3.5
5.3.6
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
FIGURES
2-1
3-1
3-2
3-3
4-1
5-1
5-2
TABLES
2-1
3-1
3-2
4-1
4-2
5-1
5-2
A-1
A-2
A-3
CONTENTS v
Selection of Bold and Underlined Printing ......... 38
Product Identification .............................. 40
Printer Status Request ............................ 41
Printer Status.Report ... ,, .......................... 42
Escape Sequences with 8-bit Equivalents ......... 44
Entering and Exiting Graphic and Text Mode ....... 44
Graphic Mode . ·. ..... .............. ......... .......... 45
Graphic Control Characters ........................ 46
Graphic Carriage Return ........................... 46
Graphic New Line .: ............................... 46
Repeat Sequence ................................. 46
Graphic Substitute ................................. 47
State After Exiting Graphic Mode .................. 47
CHARACTER SET CHARTS
ESCAPE SEQUENCE SUMMARY
Serial Character Format ........ .............. ... ..... 9
Front Panel Controls and Indicators .................. 11
LA50 Printer Configuration Switches .... .. ... ... .... . 13
Changing Switch Positions ... ... ...... .... ... ... ..... 13
ASCII Chart .......................................... 20
Changing Horizontal Pitch ........................... 30
Changing Vertical Pitch .............................. 33
Printer Interface Signals ......... .......... ......... . 5
Character Set Selection .. ... .. ... ...... . .. ... .. .... .. 15
Character Set Switch Positions .... .... .. ............ 15
Text Mode ANSI Control Characters ................. 22
Text Mode ANSI Control Characters ................. 23
Active Character Set Selection ... .. .... .. .. .... .. ... . 37
Character Set Selection .. ... ... .. .... .. .. ...... . ..... 38
ASCII Character Set .. ... ... ... ... ... ..... .. ... .. ... .. 50
VT100 Special Graphic Character Set ................ 51
Finnish Character Set ................................ 52

vi CONTENTS
A-4 French Character Set ................................ 53
A-5
A-6
A-7
A-8
A-9
A-10
A-11
A-12
A-13
A-14
French Canadian
Character Set ...................... 54
German Character Set . .. . .. .. . .. . . .... .. .. ... ... . .. . 55
Italian Character Set ................................. 56
Japanese (JIS Roman) Character Set ................ 57
Katakana Character Set .. .. . .. .. . . .. .. .. . .. ..... .. .. . 58
Multinational Character Set .......................... 59
Norwegian/Danish Character Set .................... 60
Spanish Character Set ............................... 61
Swedish Character Set . ... . .. .. . .. . .. ... ... .. .. ... . .. 62
United Kingdom Character Set ....................... 63

FEATURES
1.1 GENERAL
The LASO is a compact, dot matrix, serial printer. It was designed for use in
personal computer systems, office workstations, and small-sized business
computer systems.
The printer is available in four models.
LASO-RA -120 V
LASO-RB -220 V
LASO-RC -240 V
LASO-RD -100 V
The printer has an input buffer capacity of 2047 characters.
The LASO receives characters and commands through an asynchronous serial
interface. The interface operates at any of several selectable baud rates up to
4800 baud.
The paper feed mechanism is able to move paper both forward and reverse.
The printhead is mounted on a carriage that scans horizontally across the
paper. The printer is capable of bidirectional printing with automatic print direc-
tion determination. The ribbon is in a disposable cartridge.
The printer operates in either of two fundamental modes: text mode or graphic
mode. In text mode, characters define the functions and character symbols usu-
ally associated with alphanumeric printers. In graphic mode, characters d~fine a
single column of 6 dots to be printed, not an entire character image as in text
mode.

2 FEATURES
1.1.1 Text Mode
In text mode, the printer uses a 9-element impact dot matrix printhead to print
characters
in an 8-dot character cell at 100 characters per second. Lines of 80,
96, or 132 characters can be selected to print in the 8-inch wide print region. An
enhanced printing mode is available that allows more fully formed characters to
be printed in a 16-dot character cell at 50 characters per second.
1.1.2 Graphic Mode
In graphic mode the LASO allows the programmer to print graphic images by
sending data that controls the dot printing elements individually.
1.1.3 LASO Features
The following are the main features of the LASO.
• Compact size suitable for desk-top location
• ASCII and multinational character set
• VT100 special graphics character set
• Katakana character set for Japan
• Standard escape and control sequences
• Graphic image printing
• Enhanced printing
• High reliability
• Light weight
• Low cost
1.2 SPECIFICATIONS
The following are the specifications for the LASO.
Print method
Print speed
Character format
(including intercharacter
space)
Incremental with bidirectional
lookahead
100 characters/second
(7 x 9 matrix
printing)
44 lines/minute (80 columns printed
per line)
7 x 9 matrix atfull speed
13 x9 matrix at half speed