Daisy wheel graphics using the period?
Although it would have absolutely beaten the hardware to death, did anyone ever try to write a graphics driver for daisy wheel printers that would use the period symbol to painstakingly construct a graphical image, using micro-step platen and printhead movements?
Due to the speed limitations of the printhead solenoid, such an image would likely have taken 10 times longer to produce than on a 9-pin dot matrix printer, and there is the possibility of damaging the period symbol by over-flexing the wheel support arm. It would be prohibitively expensive with single-use carbon ribbons, and might damage looped fabric ribbons.
But... was it possible and did anyone ever do this?
graphics printer daisywheel bitmap
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
add a comment |
Although it would have absolutely beaten the hardware to death, did anyone ever try to write a graphics driver for daisy wheel printers that would use the period symbol to painstakingly construct a graphical image, using micro-step platen and printhead movements?
Due to the speed limitations of the printhead solenoid, such an image would likely have taken 10 times longer to produce than on a 9-pin dot matrix printer, and there is the possibility of damaging the period symbol by over-flexing the wheel support arm. It would be prohibitively expensive with single-use carbon ribbons, and might damage looped fabric ribbons.
But... was it possible and did anyone ever do this?
graphics printer daisywheel bitmap
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
add a comment |
Although it would have absolutely beaten the hardware to death, did anyone ever try to write a graphics driver for daisy wheel printers that would use the period symbol to painstakingly construct a graphical image, using micro-step platen and printhead movements?
Due to the speed limitations of the printhead solenoid, such an image would likely have taken 10 times longer to produce than on a 9-pin dot matrix printer, and there is the possibility of damaging the period symbol by over-flexing the wheel support arm. It would be prohibitively expensive with single-use carbon ribbons, and might damage looped fabric ribbons.
But... was it possible and did anyone ever do this?
graphics printer daisywheel bitmap
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
Although it would have absolutely beaten the hardware to death, did anyone ever try to write a graphics driver for daisy wheel printers that would use the period symbol to painstakingly construct a graphical image, using micro-step platen and printhead movements?
Due to the speed limitations of the printhead solenoid, such an image would likely have taken 10 times longer to produce than on a 9-pin dot matrix printer, and there is the possibility of damaging the period symbol by over-flexing the wheel support arm. It would be prohibitively expensive with single-use carbon ribbons, and might damage looped fabric ribbons.
But... was it possible and did anyone ever do this?
graphics printer daisywheel bitmap
graphics printer daisywheel bitmap
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
asked Jan 11 at 18:23
Dale MahalkoDale Mahalko
2,034524
2,034524
add a comment |
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
I used to have a Diablo 630 DWP saved from the dump. This did produce nice graphics using a dot character and micro spacing together with my AT compatible of that time. The whole procedure was, however, not very friendly to both ribbon and paper as you say, you had to reduce wheel impact (by retracting the solenoid) as much as possible to save both from early retirement, and you wanted to use your most faded (fabric) ribbons for that torture. If I remember right, it took several hours to print a 630x350 EGA picture with 4x4 (or 2x2? can't remember) dithering. 300 Baud serial didn't help that much on print speed as well.
You could set the horizontal motion index in 1/120", and the vertical VMI in 1/48", which only allowed printing of pictures turned around by 90°.
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
add a comment |
Yes - when at school I wrote a program for the Amstrad PCW that would do this. It's available for download as DSHOWSEA.COM from http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/amstrad.html .
The only test I ran was on my geography master's printer: a simple drawing of rectangles. With the dots at their closest spacing, it chewed up the paper rather.
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
add a comment |
Depends on the printer. Also keep in mind, daisy wheel printers aren't anything from before dot matrix, but rather of the same time frame, in general even later. Dot matrix ruled the 70s, while daisy wheels did had their peak during the 80s, until laser took off.
To start with, not every daisy wheel printer could be positioned (or fed) in size of a dot.
Next, wear would be outrageous
A way better and faster printing would be done using more symbols
Similar, using density of types and multiple strikes produce a way better picture
And last but not least, who would waste much time to write a driver to wear down a very expensive printer when a cheap dot matrix printer could do a better job?
Having said this, of course have type based printers used for (simple) graphs and drivers have been available, usually in fixed pitch mode.
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
|
show 6 more comments
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3 Answers
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active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I used to have a Diablo 630 DWP saved from the dump. This did produce nice graphics using a dot character and micro spacing together with my AT compatible of that time. The whole procedure was, however, not very friendly to both ribbon and paper as you say, you had to reduce wheel impact (by retracting the solenoid) as much as possible to save both from early retirement, and you wanted to use your most faded (fabric) ribbons for that torture. If I remember right, it took several hours to print a 630x350 EGA picture with 4x4 (or 2x2? can't remember) dithering. 300 Baud serial didn't help that much on print speed as well.
You could set the horizontal motion index in 1/120", and the vertical VMI in 1/48", which only allowed printing of pictures turned around by 90°.
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
add a comment |
I used to have a Diablo 630 DWP saved from the dump. This did produce nice graphics using a dot character and micro spacing together with my AT compatible of that time. The whole procedure was, however, not very friendly to both ribbon and paper as you say, you had to reduce wheel impact (by retracting the solenoid) as much as possible to save both from early retirement, and you wanted to use your most faded (fabric) ribbons for that torture. If I remember right, it took several hours to print a 630x350 EGA picture with 4x4 (or 2x2? can't remember) dithering. 300 Baud serial didn't help that much on print speed as well.
You could set the horizontal motion index in 1/120", and the vertical VMI in 1/48", which only allowed printing of pictures turned around by 90°.
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
add a comment |
I used to have a Diablo 630 DWP saved from the dump. This did produce nice graphics using a dot character and micro spacing together with my AT compatible of that time. The whole procedure was, however, not very friendly to both ribbon and paper as you say, you had to reduce wheel impact (by retracting the solenoid) as much as possible to save both from early retirement, and you wanted to use your most faded (fabric) ribbons for that torture. If I remember right, it took several hours to print a 630x350 EGA picture with 4x4 (or 2x2? can't remember) dithering. 300 Baud serial didn't help that much on print speed as well.
You could set the horizontal motion index in 1/120", and the vertical VMI in 1/48", which only allowed printing of pictures turned around by 90°.
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
I used to have a Diablo 630 DWP saved from the dump. This did produce nice graphics using a dot character and micro spacing together with my AT compatible of that time. The whole procedure was, however, not very friendly to both ribbon and paper as you say, you had to reduce wheel impact (by retracting the solenoid) as much as possible to save both from early retirement, and you wanted to use your most faded (fabric) ribbons for that torture. If I remember right, it took several hours to print a 630x350 EGA picture with 4x4 (or 2x2? can't remember) dithering. 300 Baud serial didn't help that much on print speed as well.
You could set the horizontal motion index in 1/120", and the vertical VMI in 1/48", which only allowed printing of pictures turned around by 90°.
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
edited Jan 11 at 19:22
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
answered Jan 11 at 19:05
tofrotofro
14.2k32980
14.2k32980
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
add a comment |
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
"Saved from Dump in the late 80s" might be an important the clue here. Though, nice hack :))
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 19:14
2
2
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
@Raffzahn Well, a brand-new 630 cost roughly $2000 in 1985 - You really wouldn't want it to undergo such a torture. I really can't remember well, but think I got it pretty late, in the early 90ies.
– tofro
Jan 11 at 19:21
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
On the other hand, a Diablo 630 is built like a tank - It's probably hard to break it at all. Mine didn't break until the mid-2000s whan I moved house and had to get rid of it
– tofro
12 hours ago
add a comment |
Yes - when at school I wrote a program for the Amstrad PCW that would do this. It's available for download as DSHOWSEA.COM from http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/amstrad.html .
The only test I ran was on my geography master's printer: a simple drawing of rectangles. With the dots at their closest spacing, it chewed up the paper rather.
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
add a comment |
Yes - when at school I wrote a program for the Amstrad PCW that would do this. It's available for download as DSHOWSEA.COM from http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/amstrad.html .
The only test I ran was on my geography master's printer: a simple drawing of rectangles. With the dots at their closest spacing, it chewed up the paper rather.
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
add a comment |
Yes - when at school I wrote a program for the Amstrad PCW that would do this. It's available for download as DSHOWSEA.COM from http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/amstrad.html .
The only test I ran was on my geography master's printer: a simple drawing of rectangles. With the dots at their closest spacing, it chewed up the paper rather.
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
Yes - when at school I wrote a program for the Amstrad PCW that would do this. It's available for download as DSHOWSEA.COM from http://www.seasip.info/Cpm/software/amstrad.html .
The only test I ran was on my geography master's printer: a simple drawing of rectangles. With the dots at their closest spacing, it chewed up the paper rather.
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
answered Jan 11 at 21:10
john_ejohn_e
2,309518
2,309518
add a comment |
add a comment |
Depends on the printer. Also keep in mind, daisy wheel printers aren't anything from before dot matrix, but rather of the same time frame, in general even later. Dot matrix ruled the 70s, while daisy wheels did had their peak during the 80s, until laser took off.
To start with, not every daisy wheel printer could be positioned (or fed) in size of a dot.
Next, wear would be outrageous
A way better and faster printing would be done using more symbols
Similar, using density of types and multiple strikes produce a way better picture
And last but not least, who would waste much time to write a driver to wear down a very expensive printer when a cheap dot matrix printer could do a better job?
Having said this, of course have type based printers used for (simple) graphs and drivers have been available, usually in fixed pitch mode.
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
|
show 6 more comments
Depends on the printer. Also keep in mind, daisy wheel printers aren't anything from before dot matrix, but rather of the same time frame, in general even later. Dot matrix ruled the 70s, while daisy wheels did had their peak during the 80s, until laser took off.
To start with, not every daisy wheel printer could be positioned (or fed) in size of a dot.
Next, wear would be outrageous
A way better and faster printing would be done using more symbols
Similar, using density of types and multiple strikes produce a way better picture
And last but not least, who would waste much time to write a driver to wear down a very expensive printer when a cheap dot matrix printer could do a better job?
Having said this, of course have type based printers used for (simple) graphs and drivers have been available, usually in fixed pitch mode.
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
|
show 6 more comments
Depends on the printer. Also keep in mind, daisy wheel printers aren't anything from before dot matrix, but rather of the same time frame, in general even later. Dot matrix ruled the 70s, while daisy wheels did had their peak during the 80s, until laser took off.
To start with, not every daisy wheel printer could be positioned (or fed) in size of a dot.
Next, wear would be outrageous
A way better and faster printing would be done using more symbols
Similar, using density of types and multiple strikes produce a way better picture
And last but not least, who would waste much time to write a driver to wear down a very expensive printer when a cheap dot matrix printer could do a better job?
Having said this, of course have type based printers used for (simple) graphs and drivers have been available, usually in fixed pitch mode.
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
Depends on the printer. Also keep in mind, daisy wheel printers aren't anything from before dot matrix, but rather of the same time frame, in general even later. Dot matrix ruled the 70s, while daisy wheels did had their peak during the 80s, until laser took off.
To start with, not every daisy wheel printer could be positioned (or fed) in size of a dot.
Next, wear would be outrageous
A way better and faster printing would be done using more symbols
Similar, using density of types and multiple strikes produce a way better picture
And last but not least, who would waste much time to write a driver to wear down a very expensive printer when a cheap dot matrix printer could do a better job?
Having said this, of course have type based printers used for (simple) graphs and drivers have been available, usually in fixed pitch mode.
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
edited 2 days ago
manassehkatz
1,984318
1,984318
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
answered Jan 11 at 18:37
RaffzahnRaffzahn
46.7k5104189
46.7k5104189
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
|
show 6 more comments
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
1
1
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
I wonder how well a daisy wheel printer could have performed for graphics if one had a wheel containing various combinations of dots? For example, if one used 15 characters for vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines that were 1-5 dots long, that would allow a major performance boost for many kinds of graphics.
– supercat
Jan 11 at 20:09
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
And there were definitely text-based graphics done on mainframe line printers, essentially using each character as a pixel with the coverage of the character (@ > X > I > , > . etc.) roughly corresponding to an intensity. See Mona Lisa
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 20:58
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
@manassehkatz Isn't that what I mentioned in my 4th point about using type density?
– Raffzahn
Jan 11 at 21:02
1
1
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
Sort of except you didn't say it's actually a thing, just a possibility.
– manassehkatz
Jan 11 at 21:39
1
1
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
@supercat All daisywheel printers I know regulate hammer impact based on the size of the printed character. This is normally encoded in the daisywheel itself by different spoke forms based on the character area (thus different resistance to the hammer impact). Otherwise, dots would be ending up engraved while "W" or "M" would be too light.
– tofro
yesterday
|
show 6 more comments
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