programming contest. I am submitting a new type of printer driver and printer driver editor.
The
@LASERMATRIX
driver is different than other printer drivers in that it does not just copy the screen graphics to the printer, but examines and mathematically enhances the image before printing it.
Many of the current text processing programs available for the
@Commodore 64
produce high-quality output by using one font definition file for screen display (or the
internal font), and a seperate, high-density file for printing in that font.
@GEOS
, because it is a WYSIWYG processor, has a medium density font definition file for both displayed and printed output. This results in an excellent screen display, but rather poor printed output as the screen is copied using a fairly low printer density.
The
@LASERMATRIX
driver overcomes this limitation by examining the dot patterns sent to the printer and filling in the missing information by interpolating the image in several ways. Thus, 'What You See Is What You Get', but at the high display density of the printer, not the screen. Some high-density drivers do produce better output, but upon examination, simply produce dense blocks instead of dot, not smooth lines.
Since the driver enhances graphic images, not individual characters, it performs equally as well with
@GeoPaint
documents as it does with
@GeoWrite
text.
The interpolation routines are the same for any printer used, but the escape codes used to communicate with the printer vary. The
@LASERMATRIX
Editor is used to alter the escape code sequences to match a specific printer, then place them into the proper place in the driver file.
The printer, which has been a drawback of the
@GEOS
system, can now be used to enhance the output of a
@GEOS
program, especially one such as
@GeoPublish
(which I'm hoping to win, hint, hint) which makes extensive use of text
graphics.
I have included some print samples for your examination. Thank you for your consideration of this program.
(.txt)