From: Damian Yerrick Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: printer information Organization: Pin Eight Software http://pineight.8m.com/ Message-ID: References: <391D777B DOT 18D439B5 AT mtu-net DOT ru> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.7/32.534 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 49 X-Trace: +rTuhtPcBVnACcB1Fouk8XAfCn6qaBgIom3Aaao3PkySHEVSyM3c9EFUf3vON1pprkE3jcS3WclW!H55i8r0uLt/EwnPclRy1zEhYuYZv9b4jOB2E34eZX2Ius6l5jQ67fWC/3SywqxQNHbPb4BU14PvN!QNviDB0= X-Complaints-To: abuse AT gte DOT net X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 17:45:00 GMT Distribution: world Date: Sat, 13 May 2000 17:45:00 GMT To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com On Sat, 13 May 2000 19:40:43 +0400, "Alexei A. Frounze" wrote: >Tom wrote: >> >> can someone tell me where to find information on sending output to the >> printer. I wan tot be able to do things like lines, circles, and other >> graphical things. Also is there a way to change the font that a printer >> uses? Thanks > >AFAIK a printer prints either images or text. It has nothing about circles >and other shapes. Dumb printers know only about bitmaps and text. PCL and PostScript printers, on the other hand, can render simple shapes (PS can do really complex things; it's a Turing-complete language). If you really want to print something from a DJGPP program: 1. render it into pixels with Allegro or something similar 2. dither it down to one bit per channel, using Floyd-Steinberg 3. beg the printer vendor to send you information on how to write a driver 4. implement the driver from the supplied spec In my experience, the most difficult step is #3, unless the printer supports a standard language such as Epson emulation, Hewlett- Packard PCL, or Adobe PostScript. Many newer color inkjets (including my HP 720C :-( ) are paperweights because they are designed specifically to work with proprietary, trade-secret, binary-only drivers available only for Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95, Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 98, Microsoft(R) Windows(R) NT, and Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000. (Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries.) Or: 1. render it into pixels with Allegro or something similar 2. dump it to a .bmp file (Allegro can do this) 3. write a program with MinGW (a DJGPP-like system that supports Win32) or RSXHeadacheNTDJ (a DJGPP add-on that makes Win32 apps) that dumps the .bmp file to the Windows printer API. http://www.mingw.org/ -- Damian Yerrick "I refuse to listen to those who refuse to listen to reason." See the whole sig: http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~yerricde/sig.html This is McAfee VirusScan. Add these two lines to your signature to prevent the spread of signature viruses. http://www.mcafee.com/