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Post by donno128 on Jul 6, 2014 16:10:47 GMT
I was thinking of posting Spectrum 128, the other paint program written with Basic 8. Actually I guess there is a third, iPaint by Rick Kane, but I don't have it and I seem to remember someone saying (fairly recently) he is still selling it.
Spectrum has a multicolor mode that can use 128 colors or so via dithering and I think 4 colors in a text block and can be used in interlaced mode or regular. I do not have the documentation any more, it was minimal anyway.
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Post by hydrophilic on Jul 6, 2014 16:46:58 GMT
That would cool if you shared Spectrum 128... but iPaint is still being sold? The C128 version? Wow, I need to start charging people money if that is the case... I got a nice paint program for VIC that could be adapted with moderate effort to the VDC. Actually it should be effortless with BASIC 7.80. Yeah well it wouldn't have interlace/128 simulated colors... maybe that is where the money is?
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Post by robertb on Jul 6, 2014 17:48:25 GMT
Don't forget about Master Paint 128, another BASIC 8 80-column paint program. However, I don't remember that MP 128 used any dithering to obtain more, virtual colors. Writing from Crawley, England, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group videocam.net.au/fcug July 26-27 Commodore Vegas Expo v10 - www.portcommodore.com/commvex |
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Post by donno128 on Jul 7, 2014 1:51:09 GMT
Oh yeah, the money must be in the colors. And the loads of printer drivers. This is a non-booting 1571 disk. spectrum128.d71 (342.83 KB) |
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Post by hydrophilic on Jul 7, 2014 22:21:38 GMT
Yeah the printer drivers. I only have printer driver for OkiData 120, which I think would be compatible MPS 801 ... well one of the CBM dot matrix printers... It always amazad me all the printer drivers that came with GEOS. I guess if you're a big company like Berkerly Softworks you could buy a variety of printers ... or contract out the work. Really amazing how small compainies (or individuals) can do such things.
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Post by donno128 on Jul 7, 2014 23:30:33 GMT
I used OkiData 120, which is MPS 801 compatible, for years. A neat little printer, nicer looking than the MPS-801, then got an MPS-1200 which can be compatible with Epson LQ printers and MPS-801 depending on how it is connected to the 128.. Now I have an Epson Homewriter 10 which uses an interface forcing it into MPS-801 compatible mode. Printing these BASIC8 images is more a proof of concept than useful, maybe there's a Cannon Inkjet driver that is actually worthwhile. That disk image I posted has a corrupted pict. file, 128colors, which was that way when I got it from BriWall in Kutztown back in 1991. Or maybe I did it when I first tried out the program. Anyway, I found the image in good shape and replaced the old file with it, so here's the new disk image. Still a non-booting 1571 disk. spectrum128.d71 (342.83 KB) |
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Post by donno128 on Jul 7, 2014 23:36:53 GMT
Don't forget about Master Paint 128, another BASIC 8 80-column paint program. However, I don't remember that MP 128 used any dithering to obtain more, virtual colors. Writing from Crawley, England, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group videocam.net.au/fcug July 26-27 Commodore Vegas Expo v10 - www.portcommodore.com/commvexHi Robert, I've never seen Master Paint 128 in the wild. Well, never seen it at all. What's your take on the printer drivers for these BASIC8 programs? gtrmon |
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Post by hydrophilic on Jul 8, 2014 14:03:04 GMT
So I'm not the only one here who used Okidata 120? Amazing. Nice to hear confirmation that it is MPS-801 compatible... this was just my understanding from reading stuff over the years; I never owned any MPS printer.
You said the interface to your Homewriter 10 forces it into MPS-801 mode... I guess that means you can't print color with it?
I mean it should not be very difficult to take an 80-column bitmap that is 640 pixels wide (or less) and convert it into GeoPaint format and then you could print with almost any printer if you fire up GEOS. The problem with that method would be color. I don't know about Wheels, but in GEOS 2.0, the colors of GeoPaint and all the paint drivers are hard-coded for VIC-II palette. Hmmm... I guess the conversion program could re-map most colors, but of course VDC has dark purple and dark cyan with no direct match on the VIC-II.
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Post by donno128 on Jul 8, 2014 15:47:29 GMT
The Oki 120 was cheap, reliable and all around better to use than the MPS-801. Same output quality since it's a 9 pin printer but I believe it is faster. Maybe. Its printer driver was same as the MPS-801, at least the ones I looked at.
No color for the Epson, except maybe using different ribbons and color separation. With that interface it is converted into an MPS-801, I think the Homewriter actually has LX-10 guts. I was hoping when I got the Homewriter 10 I would be able to get around using the interface and there would be a nice straightforward d-sub connection on the inside. Using the dsub it would be ASCII compatible and printed bitmap graphics would be better. But no, just a dream. Or maybe I need a Homewriter 15 or 20.
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Post by robertb on Jul 11, 2014 3:30:24 GMT
donno128 said: > What's your take on the printer drivers for these BASIC8 programs? I've always thought the selection of drivers was very limited. There should have been more. Back from Europe, Robert Bernardo Fresno Commodore User Group videocam.net.au/fcugJuly 26-27 Commodore Vegas Expo v10 - www.portcommodore.com/commvex |
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