Micro-print 85

Micro-print 85

for the

16 and 48k Sinclair SPECTRUM



Micro-print 85 is an alternative print routine for all SPECTRUM

micros, with a constant choice of 32, 36, 42, 51, 64 or 85 pitch

characters-per-line printing for all the programs into which you

install it. In effect your display format is optionally revised

from the usual 22 lines of 32 character spaces into 24 directly

accessible lines of 85 3-bit, 64 4-bit, 51 5-bit, 42 6-bit, or

36 7-bit wide character positions, and you can mix the five new

narrower type faces together or with Micro-printed or ordinary

Sinclair 32 pitch characters at any location. Your ZX Printer

can be used to Micro-Lprint an individual text string, and there

is an improved COPY command to enable you to select any group of

between 1 and 24 consecutive screen lines for permanent record.



How to use Micro-print in your own Basic programs.

The code is instructed via four Basic variables which hold the

number of characters per line (no) to be used, the line (li) and

column (co) print is to start at, and the temporary attribute

(at) to be used. The subject matter to be Micro-printed should

be put into the print-string (p$), following which the relevant

RANDOMISE USR command will Micro-print the string in it's new

reduced-width form at the screen location just defined. For

Micro-Lprint no, co and p$ only are required, and the selective

screen COPY is established by setting-up just the first line

(fl) and last line (ll) of the group to go to the printer.

_-

How to load and 'call' Micro-print in your SPECTRUM.

16k version 48k version

Clearing CLEAR 31500 64268

Loading LOAD "MP85/16"CODE 31500 MP85/48 is 64268

M-print RANDOMISE USR 31796 64564

M-COPY RANDOMISE USR 31830 64598

M-Lprint RANDOMISE USR 31880 64648

Saving SAVE "MP85/16"CODE 31500,1100 MP85/48 is 64268,1100



Here is a simple example program using the 16k code.

10 PAPER 1: INK 7: BORDER 1: CLEAR 31500: LOAD "MP85/16"CODE

20 LET p$="Enter the world of 'Micro-print'"+CHR$ 0: CLS

30 LET no=32: LET li=10: LET co=0: LET at=79: GO SUB 110

4O LET no=36: LET co=2: LET p$=p$+CHR$ 0: GO SUB 110

50 LET no=42: LET co=5: GO SUB 110

60 LET no=51: LET co=9: GO SUB 110

70 LEt no=64: LET co=15: GO SUB 110

8O LET no=85: LET co=25: G0 SUB 110

90 LET p$="Here is a COPY of just the '36' and '42' type-faced

lines from the screen.": RANDOMISE USR 31880

100 LET fl=12: LET ll=14: RANDOMISE USR 31830: STOP

110 RANDOMISE USR 31796: RETURN



Now here are all the Micro-print operating rules.



1. Number of characters to be Micro-printed per line :

LET no=32, 36, 42, 51, 64 or 85. Only integers are recognised,

complex numbers and/or mistakes will always set no to 85.



2. Line to start Micro-printing on :

LET li= any integer from 0 to 23. Micro-print will update both

this variable and co, and return to Basic if li is bigger than

23. Print proceeds consecutively on the screen, but you can

put a chr$ 0 into the string to make it start a new line, ie.

LET p$ = "ABC" + chr$ 0 + "XYZ" will put the ABC where li and

co dictate and the XYZ at column 0 of the following line.



3. Column to start Micro-printing at :

LET co= any integer from 0 to one less than the value of no.

If the column value is equal to or bigger than no then li will

be increased by one and co set to zero, ie. start a new line.



4. Attribute to be set during Micro-printing of the string :

LET at= any integer from 0 to 255, which you derive just like

the ATTR function does in Sinclair Basic - ie. it's the sum of

.... 1 x the number of the required ink colour (0 to 7)

plus 8 x the number of the required paper colour (0 to 7)

plus 64 for bright ink

plus 128 for flashing print.

Thus for example: at=56 is black on white, normal, steady.

at=79 is white on blue, bright, steady.

at=134 is yellow on black, normal, flashing.



5. The character string to be Micro-printed :

LET p$= "The subject matter to be Micro-printed." The string

can include all normally printable characters, in TRUE or INV

form, ie. anything in the code range from 32 to 164. All other

character codes are ignored except 0 (see li) and 20, which is

the Sinclair control code for TRUE and INV video changes.



6. Micro-print character size and location :

When a character is Micro-printed at a narrower pitch than 32

per line it's width and screen location are determined by the

3, 4, 5, 6 or 7-bit spacing which results from the 256-pixel

line length divided by the 'no' value. The SPECTRUM paper/ink/

bright/flash attributes however can unfortunately only be set

in 8-bit (1 byte) increments, ie. always 32 per line.

Micro-print graphic characters are arranged 4:3 in 7-bit form,

2:3 in 5-bit and 1:2 in 3-bit whilst the UDG's always lose the

rightmost 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 bits.



7. Errors resulting from Micro-print operation :

If any of the Micro-print routines are called without all the

necessary control variables existing, your program will simply

halt with the standard error message '2 Variable not found.'



Enjoy your programming ! We are always interested to receive any

comments on our software or provide advice wherever we can, your

letters will be welcome and promptly answered. We want you to be

able to enjoy the benefit of Micro-print in all your own

programs, but would like to remind you that the code is the sole

copyright of Myrmidon Software and you will therefore require

our agreement if you wish to make commercial use of it. Thanks.



Myrmidon Software, PO Box 2, TADWORTH

Surrey KT2O 7LQ, England. Telephone No. Betchworth 2072

Micro-print 85 - Version 1. January 1984.

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Document created by Frode Tennebø, 20070408.