Printing Print Shop cards on inkjet printers

[Fran]

I've seen a number of posts in the AtariAge and AtariMax forums discussing problems and potential solutions related to printing Print Shop cards created by Atari computers and/or Atari emulators on modern inkjet printers connected to modern PC computers. That led me to believe that I'm not the only Atari computer enthusiast who would like to do this. After going down a few dead ends, I finally found an approach that generates a quality image on my inkjet printer.

 

I can obviously avoid this problem entirely by using my Atari 800XL computer and SG-10 printer, but I was hoping to be able to work with my grandsons to print old fashioned computer generated cards without having to rely on my 35 year old printer, not so fresh ribbons, and a dwindling supply of track feed paper.

 

So, I decided to try doing everything using emulation. My search led me to Atari++ running on a Linux MINT OS computer, and I just happened to have a Linux MINT OS computer. Atari++ provides an option to send Print Shop output to a printer dump file.

 

The Atari++ printer dump file isn't directly usable by my inkjet printer. But, after a bit of searching, I found a Linux utility named, PrinterToPDF. This utility can convert the Atari++ printer dump file into a PDF file. The PDF image is okay (generates a rich black color and complete dot matrix style image), except it isn't properly sized and centered on the page when I print it on the inkjet printer connected to my Linux computer.

 

So, one more step was required to get a properly formatted printout. I found another Linux application, GIMP, which allows me to import and edit the PDF image. A single automatic cropping of the image to the portion of the image that has content, and then a single resizing of the image before printing, results in a printout that fits the page very close to what I get when using my Atari 800XL computer and Star SG-10 printer.

 

The inkjet output is actually darker (black vs gray) than what I get from the SG-10, probably because I haven't had much luck finding "fresh" printer ribbons.

 

Although it works, this method is still just a workaround and requires too many steps. Maybe someone else has found a more elegant approach?

[pancio]

Could you please show result?

[manterola]

Yes, show us the results. 

I achieved something similar by using a real machine and then capturing the raw printer data (epson esc/p) to a file. And then tried different methods/programs to transform that raw data into a PDF.

I am not sure what kind of file is generated by Atari++ , but maybe uis the same "raw printer data"

Check this out:

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by manterola

[bandit]

I use FujiNet to print PDF on PC from atari and it's about the same as my old NX10.

[gilsaluki]

Yep, Fujinet is the easy button.  But, I still like to print them out on old fashioned Dot Matrix printers.  Not a problem finding ribbons.  Fan-fold paper is still available from Staples/Office Depot.  Plus, you get noise.  ZZZZZZZRRRRRPPP....ZZZZZZRRRRPPP....ZZZZZZRRRRRPPPPP...

[Fran]

I attached scanned image of cards generated using both methods (Atari++/PrinterToPDF/GIMP) and Atari 800XL w/SG-10 printer. I didn't have clean copies to scan, so please disregard the extra lines and handwriting in the images. Both were scanned at 300 DPI, which is also the resolution that I used to import the PDF file into GIMP. I did the scans in color in order to accurately pick up the difference in blackness of the images.

[Fran]

I forgot to clearly indicate that the first image is from Atari++/PrinterToPDF/GIMP/Canon MP190 and the second is from 800XL/SG-10.

 

I attached the Atari++ printer dump file. Note: I found that I had to set Atari++ to append data to the dump file, instead of overwriting an existing file. For some reason, when I didn't do that, the file was always missing the upper half of the outside of the card and the credit line (top 1/4 of the images).

 

I'm willing to share more details of the process, if there is an interest.

PSdump.prt

[manterola]

This is what I got using your Raw data file and DOSPrinter:

 

test.pdf

[Fran]

The print quality seen in test.pdf looks as good as what I get using PrinterToPDF. However, the image location and size on the page is somewhat different.

 

I hadn't come across DOSPrinter in my search, so even though I can run Atari++ on my Windows 10 computer, I hadn't found a tool that would convert the dump file into PDF or similar Windows-usable format. Thanks for sharing.

[manterola]

There are a lot of modifiers and options in dosprinter, to adjust number of lines, margins, etc. So you need to perform some trial and error.
I did:
Dosprinter.exe /sel /9pin PSdump.prt
in a command line in windows 10.
Website:dosprinter.net

Edited May 21, 2022 by manterola

[pancio]

On 5/20/2022 at 4:46 PM, gilsaluki said:

Yep, Fujinet is the easy button.  But, I still like to print them out on old fashioned Dot Matrix printers.  Not a problem finding ribbons.  Fan-fold paper is still available from Staples/Office Depot.  Plus, you get noise.  ZZZZZZZRRRRRPPP....ZZZZZZRRRRPPP....ZZZZZZRRRRRPPPPP...

 

https://systemembedded.eu/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=48

 

+ Drukarz software will make you happy ?

 

Enjoy!

 

[_The Doctor__]

23 hours ago, pancio said:

 

https://systemembedded.eu/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=48

 

+ Drukarz software will make you happy ?

 

Enjoy!

 

I didn't think it was finished, there were some things to fix and tidy up

[pancio]

Hardware is finished, only cartridge version will be available on the market. Software working fine but of course always is something to do.. e.g. translation.

 

Regards,

pancio