+davidcalgary29 Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Can an artificially high resolution be "forced" on the 8-bits by using a printer instead of a monitor as a "display device"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Yeah but the refresh rate sucks. I kept getting killed in Star Raiders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Yeah but the refresh rate sucks. I kept getting killed in Star Raiders. LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 24, 2003 Author Share Posted October 24, 2003 Well, I was asking for that! I'm just curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 But seriously, that question doesn't make a bloody lick of sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted October 24, 2003 Share Posted October 24, 2003 Well, you can replace any of the drivers with your own, but software won't know to use any higher resolutions for graphics. Now, if you replace the E: driver, then you can have whatever size screen you wish for text apps. This is what the XEP-80 does. -Bry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 All right then: let me rephrase it. Is the maximum resolution of an 8-bit printout limited to the highest possible resolution that one could achieve on a monitor in, for instance, gr. mode 8? Let's assume I made a simple screen dump of a picture that I drew in gr. mode 8. You'll have to correct me here, but I'd assume that the printout would basically replicate the resolution as seen on the screen. If I wanted to draw a very detailed picture, that had a resolution beyond 320x192, could I plot directly to the printer, or would I be limited by the hardware capabilities of the 8-bits and still be left with a maximum printable resolution of 320x192? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Someone with more knowledge should answer this but I dont think you have Antic memory space to dispaly more than 320x192. To do that would require 'flickering' the screen somehow I would presume which would prob screw everything up Just my guess Id love to see a 320x192 5 color screen on the 8bit - no color artifacting and no interlace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 There is no graphics support for printers in the Atari 8-bit OS, only text. A program that prints graphics must contain its own drivers and communicate with the printer directly (it can then use any resolution it wishes). -Bry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Not to mention that a program that is designed to create pictures on a printer would be very slow compared to the refresh rate of a television screen. There was a wargame program that I used back in the AppleII days that printed out an ASCII "map" with co-ordinates listed that were used in the game. Sometimes it seemed that the map took longer to print than the game took to play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Can an artificially high resolution be "forced" on the 8-bits by using a printer instead of a monitor as a "display device"? I spoke with several Atari engineers, Steve Mayer and Ron Milner had specifically mentioned an idea they were trying out which was to take multiple TIA chips and have them display in a piece of TV screen, for instance having 2 TIA's in a game system, one would handle the top 1/2 of the screen, the other the bottom half. This was then in serious discussion in the Home Computer Group, in fact I will hopefully be able to release some design spec's for OMNI and it was an entirely new chipset designed by Mark Filipak within Atari, and consisted of Vivian, Penny and Heather. The graphics were 3D believe it or not, but interestingly this came out of conversions of using multiple GTIA's working together to split the screen vertically in 1/2 and allow for higher graphics. One thing not mentioned, but what would've been necessary would've been RGB output, lets face it, the bandwidth on composite is just to damned fuzzy for 80 column text, you need a crisper display. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 Can an artificially high resolution be "forced" on the 8-bits by using a printer instead of a monitor as a "display device"? I spoke with several Atari engineers, Steve Mayer and Ron Milner had specifically mentioned an idea they were trying out which was to take multiple TIA chips and have them display in a piece of TV screen, for instance having 2 TIA's in a game system, one would handle the top 1/2 of the screen, the other the bottom half. This was then in serious discussion in the Home Computer Group, in fact I will hopefully be able to release some design spec's for OMNI and it was an entirely new chipset designed by Mark Filipak within Atari, and consisted of Vivian, Penny and Heather. The graphics were 3D believe it or not, but interestingly this came out of conversions of using multiple GTIA's working together to split the screen vertically in 1/2 and allow for higher graphics. One thing not mentioned, but what would've been necessary would've been RGB output, lets face it, the bandwidth on composite is just to damned fuzzy for 80 column text, you need a crisper display. Curt That was actually going to be my follow-up question. I'd love to see the specs for this if you can find them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analmux Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Let me give the answer to your question. On the Atari you can print in whatever resolution is possible on your printer. So if your printer can make an A4 picture in 1280 pixels wide and 1760 pixels high, you'd be able to use that resolution. You'd be able to print whatever you'd print with a PC, if you have enough memory to store the data. Most needle printers print bars of 24 pixels high. Older printers print bars of 8 pixels high, so it depends on how modern your printer is. With a simple command you can send graphics data to your printer. For example you can make your own custom font of 32 * 24 pixels, and print text as graphics data. I think I have got some program somewhere (I'd have to dive in my floppy archive ) that prints some graphics, in a higher resolution. ----- mux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted October 25, 2003 Author Share Posted October 25, 2003 Let me give the answer to your question. On the Atari you can print in whatever resolution is possible on your printer. So if your printer can make an A4 picture in 1280 pixels wide and 1760 pixels high, you'd be able to use that resolution. You'd be able to print whatever you'd print with a PC, if you have enough memory to store the data. Most needle printers print bars of 24 pixels high. Older printers print bars of 8 pixels high, so it depends on how modern your printer is. With a simple command you can send graphics data to your printer. For example you can make your own custom font of 32 * 24 pixels, and print text as graphics data. I think I have got some program somewhere (I'd have to dive in my floppy archive ) that prints some graphics, in a higher resolution. ----- mux Thanks. I should've known you'd have the answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analmux Posted October 25, 2003 Share Posted October 25, 2003 Okay I've found an ATR side full of selfmade software and fonts. NOTE: You must boot with Turbobasic, as it's my development language, and all the progs are TBBs When booted, type: RUN "D:PRINTMAR.BAT" RUN It will print a picture that's tile based, in a font of 16*24 pixels. It's another of my Mario landscapes (I made it in 1996), 60*64 tiles big, so the total screen is 960 * 1440 pixels. Run another program: RUN "D:SHOWFONT.BAT" RUN To show the used font of the mariolandscape, in gr. 8. There are 24 tiles used. another note: I used an ATARI 850 RS232 port, that was connected with the LPT cable to the printer. If you look into the prog listing you can see how simple the printer commands are for generating graphics. Good luck. p.s. download the Turbobasic+DOS2.5 boot-atr here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/download.php?id=12218 ----- mux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.