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[VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #289313] Tue, 12 May 2015 17:45 Go to next message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
Senior Member
When I start VICE I can get a menu about printers. Whether it shall
output ASCII or use a CBM style (sorry, cannot look it up here right
now) and others. I also recall that you usually dump the output into a
file.

I wonder if you can directly pass the print job to CUPS, the printing
system usually found on Linux (and Apple PC). I thought to tell VICE to
use the lp command (that can be used to print a file on the Linux command
line) instead of dumping the output into a file.

That after you typed something like

OPEN 3,4
CMD 3
LIST
PRINT#3
CLOSE 3,4

on the Commodore 64 it would actually print it out on the default
printer.

Just telling VICE to use lp seems to have no effect. Is it possible somehow?
--
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often as I
have to reboot my computer.
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #294971 is a reply to message #289313] Sat, 04 July 2015 13:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Simon Becherer is currently offline  Simon Becherer
Messages: 17
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
Junior Member
Hi andreas,

yes printing is possible,
they fixed some issues with that.
but you may need a recent vice version maybe from git.
somhow at okt.? 2014 was my bugreport regarding printing closed.
an there i testet the git version and it was working
(host linux, opensuse 11.4 64bit)
my version x64 reports a 2.4.7

simoN





Am 12.05.2015 23:45, schrieb Andreas Kohlbach:
> When I start VICE I can get a menu about printers. Whether it shall
> output ASCII or use a CBM style (sorry, cannot look it up here right
> now) and others. I also recall that you usually dump the output into a
> file.
>
> I wonder if you can directly pass the print job to CUPS, the printing
> system usually found on Linux (and Apple PC). I thought to tell VICE to
> use the lp command (that can be used to print a file on the Linux command
> line) instead of dumping the output into a file.
>
> That after you typed something like
>
> OPEN 3,4
> CMD 3
> LIST
> PRINT#3
> CLOSE 3,4
>
> on the Commodore 64 it would actually print it out on the default
> printer.
>
> Just telling VICE to use lp seems to have no effect. Is it possible somehow?
>
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #294981 is a reply to message #294971] Sat, 04 July 2015 17:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Simon Becherer wrote on 04. July 2015:
>
> Hi andreas,
>
> yes printing is possible,
> they fixed some issues with that.
> but you may need a recent vice version maybe from git.
> somhow at okt.? 2014 was my bugreport regarding printing closed.
> an there i testet the git version and it was working
> (host linux, opensuse 11.4 64bit)
> my version x64 reports a 2.4.7

Thanks Simon. I guess my version is recent, 2015-04-30. And when I tried
something went to the (virtual) printer, even though it was just
garbage. I cannot tell if the problem was VICE, my host print server
(Linux CUPS) or just PEBCAK. Some printouts where already "weird" (like
flopped or distorted) so it might just be my host setup.
--
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often
as I have to reboot my computer.
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #295067 is a reply to message #294981] Mon, 06 July 2015 06:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Simon Becherer is currently offline  Simon Becherer
Messages: 17
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
Junior Member
Hi

1)
> I guess my version is recent, 2015-04-30.

please start x64 in konsole and check the output line:

*** VICE Version 2.4.7 ***
(this is the version i work with) yours should be this
or higher number)

2)
if you like i could send you my complete vicerc file.
(need your emailadress)

here the settings which should work from my rc file:

PrinterTextDevice1="print.dump"
PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
PrinterTextDevice3="|petlp -F PS|lpr"
Printer4TextDevice=1
Printer5TextDevice=0
Printer6TextDevice=0
PrinterUserportTextDevice=0
Printer4Output="text"
Printer5Output="text"
Printer6Output="text"
PrinterUserportOutput="text"
Printer4Driver="ascii"
Printer5Driver="ascii"
Printer6Driver="1520"
PrinterUserportDriver="ascii"
Printer4=1
Printer5=0
Printer6=0
Printer7=0
PrinterUserport=0

if i have copied the correct settings, this will print on:
PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
(please check if this prints on "second" printer)
and should give you a character output (no graphic), because
for that you need raw and something which will translate the
specific commodoreprogramm output to something you could use

================
this should work if you are able inside your linux console
to type:
cat some-short-textfile.txt |lpr
and if this prints, vice prints also.
if this fails, search for the problem on your linux machine.
=================

info:
the ascii is a printer emulation, but this will give
you "normal" charakters on printer. otherwise you use raw also
for text, but you will then get commodore charest on printer
what could give you some unwanted effect.

the ascii printer emulation has a limit of the line lenghth.
it will only print 74 characters/line. thats not a bug
as the people from vice told me, its an emulation for some
specific printer.
i use this printer but i changed inside the surce code:

/vice/src/printerdrv
drv-ascii.c

#define CHARSPERLINE 74
to 255

and then i compiled it.
to have longer lines at the printer.

(also if you set to "printer text device 1" it should give you
a txt file called "printer.dump"
c64 input:
10 print"hallo"
open4,4
cmd4
list
print#4
close4

file: print.dump:



READY.

10 PRINT"HALLO"

READY.


i started x64 in konsole and i got this two messages during printing:
Serial Interface: Error - Flush printer #4,0 while closed - ignoring.
Serial Interface: Auto-opening printer #4,0.
but everithing works fine.

======================

good luck.

simoN







Am 04.07.2015 23:22, schrieb Andreas Kohlbach:
> Simon Becherer wrote on 04. July 2015:
>>
>> Hi andreas,
>>
>> yes printing is possible,
>> they fixed some issues with that.
>> but you may need a recent vice version maybe from git.
>> somhow at okt.? 2014 was my bugreport regarding printing closed.
>> an there i testet the git version and it was working
>> (host linux, opensuse 11.4 64bit)
>> my version x64 reports a 2.4.7
>
> Thanks Simon. I guess my version is recent, 2015-04-30. And when I tried
> something went to the (virtual) printer, even though it was just
> garbage. I cannot tell if the problem was VICE, my host print server
> (Linux CUPS) or just PEBCAK. Some printouts where already "weird" (like
> flopped or distorted) so it might just be my host setup.
>
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #295098 is a reply to message #295067] Mon, 06 July 2015 19:10 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Simon Becherer wrote on 06. July 2015:
>
> 1)
>> I guess my version is recent, 2015-04-30.
>
> please start x64 in konsole and check the output line:
>
> *** VICE Version 2.4.7 ***
> (this is the version i work with) yours should be this
> or higher number)

2.4.20 here. Is "20" higher than "7"? Because in some applications it's
not "twenty" but "two dot zero".

> 2)
> if you like i could send you my complete vicerc file.
> (need your emailadress)
>
> here the settings which should work from my rc file:
>
> PrinterTextDevice1="print.dump"
> PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
^
I have no blank there but guess it shouldn't matter.

> PrinterTextDevice3="|petlp -F PS|lpr"
> Printer4TextDevice=1
> Printer5TextDevice=0
> Printer6TextDevice=0
> PrinterUserportTextDevice=0
> Printer4Output="text"
> Printer5Output="text"
> Printer6Output="text"
> PrinterUserportOutput="text"
> Printer4Driver="ascii"
^^^^^
I set it to "graphics".

> Printer5Driver="ascii"
> Printer6Driver="1520"
> PrinterUserportDriver="ascii"
> Printer4=1
^
I had a "0" here.

> Printer5=0
> Printer6=0
> Printer7=0
> PrinterUserport=0

The rest, concerning "Printer4", is identical.

I now use your settings. Currently having no real printer but a "PDF
printer" which creates garbage already I cannot really test it. So it
might take a while until I can give feedback.

> if i have copied the correct settings, this will print on:
> PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
> (please check if this prints on "second" printer)
> and should give you a character output (no graphic), because
> for that you need raw and something which will translate the
> specific commodoreprogramm output to something you could use

Are you sure? Shouldn't

| Printer4TextDevice=1

tell it to use Device1 which is print.dump?

> ================
> this should work if you are able inside your linux console
> to type:
> cat some-short-textfile.txt |lpr
> and if this prints, vice prints also.
>
> if this fails, search for the problem on your linux machine.
> =================

That always worked. not regarding the garbage the virtual PDF printer
creates sometimes. But due to my wrong VICE setup that might have caused
the problems.

I need to get a real printer to be sure whom to blame. :-)

> info:
> the ascii is a printer emulation, but this will give
> you "normal" charakters on printer. otherwise you use raw also
> for text, but you will then get commodore charest on printer
> what could give you some unwanted effect.

[...]

Thank you for the info.

.... I was just doing a direct print test for an ASCII file on the console
via lpr and it created a nice PDF file. Then I the "open4,4 ..." but
might have made a mistake, because nothing happened. Then I tried to load
Print Shop and other print programs in my collection. Some didn't ran (after
RUN nothing happened and LIST resulted in no lines), others wanted
another diskette, and when "putting" that in it still wanted the
other. Some print apps crashed. Some just resulted in "Searching for" but
no "Loading" came (do virtual - non existing - 1541 not the heat
outside? ;-). It's to hot and I give up for today. But I will try
again. Especially as soon as I got the printer within a few weeks.
--
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often
as I have to reboot my computer.
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #295488 is a reply to message #295098] Sun, 12 July 2015 12:47 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Simon Becherer is currently offline  Simon Becherer
Messages: 17
Registered: May 2013
Karma: 0
Junior Member
Hi andreas,

"graphics" will not work i think.
(i never tried, so for more info
you may ask the vice team and or subscribe at their
mailing lists http://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/mailman/
graphics did in my opinion not work
because it depends on the printprogramm.
in anciend times, we use the "christian mueller"
rom for the 1526 / 802) commodore printer,
(8 (or 7?) steps vorward, one backward to print
graphics, instead of 2 forward an one backward,
because of the problem, original it was
only one character freely programmable at this
printers) so you see the output was printer
specific, no current printer i think will understand
this today. - but for some reasons, its possbible
to chose mps803 or star nl10

lets search the net:

http://www.ccs64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=571

search the page for graphics.
it tells you that vice will make a bitmap file
for you.....
.... so maybe possible to get a nice printout....


i never tried printprogramms (only my own
text printoutput from my own programms.)
but if you manadge to print graphics,
please telle me. would be nice to use printfox
again..... ;-)))
or maybe its a better idear to convert the
nice charcter fox characters to modern fonts and
use it in libre office.....


i think 20 is higher than 7 in this case.
(but maybe new bugs inside...)

regards,

simoN






Am 07.07.2015 01:10, schrieb Andreas Kohlbach:
> Simon Becherer wrote on 06. July 2015:
>>
>> 1)
>>> I guess my version is recent, 2015-04-30.
>>
>> please start x64 in konsole and check the output line:
>>
>> *** VICE Version 2.4.7 ***
>> (this is the version i work with) yours should be this
>> or higher number)
>
> 2.4.20 here. Is "20" higher than "7"? Because in some applications it's
> not "twenty" but "two dot zero".
>
>> 2)
>> if you like i could send you my complete vicerc file.
>> (need your emailadress)
>>
>> here the settings which should work from my rc file:
>>
>> PrinterTextDevice1="print.dump"
>> PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
> ^
> I have no blank there but guess it shouldn't matter.
>
>> PrinterTextDevice3="|petlp -F PS|lpr"
>> Printer4TextDevice=1
>> Printer5TextDevice=0
>> Printer6TextDevice=0
>> PrinterUserportTextDevice=0
>> Printer4Output="text"
>> Printer5Output="text"
>> Printer6Output="text"
>> PrinterUserportOutput="text"
>> Printer4Driver="ascii"
> ^^^^^
> I set it to "graphics".
>
>> Printer5Driver="ascii"
>> Printer6Driver="1520"
>> PrinterUserportDriver="ascii"
>> Printer4=1
> ^
> I had a "0" here.
>
>> Printer5=0
>> Printer6=0
>> Printer7=0
>> PrinterUserport=0
>
> The rest, concerning "Printer4", is identical.
>
> I now use your settings. Currently having no real printer but a "PDF
> printer" which creates garbage already I cannot really test it. So it
> might take a while until I can give feedback.
>
>> if i have copied the correct settings, this will print on:
>> PrinterTextDevice2="| lpr"
>> (please check if this prints on "second" printer)
>> and should give you a character output (no graphic), because
>> for that you need raw and something which will translate the
>> specific commodoreprogramm output to something you could use
>
> Are you sure? Shouldn't
>
> | Printer4TextDevice=1
>
> tell it to use Device1 which is print.dump?
>
>> ================
>> this should work if you are able inside your linux console
>> to type:
>> cat some-short-textfile.txt |lpr
>> and if this prints, vice prints also.
>>
>> if this fails, search for the problem on your linux machine.
>> =================
>
> That always worked. not regarding the garbage the virtual PDF printer
> creates sometimes. But due to my wrong VICE setup that might have caused
> the problems.
>
> I need to get a real printer to be sure whom to blame. :-)
>
>> info:
>> the ascii is a printer emulation, but this will give
>> you "normal" charakters on printer. otherwise you use raw also
>> for text, but you will then get commodore charest on printer
>> what could give you some unwanted effect.
>
> [...]
>
> Thank you for the info.
>
> ... I was just doing a direct print test for an ASCII file on the console
> via lpr and it created a nice PDF file. Then I the "open4,4 ..." but
> might have made a mistake, because nothing happened. Then I tried to load
> Print Shop and other print programs in my collection. Some didn't ran (after
> RUN nothing happened and LIST resulted in no lines), others wanted
> another diskette, and when "putting" that in it still wanted the
> other. Some print apps crashed. Some just resulted in "Searching for" but
> no "Loading" came (do virtual - non existing - 1541 not the heat
> outside? ;-). It's to hot and I give up for today. But I will try
> again. Especially as soon as I got the printer within a few weeks.
>
Re: [VICE] Printing on Linux host [message #295500 is a reply to message #295488] Sun, 12 July 2015 18:37 Go to previous message
Andreas Kohlbach is currently offline  Andreas Kohlbach
Messages: 1456
Registered: December 2011
Karma: 0
Senior Member
Simon Becherer wrote on 12. July 2015:
>
> "graphics" will not work i think.
> (i never tried, so for more info
> you may ask the vice team and or subscribe at their
> mailing lists http://sourceforge.net/p/vice-emu/mailman/
> graphics did in my opinion not work
> because it depends on the printprogramm.
> in anciend times, we use the "christian mueller"
> rom for the 1526 / 802) commodore printer,
> (8 (or 7?) steps vorward, one backward to print
> graphics, instead of 2 forward an one backward,
> because of the problem, original it was
> only one character freely programmable at this
> printers) so you see the output was printer
> specific, no current printer i think will understand
> this today. - but for some reasons, its possbible
> to chose mps803 or star nl10

That I don't understand. Why would you need to select "Commodore MPS803"
or "Star NL10"? Both don't exist in reality and are just emulated. Or do
have programs already and option to select the MPS803 or Star NL10 and
already convert the data for the printer you selected?

> lets search the net:
>
> http://www.ccs64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=571
>
> search the page for graphics.
> it tells you that vice will make a bitmap file
> for you.....
> ... so maybe possible to get a nice printout....

Interesting read, thanks.

> i never tried printprogramms (only my own
> text printoutput from my own programms.)
> but if you manadge to print graphics,
> please telle me. would be nice to use printfox
> again..... ;-)))

I also tried Printfox, but that program asks for another floppy disk -
which I have - but just not loads from it after I "inserted" it. Other
programs just crash, don't run at all (nothing happens after you type RUN)
or not even load (a LIST returns nothing). I have to find a different
program (should only use one disk and actually work for me :-) to test
some graphic print outs and report back here. Anyone any suggestion for a
simple "print program" for the C64 which comes only on one
disk/tape/cartridge and works in VICE?
--
Andreas

I use a Unix based operating system, which means I get laid almost as often
as I have to reboot my computer.
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