Is it possible to access the bitmaps of all of the characters of the HP48?
I would like the column based patterns.
This is to develop a 'old school' banner printer. Of course I can develop the patterns myself, but if they're easily available inside the 48, it will be a bit easier and give me access to the full character set.
Thank you,
TomC
ps: Also, if there's a generic character pattern list somewhere online, that may have do do as a backup.
Hello,
My memory of these times is waning... So I do not even remember if there is such a set of characters on the 48 (I assume you mean the original 48S/G)...
What you can do easely however, is to use the ->GROB function to generate a graphic that will contain the full font.
Each character is 6*8 pixels, so you need to loop for A from 32 to 255 (characters before 32 are not defined). and display the result in PICT or in a larger grob for storage.
Cyrille
Cyrille:
Thank you; sounds a bit tedious, between the GROB format and the horizontal storage of the nibbles - that's why I was hoping to find another way. Worst case, I'll see what I can do.
If there are any other suggestions out there, I'd be glad to hear it.
Cheers,
TomC
Hello Tom -
I am not clear if you just want the bitmaps, to use them in an external device, or you want to control it from the HP 48.
I found this program in old gallery:
https://www.hpcalc.org/details/1166
It may help to follow its code. it is in userRPL land.
Regards,
Adrian
Hello,
Looking at the graphic on the lin provided above, the 48 does NOT habe block patterns...
Sorry..
Cyrille
One possibility would be to convert characters into a GROB, then "explode" each column of that GROB into a character string representing the bit state of that column.
Yes, it's a bit tedious, but something like the following could work (assumes a 48gx platform):
Code:
@ character to rows
c2r
\<<
@ convert char to GROB using 6x8 font
2 \->GROB
@ save char GROB
\-> cgrob
\<<
@ for each column
0 5 FOR col
@ build a transposed row (initially empty)
""
@ retrieve the current column
cgrob
col R\->B #7d OVER #0
2 \->LIST
3 ROLLD 2 \->LIST
SUB
@ store the current column in PICT
PICT STO
@ build the char column as a row of " " or "**"
7 0 FOR row
#0 row R\->B
2 \->LIST
PIX? "**" " " IFTE
+
-1 STEP
NEXT
\>>
\>>
The above will obliterate whatever is currently in PICT, so you'd probably want to save the current PICT contents and restore after execution.
"c2r" converts a single character to a series of strings which are left on the stack, presumably suitable for printing or whatever is appropriate in your case.
Here's an example of a program which uses c2r to leave a series of strings on the stack
Code:
chrs
\<<
@ save the current PICT
PICT RCL
@ the string for conversion
"Banners are fun!"
\-> svpic banner
\<<
@ for each character
1 banner SIZE FOR cnum
@ obtain the character
banner cnum DUP SUB
@ convert it to 6 rows
c2r
NEXT
@ restore the saved PICT
svpic PICT STO
\>>
\>>
..and finally, the output (shown as if each resulting string were printed in sequence):
Code:
**************
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
**** ****
**
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
********
**********
**
**
**
********
**********
**
**
**
********
******
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
****
**********
**
**
**
**
** **
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
** **
**
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
********
**********
**
**
**
**
******
** ** **
** ** **
** ** **
****
**
************
** **
**
********
**
**
**
**********
**********
**
**
**
********
** **********
DavidM:
Looks most promising! Thank you very much - I'll report back - soon I hope!
TomC
(11-08-2018 06:41 PM)TomC Wrote: [ -> ]DavidM:
Looks most promising! Thank you very much - I'll report back - soon I hope!
TomC
I grabbed some snippets of code from other projects to throw that together -- it strikes me that you could streamline the process by storing the char grob into PICT and make this a nested loop (instead of repeatedly storing each column into PICT separately). That would probably make it a little faster and possibly shorter as well.
I'll probably play around with this some more as well when I get a moment. My implementation above has lots of room for improvement.
(edit) Here's a smaller/faster version of the c2r program:
Code:
\<<
2 \->GROB
PICT STO
0 5 FOR col
""
7 0 FOR row
col R\->B row R\->B 2 \->LIST
PIX? "**" " " IFTE
+
-1 STEP
NEXT
\>>
DavidM:
It works great - exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks again,
TomC