Plotting Element for the 2741

[Quadibloc]

Apparently, one would type
)LOAD 10 FINEPLOT
and replace the APL typeball by an APL PLOT typeball
to allow the computer to type out graphs, with a resolution
of 30 points to the inch.

But it has been very difficult to find any information about
the element or its use. I just was reminded of it by a Facebook
group post by someone who had just purchased an APL PLOT
element, and so I tried to search for more information.

And very little indeed could be found on the web. From scraps
of information in books on Snippet View at Google Books, I've
found quotes that _suggest_ that, yes, the theoretical 30 points
per inch resolution, requiring 15 copies of each point plot symbol
on the element, was what was provided, and that there were five
point plot symbols (just barely fitting, using up 75 of the 88 positions
on the element).

Does anyone know more about this?

John Savard

[Timothy McCaffrey]

Many years ago I wrote a library that could plot graphics (ok, draw lines) on any
dot matrix printer that supported graphics (at any resolution) including color.
I then realized I could also support TRS-80 type graphics (Okidata printers),
Daisy wheel printers (using the period with 1/72" positioning) and even
teletypes (well, not really, the output was pretty rough).

The Daisy wheel output actually looked pretty good, it beat the hell out of the printer tho...

- Tim

[Questor]

Starting in the late 1980s the Geoworks products used their own printer drivers
(as opposed to anything supplied by the printer manufacturers) in their package
which achieved near letter quality with nine-pin printers. Their software
package included word processing with a variety of supplied typefaces, a
graphics program, and clip art. The results were quite satisfactory, although
printing could be a bit slow. I used to use Geoworks with a 22-pin printer for
my resume; it was difficult to see any difference between that output and one
that had been laser-printed.

[Robin Vowels]

On Friday, April 23, 2021 at 1:07:25 AM UTC+10, timcaf...@gmail.com wrote:
> Many years ago I wrote a library that could plot graphics (ok, draw lines) on any
> dot matrix printer that supported graphics (at any resolution) including color.
> I then realized I could also support TRS-80 type graphics (Okidata printers),
> Daisy wheel printers (using the period with 1/72" positioning) and even
> teletypes (well, not really, the output was pretty rough).

.
The ASR 38 could move up and down by half a line space, for super- and sub-scripts, IIRC.