lx800 self test

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lx800 self test #120325 01/09/22 03:30 AM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	I felt inspired to hack on the lx800 and was able to get it to do the self test. It's not perfect, there's still some stray junk, and also some strange vertical blind effects but it's fun to see it do something. In many ways, it's very similar to the ap2000/lx810l, they're 9 pin printers that do double passes to get NLQ text. It's useful to take some code from the ap2000 and merge it into the lx800. The lx800 uses a different gate array and things are wired up quite differently. (More gatorade...) I got the buttons to work, but oddly, if you do a form feed it hangs once it kicks down a page. Last edited by Golden Child; 01/09/22 03:57 AM.
	1 member likes this: Duke

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120339 01/09/22 09:33 PM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	Most everything seems to sorta work now, but for some reason, once it goes past a single page it tends to freeze up/act strangely. I hacked in the centronics and it does seem to work okay, except that I can't seem to shut off auto line feed for some reason. (printing apple 2 hi-res screen)

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120341 01/10/22 03:43 AM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	I finally figured out why it would hang after kicking out a page: It was in "Cut sheet feeder mode". I was able to take it out of this mode once I fixed the dip switches. Dipswitch #2 is read on the upd7810's analog inputs, but for some reason they weren't working properly. Finally I realized that the existing driver specified that the anX_r functions were READ_LINE_MEMBERS which return a one bit value, not an 8 bit value. Once I realized this and converted it to a regular uint8_t, it worked fine. // it was declared as a DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER not a uint8_t /* DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an0_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an1_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an2_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an3_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an4_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an5_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an6_r); DECLARE_READ_LINE_MEMBER(an7_r); */ uint8_t an0_r(); uint8_t an1_r(); uint8_t an2_r(); uint8_t an3_r(); uint8_t an4_r(); uint8_t an5_r(); uint8_t an6_r(); uint8_t an7_r(); So now it will happily print more than one page! Unfortunately, that doesn't change the stray junk, still have to figure that out. Interestingly, if you let the self test continue, it goes to a Cyrillic character set. Last edited by Golden Child; 01/10/22 03:57 AM.

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120342 01/10/22 12:56 PM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	It's still only printing in every other column, but print shop doesn't look too bad. Using the grappler plus card but the original grappler setting in print shop. My plan is to calculate the printhead velocity by the stepper movement so I can hit the in between spots. ====================================================== "standard" drive table in steppers.cpp Note how there's 3 consecutive vertical ones in each column. 2 0010 6 0110 4 0100 5 0101 1 0001 9 1001 8 1000 a 1010 ============================ lx800 pf stepper: 2 6 4 5 1 9 8 a (matches the standard drive table) However, it goes in the reverse direction so we do a bitswap, just reversing the bits. void epson_lx800_device::pf_stepper(uint8_t data) { m_bitmap_printer->update_pf_stepper(bitswap<4>(data, 0, 1, 2, 3)); } =============================== lx800 cr stepper: d 9 b a e 6 7 5 To get it to match the standard table, it has to be inverted. There are sequences of 3 vertical zeroes where we would expect to see 3 vertical ones. Inverting, we just get the standard table: d 1101 -> 2 0010 9 1001 -> 6 0110 b 1011 -> 4 0100 a 1010 -> 5 0101 e 1110 -> 1 0001 6 0110 -> 9 1001 7 0111 -> 8 1000 5 0101 -> a 1010 void epson_lx800_device::cr_stepper(uint8_t data) { m_bitmap_printer->update_cr_stepper(data ^ 0xf); } Last edited by Golden Child; 01/10/22 01:12 PM.

Re: lx800 self test

Golden Child #120343 01/10/22 10:02 PM

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Ok, I think I've got a reason why there's junk on the printout.

There's a 24 bit shift register at C000,C001,C002. But for some reason, C002 isn't getting set.

According to my understanding of the upd7810, the SKIP flag is supposed to skip the next instruction. However, it seems to be skipping two instructions.

So I've found a repeatable test, I boot the apple2e with grapplerplus and lx800. Then while it boots I type CTRL+F12 to reset the apple. Then type "PR#1:?CHR$(118):PR#0" and hit enter which prints a lowercase v.

I've set a watchpoint at "C000,3,w" to watch the shift register.

So it writes C000 and C001 in one step with the STEAX. But then things go awry when it hits 1FEF. It seems to skip the STAX(DE+). Note that DE doesn't get incremented and C002 doesn't get written.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

edit: Ok I think I know what's happening:

This screenshot shows the opcodes:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

If I interpret this table correctly:

LDAX (HL+) is 2d
STAX (DE+) is 3c

I think that LDAX(HL+) 2d is only a 1 byte opcode but the table says its a 2 byte opcode
and STAX (DE+) 3c

Code

        {&upd7810_device::LXI_D_w,       3,10,10,L0|L1}, /* 24: 0010 0100 llll llll hhhh hhhh            */
        {&upd7810_device::GTIW_wa_xx,    3,19,19,L0|L1}, /* 25: 0010 0101 oooo oooo xxxx xxxx            */
        {&upd7810_device::ADINC_A_xx,    2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 26: 0010 0110 xxxx xxxx                      */
        {&upd7810_device::GTI_A_xx,      2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 27: 0010 0111 xxxx xxxx                      */
        {&upd7810_device::illegal,       1, 4, 4,L0|L1}, /* 28:                                          */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_B,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 29: 0010 1001 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_D,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2a: 0010 1010 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_H,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2b: 0010 1011 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_Dp,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2c: 0010 1100 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_Hp,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2d: 0010 1101 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_Dm,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2e: 0010 1110 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LDAX_Hm,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 2f: 0010 1111 dddd dddd                      */

and I think STAX(DE+) 3c should be a single byte opcode as well?

Code

        {&upd7810_device::DCRW_wa,       2,16,16,L0|L1}, /* 30: 0011 0000 oooo oooo                      */
        {&upd7810_device::BLOCK,         1,13,13,L0|L1}, /* 31: 0011 0001                                */  /* 7810 */
        {&upd7810_device::INX_HL,        1, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 32: 0011 0010                                */
        {&upd7810_device::DCX_HL,        1, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 33: 0011 0011                                */
        {&upd7810_device::LXI_H_w,       3,10,10,   L1}, /* 34: 0011 0100 llll llll hhhh hhhh            */
        {&upd7810_device::LTIW_wa_xx,    3,19,19,L0|L1}, /* 35: 0011 0101 oooo oooo xxxx xxxx            */
        {&upd7810_device::SUINB_A_xx,    2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 36: 0011 0110 xxxx xxxx                      */
        {&upd7810_device::LTI_A_xx,      2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 37: 0011 0111 xxxx xxxx                      */
        {&upd7810_device::illegal,       1, 4, 4,L0|L1}, /* 38:                                          */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_B,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 39: 0011 1001 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_D,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3a: 0011 1010 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_H,        2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3b: 0011 1011 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_Dp,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3c: 0011 1100 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_Hp,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3d: 0011 1101 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_Dm,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3e: 0011 1110 dddd dddd                      */
        {&upd7810_device::STAX_Hm,       2, 7, 7,L0|L1}, /* 3f: 0011 1111 dddd dddd                      */

Last edited by Golden Child; 01/10/22 10:49 PM.

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120344 01/11/22 01:42 AM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	After fixing the table entries, the text doesn't have stray junk now:

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120347 01/11/22 09:58 PM
Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,076 Likes: 5 PA, USA L Lord Nightmare Very Senior Member
Lord Nightmare Very Senior Member L Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,076 Likes: 5 PA, USA	I've confirmed from the UPD78C10 manual that this is a legit bug in MAME's upd7810 core, the number of bytes for LDAX opcodes 29-2f and STAX opcodes 39-3f are wrong. This might explain random bugs in other devices using the upd78(c)10 cpu core in MAME. "When life gives you zombies... CHA-CHIK! ...you make zombie-ade!"
	2 members like this: robcfg, R. Belmont

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120354 01/12/22 05:13 PM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	Since I'm on a roll, I decided to take a stab at the ex800, I've got it doing the self test: Ohhh, careful reading of the EX-800 manual it says that it's a 9 pin printer. I thought it was a 24 pin printer. When I read the manual previously, I just saw the number "24". If I can get this one working, it's supposed to have color support like the JX-80, which would be nice. The EX printers combine all the well-known virtues of previous Epson 9 pin printers with many features normally exclusive to costly 24-pin printers. The Color Option Kit makes your EX a fully-fledged 7-color printer, capable of using the many programs designed for the Epson JX-80 color printer. Even with the color unit, however, you can still use inexpensive black ribbons when you don’t need color. I think this ebay listing price is off by a few orders of magnitude. (and not even free shipping!)

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120374 01/17/22 03:27 PM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	Trying a little experiment of modeling the stepper motor as "spring physics" where you try to converge on the current position of the stepper.

Re: lx800 self test Golden Child #120398 01/23/22 02:41 AM
Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97 G Golden Child OP Senior Member
OP Golden Child Senior Member G Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 979 Likes: 97	Was able to get this one to self test a little bit:

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