Aarrrggghhh!!

That's me pulling out my hair in frustration. I have a new printer (BROTHER HR20) and have for some time been trying to get the (unprintable!) thing to underline text in View. I have been using the VPD from Electron User August 1986 and been changing the control codes. Now, I'm no programmer - I use the Electron as a word processor - but having read the VPD instructions and my printer manual over and over, I thought I'd have a go (Big mistake!). I found the following codes:

      ESC E(hex)   1B45    Set Underline
      ESC R(hex)   1B52    Clear Underline

The ASCII code table gives the Underline symbol as 5F. This converts to 01011111 and there I'm lost. I'm left not knowing my ESC from my ASCII, let alone my hex.

All the problems I've had must be shared by a great many of your readers. This makes me think that there must be a way of explaining to people with little programming ability, just how to find the correct codes in a manual, how to convert them and how to insert them into a Printer Driver: What you might call an Idiot's Guide to Print Highlights.

Do you know of any way in which I might connect an old, but working, Commodore double-floppy 5.25" disk drive (CBM 8050) to my Electron, i.e. suitable interface and cables etc, or is this asking the impossible? The disk drive has a 24 (2x12) "D" type socket with flat pins. I hope you or one of the EUG readers will be able to help.

S. Treasurer, Birmingham

Although the subject of Printer Driver Highlight Codes has been featured in previous issues, it seems that a number of people are still having trouble with them. (You are not alone, Mr "T"!)

The majority of problems seem to occur when certain printers require 'unique' codes that the user has to calculate for him/herself. When confronted with the ASCII, decimal, hexadecimal and even binary codes we're all expected to understand, it's no wonder that some people (myself included) develop massive headaches!

Would anyone care to lead me and my fellow "Idiots" through this jargon-infested minefield with an article which explains the theory in plain English?

As far as I know, a Commodore disk drive cannot be used with an Electron. Does anyone else know different?

Will Watts, EUG #6