Overview
Amiga Forever and C64 Forever include different emulated printers with live
preview, as well as the ability to send data directly to the PC printer
("passthrough" mode).
The output can also be saved as a file.
TrueType fonts to view and edit the output with
applications like Microsoft Word or Adobe
Acrobat are
included.
Configuration
To choose a printer right-click a title, select Edit, go to the Configuration tab and select the
desired device options. On Amiga systems, printers can be attached to the parallel and serial port.
On PET/CBM systems the printers are connected as Unit 4 and Unit 5.
Each emulation environment can use up to two printers
at the same time.
An additional (optional) emulated
PostScript printer can also be used. This
requires the Ghostscript package to be
installed on the Windows side.
Windows printer options can be adjusted when
the
Print dialog opens. Defaults can also be set under
Tools/Options/Emulation.
Built-in Emulated Printers
As of version 11, Amiga Forever and C64 Forever feature the
following emulated (virtual) printers:
- EpsonQ - A laser-quality ESC/P2
color printer that works well with the EpsonQ
printer driver that is preset in the
Printer Prefs of most Amiga systems.
- MPS 803 - The iconic 6x7 dot matrix
printer, perfect for 8-bit systems like
the VIC 20 and C64. Combines 8-bit
printing with modern precision. On the
Amiga it can be used as a plain text
printer with the Generic driver, or
using CBM/MPS control codes.
- CBM 8026 - A laser-quality emulation
of an 8-bit daisy wheel printer,
enhanced to support text style
variations. Perfect for ASCII art and
PET/CBM listings. On the Amiga it can be
used as a plain text printer with the
Generic driver, or using CBM/MPS control
codes.
At runtime, select the printer icon in
the status bar at the bottom of the playback
window to access built-in features like
printing a listing (for 8-bit systems), or
to open the printer dialog.
After the page content has been
rendered by the emulated printer, you can make various adjustments,
and
then optionally send the output to the actual printing destination on the PC.
This may be a "real" printer, a "Print to
PDF" printer, or a file. Different
combinations of emulated and destination
paper sizes are supported, including
multiple pages per destination sheet and
double-sided printing.
The quality of text rendered via the
EpsonQ and CBM 8026 virtual printers matches
that of PostScript, as these emulated
printers also use vector fonts. Results in
graphics mode may vary and depend on the
intentions.
The MPS 803 virtual printer is
designed to recreate the original dots using
modern vector technology. The results are
perfect for a retro-looking greeting card,
but can also be scaled up to poster size.
If you find any discrepancies relative to
the actual output of the respective "real"
printers, please report them via the
software (Help/Send Feedback).
Enhanced Features
The built-in virtual printers support
high-quality vector rendering with live
preview, a loudspeaker (for
"bell" signalling) and an extended character
set, including European and Japanese
characters used in different C128, C64, VIC
1001 and VIC 20
models.
By default, a narrow-carriage printer is
emulated, and the behavor of the original
printer is emulated for paper sizes up to
10" (254 mm).
When a paper size wider than 10" is set,
the emulated printers switch from
narrow-carriage ("80 columns") to
wide-carriage ("132 columns") mode.
When a paper size wider than 15" is set,
the emulated printers switch to "infinite
carriage" mode. This can be useful for
generating banners and poster-size printouts
in a way that was not possible with "real"
printers.
EpsonQ Emulation
The virtual EpsonQ color laser printer
acts as a generic ESC/P2 device. This is the
recommended emulated printer for Amiga
systems. It is also compatible with many
8-bit applications.
The ESC/P2 specification covers a wide
range of features, many of which are
tailored for specific hardware. The
emulation implements a practical subset,
aiming for compatibility with the Amiga
"EpsonQ" drivers as well as with "Epson FX"
printers used by CBM 8-bit systems. In
raster graphics mode, densities up to 360
dpi x 360 dpi are supported, with automatic
stripe merging to reduce banding artifacts.
Barcodes, user-defined characters and some
fonts introduced in later printer models are
not supported. The emulation includes
support for some ESC/P commands that were
deprecated in ESC/P2, like those for text
justification.
The default configuration has a narrow
carriage ("80 columns"), which can be
switched to wide ("132 columns") or
"infinite" carriage mode by changing the
paper size.
For a quick test, start "Amiga 4000
Enhanced 3.X" from the Systems folder, click
Clown.pic at the bottom, then select Print
from the Project menu. Press Ctrl + Scroll
wheel to zoom in and out. To preview in
color, make sure the selected Destination
printer supports it (e.g. Microsoft Print to
PDF). Prefer a slower experience where you
can literally watch yellow, magenta and cyan
stripes appear one by one? Start "Amiga 2000
Enhanced 1.3", then launch GraphicDump
(inside Utilities). Be patient, as this
configuration emulates a CPU running at the
speed it had 40 years ago.
If you miss specific ESC/P2 features,
please send your feedback via the software
(Help/Send Feedback).
MPS 803 Emulation
This virtual dot matrix printer aims to
accurately implement the complete
specifications and behavior of the popular
MPS 803 hardware, including the original
dot-matrix font and additional characters.
This 7-pin printer is ideal for
accurately rendering text and graphics from
systems such as the VIC 20 and C64. Combined
with the optional replica of fanfold paper,
complete with realistic cuts and
perforations, it provides an authentic and
nostalgic printing experience ideal for
education and retrocomputing enthusiasts.
The high-quality "vector dots" further
enhance the visual fidelity, allowing
unparalleled realism and scalability.
In the default narrow-carriage
configuration, the print head cannot be
positioned after character 80. If additional
printable data is received, the print head
moves to the next line. Control sequences to
move the head beyond the printable limit are
ignored. The maximum character position that
can be set via a DLE control sequence, i.e.
CHR$(16), is 79. The maximum dot position
that can be set via an ESC DLE control
sequence, i.e. CHR$(27) followed by
CHR$(16), is 479 (not 639 as stated in some
editions of the documentation).
In wide-carriage mode, each line may
contain up to 132 characters. The print
position can be set up to character position
99 via a DLE control sequence, or up to dot
position 791 via an ESC DLE control
sequence. Character positions larger than 99
cannot be set via a DLE control sequence, as
that only allows for exactly two ASCII
digits.
In "infinite carriage" mode, the print
position can be set up to character position
99 via a DLE control sequence, or up to dot
position 65535 via an ESC DLE control
sequence.
Whether you're curious about how this
iconic 6x7 dot matrix printer worked or
looking to introduce a new generation to
vintage computing, check out the "MPS 803
Printer Playground" title in C64 Forever
(under Applications). It includes the MPS
803 User Guide and all sample listings,
ready to load from disk. When you run an
example, the Print dialog opens
automatically to display the output shown on
the corresponding manual page.
CBM 8026 Emulation
This virtual daisy wheel printer aims to
accurately implement the complete
specifications and behavior of the original
CBM 8026 hardware, using a Pica Courier (10
cpi) or an Elite Courier (12 cpi) print
wheel. Enhancements include "quote mode",
reverse, PETSCII and other special
characters.
Without the limitations of its hardware
counterpart (high costs, low speed, limited
character set), this virtual printer is the
best choice to render high-quality listings
on CBM 8-bit systems.
The default configuration has a narrow
carriage ("80 columns"), which can be
switched to wide ("132 columns") or
"infinite" carriage mode by changing the
paper size.
PostScript Options
Newer versions of the Amiga operating system, as well as Amiga graphics, word processing, DTP
and other applications, also support the PostScript page
definition language, which allows for higher-quality graphics mode output
compared to EpsonQ raster graphics. Even 8-bit systems like the C64 support
PostScript, via applications like geoPublish and geoWrite that use the GEOS
laser printer drivers.
Once you are able to produce PostScript
output from the application running in the emulated system, this can be rendered on any printer
attached to the PC. To allow for this, in
the title settings configure the printer
port to one of:
- PostScript emulation (to print to
a non-PostScript printer, to PDF, or to
print to file)
- Passthrough (if printing to a
"real" PostScript printer)
The optional emulated PostScript printer requires the Ghostscript
package (a third-party application) to be installed on Windows, making it possible to
interpret the PostScript output and convert
it into a format that can be processed by the
(non-PostScript) Windows printer. On a 64-bit
version of Windows, both the 32-bit and the
64-bit versions of Ghostscript need to be
installed. Once
Ghostscript is installed, additional features
like "Save as PDF"
become available in the Print dialog of Amiga
Forever and C64 Forever. As this is not a
built-in emulated printer, live preview and
other features may not be available.
PostScript Emulation is a high-quality option
that can be used when the
Amiga or 8-bit application is able to generate PostScript
output, but the PC does not have a
PostScript printer attached. If instead the
PC has a supported PostScript printer
attached, you should try to use Passthrough
mode first (there is no need for PostScript
emulation).
The Amiga Printer Preferences include a
simple PostScript printer driver. If your
Amiga application (e.g. PageStream or
Professional Page) offers built-in support for PostScript, we recommend,
as a general rule, that you choose the latter print option instead
of the PostScript driver in the Printer Preferences.
Passthrough Mode (Native Printing)
If the Amiga or CBM 8-bit title has a driver for the
device that is attached to the PC, you can select
"Passthrough" (formerly "Native") mode. This
includes printing in PostScript to a modern
PostScript printer that is directly
supported by application that is generating
the print job.
As Passthrough mode does not use a
built-in emulated printer, live preview and
other features may not be available in the
Print dialog.
While the Print dialog is open, the
printer data is accumulated until the Print
button is pressed. This makes it possible to
select a different destination printer, or
to save the file.
Printer Drivers
The emulated printers render the page as
if it was printed by the printer being
emulated, not by the device that is attached
to the PC, which may be of a different type.
The Amiga or 8-bit software only needs to
have drivers for the virtual printer being
used. It does not need to support the actual
printer connected to the PC (unless it is
printing in Passthrough mode). The
"translation" from the emulated printer to
the physical printer is done by Amiga Forever
or C64 Forever.
All 8-bit programs and some Amiga
applications (e.g. SBase) output
directly via their own drivers (rather than
the Amiga Prefs printer driver). In that
case, select a driver that most closely
resembles the emulated printer. If adjusting
these settings manually, also remember to
set the output to the desired port (parallel
port on the Amiga, or Unit 4 or 5 on CBM
systems).
When Passthrough mode (rather than an emulated printer) is used, the Amiga
or 8-bit software needs to have the correct drivers for the printer connected
to the PC. Even on Amiga systems, it may not always be easy to find an up-to-date printer
driver for a modern printer. Third-party Amiga packages like
Studio Professional and TurboPrint include a wider choice of high-quality Amiga
printer drivers than the Amiga operating system.
The default ports for printing are the
parallel port on the Amiga, and Unit 4 on
PET/CBM systems.
If you do not have an Amiga driver for
the PC printer, leave the Amiga
configuration set to EpsonQ to use the
emulated EpsonQ printer. The emulated
printer also supports additional ESC/P2
commands and graphics densities used by
third-party drivers like EpsonQPlus by Wolf
Faust.
Most PET/CBM systems should work fine
with the CBM 8026 printer, while printing
applications for systems like the VIC 20 and C64
generally support the MPS 803. The CBM 8026
printer is the best option for printing
listings on these systems as well.
Save Emulation Data to File
The Print dialog in Amiga Forever and C64
Forever also features a Save to File option,
which saves the data stream received from
the emulation session to a
file. This may be useful for archiving
purposes, or whenever it is not possible to
directly send the printer output to a local
port.
Two formats are supported [note:
.rp-print is still under development]:
- [planned] Printer Package (.rp-print) saves
the raw printer data along with details
that include computer and printer model,
character set information, and other
metadata. The resulting file can be
opened by Amiga Forever and C64 Forever
to run the print job again, or to save
the data in a different format.
- Binary (.bin) saves the exact byte
stream as generated by the printing
application, without additional
character set information or other
metadata. This format is comonly used to
save PostScript files. This format does
not fully preserve 8-bit printer
data because the character set
information provided by the secondary
address of the OPEN command, as well as
other encoding options set at runtime
(e.g. via ASCI/CC on the C128) are lost.
Other than for this limitation, the
resulting file can be opened by Amiga
Forever and C64 Forever to run the print
job again, or to save the data in a
different format.
Print Destination Pages to File
In some cases it is desirable to save the
rendered page output (rather than the raw
binary stream) to a file format such as PDF,
XPS or RTF, which can then be opened and/or
edited with other page-oriented
applications.
If a virtual printer like Microsoft Print
to PDF, Adobe PDF, or Microsoft XPS Document
Writer is installed, it can be selected as a
printer destination. The built-in emulated
printers will render content in vector
quality, producing a result of
uncompromising visual precision.
In PostScript emulation mode, an
additional "Save as PDF" virtual printer
becomes available. This converts the
PostScript data to PDF using the same
Ghostscript engine as the PostScript
emulation. This is the recommended option to
convert Amiga PostScript to PDF. When other
virtual printers like Microsoft Print to PDF
or Adobe PDF are used, the conversion is
done via an intermediate bitmap, losing the
vector layer.
A limitation of the virtual printer
approach is that font metadata information
and exact spacing are not preserved for copy
and paste purposes (e.g. copying from the
resulting PDF and pasting into Microsoft
Word may not automatically use the correct
font). To overcome this and make editing
easier, a "Save as RTF" (.rtf) format is
under development. This will generate a formatted
document that can be opened, edited and
printed by applications like Microsoft
Word. This format will only be available when
printing with the built-in emulated
printers.
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