I have the rom from the dmp-1. I plan to dump it and upload a dissassembly of it (I believe it will be a mixture of 8039 cpu instructions and data for the font).
Does anyone have dumps of the dmp-2000 or other printer roms?
Yes, please. Good idea. I don't own DMP's myself so I can't help there.
The ROM character sets (and eventually also the machine code) might of some use (if somebody wants to emulate the exact printer-feeling).
Scanned Manuals for DMP printers would be great, too. As far as I know there's very little info on the control codes (eg. for bitmap printing, or bold text, etc). And differences between models like DMP2000 and DMP2160 are still unknown (?) too.
Oh, and can somebody confirm that the DMP2000 is a rebadged Riteman+ printer? cpcwiki states that similarities are "striking" - does that refer to internal components? Externally they are looking entirely DIFFERENT (externally, the Riteman+ does more resemble a DMP3000, not a DMP2000). So, I guess the "strinking" info should be moved to the DMP3000 page?
Quote from: nocash on 14:13, 14 August 10
Yes, please. Good idea. I don't own DMP's myself so I can't help there.
The ROM character sets (and eventually also the machine code) might of some use (if somebody wants to emulate the exact printer-feeling).
I'm working on DMP printer emulation.
So the chars and ALL technical informations (like DPI, how many dot's per line/page etc...) would come handy!
Here's a first attempt:
http://cpc-live.com/hardcopy
Perhaps you can find good info on this kind of Software :
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Qualitas_Plus (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Qualitas_Plus)
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Pro-Ext (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Pro-Ext)
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ProPrint (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ProPrint)
Prabably Qualitas is the best option.
> Prabably Qualitas is the best option.
Dunno... the qualitas manual doesn't seem to contain too useful info.
Best source should be the original DMPnnnn User manuals.
Back in the eighties that manuals usually contained good programming specs (so you could write your own printer "driver").
One thing that is common for all printers in chr(13)=CR and chr(10)=LF, or eventually chr(13)=CR+LF. The more interesting info would be how to do italics/bold/bitmap/etc. Should be often done by ESCape codes, eg. stuff like chr(27),"K2" or chr(27),"Y12".
That whole stuff should be described in the User Manuals - does somebody have DMP manual(s) at home?
---
For ROM dumps... The photo of the DMP1 PCB looks quite inviting: a 24pin EPROM with socket. Basically, one would need to remove the EPROM, stick it into a 28pin CPC ROM board or so, and use a paper-clip to pass VCC from pin28 to pin24, and then one could save the ROM image on 3" floppy disc.
Does somebody have all that equipment at home? If yes, let me know if you need more info on what to do exactly.
---
Btw. did anybody ever see or hear of a Amstrad DMP2100 printer? It's listed on the cpcwiki Peripherals page, but I couldn't find ANY info/photos/manuals about that model in the internet - I'd doubt that it does exist, or does it?
I've found a few manuals in pdf (and put them on cpcwiki).
English Manuals:
DMP1 User Manual (english)
DMP2000/3000/4000 Service Manual (english)
The DMP1 manual contains programming info (and it's quite simple, not too many/complicated functions). Service manual is more for repair purposes (no programming info in there).
For the DMP2000...4000 there don't seem to be any english user manuals (please scan them!)
I've only found some French ones:
DMP2000 Users Manual
DMP2160 Users Manual
DMP3000/3160/3250di Users Manual
Plus, some spanish ones were already on cpcwiki.
The DMP2100 did exist :-)
/Ygdrazil
Quote from: nocash on 23:46, 15 August 10
> Prabably Qualitas is the best option.
Dunno... the qualitas manual doesn't seem to contain too useful info.
Best source should be the original DMPnnnn User manuals.
Back in the eighties that manuals usually contained good programming specs (so you could write your own printer "driver").
One thing that is common for all printers in chr(13)=CR and chr(10)=LF, or eventually chr(13)=CR+LF. The more interesting info would be how to do italics/bold/bitmap/etc. Should be often done by ESCape codes, eg. stuff like chr(27),"K2" or chr(27),"Y12".
That whole stuff should be described in the User Manuals - does somebody have DMP manual(s) at home?
---
For ROM dumps... The photo of the DMP1 PCB looks quite inviting: a 24pin EPROM with socket. Basically, one would need to remove the EPROM, stick it into a 28pin CPC ROM board or so, and use a paper-clip to pass VCC from pin28 to pin24, and then one could save the ROM image on 3" floppy disc.
Does somebody have all that equipment at home? If yes, let me know if you need more info on what to do exactly.
---
Btw. did anybody ever see or hear of a Amstrad DMP2100 printer? It's listed on the cpcwiki Peripherals page, but I couldn't find ANY info/photos/manuals about that model in the internet - I'd doubt that it does exist, or does it?
Quote from: nocash on 23:46, 15 August 10
For ROM dumps... The photo of the DMP1 PCB looks quite inviting: a 24pin EPROM with socket. Basically, one would need to remove the EPROM, stick it into a 28pin CPC ROM board or so, and use a paper-clip to pass VCC from pin28 to pin24, and then one could save the ROM image on 3" floppy disc.
Does somebody have all that equipment at home? If yes, let me know if you need more info on what to do exactly.
I have the rom.
I have an Amram 2.
So I can read it easily, now I need to find some time.
The dmp-1 on the wiki is my old one before I dumped it (and saved a few small things from it ;) )
> The DMP2100 did exist :-)
Whoops, I didn't believe in it - are you sure?
I know that there's a TRS-80 printer with that name, but I thought that it isn't from Amstrad.
From Amstrad, the DMP2160 is their "fast" printer with 160 chars/second (hence DMP2160).
And their "slow" printer with 100 chars/sec (or actually 105 chars/sec)...
following the same naming method, it should be called DMP2100, but they called it DMP2000.
So then - what the hell is a dmp2100 ?
Until today, I thought I'd have understood the DMP-numbering, now I am confused about it :-)
---
Any info if the various Amstrad/Schneider printers are pin-printers or uni-hammer ones?
Hi,
Amstrad did make a lot of printers back in the old days, those were the days when Amstrad was a growing and successful company 8)
In my opinion the trouble started when they entered the PC scene. The PC1512 and PC1640 was a success, but the PCs that followed these wasn't to much to brag about. The Amstrad PC2000 series was the last to be launched in Norway, since "Amstrad Norge AS" failed back in 1989 :'(
OK, back to the Amstrad printers. These were labeled as DMP (Dot Matrix Printer) and LQ (Letter Quality).
I've had a look trough my Amstrad archives, and I have found the following manuals and service manual :
- Amstrad DMP3000/3160 (English) 100 pages
- Schneider DMP2160 (German) 88 pages
- Schneider DMP3160 (German) 96 pages (Copy)
- Amstrad DMP2000 Printer Service manual (English) 12 pages
- Amstrad DMP2000 / DMP3000 /DMP4000 Printer Service Manual (English) 20 pages
- Amstrad LQ5000 di Printer Service Manual (English) 18 pages
- Schneider LQ3500 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP2000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP2160 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP3000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP4000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider NLQ 401 Service Manual (German)
I have also found the following Amstrad leaflets from those days :
- Amstrad CPC6128 (Norwegian) 4 pages
- Amstrad PCW8256 (Danish) 4 pages
- Amstrad PPC (Norwegian) 4 pages
- Amstrad PC1640 (Norwegian) 8 pages
- Amstrad PC2000 (Norwegian) 8 pages
"The Amstrad DMP4000 & DMP3250 di Printers" (English) 4 pages
"The Amstrad LQ3500 di & LQ5000 di Printers" (English) 4 pages
"AMSPRINT" (Norwegian) 4 pages
(Specifications for the following printers : DMP3160, DMP2150 di, DMP4000, LQ3500, LQ3500 di & LQ5000 di)
This has to be it for this time.
Yours
Terje Grind
NORWAY
Quote from: Terje_Norway on 19:22, 16 August 10
Hi,
Amstrad did make a lot of printers back in the old days, those were the days when Amstrad was a growing and successful company 8)
In my opinion the trouble started when they entered the PC scene. The PC1512 and PC1640 was a success, but the PCs that followed these wasn't to much to brag about. The Amstrad PC2000 series was the last to be launched in Norway, since "Amstrad Norge AS" failed back in 1989 :'(
OK, back to the Amstrad printers. These were labeled as DMP (Dot Matrix Printer) and LQ (Letter Quality).
I've had a look trough my Amstrad archives, and I have found the following manuals and service manual :
long list ...
...
...
This has to be it for this time.
Terje
NORWAY
Hi Terje,
so much good stuff! ;D
I know where he live and are wondering and whether he has changed his burglaralarmcode :P
Hi Ivar :)
Why change the burglaralarmcode, as no one would guess it is "6128".
Besides, what are the chances You would come by ? ? ? ???
Terje Grind
NORWAY
Hi Terje,
that's great to read.
Did you scan them?
For the Wiki all of your listed manuals and guides are usful.
(For my development I need the user guides for the printer DMP 2xxx.)
I can use English or German docs.
Would be great if you could scan and create PDF of them.
Cheers,
Markus
Hi Markus,
I haven't scanned any of them so fare, but I'll have a look at it ! ! !
The ONLY problem is that my PC isn't talking all to well with my scanner. I have tried to scan a few manuals earlier, but the result hasn't been that good. I'll have a look at it tomorrow, and perhaps things will turn out better (as it can't be much worse) ;)
I'll start with the DMP2xxx manual (s), and we'll see what the result will be.
Yours
Terje Grind
NORWAY
Great collection of manuals - would be great if you could get them scanned!
Does somebody have the NLQ401 User Manual? (Terje seems to have only the Service Manual). As far as I understand, the DMP1 and NLQ401 are Seikosha Models, the DMP1 sold everywhere except in germany - and the NLQ401 being a slightly improved version which was sold only in germany (?)
I've started some summary of the different printer models here,
http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers
Some better photos would be nice! Best, top-view, and eventually also other from perspectives.
And photos of the printer mainboards would be nice, too. Maybe that reveal relationship to Seikosha & Epson models.
I have these two manuals - I could look at scanning the DMP2160 version this weekend.... (if it's not too sunny outside)
DMP2000 & DMP2160 User Instructions would be great! But sunny weekend would be better. Anyways, I hope you get around to scan them once or then. Terje doesn't seem to have that two manuals. DMP2000 would be most interesting since it's the first in the DMPxxxx series (so it should contain the "minimum" specs).
---
Terje has got his scanner working, following are now on cpcwiki:
Printer user/service manuals:
Schneider DMP3160 User Manual (German) 100 pages
Schneider DMP2000 Service Manual (German with English)
Printer Leaflets:
"The Amstrad DMP4000 & DMP3250 di Printers" (English) 4 pages
"The Amstrad LQ3500 di & LQ5000 di Printers" (English) 4 pages
"AMSTPRINT" Leaflet DMP3160, DMP3250di, DMP4000, LQ3500, LQ3500di, LQ5000di) (Norwegian) 4 pages
Computer Leaflets:
Amstrad CPC6128 (Norwegian) 4 pages
Amstrad PCW8256 (Danish) 4 pages
Amstrad PPC (Norwegian) 4 pages
Amstrad PC1640 (Norwegian) 8 pages
Amstrad PC2000 (Norwegian) 8 pages
The printer related docs are found on http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers, the other computer leaflets on http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Leaflets - some are a bit old-fashioned now - the PPC one includes an adventureous photo story - imagine you have a portable PC, work in a first class railway waggon, and finally you are presenting your work to your senior boss!
EDIT: These two docs from Terje's list were already on cpcwiki (no need to scan them again):
- Amstrad DMP2000 / DMP3000 /DMP4000 Printer Service Manual (English) 20 pages
- Schneider DMP2160 Service Manual (German)
EDIT:EDIT: swapped the 2160 user <--> service manual entries
Other docs on Terje's list (which I hope will be scanned soon):
- Amstrad DMP3000/3160 (English) 100 pages
- Schneider DMP2160 (German) 88 pages
- Amstrad LQ5000 di Printer Service Manual (English) 18 pages
- Schneider LQ3500 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP2000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP3000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider DMP4000 Service Manual (German)
- Schneider NLQ 401 Service Manual (German)
----
Does somebody have the NLQ401 User Manual? It seems to be the most exotic model as it seems to have been available only in germany.
The first printer ROM is dumped! Nilquader has dumped to NLQ401 EPROM :-) found on the http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers page. The bad news is that that printer seems to contain additional 4K ROM (inside of the CPU chip) which is probably harder to get by. At first glance, I can't see character set tables in the EPROM, though they should be there - can somebody decipher them?
Nilquader has also taken nice pics of the NLQ401 PCB (fount at http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/NLQ401), and he can scan the german NLQ401 user manual (in next some weeks when he gets access to a good scanner). Oh, and he asked for a NLQ401 Service Manual - Terje, how about scanning some small service manuals? Hope you aren't burnt out after your recent big scanning session!
Hi folks :)
I scanned two more German service manual.
- LQ3500 Service Manual (16 pages)
- NLQ 401 Service Manual (22 pages)
I'll mail them to Martin within a few minutes ;)
Only FOUR more Service manuals left:
- Schneider DMP2160 (12 EASY pages)
- Schneider DMP3000 (12 EASY pages)
- Schneider DMP4000 (14 FLIP pages)
- Amstrad LQ5000di (26 FLIP pages)
I'll scan them within a few days.
Yours
Terje Grind
Norway
PS I haven't forgotten the DMP user manuals.
Beautiful scans! Just forwarded them to the NLQ401/LQ3500 cpcwiki pages. The NLQ401 manual even includes... tatatam... packaging instructions!
Just noticed that the DMP1's CPU seems to contain on-chip ROM, too. Though I wonder if that ROMs were really used. If there is an EPROM, then it should be cheaper to put all code/data into it (as than to produce CPUs with custom ROM).
The 2Kx8 SRAM on the DMP1 board is confusing me. According to the DMP1 manual, it has only a small 90-byte printer buffer (apparently using the CPU's on-chip 128 byte RAM). But then... why the 2Kx8 SRAM? Maybe it was an expanded "DMP1+" version? Or the manual was wrong... I think I've read somewhere that the Amstrad manuals were printed before the hardware design was finished.
EDIT: Ignore that - The DMP1 manual doesn't say anything about a 90-byte limit - I must have picked up that info from the Commodore MPS801 manual (the commodore & atari versions don't have the 2K chips).
Quote from: nocash on 15:45, 20 August 10
Beautiful scans! Just forwarded them to the NLQ401/LQ3500 cpcwiki pages. The NLQ401 manual even includes... tatatam... packaging instructions!
Just noticed that the DMP1's CPU seems to contain on-chip ROM, too. Though I wonder if that ROMs were really used. If there is an EPROM, then it should be cheaper to put all code/data into it (as than to produce CPUs with custom ROM).
I disagree. It uses an 8039 and in the datasheet it says the 8039 uses external rom only. (no rom of it's own)
Whoops, thanks for correcting! I only looked at list of features in the datasheet (which looked as if ROM would be in all versions). But the text section makes it clear that on-chip ROM/EPROM is only in uPD8049 chips, not in the DMP1's uPD8039 chip.
The NLQ401 might use on-chip ROM in its uPD7811 CPU. Here, the ROM-less version would be uPD7810.
> Only FOUR more Service manuals left:
> Schneider DMP2160 (12 EASY pages)
No need, not that one! That's already scanned (by somebody else).
In the message above, I did have had accidently listed it as still missing (sorry/confusion).
Hi,
Guess who hasn't got anything better to do on a Friday evening ? ? :o
YES, almost all of You guessed right. :) Only TWO persons with the wrong answer ::)
I have now scanned the last FOUR service manuals, and mailed them to Martin. They'll probably be up on the net tomorrow.
They are as follows :
- Schneider DMP2160 (12 pages)
- Schneider DMP3000 (12 pages)
- Schneider DMP4000 (14 pages)
- Amstrad LQ5000di (26 pages)
NO, I didn't forget that the DMP2160 is on the net already. I discovered it AFTER I had scanned it, besides I think my scan is a bit better that the one already on the net. Page 8-9 is a bit better on my scan (I think) than the one already uploaded. These two pages are flip pages, and the drawing is on both pages. It's up to Martin if he replaces it ? ? ?
Now I'm only down to the two user manuals. Only 188 lovely ( >:( ) pages left to scan :laugh:
That's it for tonight
Yours
Terje Grind
Norway
Great. I've just put them (all four) on cpcwiki. The printer Service Manual section is now fairly complete. Only some are still missing, including the good old DMP1:
DMP1 Service Manual
DMP3160 Service Manual
DMP3250di Service Manual
LQ3500di Service Manual (only the "di" version is missing)
LD6000 Service Manual
Does somebody has one of them at home?
Quote from: Terje_Norway on 19:57, 16 August 10
Hi Ivar :)
Why change the burglaralarmcode, as no one would guess it is "6128".
Besides, what are the chances You would come by ? ? ? ???
Terje Grind
NORWAY
True, my kid, family and moving to a new home has taken too much time.
I scanned the DMP 2000 User Guide (English)... only drawback is it is 30mb... or 21mb if I drop the quality a bit... where can I upload the PDF to? or can I email someone the .PNG images and they can make a PDF for me?.... (I note that the wiki limits uploads to 20mb)...
Great. You email it to - ah no, not to me - my mailbox limit is 12MB, so it won't work.
Do you have irfan view? With it's "batch conversion" feature (found in its File menu) you could convert all files (in one step) from bloated/lossless PNG format to smaller/lossy JPGs.
The same batch feature also allows to reduce the resolution, 1200 pix horizontally should be more than enough (but don't forget to click the <Resample>-checkbox, else it'll only do an ugly <resize>).
I guess that should fix the size problem. Thereafter... you do have a jpg-to-pdf tool at home, or don't you?
---
Can't wait to see the DMP2000 manual :-)
Hi,
The DMP2160 (German) manual has just been mailed of to Martin ;D
Now it is up to him to get it up on the net.
I'll scan the DMP3160 (English) within the next days.
Yours
Terje Grind
NORWAY
If it's a black&white manual it'd be better to have a gif than a JPG I think... Failing that, you could email it to me and I'll FTP it to the wiki...
That said, I was away for a few days and I see some people went berserk with the printers :D
Link to zip file now connected to the Manual listed at the bottom of this wiki page:
http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer#Manuals (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer#Manuals)
Found the English DMP2000 on the http://share.cpcwiki.eu/files.php page. Good to see it! But mind that it's a temporary upload page (deleted after 300 days). So linking to it from inside of wiki pages is a time-bomb!
The file contains grayscale images (not plain black & white), 20MB for 91 pages. For grayscale's jpg should be ideal. Using a bit more lossy quality setting should allow to squeeze it into 5..8 MB without looking worse. For example, Terje's http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/File:Schneider_DMP2160_User_Manual_(German).pdf looks fine too me, and it's only 8MB for 89 pages (actually it was only 5MB, but my jpg-to-pdf converter changed it from 8bit mono to 24bit color & somehow fucked up the compression rate).
For daily use, I'd prefer a smaller version of the English DMP2000 manual. ynot.zer0, can you make one? or upload it as (zipped) single page jpg/pngs on the share page? (so I could try it on my own) (I don't have a tool to modify images once when they are in pdf format).
If somebody wants to preserve the 20MB file in it's full beauty... Gryzor, can you ftp a copy from "share" to cpcwiki?
The front page image was scanned in colour (and was 15mb, hence large file size). All other pages were scanned black&white.
The forum has a limit of filesize per post, so I'll attach the zipped png images after this post
file1
file2
file3
file4
Thanks! Already uploaded it, http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/5/5c/Amstrad_DMP2000_User_Manual_(English).pdf (6MB).
It's converted from 1bpp to 24bpp grayscale, and then resampled to 700pix width with rather highly-lossy setting. Quality seems to be still good enough to me. To you, too? They grayscale/resampling is giving it some "anti-aliasing" effect, which is nice for screen viewing (maybe not so good for printing, though I doubt many people will want to print it).
looks good to me! thanks for your help in making it into a PDF.
I'm just glad I could (finally) contribute something useful to the cpc wiki!
Are you going to scan the Enlish DMP2160, too? Don't know how much work it'd be - and how far it'd be worth doing it. At one point it'd be nice to have at, on the other hand it's probably 99% same as the DMP2000 manual.
At least Terje's german DMP2160 scan looked a lot like that. Schneider didn't even change the name from DMP2000 to DMP2160 on the first three pages :-) what they have changed is the frontpage, and the technical details on page 69 (with the faster 160cps and 160ms timings). Maybe some other pages are changed, too. Hard to see.
I've started making a list of the control codes. And compared DMP2000 with DMP3160. The only new code I've found is "1Bh 6Dh nnh" for some charset selection. Also compared it with the Epson FX80 that the DMPs are said to be compatible with - most codes are actually same - the biggest difference is that the FX80 didn't have NLQ support.
Some news: I've completed the list of control codes, http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers, I've compared the various docs with each other: the DMP2xxx/3xxx seem to be really fully Epson FX80 compatible, plus some extra codes (and LX80-style code for NLQ, and a nonstandard-Amstrad-code for IBM charset which works on DMP3xxx only).
Nilquader took a photo of the interiors of the NLQ401 printer head, http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/NLQ401 - never hoped to see that - the pics are showing only the magnets & levers, not the actual wire-pins that hit the ribbon; some animated illustration of the mechanics is here, http://mimech.com/printers/ the webpage seems to be also offering a repair-service for printer heads (so disassembling, and especially reassembling the heads seems to be well possible).
I've also found a DMP1 Service Manual, http://www.museo8bits.es/impresoras/manuales/index.html, but for whatever reason the server doesn't permit to download the Amstrad docs :-( does somebody know how to get that file? I've also sent an (english) email to museo8bits, but got no reply yet.
---
Any new scanned manuals coming soon? Nilquader's DMP2160 and Terje's DMP3000/3160 manuals would be nice to have! Please blow up some hours (days?) on scanning :-)
Oh, and some photo/gallery ideas for people who do have old printers / nothing better to do: Photo of the ribbon cassette, PCB board, and printer top/side/front views would be great. And a scanned print-out would be nice to show the print quality & different styles; best using the printers built-in test-mode features... for doing that, does somebody know how to resurrect dry ribbons? Using re-inking sets? Or soaking them in water or in something else?
Hi,
You'll get the DMP3000/3160 User Instructions (English later this week)
I have also been able to get hold of the DMP3000/3160/3250di User Instructions (English)
(Won on Ebay). Have paid for it, but it isn't marked as sent. Hopefully I'll have it with a few weeks. I'll also scan it when I get it.
For the time being, I'm a bit busy with the HxC hardware and my Transcend SD cards.
Yours
Terje Grind
Norway
Hey guys,
I went yesterday to CPCManiaco's place and grabbed the DMP2000 eprom.
You can find the rom file in the DMP2000 page (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer).
I hope you find it useful, though it doesn't seem to contain the character set, maybe it is contained in the microcontroller's SRAM. I guess it is not easy to get the info contained there, but if anybody knows how to do it, I'll try it.
Have a nice day! 8)
Quote from: robcfg on 11:28, 27 August 10
Hey guys,
I went yesterday to CPCManiaco's place and grabbed the DMP2000 eprom.
You can find the rom file in the DMP2000 page (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer).
I hope you find it useful, though it doesn't seem to contain the character set, maybe it is contained in the microcontroller's SRAM. I guess it is not easy to get the info contained there, but if anybody knows how to do it, I'll try it.
Have a nice day! 8)
thanks.
The Dmp-2000 service manual seems to indicate it has a NEC 7811 CPU which has 4k of onboard program rom.
So not sure exactly what this rom is storing and I can't find a 7811 dissassembler yet.
You are welcome!
If we find another printer, we'll do our best to get the roms.
Quote from: arnoldemu on 12:29, 27 August 10
So not sure exactly what this rom is storing and I can't find a 7811 dissassembler yet.
How about unidasm, one of the tools that are a part of the MAME / MESS source? MAME has a uPD7810/11 core.
Quote from: mahlemiut on 12:53, 27 August 10
How about unidasm, one of the tools that are a part of the MAME / MESS source? MAME has a uPD7810/11 core.
thanks. I used it and the dissassembly was bullshit.
So I loaded the file into arnold and used it's graphics viewer and I can see *some* chars.
They are on their side. But I can't work out yet a consistent width that works with them. So they are likely to have extra data with them.
I can see - > and some letters.
I can see all letters.
(I used Winape, width to 1, height to 12)
The screen I got, I rotated about 90° and also mirrored horizontally.
Result:
(http://cpc-live.com/dmpfont.png)
Seems that the font is a kind of encrypted?
Maybe it's just that is has some other data between the characters or maybe it's the way the data is stored for that microcontroller.
Quote from: robcfg on 14:49, 27 August 10
Maybe it's just that is has some other data between the characters or maybe it's the way the data is stored for that microcontroller.
Or is it odd/even lines?
first batch of chars are the even lines (0,2,4,6,8 etc), then next batch of chars are the odd lines (1,3,5 etc).
I can see the chars repeat. and it seems that they are really 24 lines tall.
Look you can see two capital M's in there.
EDIT: And one byte from each char seems to be reserved for "control". Maybe used to control italics or double width or similar?
Here's the dmp2000 font:
(I used a small code to convert it)
(http://cpc-live.com/dmp2000font.png)
The left column of each character looks like it's a binary value that the Processor uses for something else (amount of ribbon movement or something perhaps?)
But just out of interest (because I was too lazy to read the entire thread).... Why bother??? What use is the content of the printer ROM? What will you do with the info if you do manage to decypher the format? It's not like the code is of any use and the Fonts (NLQ / LQ etc) can be found on the interweb.
Or am I missing something important?
Bryce.
Quote from: Devilmarkus on 15:04, 27 August 10
Here's the dmp2000 font:
(I used a small code to convert it)
Looking at the lower case 'y' some of that extra data must be used for vertical position? It seems quite high compared to the other chars. A print out of all the letters on the dmp would solve this for us.
Quote from: Bryce on 15:06, 27 August 10
The left column of each character looks like it's a binary value that the Processor uses for something else (amount of ribbon movement or something perhaps?)
But just out of interest (because I was too lazy to read the entire thread).... Why bother??? What use is the content of the printer ROM? What will you do with the info if you do manage to decypher the format? It's not like the code is of any use and the Fonts (NLQ / LQ etc) can be found on the interweb.
Or am I missing something important?
Bryce.
Well it seems that each manufacturer could choose to have a different font in their re-badged printers. Probably their own rom code too if you read the 7811 pdf.
And it's true we'll not get the actual printer program code out of the cpu.
But if, for instance, your name was Markus and you wanted to emulate/simulate the printer for true nostalgia, now you can use the real font to get the real result. ;D He's already done some of it already but used a font he found on the internet.
Well, printers may not be interesting, but it is good to have as much info as possible about Amstrad specific printers and
if somebody (Markus) was crazy enough to emulate it then we can have real looking output.
Hehehehe...
Who wants to play with the DMP font: I attached the short program I coded to convert it.
To run:
java -jar dmp2font.jar
Or double click on the jar file.
When is your printer test page with the new font scheduled? ;D
In a few days it seems I'll be able to get a DMP3000 rom so, stay tuned!
Quote from: robcfg on 16:28, 27 August 10
When is your printer test page with the new font scheduled? ;D
In a few days it seems I'll be able to get a DMP3000 rom so, stay tuned!
It would be cool if you could printout a test page with the fonts and NLQ/DRAFT and scan it.
Important for me to know is:
- How many chars per line in NLQ or/and DRAFT
- How many lines per page in NLQ/DRAFT?
I made 2 little basic progs to print a small test:
10 WIDTH 66
20 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"x";CHR$(1);"TL"
30 t = 0
40 FOR g=1 TO 17
50 FOR k=32 TO 97
60 PRINT #8,CHR$(k+t);:NEXT
70 PRINT #8
80 t=t+1
90 NEXT
10 PRINT #8,"control tests"
20 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"4";"ITALIC test"
30 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"5";"BACK to standard"
40 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"E";"Bold test 1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
50 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"F";"BACK to standard"
60 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"4";CHR$(27);"E";"Bold/Italic test 1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
70 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"5";CHR$(27);"F";"BACK to standard"
80 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"M";"Minitext text 1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
90 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"P";"BACK to standard"
100 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"x";CHR$(1);"NLQ text 1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
110 PRINT #8,CHR$(27);"x";CHR$(0);"BACK to standard"
120 PRINT #8:PRINT #8:LIST #8
Here's the same font without the marks:
(http://cpc-live.com/dmp2000font2.png)
Perhaps useful for the wiki...
I am wondering where the 2nd font is...
Handbook tells about 2 fonts (Pica and Elite)
Quote from: Devilmarkus on 16:59, 27 August 10
Here's the same font without the marks:
(http://cpc-live.com/dmp2000font2.png)
Perhaps useful for the wiki...
I am wondering where the 2nd font is...
Handbook tells about 2 fonts (Pica and Elite)
Only thing I can think of is that those extra pixels are controls to tell how to modify the font to make pica/elite etc.
but also for y positioning too (look at the lower y for example).
Nice for the wiki though :)
Quote from: arnoldemu on 17:12, 27 August 10
Only thing I can think of is that those extra pixels are controls to tell how to modify the font to make pica/elite etc.
but also for y positioning too (look at the lower y for example).
I also first suggested that (y positioning)
But when you look closer, the same marks are on other chars, too...
Great work! Thanks for the dump!
I've found one character set, it's the same format as the user-defined ones (via ESC "&" NUL code): The charset is at 3400h-3FFFh, 256 characters, each 12 bytes long: first byte is a prefix (vertical offset flag, and start/end for proportional chars), the other 11 bytes are the bitmap (90' rotated since the printer outputs vertical rows, unlike video output). The space is at 3580h, exclamation mark at 358Ch, double quotes at 3598h etc.
No idea if there are more charsets (for elite, superscript, draft/nlq styles, etc.) Via ESC codes once can define only the above format - so maybe the printer does have only that one charset, and it squeezes that characters for elite/subscript/etc.
Oops, no above are TWO charsets, with 128 chars each, the second set starts at 3A00h, and has the ASCII space at 3B80h.
---
Yup, a disassembler (and assembler) would be nice. If there's code in the EPROM, then one could change it to output the content of the CPUs on-chip 4K ROM... as paper print-out... or, (idea from nilquader), transfer it serially to the CPC via BUSY signal.
Btw. did you take photos of the mainboard? I am wondering if the PCB is made by Amstrad or not (in the service manual, it looks like so). And if the CPU is marked somehow (if there's a custom amstrad-rom in it, then the chip may be marked accordingly)?
I added the ripped font to the DMP 2000 (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer#The_built-in_font) wiki page.
Wow, that was fast. Is that the data at 3400h and up?
It doesn't look as expected... theoretically chars should be 11x8 pixels, with a 1-pixel vertical shift flag (so they'd be drawn in a 11x9 pixel field, either using the upper or lower 8 pixels therein).
But your chars are 9x16 pixels? And they do look as if there should be a bigger vertical shift-offset (for "p,q,g,y,etc").
Quote from: nocash on 20:04, 27 August 10
But your chars are 9x16 pixels? And they do look as if there should be a bigger vertical shift-offset (for "p,q,g,y,etc").
Well read the last replies carefully there you can read how I ripped the font ;)
Whoops, I seem to have missed page 4 of the forum thread :-)
Downloaded the readme.txt... still don't know what you did.
Looks to me as if you deciphered something else than the 3400h..3FFFh bytes (?)
EDIT: Or looking closer... it looks like that bytes. (right?)
Quote from: nocash on 20:44, 27 August 10
Whoops, I seem to have missed page 4 of the forum thread :-)
Downloaded the readme.txt... still don't know what you did.
Looks to me as if you deciphered something else than the 3400h..3FFFh bytes (?)
EDIT: Or looking closer... it looks like that bytes. (right?)
The ROM seems to only contain char data. You are correct it is stored 1 byte per column it seems.
However, when the data is put together the chars don't look correct and pixels are missing. It seems the rom has 1 charset split over two parts of the rom, with one part of the rom having the even lines and the other having the odd lines.
Maybe this interpretation is wrong? but it definitely seems to give the correct result.
So that 1 byte has all even pixels and the other byte for the char has all the odd pixels.
Yes it seems the chars are 16 pixels tall or so..? I think this seems sensible. Perhaps the font we are seeing is for NLQ, and it is processed to make draft, condensed etc?
Either processed... or there are more fonts in the ROM.
For draft printing, chars should be max 9pix in height (since it's a 9pin printer).
I did see only the chars in the last C00h bytes at the end of the ROM.
You mean all bytes are charset data, including 0000h..3400h?
Quote from: nocash on 21:11, 27 August 10
Either processed... or there are more fonts in the ROM.
For draft printing, chars should be max 9pix in height (since it's a 9pin printer).
I did see only the chars in the last C00h bytes at the end of the ROM.
You mean all bytes are charset data, including 0000h..3400h?
I thought it was the entire rom from 0000h-3fffh but now I look at it, am not sure.
I don't know what the other data is.
I did dissassemble some of it, but it didn't make sense so I don't think any of it is code. (but I could be wrong ;)
Quote from: nocash on 20:44, 27 August 10
Downloaded the readme.txt... still don't know what you did.
Looks to me as if you deciphered something else than the 3400h..3FFFh bytes (?)
EDIT: Or looking closer... it looks like that bytes. (right?)
Forget the readme.txt and have a closer eye on dmp2font.jar
The readme is only in this zip because winrar denies to rar single jar files (it wants to extract them)
Well to show what I did:
I used WinApe and loaded the rom to #4000.
Then I searched the font with WinApe's graphics viewer function:
(http://cpc-live.com/dmp_gfx.png)
I took a screenshot of it and used a photo program to remove the grey lines between the single fields, rotated the image around 90° and also mirrored it horizontally.
The result:
(http://cpc-live.com/raw.png)
For this result I coded a small Java program which sorted the lines to the final image.
Result:
(http://cpc-live.com/raw2.png)
Good evening, Gentlemen! 8)
I uploaded the DMP3000 rom dump, so grab it here (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/DMP3000) while it's still hot!
And another good news.
Miguel Duran from Museo de 8 bits.
Send me an email telling me that now the link of his page are OK.
http://www.museo8bits.es/impresoras/manuales/index.html (http://www.museo8bits.es/impresoras/manuales/index.html)
And now you can download the dmp1 service manual :
http://www.museo8bits.es/impresoras/manuales/Amstrad/Amstrad_DMP1_Printer_Service_Manual_300dpi_Agujereado.rar (http://www.museo8bits.es/impresoras/manuales/Amstrad/Amstrad_DMP1_Printer_Service_Manual_300dpi_Agujereado.rar)
Enjoy it.
Nice news! Thanks to both of you!
Just downloaded the DMP1 service manual. Great to have it! I'll put a copy on cpcwiki tomorrow. I'll check the other three service manuals, too. (They are already on cpcwiki, but the museo scans are in higher resolution, so some pages with schematics/etc. could be useful.)
---
There should be more the DMP3000. According to the DMP2000/3000 schematic, http://cpcwiki.eu/imgs/5/56/DMP2000_Schematic.png, the DMP3000 can be fitted with one 32K EPROM, or with two 8K+16K EPROMs. I guess you have the latter combination, and missed the 8K chip...?
Did you take photos? Please yes! Would be nice to see the PCB, markings/stickers on EPROMs, and on the CPU... Judging from this thread, http://cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php/topic,312.0.html, the CPU in the DMP2000 is marked "Amstrad 40036" (rather than anonymous NEC uPD7811). I guess the one in the DMP3000 has a similar Amstrad number?
---
I've started disassembling the NLQ401 and DMP2000 eproms, and did some research on the MODE pins...
On the NLQ401 the internal ROM is disabled (so the 16K EPROM dump should contain the complete code & data). The eprom is mapped to 0000h-3FFFh. The last ~2000h contain a NLQ character set with ~135 characters, 2x39 bytes/char. The preceeding bytes contain a draft charset, ~220 chars with 12 bytes/char. Both contain ASCII and german umlaut symbols, the draft charset also includes most of the CPC "graphics" symbols.
On the DMP2000, the internal ROM is enabled (and isn't dumped yet). The EPROM is mapped to 2000h and up, and it contains uPD7811 opcodes, so it should be possible to dump the internal ROM; by replacing the EPROM with a dumping-program.
---
Oh, and not to forget, Terje scanned the english DMP3000/3160/3250di user manual. It's now on cpcwiki, too. The strange thing is that (except for the cover) it doesn't contain any info on the 3250di (unlike the french version that describes the extra DIP switches in the preface). Anyways, it contains the complete 3000/3160 programming specs in english, so it's useful enough.
Quote from: robcfg on 21:58, 01 September 10
Good evening, Gentlemen! 8)
I uploaded the DMP3000 rom dump, so grab it here (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/DMP3000) while it's still hot!
Thanks.
The font data is from &1000-&3fff.
There seems to be more than one font. It seems to be in a similar form to the dmp2000 font.
The first &0000-&fff, looks like code bytes to me, but I've not dissassembled it yet.
@nocash:
According to the service manual the list of IC's is the following:
IC1 LM339 Quad Differential Comparator
IC2 HD74LS00P Quadruple 2-Input Positive NAND Gate
IC3,11 M874LS06 Hex inverter buffers
IC4 HD74LS74AP Dual D-type pos.-edge-triggered flip-flops with preset and clear
IC5 HD74LS14P Hex schmitt-trigger inverters
IC6 uPD7811G-071 8-Bit Single Chip NMOS Microcomputer with A/D Converter
IC7 HD74LS373P Octal D-type Transparent Latches with 3-state Outputs
IC8 HN4827128G-25 (50ns) 16K x 8 nMOS EPROM Memory
IC10 MB8128-15 16384-BIT STATIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY WITH AUTOMATIC POWER DOWN
IC12-14 HD74LS374P Octal D-Type Edge Triggered Flip-Flops with 3-State Outputs
IC15,16 HD74LS139P Dual 2-line to 4-line decoders / demultiplexers
IC17 HA17555 Precision Timer
TRA1 HA13408 9-Channel Power Driver
TRA2,3 TH3L10 Switching Transistors / Darlington Transistors / Diode Arrays / Transistor Arrays
IC18 L7805CY Positive voltage regulators
As you can see, there is only one readable chip that is the IC8, a 27128 Eprom. IC9 is empty as far as I remember. This weekend I'll try to take pictures of the PCB at CPCManiaco's place.
Aye, the dmp2000/3000 service manual parts list is a bit confusing. I think it's the "old" list for the dmp2000. The changed parts for dmp3000 are shown in the small box on upper-left of the next page: RAM raised from 2K to 8K bytes, and ROM raised too (for the additional "IBM" character set).
Hmmmm, if IC9 is empty, did you check if your EPROM was really only 16K in size? (The other listed combination would be IC8=32K.) Or, maybe they somehow found a way to squeeze the extra charset into a single 16K chip.
Hmmmm, now I'm not sure. I can try to dump it as if it were a 27256 and I'll send you the rom file so you can check it.
Edit: I've noticed that the second part list is for the DMP4000 (and not the DMP3000), and that contains an IC9 which is a 27256. Anyway, I'll try to redump the DMP3000 ROM later today.
Edit2: Ok, I've seen what you mean and you're most probably right. I'll redump the ROM and update the zip file in the DMP3000 page.
No idea where I got this file from.
Found it on my harddrive in with a collection of roms.
I've no idea if it's the real rom or not.
I think I may have got it from a disc of roms from Rob Scott and Paul Fairman a long time ago.
I updated the ROM file of the DMP3000, just download it again from the printer's page.
Oh, btw, if you read carefully the service manual, Pica and Elite are the same font, they only differ in the dot size and the spacing of the dots.
Hi Kevin, the DMP2160.rom looks authentic: Comparing it with DMP2000 rom shows only 755 different bytes. More or less what one would expect (as far as I know the only difference between the two models are the timings).
Hi robcfg, great. Oh, no! It's telling me "PKUNZIP: (W24) Warning! You need PKUNZIP version: 8.8 or later to extract DMP3KSP.ROM" :-( I have version 2.50. Upgrading to v8.8 sounds like a scary big step. What should I do now?
> if you read carefully the service manual, Pica and Elite are the same font,
> they only differ in the dot size and the spacing of the dots.
Didn't read it that carefully, but makes sense. For DMP3000 there should be different fonts for Draft and NLQ (seen in appendix of the DMP3000 user manual) (the DMP2000 manual has no such appendix, so no idea if it has two fonts, too).
I attached the uncompressed rom file. Just rename it to .rom
Would anybody be so kind of allowing .rom or .bin files to be uploaded as attachment?
Thanks!
> Would anybody be so kind of allowing .rom or .bin files to be uploaded as attachment?
Would be nice. Especially cool if you imagine this: "DMP3000.ROM, open with FLASH BIOS Update Tool?" :-) not that too many cpc users would be that stupid to click on Yes.
Quote from: robcfg on 22:39, 02 September 10
Would anybody be so kind of allowing .rom or .bin files to be uploaded as attachment?
Well, I don't know, why... (It should be easy to zip files nowadays)
But: Added: bin, rom, bas
Quote from: nocash on 22:17, 02 September 10
Hi robcfg, great. Oh, no! It's telling me "PKUNZIP: (W24) Warning! You need PKUNZIP version: 8.8 or later to extract DMP3KSP.ROM" :-( I have version 2.50. Upgrading to v8.8 sounds like a scary big step. What should I do now?
go and see a therapist and when you have the confidence go for it.
:P
QuoteWell, I don't know, why... (It should be easy to zip files nowadays)
But: Added: bin, rom, bas
Vielen Dank, Markus! The reason main reason is to be able to include attachments when everything else fails, like the pkunzip version... :P
QuoteQuoteHi robcfg, great. Oh, no! It's telling me "PKUNZIP: (W24) Warning! You need PKUNZIP version: 8.8 or later to extract DMP3KSP.ROM" :-( I have version 2.50. Upgrading to v8.8 sounds like a scary big step. What should I do now?
go and see a therapist and when you have the confidence go for it. :P
And always remember: It's the red wire. Or was it the blue one?.... ???
Oh, colored wires won't scare me... only software updates. I've converted character sets from the three dumped EPROMs into bitmaps, http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers#Character_Set_ROMs
The red arrow indicates underlengths (characters that use the lower 8 pins). The blue line indicates the width for proportional characters.
For the fun of it, the dots are drawn as "real" dots (not square pixels). And like on real paper, they can overlap other dots if they are close to each other. Well, I've never seen real print-outs from that printers, but I guess they would look somewhat similar; possibly more smeared, or with other aspect ratios.
---
The DMP3000 does include extra italic characters, which don't seem to be present on DMP2000. So, either the DMP2000 doesn't support italics, or it creates them by software. Then, as expected, the DMP3000 has extra "IBM" characters - those are there in both NLQ and Draft format (which implies that the ASCII Draft chars do exist, too; apparently in the uPD7811 ROM).
The Schneider NLQ401 has ASCII chars in NLQ (defined with a super-high horizontal resolution). It Draft charset additionally includes most of the CPC symbols (chr 81h..FFh), which seem to be not supported by any other Amstrad/Schneider printers.
---
So far, I haven't seen the "japanese" character set that is mentioned in the DMP2000/3000 manuals... unless... maybe they were referring to the "Yen" symbol.
Haven't yet figured out if/how the NLQ401 supports UK/French charset (mentioned in service manual). Aside from the draft-mode "c," there are no french characters in the EPROM, but maybe the software is drawing accent marks on the normal vocals.
Nice work!
I really like how we finally got the printer fonts and I'm eager to see the printer emulation completed 8)
This was also a nice team effort, so congratulations everybody!
Btw, would it be too difficult to create a true type font from the printer fonts? Just for the nice retro touch, hehehehe :D
> This was also a nice team effort, so congratulations everybody!
Yup, great how the manuals and ROMs showed up from here and there. Hope it will go on like that!
> Btw, would it be too difficult to create a true type font from the printer
> fonts? Just for the nice retro touch, hehehehe
You mean for emulating the Dot-Matrix effect on Ink-Jet printers? Would be funny.
I don't know anything about true-type font formats, but basically, one would need to know how define dots (ie. filled black circles), so alltogether it should be pretty simple.
Btw. I've split the http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_Printers page into smaller fragments, and added links on related pages. Should now easier to find informations (the various user/service manuals contained just too much info for one page).
Just made a program for dumping the uPD7811 ROM in the DMP2000..DMP3000 printers. I hope it will be working.
The zipped binary is attached below. Robcfg, do you have an eprom burner?
The binary is 8Kbytes in size. When using a bigger EPROM, best fill the entire EPROM with copies of it.
And here is the source code,
org 2000h
defs 007Dh ;2000 00 .. defs 7Dh ;NOPs
db 054h,0C0h,020h ;207D 54 C0 20 JMP $20C0 ;skip call table
.rept 20h ; .rept 20h
dw 20C0h ;2080 C0 20 .. dw 20C0h ;call table (as in DMP2000/3000 EPROM)
.endm ; .endm
defs 1E40h ;20C0 00 .. defs 1E40h ;NOPs
db 069h,0E0h ;3F00 69 E0 MVI A,$E0 ;\port A, bit0..4=OUTPUT, bit5..7=INPUT
db 04Dh,0D2h ;3F02 4D D2 MOV MA,A ;/
@@restart:
db 034h,000h,000h ;3F04 34 00 00 LXI HL,$0000 ;start addr
db 06Ch,05Ah ;3F07 6C 5A MVI D,$5A ;clock byte
@@byte_lop:
db 02Dh ;3F09 2D LDAX (HL+) ;get byte, and increase HL addr
db 01Bh ;3F0A 1B MOV C,A ;data byte
db 06Ah,007h ;3F0B 6A 07 MVI B,$07 ;num bits (minus 1)
@@bit_lop:
db 064h,018h,002h ;3F0D 64 18 02 ORI PA,$02 ;PA.bit1=Busy=1
db 048h,007h ;3F10 48 07 SLLC C ;shift left, out: cond=carry
db 064h,008h,0FDh ;3F12 64 08 FD ANI PA,$FD ;PA.bit1=Busy=0 (unless carry)
@@wait_lop:
db 070h,069h,000h,0C0h ;3F15 70 69 00 C0 MOV A,($C000) ;read incoming 8bit Centronics Data
db 067h,000h ;3F19 67 00 NEI A,$00 ;compare reset code, out: cond=not equal
db @@restart-$-1 ;3F1B DC JR $2D69 ;restart, unless not equal
db 060h,0FCh ;3F1C 60 FC EQA A,D ;compare clock byte, out: cond=equal
db @@wait_lop-$-1 ;3F1E F9 JR @@wait_lop ;wait more, unless equal
db 074h,014h,00Fh ;3F1F 74 14 0F XRI D,$0F ;toggle clock byte
db 052h ;3F22 52 DCR B ;decrement, out: cond=borrow
db @@bit_lop-$-1 ;3F23 EC JR @@bit_lop ;lop next bit, unless borrow
db @@byte_lop-$-1 ;3F24 E7 JR @@byte_lop ;lop next byte (endless)
defs 4000h-$ ;3F25 00 .. defs 4000h-$ ;padding
end
Most memory is padded with NOPs, the call table (contained in the original EPROM) is there, too. So whatever the ROM is doing to enter the EPROM, it should sooner or later hit the dumping code at address 3F00h.
Data is send via BUSY line, and clocked by toggling between values 5Ah and 55h on DATA lines. There's also a restart code supported (value 00h), so you can abort/restart the transfer without needing to reset the printer.
For receiving data, you need a PC or CPC with centronics port. Here's an example using Locomotive basic (will be endless slow and may take 1-2 hours or so):
100 OUT &EF00,&00:FRAME:FRAME:OUT &EF00,&33
110 C=&5A
120 FOR I=&4000 TO &5FFF
130 D=0
140 FOR J=0 TO 7
150 D=D+D+(INP(&F500) AND &40)
160 OUT(&EF00),C:C=C XOR &0F
170 NEXT J
180 D=D/&40:POKE I,D:PRINT HEX$(I),HEX$(D)
190 NEXT I
200 SAVE"DMP-ROM.BIN",B,&4000,&2000
Theoretically, the ROM should be 4K (0000h..0FFFh), and next 4K (1000h..1FFFh) should be empty/mirror of EPROM. Anyways, to be sure that the 2nd 4K are really empty, above program reads the whole 8K (0000h..1FFFh).
The values printed out are incrementing addresses (obviously), and data bytes. The first 80h bytes should contain opcodes (irq/reset vectors), next &40 bytes jump table, then followed by &600 bytes draft character set. The remaining bytes might be unused, or contain more characters, or even contain more code (though it looks as if most/all code is in the EPROM).
If the first 80h bytes are all 00h or all FFh then there's something wrong (and no need to wait until dumping finishes).
Hello everybody!
I just got a DMP3160 PCB and you have the rom and the scans available at the DMP3160 page (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/DMP3160).
I also did scans of the DMP2000 PCB, which are also uploaded to the DMP2000 page (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad/Schneider_DMP2000_Printer).
The DMP3160 looks different from the DMP2000 and DMP3000, it also has a uPD7810 microcontroller instead of a 7811. The rom is also different from the beginning to 0x1000.
Regarding the microcontroller ROM dump, I'll try to burn your rom and get it done, but I have to go to CPCManiaco's place to test it so maybe it'll take some more time. If I were to use a PC to get the data, which program should I use?
I'm enjoying much the work with the printers, but instead of digital archaeology it's looking more like Technomancy :D
I feel very, very evil (http://www.mwahahahahahaha.com/), hehehehe...
Wow, cool. Photos, and a new eprom! Nice to see the PCBs and the Amstrad 40036 chip for real.
Interesting that the DMP3160 uses a ROM-less uPD7810. It makes sense since the 32K eprom maps to 0000h-7FFFh, so it would overlap the 4K ROM at 0000h-0FFFh.
Actually, it's overlapping in the same way on the DMP3000, but there, Amstrad did still "hide" the first 4K into the uPD7811 rom (and left the corresponding eprom area FFh-filled).
---
> Regarding the microcontroller ROM dump, I'll try to burn your rom and get it done
Would be great! Maybe the already have the data (in the first 4K of the new 3160 eprom), but maybe the older printers did have a different version.
Btw. do you know if the DMP2160 and DMP3000 do contain the same CPU/ROM as the DMP2000? Ie. do all contain "Amstrad 40036" chips, or are there further "Amstrad 40xxx" chips?
> If I were to use a PC to get the data, which program should I use?
I'm afraid there's no ready-for-use program - for some strange reason, nobody yet made a DMP-dumping tool. But you could port the Locomotive Basic example to whatever language you want.
On a PC the I/O addresses are different, and for everybody with Win NT/2K/XP it may be problematic to access I/O ports at all (without getting access right error messages). So easiest way might be to use a CPC, though in asm it be faster than basic.
Okay, all for now. I'm going to look what charsets can be found in the 3160 eprom...
PS.
Now that we have newer and newer ROMs, does somebody still think about dumping the good old DMP1 ROM? Please don't forget that one!
Here are the new characters. The first 4K of the DMP3160 are containing 128 Draft characters, plus 128 Draft-Italics, plus 65 special symbols; Quite possible that the DMP2000 didn't support the italics and/or the special symbols.
The remaining 28K are nearly identical to the DMP3000 rom, only 29 bytes changed in the "code" area. And, 1 byte changed in the NLQ font area - for some reason the "á" chr(13Fh) is broken in the DMP3160 eprom dump (in the DMP3000 it is intact).
QuoteNow that we have newer and newer ROMs, does somebody still think about dumping the good old DMP1 ROM? Please don't forget that one!
Be patient, it's already in the queue for dumping ;)
Oh, by the way, for what I read, I don't have to use the dumping tool on the 3160, am I right? I ask just to be sure...
> Be patient, it's already in the queue for dumping ;)
Okay, no hurry. Would be just a pity if it gets forgotten.
> for what I read, I don't have to use the dumping tool on the 3160, am I right?
Yup, no need to.
The uPD7810 has no ROM in it.
Only uPD7811 (=aka Amstrad 40036) contains ROM.
Btw. I am wondering if the above 65 "special" draft symbols are printable. They aren't documented in the DMP3160 user manual.
Request for nocash:
Could you generate Font-screens without spacings and marks?
I need the screens like the one I made.
Because I want to read the bitmaps.
Like this please:
(http://cpc-live.com/dmp2000font2.png)
Btw, guys, there are programs that can convert bitmaps to TTFs very easily... I can't remember the name right now, but googling is never too hard...
Yes nice. But I store the font in binary format.
TTF does not help me here.
Well, it's been some time since we last talk about the printer dumps but I have some new for your delight.
I managed to burn the eprom with the file Nocash provided and got the dump of the microcontroller rom.
Bad news is that probably it's not useful at all, but I'll let you decide that.
Hang a printout on the wall, maybe? :)
I have tried to dump the dmp-1 rom but without success.
it's a 2732.
My rom boards only support 2764 minimum.
So is there somebody I can send this to who can dump it for me?
I'll check tonight if my willem can dump the 2732 without any extra adapter.
Hey, I think I can dump the 2732 with my board but if you are not in a rush, I'll be getting a friend's DMP-1 to dump its rom so you don't have to send it.
If it is your wish, you can send it to me anyway and I'll dump it for you. Just send me a PM.
Just for the record, I correctly dumped a set of 2732 and 2716 eproms I found in a dark corner of my room and to my surprise it was the arcade game "Moon Shuttle".
I just tried it in MAME and works flawlessly! 8)
So, you know how to contact me for your 2732 dumping needs ;D
By the way, anybody has heard of Nocash lately? I thought he would be very happy with the DMP2000 microcontroller dump...
Good news!
I got a DMP-1 today and I uploaded the PCB scans and the rom dump to the printer's page (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Amstrad_DMP1_printer).
It seems that there are two rom versions as the article in the wiki mentions the rom as labeled 8DE-1 and mine was 8DE-2. Notice the empty slot for another 2732 in the PCB.
@arnoldemu : If your printer has a 8DE-1 rom and you're interested in dumping it, send me a PM.
Time for some sleep... :D
P.S.: The article mentions that the DMP-1 is a Seikosha GP500M-2 but my PCB is a GP500M-3.
I dumped a Schneider DMP2000 from CPCManiaco and the first 0x2000 bytes are completely different from the other DMP2000 dump I made.
So, here you have it.
Quote from: robcfg on 12:24, 17 December 10
I dumped a Schneider DMP2000 from CPCManiaco and the first 0x2000 bytes are completely different from the other DMP2000 dump I made.
So, here you have it.
great work!
I think you will receive that ROM i sent soon.
I received your letter this morning. I'll try to dump it tonight before I go to Germany tomorrow 8)
And, we have a winner! 8)
The DMP1 Rom 8DE1 has been successfully dumped and added to the printer resources page.
Kevin, thanks for sending the ROM!
Bringing this old thread back to life!
Someone asked on another forum abouth the microcontroller dumps, and I wen through the thread to check that we managed to dump it at CPCManiaco's place.
If I remember right, the dump of the DMP2000 microcontroller does not add anything tio the fonts. Could anyone confirm this? @nocash (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=244) , perhaps?
Btw, I uploaded the Schneider DMP2000 rom that was posted in the forum but not to the printer resources page.
Have a nice day! ;)
Awakening thread from hypersleep!
Thanks to @Sauron (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1541) we have pictures and rom dumps of the LQ3500di printer (http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/LQ3500).
I would love to see the character set rendered... ;)