A fun symptom

Hi, Todd.

Got me to wondering as the line gets longer, does Windows try to cram it
all on the screen.

That line got me to remembering my first computer and printer - in
1977-1978.

We did not get a printer with the original TRS-80 in December 1977, but
early in 1978 the first printer arrived. It was a piezoelectric device that
printed onto a narrow cash register-like tape using a process that I
didn't - and still don't - understand, even though I've read Wikipedia's
explanation.

But within a month or two, we had our first dot matrix printer. This looked
like later printers, but it had one unique feature that I haven't seen on
any printer since: its print size was continuously variable. There was a
knob on the back of the machine that adjusted the size of the printing. The
adjustment was "analog" rather than "digital". We didn't click on 6-point
or 12-point type; there were no clicks; we just twisted the dial until the
output looked to be the "right" size. And we could twist the dial WHILE the
printer was printing a line! So we could start a line at about 10-point and
turn the dial down to 5-point then 20-point and back to about 10-point - all
on the same line. The output would shrink and grow as we watched - and the
finished line looked like a wavy ocean!

So, if our print line was too long to fit onto the page, we could just turn
the dial down some and "cram it all" on the paper - but not on the screen.
Lather, rinse, repeat until it fit! ;) The only way to know the actual
size of the output was to get out a ruler and measure the length of the
printed line while counting the characters. And there was only the one
typeface: We never had to worry about Times New Roman or Tahoma. ;^}

Ah, the (not so) Good Old Days...

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3522.0110) in Win8.1 Pro with Media
Center


"Todd" wrote in message ...

On 04/15/2014 11:26 PM, charlie wrote:
On 4/15/2014 7:18 PM, Todd wrote:
On 04/15/2014 04:10 PM, Gene E. Bloch wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2014 16:03:32 -0700, Todd wrote:

Hi All,

Okay, customer descriptions usually don't match the
actual symptoms, please don't waste your time
trying to help.

A customer bought a new F8 laptop. Has all kinds of
problems. Is okay, I can fix. I will see her Thursday.

In the mean time, I thought you would all be tickled
by this description: "When I write an eMail, the type
keeps getting smaller and smaller as I write."

This I have to see!

-T

Perhaps her chair is on casters and is slowly rolling away from the
desk.


I love it. Or her glasses slowly keep slipping off her nose!


It's actually possible!
There are some strange things about win 8, 8.1 resolutions and various
text sizes. If the user happens to hit the right(wrong) keys,
odd things can happen! My wife still hasn't figured out how she
occasionally toggles the magnify functions in win 7. We did show her how
to "back out" when it happens!

Before the holidays, due to the need for a higher resolution laptop
display, and the sad fact that old age and it's usual pains have
started, I purchased one of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 "ultrabooks". 4k
resolution, touchscreen, thin, lightweight, etc. (and it was on sale for
a couple of hundred off) Promptly updated it to 8.1, etc.
While I'll occasionally use the touchscreen functions, like most users,
the keyboard is the main entry device.

A major disappointment is the display scaling. To get everything to work
correctly, I have no choice but to use 1920x1080 for most of the Apps. A
very few will scale properly at the 4k resolution, and even then, there
can be problems with things like text sizes in various parts of the apps.

The ability to scale to the app when the app is in an active window is
more than sorely needed!

Hi Charlie,

Got me to wondering as the line gets longer, does
Windows try to cram it all on the screen.

But, then again, the "reported" symptom is typically
not the actual symptom. I learned a long time ago
not to put any effort at trying to figure things
out in my head before I saw what was really happening.

-T

In ecom,
R. C. White typed:
We did not get a printer with the original TRS-80 in December 1977,
but early in 1978 the first printer arrived. It was a piezoelectric
device that printed onto a narrow cash register-like tape using a
process that I didn't - and still don't - understand, even though I've
read Wikipedia's explanation.

Would it be a thermal printer? I have had many of those and there was no
ink, ribbon, etc. But it uses a heat sensitive paper to create images on
the paper. Paper was glossy, expensive, and the printed image will fade
in sunlight. Although the printers were cheap to manufacture and the
paper wasn't out of this world expensive. So they were quite handy for a
number of tasks. Lots of cash register receipts still uses thermal
printers to this very day.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 09:33:42 -0500, "R. C. White"
wrote:

[snip]

We did not get a printer with the original TRS-80 in December 1977, but
early in 1978 the first printer arrived. It was a piezoelectric device that
printed onto a narrow cash register-like tape using a process that I
didn't - and still don't - understand, even though I've read Wikipedia's
explanation.

Was it that aluminised stuff?

Thermal, I think.

But within a month or two, we had our first dot matrix printer. This looked
like later printers, but it had one unique feature that I haven't seen on
any printer since: its print size was continuously variable. There was a
knob on the back of the machine that adjusted the size of the printing. The

I saw a Centronics (I think that was the brand) printer that had
that.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Hi, Gene - and Bill.

Would it be a thermal printer?
Was it that aluminised stuff?
Thermal, I think.

Yep! and Yep! and Yep! ;)

Centronics printers came along soon after and had a good long run. The
Centronics ribbon connector was outstanding.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3522.0110) in Win8.1 Pro with Media
Center


"Gene Wirchenko" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 17 Apr 2014 09:33:42 -0500, "R. C. White"
wrote:

[snip]

We did not get a printer with the original TRS-80 in December 1977, but
early in 1978 the first printer arrived. It was a piezoelectric device
that
printed onto a narrow cash register-like tape using a process that I
didn't - and still don't - understand, even though I've read Wikipedia's
explanation.

Was it that aluminised stuff?

Thermal, I think.

But within a month or two, we had our first dot matrix printer. This
looked
like later printers, but it had one unique feature that I haven't seen on
any printer since: its print size was continuously variable. There was a
knob on the back of the machine that adjusted the size of the printing.
The

I saw a Centronics (I think that was the brand) printer that had
that.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko