WANTED: USE FOR PRETTY POLY PRINT

Linguists will welcome Polyprint from Cambridge MicroElectronics. As well as being an Eprom-based Centronics printer interface it gives instant access to six different international character sets, any one of which can be displayed on screen in place of the standard Spectrum set.

It can be used with Tasword 2 and will display the same international characters in both 64 character and 32 character modes.

The international characters are based on those used by the Epson '80 series of printers, the RX80 and FX80, so the printer can easily reproduce them. They are French, German, Danish (Denmark I), Swedish, Italian and Spanish. The screen copy routine is also set up for Epson compatible printers.

It is one of the most user-unfriendly interfaces I have used for a long time. On power up you must enter the sequence OUT 959,255: OUT 959,120: OUT 703,128: RANDOMIZE USER 15360, to direct LPRINT AND LLIST.

Changing character sets is performed by a single OUT command, apart from Italian, which requires another long Basic line; the printer must be switched separately. The COPY command is implemented using a RAND USER statement, and only one size is available.

Linguists apart, it is difficult to know to whom Polyprint will appeal. Having different character sets is useful but only one can be used at any one time which is potentially limiting.

Tasword 2 is available in a number of different languages, including Dutch, Flemish, Cyrillic and Icelandic.

The main drawback to Polyprint is the price, £51.69, which compared to the Kempston 'E' and Euroelectronics LPrint III is high. Contact Cambridge MicroElectronics Ltd, One Milton Road, Cambridge.

Spectrum
Cambridge Microelectronics
£44.95

Not another parallel interface! Yes, but this one's different. It will allow the usual LList, LPrint and small screen copy - bit image, somewhat oval circle - like the well-tried Kempston but without the option to copy using the printer's character set.

The customary and rather insubstantial add-on box with through port has eight 1K banks on Eprom, any 1K displacing the 15-16K area of the Spectrum Rom containing English, French, German, Danish, Swedish, Italian and Spanish, and a bank to change Tasword 2's character set to any of these.

It is specifically designed to be used with Epson's FX80, and Cambridge Microelectronics provide information to software switch the printer in conjunction with the character set changes. A list of addresses in Masterfile could thus be printed each in an appropriate character set. The unit is not cheap at £44.95 plus VAT.

However, for the specialist who wants a number of foreign languages and who doesn't relish poking Tasword 2 - I've done it and it takes a very long time - it's very handy. And the nicely mapped bits of Eprom can be used for other purposes - instructions are given for saving the character sets first. Not a hack interface, then, but rather one for the professional user or enthusiast. Cambridge Microelectronics is on 0223 314814.

POLYPRINT, THE MULTILINGUAL PRINTER INTERFACE

This is a parallel interface in the usual box with the familiar ribbon cable. The difference is that it contains not just the usual Z80A PIO chip, but that it also has an additional 8K EPROM. This is arranged in banks of in banks of 1K, each of which displaces, in turn, the 15-16K area of the Spectrum ROM. So what? Well, this area contains the character set, and each bank, as well as containing the printer driver software (which includes a COPY routine), also contains a character set. On switching on, bank 0 is selected, which is the standard Spectrum set. Banks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 correspond to French, German, Danish, Swedish, Italian and Spanish. "All very pretty," you may say, "but will I ever use this?" Perhaps not, but bank 3, besides a Tasword printer-driver, contains data to change the Tasword character set to those other nationalities, too, and this is the real value of the package.

This interface is not the easiest to use. It is not the strongest, nor the cheapest, nor yet the most user friendly, in spite of the very detailed instructions. However, most multilingual users will also want to use a word processor, (e.g. Tasword), and here it could be invaluable, for by a few alterations to Tasword's BASIC program, a variable, (e.g. n). could be used which would automatically switch the text and also the printer on printing (the examples are for the Epson FX80, but can easily be adapted to other printers). The variable could well be stored along with, for example, commercial addresses on Masterfile, and, by means of Mailmerge, the foreign addresses and envelopes would be correctly printed. All clever stuff if you need a number of foreign languages.

However, the real power of this device lies in the ease with which the various 1K banks can be called. Perhaps you don't want all those Spectrum displays - with the exception of the Tasword bank, (which contains all the National character sets) - I probably wouldn't! This leaves you with at least six 1K banks to play with. Using an EPROM-blower (e.g. Cambridge Microelectronics' PROMER-SP or BLOPROM-SP), the contents of the EPROM can be read into RAM and SAVEd on tape (for subsequent replacement if necessary). The RAM can then be POKEd as required and the EPROM reblown. You could, for instance, incorporate foreign character fonts like Arabic or Greek, or mathematical symbols, perhaps with the data to enable downloading of the printer. This gives this interface unique advantages, (provided that you have accumulated all the other pieces of gear).

If I wanted just to write in German, and nothing else, then I would be inclined merely to POKE the relevant new letters into Tasword. This is a specialist piece of equipment and won't appeal to everyone. However, to the specialist the combination of all the facilities it offers could prove invaluable.

Polyprint iS available, mail-order, from Cambridge Microelectronics, 1 Milton Road, Cambridge, price £44.95 plus V.A.T.