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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : CMM2 - Print Screen
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| Andrew_G Guru  Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 842 |
G'day from very quiet Melbourne, I'm trying to port one of my 30+ year old QBasic programs to CMM2 (it plots Time vs Distance diagrams for coordinated traffic signals). Back then I was able to print to a number of hard copy printers (using a 3rd party screen capture and print program) but have subsequently relied on Windows to print graphics with formatted text for me. Is there an easy way to print the graphics on a CMM2 VGA monitor directly to say a laser printer? I can see that I can SAVE IMAGE "file.BMP" and then, offline, print "file.BMP" but I'm looking for a direct method - or is it just not sensible? Cheers, Andrew |
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| mkopack73 Senior Member  Joined: 03/07/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 261 |
Could always just pop the card out, put it in your Window's machine and then load the code up in Notepad or MMEdit and print from there.... |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5915 |
Short answer is no. There are a few methods you can use. The simplest is to pop the card and transfer to your PC (or use XMODEM to transfer but that is slow). Once on the PC, import into Word etc or print directly form image preview etc. The other crazy method I haven't tried yet is to use a VGA to HDMI them HDMI capture card to show the maximite 'screen' as a window on your PC. Do a screen-grab and print. If that works, it is good when you have a lot of consecutive screen grabs to process. Jim VK7JH MMedit  MMBasic Help |
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Nimue Guru Joined: 06/08/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 367 |
I have "the crazy way" set up. VGA from CMM2 into a VGA to HDMI adapter and then the HDMI into USB - which on the PC is seen as a web cam -- I then use OBS to display on the PC screen. In this way I get a "perfect" capture of the CMM2 VGA output -- and can capture stills or video if needed. For what its worth - this is the setup: VGA to HDMI: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N2LZDP8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 HDMI to USB (for capture) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BCCNV2F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Bit of a rats nest of cables, but it means I can see the CMM2 on my 27" desktop monitor without having to find room for a spare monitor. The use case for me is to capture videos of MMBasic and CMM2 for my students. Nim Entropy is not what it used to be |
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Womble Senior Member Joined: 09/07/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 267 |
Andrew ... There was a thread a few days ago regarding printers and the CMM2 Printing to 'lineprinter' ie hard copy Jim and Nimue's suggestion to convert from VGA --> HDMI --> Windows Capture seems bit excessive but workable. Especially for Nimue who is preparing teaching notes. Personally I would just go with SAVE IMAGE file$ and then transfer the resulting BMPs to a PC for printing, image convertion (to jpg/png), and posting here on the form. Regards Womble |
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| Volhout Guru Joined: 05/03/2018 Location: NetherlandsPosts: 3561 |
capture Maybe something like this ? PicomiteVGA PETSCII ROBOTS |
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| Womble Senior Member Joined: 09/07/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 267 |
Have you actually tried/tested that one? VGA capture is a "Dark Art", particularly for less commonly used low resolutions (320x200, 480x432, and 240x216). It very much depends if the designer of the capture device stuck to the vga standard (as implemented on the CMM2). Many of the cheaper devices just will not sync with the signals which the CMM2 is synthesizing to get VGA output. I find it especially interesting that David Murray (8-bit Guy) didn't stream his CMM2, but filmed an LCD screen. He stated (at 5:05 in his video) that he did not have any hardware that would capture the CMM2 output, yet he captures VGA (and CGA/EGA) output regularly on his channel. A cheap, readily available, and reliable VGA capture device for the CMM2 would be very useful. |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 8600 |
The CMM2 doesn't use any "low resolutions" all the monitor ever sees is 800x600 @ 60Hz or 640x480@75Hz. The rest is just my magic :-) Edited 2020-08-13 07:51 by matherp |
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| TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5915 |
Volhout, That capture device 'should' work but until it's tested, no one really knows. Too expensive for me to 'try' As Womble suggests, it will be the lower resolution modes that are likely to be the problem. I already had the VGA to HDMI so have ordered a cheap HDMI capture to play with. I do have a HDMI to Digital TV so in theory, I could use that and a USN TV stick to receive the output. I also have composite video capture available so if I can find my VGA to composite device, that's another thing to try. Jim VK7JH MMedit  MMBasic Help |
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| Womble Senior Member Joined: 09/07/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 267 |
And very good magic it is  Getting a capture device to work, depends on the capture device understanding the voodoo that you do  Edited 2020-08-13 08:10 by Womble |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 842 |
Hi Folks, Thanks to you all. Until the dust settles I'll stick with the SAVE IMAGE to SD, SD to PC process but I'm interested longer-term to see what evolves (if you could please report back any wins . . .?). Now I'm looking to use a KEYDOWN to initiate the SAVE to a date/time stamped file name on the SD card (should be do-able). Cheers, Andrew |
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| abraxas Regular Member  Joined: 16/06/2020 Location: CanadaPosts: 99 |
In which case could we get a 400x300 resolution too? It’d be a nice compromise between 320x200 vs the higher ones. |
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| Womble Senior Member Joined: 09/07/2020 Location: United KingdomPosts: 267 |
I don't have a VGA capture device so am volunteering as a Guinea Pig  I have ordered one of those, and will report back on how it works with the CMM2... once it arrives on the slow boat from China. Test Resultas, my thread on VGA to USB capture Edited 2020-09-18 06:52 by Womble |
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