Chapter 211 Printer Hanka

There was an Epson MX-80 (nine-pin) printer connected next to the computer. Bai Zirui asked: "Wen Hao, how do you use this computer and printer?"

Sun Wenhao replied: "The computer is very convenient to use, but there is something wrong with the printer. There is no problem printing English documents with it, but the Chinese documents are often garbled when printing. The company's logistics hired a maintenance technician to repair it, and the maintenance technician said it was the Han card of the printer.

question."

Bai Zirui used this printer in his office when he was a warehouse manager in his previous life. This is the MX-80 (9-pin) printer launched by Epson in 1980. This printer uses dot matrix printing technology and is not only cheaper than other products on the market.

Mainstream printers are cheaper and the printing cost is also cheaper.

It has caused a sensation around the world. This year, the MX-80 has a market share of more than 60% in Japan. It has also received high praise in the US market. It has gradually developed into the world's first mainstream dot matrix printer suitable for PC products. Epson

The company has not yet launched this printer in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets.

Bai Zirui's heart moved and he asked Sun Wenhao to take him to his office. The group came to Sun Wenhao's general manager's office. Bai Zirui sat on his desk chair, and Sun Wenhao and three managers sat opposite him.

Bai Zirui asked: "Wenhao, how did you buy this Epson MP-80 printer?"

Sun Wenhao replied: "Zirui, this is when I went to Japan on a business trip and saw that this printer was selling very well in Japan, so I bought one back. This is a new printer launched by Japan not long ago. It is now sold in Xiangjiang and

It’s not even on sale in Taiwan yet.”

Bai Zirui said: "Wen Hao, you just said that this printer has no problem printing English documents, but it often prints garbled Chinese documents. Do you know why?"

Sun Wenhao scratched his head and replied: "Zirui, how do I know why? I don't know anything about such high-tech things. I only heard the maintenance master say it's because of the Hanka problem."

Bai Zirui smiled and said: "That's right! This printer is equipped with Japanese Han Card. You need Chinese Han Card to print Chinese. When you use Japanese Han Card to print Chinese characters, there will be incompatibility, so the characters will be garbled! Epson's

This printer has not yet been launched in Xiangjiang, so there is no matching Chinese Han card to replace it.

I guess it may be because it sold so well in Japan and the United States that Epson is now focusing most of its energy on seizing those two major markets, and has not had time to develop the Asian market for a while.

Just like the problems our company encountered with this machine, if Epson's new printer wants to enter Hong Kong, the Taiwan market must first develop a matching Chinese Han card."

Sun Wenhao said doubtfully: "Chinese Hanka?" He knows nothing about these high-tech things."

Bai Zirui nodded and said: "Japanese Chinese characters evolved from Chinese characters. In fact, most of the character libraries of the two are the same. However, there are still differences between the Chinese character library of Japanese Hanka and the Chinese character library of Chinese Hanka. If you want to be perfect,

For printing, special Chinese Hanka must be developed!”

Sun Wenhao asked curiously: "Zirui, what does what you are talking about have to do with our company?"

Xu Jingli was sitting in the reception area of ​​General Manager Sun Haowen's office. After listening to Bai Zirui's words, her eyes lit up and she said: "Zirui, this is an opportunity. If we design the Chinese Han cards required by this printer,

, you can talk to Epson about the exclusive distribution rights of this new printer in Hong Kong and Taiwan!"

Bai Zirui nodded and praised: "The one who gave birth to me is my parents, and the one who knows me is Sister Jingli. What I mean is to develop a Chinese Chinese card and talk to Epson about the exclusive distribution of Xiangjiang in the Taiwan market."

Sun Wenhao scratched his head and said helplessly: "Zirui, no one in our company knows how to develop high-tech things!"

When Bai Zirui worked as a warehouse manager in his previous life, the printer in his office often had problems and he often had to ask colleagues from the computer department to come to repair it. Chatting with them, he also learned some procedures for making Chinese Han cards. First, he had to compile a set of drivers and then make Chinese Han cards.

Card.

In principle, Chinese Hanka is the same as Japanese, the only difference is that the number of Chinese characters is larger. Therefore, as long as the circuit diagram of Japanese Hanka is slightly modified to increase the capacity of the Chinese character library chip, it is not difficult

.

Secondly, it is to imitate the Japanese Hanka and draw the wiring diagram of the printed version of the Chinese Hanka. This is also a copycat. The program in the Hanka firmware only needs to be modified a little bit.

Since the biggest cost for making a masked Chinese character library is to buy a chip, we only solder the chip socket on the Chinese card, and then write the font library into the chip and plug it into the socket of the Chinese card.

After the design was completed, I started to make a printed circuit template, and then burned new firmware and a Chinese character library to create the first Chinese Han card for this printer.

After inserting the prepared Chinese card into the Chinese card slot of the printer, as long as the computer sends the Chinese national standard code to the printer, the Chinese card will take out the corresponding Chinese character dot matrix and print it according to the national standard code.

Bai Zirui used pen and paper to draw the route of the Hanka printer, and wrote the list of electronic components for making Hanka to Sun Wenhao. The core of Hanka is naturally a chip that stores a Chinese character library and can process Chinese character information.

The second is the integrated circuit board designed to match the chip.

Bai Zirui plans to use the Z80 processor as the core of the printer Hanka. This chip was launched in 1976. The Zilog company that produces the Z80 was founded by several technicians who resigned from Intel. The design idea of ​​this chip is to copy Intel's 8080

processor.

As a result, Z80, a newly launched Li Gui, defeated Intel's genuine Li Kui. The only trump card was price. At that time, the retail price of 8080 chips was US$150 each, while the price of Z80 was US$25. There was a huge price gap between the two.

, causing Intel's 8080 chip to be instantly beaten and unable to fight back.

The eight-bit chip Z80 was later selected as one of the 25 most shocking chips in history. Even thirty years later in the 21st century, it still continues to shine with tenacity on some low-end microcontrollers.

vitality.

The design of a Hanka card can only be regarded as entry-level difficulty at best. But being easy in theory does not mean that it is easy to operate in practice. The biggest problem at this time is the development tools. The circuit design of later generations in the 21st century has already entered the computer automation development stage.

At this stage, various CAD and EDA auxiliary software are very easy to use.

In 1981, commercial computer-aided software had not yet come out, and most of the design and wiring of integrated circuits had to be done manually. Fortunately, Hanka's circuit diagram was not very complicated.

In addition to various electronic components, there are also tools for programming chips, testers, editors, programming sockets, connectors, adapters, and so on.

Sun Wenhao took the list written by Bai Zirui and looked through it. These electronic components and various tools trading companies can obtain them, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

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Chapter completed!