Classic Computer Magazine Archive COMPUTE! ISSUE 87 / AUGUST 1987 / PAGE 8

Hi-Res Multicolor Characters On The 128

In high-resolution multicolor mode, the 128's CHAR command prints strange looking I's, J's, and O's. I thought that a way to avoid this problem would be to print small characters. However, CHAR will not print lowercase letters on the multicolor hi-res screen. Is there a POKE I could use to switch the case? PRINT CHR$(14) does not work.

John M. Boyer

In multicolor mode, the screen can display twice as many colors, but you make a sacrifice: the horizontal resolution is cut in half. The width of the hi-res multicolor screen is 160 double-width pixels instead of 320. Character shapes are four double-width pixels by eight instead of the usual eight by eight.

One solution that seems to work well is to use lowercase letters instead of capitals. The control code CHR$(14) will work, but you must include it within the CHAR statement itself instead of PRINTing it. Try this:

CHAR 1, 5, 5, CHR$(14) + "XYZ"