Mastodawn

bbbbbr Aug 9, 2025

Almost have the #MegaDuck Printer working.

Reverse engineering the protocol apparently being easier than getting the hardware timing right. Not sure how much buffering there is. And not able to easily snoop the signals to get a reference.

The dithering is intentional since this is the 1-pass mono color model, so the 4 shades of grey have to be reduced when printing.

#megaduckprinter #MegaDuckSuperQuique #MegaDuckSuperJuniorComputer

Show thread

bbbbbr Aug 10, 2025

Update from last night- Printer timing and output getting better.
(whereas wordle skills continue their decline)

#megaduck #megaduckprinter #MegaDuckSuperQuique #MegaDuckSuperJuniorComputer

Show thread

Polyducks Aug 11, 2025

@bbbbbr where did you get the printer from? Is it good for printing art? I've wanted to do this for ages but all the printers I've found have had trash software.

Show thread

bbbbbr Aug 11, 2025

@Polyducks As for print quality, it prints exactly rows of 20 tiles wide of 8x8 pixel tiles in monochrome. So it's perfect for printing the MegaDuck screen (which is the identical resolution as the Game Boy) aside from only being monochrome. The quality is pretty decent for a 30 year old printer. But they're hard to find.

Show thread

Polyducks

@bbbbbr ahh excellent. Love a GB printer. I was looking for a thermal printer for my PC. I think I've found a few on Amazon but they're a bit suspect. Maybe one day when I have more disposeable income I'd start playing. Also got to worry about BPA and BPS (hormone disruptors) in thermal paper.