Star LaserPrinter 4 Applications Manual

80821860

APPLICA TIONS MANUAL

Trademark Acknowledgements

LaserPrinter 4: StarMicronicsCo., Ltd.
PageMaker: Aldus Corporation
BitStream, Zapf Humanist: BitstreamInc.
Canon: CanonInc.
HP, LaserJet ffP: Hewlett-PackardCompany
LaaerControl: InsightDcvelcpmentInc.
IBM PC: IntematicmalBusinessMachinesCorp.
Optim~ Century Schoolbook: LinotypeCorporation
Lotus 1-2-3: Lotus DevelopmentCorporation
MS-DOS, Microsoft BASIC, Window%Word: Microsoftcorporation
MultiMate: Multimatcfntematicnal
Epson, FX-8SO:.%&o

f@s’I Corpusaticn

WordPerfect: WordPerfectCorporation
Ventura

Publisher:XeroxCorporation

NOTICE

● All rightsreserved.Reproductionof anypartof this msmsafin anyform whatsoeverwithout

STAR’s expresspermissicitis forbidden.

. ‘firecontentsof this manualarcsubjectto changewithoutnotice.

● Alf effortshave beenmadetoensuretheaccuracyof the contentsof this manualatthetime of

press.However,shouldany errorsbe detected,STAR wouldgrszdyappreciatebeinginformed
of them.

● ‘llteabove notwithstanding,STAR canassumeno responsibilityforany errorsin this manual.

@Ccpyright 1990StarMicrunicsCo., Ltd.

PREFACE

Aboutthismanual

This StarLaserPrinter4 ApplicationsManual givesyoutheinformation
youneedto programthe StarMicronicsLaserPrinter4.

Whywouldyoureadthisbook? Mostpeopleusingalaserprinterjust run
softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything
theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus- smallbusinesspeople
and home computerusers, not to mentionthe wizards who write those
softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromall thenewfeaturesofferedbyour
pnntem.

Doyouwantcompletecontrolover thecharacte~and imagesyouprint?Do
youwantto makeyourStarLaserPrinter4 worklikesomeearlierkindof
printer? Thismanualprovidesthesoftwarehelp youneedto getthemost
fromyourLaserPrinter4.

Thoughthis ApplicationsManual is reallyintendedfor intermediateto
advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo.
The informationisorganizedso youcan walkthroughthe generaltheory
underlyingprinterprogrammingbeforedancinginto specificdetails. It
makessense,therefore,to readthefirstthreechaptersbeforejumpinginto
themiddle.

There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstarttoo.Peoplelearning
howto useanew printeroftenfindtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof
buryingwhatmaybenewjargonin a Glossaryat theback,wedefineeach
newtermthefirsttimeitappears. Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexarnple,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof
the samesizeandstyle).

What’sin thismanual?

● In “Gettingto KnowYourStarLaserPrinter4“ we providea list of the

featuresthat make this a splendidprinter, to help you choosewhich
feahuesyouwantto exploit. There’sa bit on how laserprinterswork,
insideandout. Thechapterthenexplainssoftwareingeneralterms,in­cluding how to write control and Escape commandsto make those
feahues work.

● “ControllingYour Printer” examines the parameters and “superset”

commandsyougivetheStarLaserPrinter4 to directpreciselyhowyou
wantittobehave.Theseletyoucontroltheprinter,managepageformats,
andspecifywhatyouwantprinted.

● For mostof us, the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful: howto usethefonts

built into the LaserPrinter4, plus those that come on cartridgesor
computerdisks.

● Youmayneverlookatchapters4 and5, whichcoverStarLaserPrinter

4 commands. YourLaserPnnter4 emulates otherprinters: it imitates
otherprintersby acceptingthe same commandstheydo. Justthinkof
yourStarLaserPrinter4 astwoprintershidinginsideoneunit.

Ifyouwanttowriteormodifyaprogramthatusesoneofthese printers—
theHewlett-PackardLaserJet11PorEpsonFX-850- chapters4 and5
showhow yourStar LaserPrinter4 can emulateto accordingly. The
chaptersfirstdescribehowtocontroltheprinterandtoformatpages,then
howtqmovetheprintposition,and finallyhow tousefontsandgraphics.

The chapter on the LaserJet IIP is longer and mom detailedthan the
others.That’sbecauseyouaremomlikelytouselaserprintercommands
thancommandsfordotmatnx printers. (If youhavesoftwa~ designed
only for dot matrix printers,you may have manualsfor those printers
anyway.) We recommendyou use LaserJetHP emulationwhenever
possible,withFX-850emulationas yourbackupmode.

c The final“TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-

ter mfextmcetableswillprobablygetthumbed the most.

Conventions

Incidentally,oneofthoseTechnicalSupplementtablessuggestsacoupleof
typographicconventionswe’lluse.Baseten(decimal)numberswillgener­allybe usedhere;if we haveto use basesixteennumbers(hexadecimal)
we’llexpresslysay so.

Andsecond,thelowercaseLispracticallyidenticaltothenumberone(1ver­sus 1). BecauselowercaseL isusedinmanycommanddescriptions,we’ll
usethecharacter/to avoidconfusion.

TheStarLaserPrinter4 OperationsManual

Thismanualis thecompaniontotheStarLaserPrin?er4OperatwnsiWanuaZ
thatcamewithyourprinter.Alaserprinteris a fairlycomplextoolthatre­quirescareanddelicatehandling.SotousethisApplicationsl14anualbest,
makesureyouunderstandthat OperationsManual first.

Your OperationsManual holds essentialinformationabout the Laser­Printer4, such as howto:

●

●

✎

✎

●

●

●

●

unpackandsetup yourlaserprinter,
connecttheStarLaserPrinter4 toyourcomputer’sserialorparallelport,
linkthe LaserPrinter4 intoanetworkof severalcomputers,
configuretheLaserPrinter4 toyour needs(withvariablessuchas paper
sizeand speedof datatransfer),
loadpaperandthetonercartridge,

operatethe panelswitchesanddisplay,
runthe LaserPrinter4 self-test,
lookafteryourprinterto keep it in peakcondition.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER1 GETTINGTOKNOWYOURSTAR

LASERPRINTER4

1

1.1StarLaserPrinter4 Hardware...........................................................1

1.2StarLaserPrinter4 Software........................................................-5

CHAPTER2 CONTROLLINGYOURPRINTER

13

2.1PrinterParameters....................................................................O.....13

2.2ControllingthePrinter

....................................................................

16

2.3ControllingthePage.......................................................................20

2.4ControllingthePrinting

..................................................................

25

2.5TheStarLaserPrinter4 SuWmet...................................................26

CHAPTER3 FONTS

31

3.1FontTerminology

...........................................................................31

3.2HowtheStarLaserPrinter4 StoresFonts

......................................34

3.3SymbolSets

....................................................................................

37

3.4ManagingFonts..............................................................................49

CHAPTER4 HP LASERJETIIP COMMANDS

45

4.1HPLaserJetIIPCommands...........................................................45

4.2ControllingthePrinter

....................................................................

47

4.3PageOrientation.............................................................................50

4.4MovingthePrintPosition

..............................................................54

4.5ControllingFonts............................................................................63

4.6UsingYourOwnFonts......:............................................................79

4.7Graphics..........................................................................................83

4.8Macros. ...........................................................................................88

CHAPTER5 EPSONFX-850COMMANDS

93

5.1FX-850Commands........................................................................93

5.2ControllingthePrinter

....................................................................

95

5.3FormattingPages...........................................................................-96

5.4MovingthePrintPosition

..............................................................

99

5.5ControllingFonts..........................................................................104

5.6Graphics

........................................................................................

113

CHAPTER6 TECHNICALSUPPLEMENT

119

6.1Commandsummary. ....................................................................120

6.2SymbolWK......... ..........................................................................125

INDEX

15’7

Gettingto Know Your ‘” “

Star LaserPrinter

4

T& chapterintroducesboththehardwareandsoftwareaspectsoftheStar
LaserPrinter4’s personality,from fonts and print engineto ASCII and
Escapesequences.

1.1STARLASERPRINTER4 HARDWARE

1.1.1Versatility

YourStarMicronicsStarLaserPrinter4workswithpracticallyallcommer­cialsoftwareprogramsandcomputers.WithfeaturesthatgobeyondStar’s
easy,affordable9-pinandfast,quality-printing24-pindotmatrixprinters
the Star Laser Printer is the logicalnext step in the series of fine Star
Micronicsprintem.

YourStarLaserPrinter4 producespagesthatlookclosetotypesetquality,
withupto 90,000dotspersquareinch—nomoreNLQ(nearletterquality)
compromises.The Star LaserPrinter4 producesfour of those pages a
minute.Thesenumberstranslateto aboutfive times more resolutionand

aboutthreetimesmore speedthanthe averagedot-matrixprinter.
Star’snewprinteris~markablyversatile.Youcanprintcomplicatedforms

(widthwiseif youwant)... detailedgraphs... yourown customizedtype­styles... digitized photographs...

otherlanguages(including Arabic and

Japanese).
Youcan even printyourletterhead and logo as youprintyourletter,and

reprintthem directlyonto a businessenvelope.You don’teven need to
removethepaper traytoprinttheenvelope:justslideitintothemanualfeed
slot.

1

TheStarLaserPrinter4isidealfordesktoppublishing.The pagesitproduces
makeperfectphotocopyorinstant-printmasters.Andallthemaindesktop
publishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMaker andXerox
VenturaPubisher,worksplendidlywiththe StarLaserPrinter4.With“page
makeup”programsliketheseyouwillbe able—maybeforthefirsttime—
to delivercommunicationswiththe impactof top-notchgraphics.

1.1.2Fontoptions

Youcan print withan amazinglywidevarietyof typefontsandsizes.The
StarLaserPrinter4 comeswith sevenbuilt-infonts,whichcan be printed
from 8.5pointsto 12pointsin size(apointis about1/72of an inch).

Thesefontsare:

Courier

12point Medium
Courier 12point Bold
Courier

12point Italic
Courier 1Opoint

Medium

Courier

1Opoint Bold
Courier

1Opoint Italic
LinePrinter 8.5point Medium

Besidesthese,youmaybe abletouseoptionalcartridgesanddisksto give
yourStar LaserPrinter4 a varietyof extrafonts,suchasthese:

Helvet

linedrawing
LetterGothic presentationfonts
Barcodes

opticalcharacterreaderfontsuniversalproductcode

You can load your Star LaserPrinter4’s memory with fonts stored on
computerdisks.Literallyhundredsof fonts are marketedby font-supply
companies.Somefontsareevenobtainablefromcomputer’’usergroups”or
“electronicbulletinboards”.Fonts yougetthiswayareinthepublic domain,
whichmeansyoudon’tneedto pay a licencefeetousethem.

Ask your Star LaserPrinter4 dealer aboutresourceslike these.Desktop
publishingwith laser printemis fast-changingterritory,and some Star
Micronicsstaffpeoplehavefoundelectronicbulletinboardsandcomputer
usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeepingupwiththechangingpace.Ifyouinvest
a littletimethiswayitmayrepayyou well.

2

1.2.3Howyour Iaserprinter communicates

YourcomputercommunicateswiththeStarLaserPrinter4 througheither

apardef cableoroneoftwokindsofserialcable.Theprinter’sinterjzce,
the link or boundaryit shares with yourcomputer, defines whetherthe

printerwillacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyte
or onebit at a time.

Abitisthesmallestunitofcomputerorprintermemory.Ithaseitheralow
orhighelectriccharge,whichwerepresentwiththedigitsOand 1.Usually
eight adjacentbits are grouped to form a byte. Since a byte normally
representsonecharacter,thisstringofbits- O1OOOOO1—mightrepresent
theletterA.

The serialinterfaceacceptsjust onebit at a time fromyourcomputer.A
parallelinterfacecanhandleawholebyteatonce,bymovingdatabitsside­by-sidealongseparatewires.Youchoosewhichinterfacemethodyouwant
touseby selectingitonthecontrolpanel,asexplainedin yourStarLuser-

Printer4 OperationsManual.

1.2.4TheStarLaserPrinter4 is a computer

TheStarLaserPrinter4 firstmapsthecharactemtobeprintedintoitsown
randomaccessmemory(RAM).That is,theprinterbuildsa“picture”inits

memorycorrespondingtothepageyouwanttoprint.Whenthat’sdonethe
printercanreproducethe pageontopaperonitsown,lettingyourcomputer
geton withotherwork.

YourStarLaserPrinter4 comes withonemegabyteofRAM— theequiva­lentof aboutonemillioncharacters.A StarLaserPrinter4 option lets you
addasecondmegabyteofRAMif,say,youneedto mapfull-pagegraphics
orstemmorefonts. AccompanyingallthatRAMis another512kilobytes
ofreadonlymemory(ROM),containingalibraryofinternalfontsandthe
programsthatlet the StarLaserPrinter4 emulateotherprinters.

An Intel 80960KAcomputerchip controlsboth the memory and the
printingmechanisminthepnnter,calledtheprintengine.Theprinterstores
a whole page in RAM before printingit. (If a page is so dense that it
overflowsmemory-a mostunlikelyevent—theStarLaserPrinter4prints
thepageontwo sheets.)

3

I

1.2.5ThePrintengine

It’s the print enginethat-formsthe actualcharactersand graphics.The
enginedirectsits laser,apinpointstreamoflightpulses,throughmirrorsand
lensesontothe surfaceof a positively-chargedrotating drum.

+

Mirror

Lens
Laserbeam

~%a~nirr~ mirror

nductor laser diode

Photosensitive drum

Asthelaserscans,it“draws”thepage-mapstoredinyourprinter’smemory.
Whereveralightpulsestrikes,thattinypartof thedrumdropsto aneutral
electricalcharge.That spot then attractsfine toner powder as the drum
rotatespast thepowdercompartment.

Asthedrumrotatesfurtheritmeetsthepaper.Thepaperitselfisnegatively
chargedbypassingbyafinecoronawire.Sinceoppositechargesattract,the
negativepaperclingsto the positivedrum.Thenheatandpressurefroma
rollermelt or~usethedotsoftonerontothepaper,preciselyreproducingthe
image.

Finallythepaperslidesintotheoutputbin.Thepaperusuallycomesoutface
downso it stacksin the correctsequence.

4

1.2STARLASERPRINTER4 SOFTWARE

1.2.1Binaryandhexadecimalarithmetic

1fyou alreadyknow what hexadecimalnumbers are, you can skip this
sectionandgo aheadto readaboutASCII.

The decimalnumbersystemwith which we’reall familiaris a positional
counting system. There’s the “ones” position,the “tens” position,the
“hundreds”positionandsoon.Eachhigherpositionisworthtentimesmore
thanthepositiontotherightofit,sincethedecimalsystemusesthebaseof
ten.Moreover,weneedtensymbolstoshowtheactualvaluesthatmaybe
in eachposition.

Thebinarysystemispositionaltoo.There’sthe“ones”position,the“twos”
position,the“fours”position,the“eights”positionandsoon.Inbinaryeach
positionisworthonlytwicethatofthepositiontoitsright.Andweonlyneed
twosymbols- O(zero)and 1(one)- toshowthevaluesthatmaybeinany
position.So inbinarywe getnumbersthatlooklike 1O1Oor 10001100.

Thehexadecimalsystemismadeofbase-sixteennumbers.Hexadecimalis
positionallikethe othercountingsystems.Andeachhigherpositionisworth
sixteentimesas muchasthepositionto its right.

We need sixteendifferentsymbolsto show all the possiblevalues one
hexadecimaldigit could have. We can use our decimal system’s ten
symbols,butwe’vehadto borrowa fewmorefromour alphabettogetall
thesymbolsweneed.Inhexadecimal,therefore,youcanhaveanumberthat
lookslike2C7C,or evenFACE.

Here’showthedecimal,binaryandhexadecimalnumbersystemscompare:

Decimal

o

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Binary

Ooo1
0010

0011

0100
0101
0110
0111

Hexadecimal

o

1

2
3
4
5
6
7

Decimal

8

9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Binary

1000
1001
1010
1o11
11(X)
1101
1110
1111

Hexadecimal

8
9

A
B
c
D
E
F

5

Theimportantthingto realizeisthatthere’smorethanonewayto showthe
samenumericvalue.Computerprogrammers,forexample,occasionallyuse
thehexadecimalsystembecause it’s so compact.(Programmersoftenjust
say“hex”.)Thisbinarynumber:

10100101111111010011011111101101OO1O11O1OOOO1OO1

looksquiteabit tidierwhenitiswrittenasA5FD37ED2D09,whichmeans
thesamething.

1.2.2TheASCIItable

Wheredoes the Star LaserPrinter4 get the characters and instructionsit

needsto print in the first place’?It getsthemfmm yourcomputer,which

sendsa streamof textandcommandsto yourprinter.

Theprogramin yourcomputerthatcontrols everythingsentto the printer

(calledthe printer driver) will usuallybe includedwith your computer
programs;suchasyourwordprocessor.Butthecommandscouldalsocome
fromaprogramyou’vewritten,perhapsinBASIC,aprogramminglanguage
thatuses commonEnglishwords.

Internally,computemand printersuse onlythe binarynumbersystemto
representboth commandsand all the alphabetic,numericand otherkey­boardsymbols.Nearlyallof thosemachinesusethe sameschemeto code
thosesymbols,the AmericanStandardsCodefor InformationInterchange
(ASCII).

Anexample:inourfamiliardecimalsystem,binary01001010addsuptothe

number 74. Dependingon which program your printer is using, it can
interpretthatbinarystring01001010aseitherthenumber74orthesymbol
J. The printerstoresthesymbolJ atposition74in a tablein itsmemory.

Thateight-bitbinarystring, or byte,canbebrokenintotwohalves.Theleft
orhigh-orderpartcontaining0100is called thezoneportion;theright part
holdingthe 1010iscalledthe digitsportion.Andinthehexadecimalnumber
system,the zone and digitparts of that byte are representedas 4 and A
respectively(lookthemup in the list above).

Sothelaserprinterunderstandsthe symbolJ as 01001010,whichwecan
also representas the decimalnumber74 or the hexadecimalnumber4A.
We’veprintedthisbyteverticallyandhorizontallybelow,showinghowit
addsup to decimal74 andhex4A.

6

o x 27 = o

1x 26 = 64

0x25= o
0

x24 = o

1X 23 = 8

0x2’ = o

1x 21 = 2

0x 2° = Q

74 Decimal

zone digits

0100 1010 Binary
4 A Hexadecimal

The ASCIItable in the TechnicalSupplementshowsall theseequivalent

~presentationsfor the symbolsyourlaser printerunderstands.The table

organizesthemin ascendingorder.Infact,ASCIIisorganizedinawaythat

actuallymakessense.

Flipbackthereforaquicklookrightnow.Seehowyoucan slicethetable
into clumpsof 16or 32, basedon what’sin the zone portionunderthe
hexadecimalcolumn?Theseclumpsmakesubgroupsof similarsymbols:

● hex 00 to IF arethecommandsymbolscalledcontrolcodes,

● hex 20 to 40 arethe commonkeyboardsymbolsandnumerals,

● hex41 to 60 arecapitallettersandthelesscommonkeyboardsymbols,

● hex 61 to 7F arelowercaselettersanda fewfinalsymbols.

That takes care of the first 128ASCII symbols.However,nearly every
cofnputerand printer manufacturertreats the second half of the table
differently. Hewlett-Packard,for example,puts a variety of accented
foreignlanguagecharactemintopositions128-255(oftenreferredtoashigh

ASCIZ).Epson gives you a choice of either italics characters or IBM

charactergraphics.

1.2.3Controlcodes

TheASCIItableshowssymbolslikeJor2 thewaytheyactuallyprintonthe
laserprinter.ButASCIIincludesmore thanjust printablecharacters:none

of the controlcodecommandsatthebeginningof thetable actuallyprint.
Instead,when your computersends a controlcodeto the laser printerit

makesyourprinterdo otherthings,suchas sounditsbeeper.

7

Controlcodesmostly handlecommunicationsbetweenyourcomputerand
theprinteratthelowestlevel,at cablelevel.Forexample,acoupleofcontrol
codesmakesuretheprinterbuffer(yourprinter’sstoragememory)doesn’t
overflow.In this book we’ll indicate control codes enclosed by angle
bracketsto their abbreviationsin the table:=&I%-meansthe Form Feed
controlcode,whichadvancestheprinter to thenextpagejustasthePRINT

button.does.

1.2.4Escapesequences

Controlcode 27, cESG or Escape,is a particularlyimportantone for
printers.Totellyourprinterallthethingsyoumightneed- settingmargins,
sayingwhereto print,choosinga particularfont, startinggraphicsand so
on- requiresmanymorethanjusttwoorthreedozencontrolcodes.Sothe
<ESC> control code has a specialmeaning:<ESC> means “the next
characterspecifiesa command,notsomethingto beprinted”.

Thereforeif yousendjust the character4 to theprinterit willprinta 4 and
that’sall. Butif yousendthecESC>codejustbeforethe4 then theprinter
(in FX-850 mode)will switchoverto italicstext.Extendingthe control
codesthisway givesyoumanymorecommandsto controlyourprinter.In
fact,these“Escapesequences”makeupmostoftheStarLaserPrinter’skm­guage.

In thisbookwe’llleavespacesbetweencharacterswhenweshowescape
sequences.You’llfind

<ESC>

(S@ IOh12vos 3T

abit morereadablethan

<ESC>(sOp10h12vOs3T

Butrememberthatyou arenotto sendthosespacesif yousendcommands
to the printer.

To sumup,printercommandsareof twotypes.A controlcodeis asingle­charactercommandthattellsyourprintertodo something,likemovedown
oneline.AnEscapesequencecontrolsaprinteroperationtoo,butis more
thanonecharacterlong.Sincetheyarecommands,neithercontrolcodesnor
escapesequencesareusuallyprintablecharacter.

8

1.2.5Printerdrivers

Mostsoftwarepackagesahvadyincludethe printercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprintersoyoudon’thavetoenter
themyourselfa~ calledprinter drivers.

Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour

StarLaserPrinter4.You entersuchthingsas howyouwant to underline,
alterlinespacing,ormoveto a newprintposition.

Someprograms,suchas WordPerfectandthesystemsfromLotusDevel­opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexample,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabelledCONTROL
orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.Oryoumightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchas F6.

In fact,to takerealadvantageof yourStarLaserPrinter4’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordpmcessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWorda~ strongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulator.

If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter
4, you’ll probablyget answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowthe programinteractswithyourprinter.

Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleasemalizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendomesthemin anyway.

1.2.6Sendingyourownprintercommands

Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASIC!orPascal,or atleastof howtoputsuchcodesintoaprogram.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youputintoaprogramuntilyoutell it to runthatprogram.

Whenyou givea commandto the printerfrom a computerprogram,you

normallyentereachpartof thecommandasaseparatecharacter.Thisway

. youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend

eachcodeor characterinthecommandbygivingitspositionin theASCII

table,as adecimalor hexnumber.

9

1.2.7A BASICexample

Here’sanexampleyoucantypein rightnow,toclarifywhatwe’resaying.
It’s written in MicrosoftBASIC for a computerthat uses the MS-DOS
operatingsystem,so if youhavea differentcomputeror BASICyoumay
havetotranslateabit.We’llshow commandsthewaythey’rewrittenforan
Epsondot-matrixprinterbecauseyourStarLaserPrinter4understandsthose
commands.

TheLPRINTcommandsallsend datatotheprinter.Ifthedataissomething
youwantprintedyoujust putit in quotationmarks.If thedatais a control
codeyoujustsaywhexeitisintheASCIItable,givingitspositionasaregular
decimalnumber.

BASICusuallysendsacarriagereturnafterevery80character, tokeepthe
print positionmovingwhenit hitstheendof a line.Unasked-forcarriage

returnscan messup yourprinting,however,so it’sa goodhabitto putin a

WIDTHstatementas shown.Thatletsus printoverthewhole pagearea.
The<BEL>controlcode—ASCIIcode7—is sentinBASICasCHR$(7).

ThecESG codeitselfisCHR$(27).Andbecausewe’reusingthecharacter
4 as partof an cESC>command,wetypeCHR$(52)insteadof“4”.

So if youstartBASICandtypethesecommands:

NEW

10 ‘ EXAMPLE
20 WIDTH “LPT1:“,255

30 LPRINTCHR$(7)

40 LPRINTCHR$(27);CHR$(52)

50 LPRINT“ITALICS!“
60 END

RUN

youmaketheprinter(inFX-850mode)firstsounditsbell-most peoplecall

it a beeper—andthenprinttheline:

ITALICS!

Generally,whenyousendacontrolorEscapecodeit staysactiveuntilyou

deactivateit. That’swhat happensin line 40 of our programabove.All

subsequenttextwillbe italicizeduntilyouchangeitbacktoupright again.

10

1

Mostprogramminglanguages,andsomeversionsof BASIC,let you treat
theprinteras a fileto whichyoucansenddata.Whenyouwritea program
withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,print intoit,andthen
“close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny
if you’renotusedto it—but it works.

Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandstotheprinterathird
way. Applesoft BASICis one. Withit, you can switchbetweenprinter
outputandscreenoutput.

1.2.8Printeremulations

You noticedthat we said“in FX-850mode”up there? Your StarLaser­Printer4respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveraloiher
printemuse.Being ableto emulateprintersliketheEpsonFX-850letsyou
useyourStarLaserPrinter4witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeenupdated
to take advantageof laserprinters.In fact,becauseit emulatestwo of the
mostpopularprinters,you canusethe StarLaserPrinter4withjustaboutany

microcomputerprogramaround.

Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequencesfor
exactlythe same function.Thoseprinters,moreover,provideescapese-

quencesfor functionsthe Star LaserPrinter4 doesn’tneed, such as the
Epson’s Half-SpeedCommand.When your printer gets a command it
doesn’tsupport, itjust ignoresthe command.

Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothework
ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyouareaprogrammeryou will
behappyto hearthe StarLaserPrinter4 supportsup to 99 macrosatonce.

11

MEMO

12

Controlling

YourPrinter

YoucancontrolyourStarLaserPrinter4intwoways,eitherthmughcontrol
panelparameters or throughsoftwarecomrnana!s.Inthischapterwe will
considerprinter controlsmostlyfromtheperspectiveof the control panel.
However,we’llalso meetfour specialcommands,the StarLaserPrinter4

superset.

Throughoutthismanualwe approachparametersandcommandsthesame
way:overallprinter-levelcontrolsficst,thenpage-levelcontrols(layoutand
printpositionmovements),andfinallycharacter-levelcontrols(fontsand
graphics).We’lldiscusstheseingeneraltermsin thischapter.

Thespecificcommandsyoucansendto yourprintertomakeit emulate,or
work like, other printers are describedin chapters 4 and 5. The most
importantfact aboutprintercommands,though,is thatyoumay not even
needto knowhowto use them.If yoursoftwaresystemsincludetheirown
printer drivers, you may want to read only this chapter and skip all of
chaptem4 and 5.

2.1 PRINTERPARAMETERS

2.1.1 Thecontrolpanel

The easiestway to controlyourStarLaserPrinter4 is throughits control
panel,as explainedin moredetailin yourStarLzserl%nter4 Operations

Manual.

Whenyourprinteris online(connectedto and underthe controlof your
computer),its controlpanel displayshows you the printer’sstatus.For
example,the READYlight blinks when the printeris warmingup. The
DATAlightcomesonwhenevertheprinterisholdingdataithasn’tprinted
yet.

Whenyoupress the [ONLINE]button,theprinterchangesfmmnormalto
ofline modeandcannotacceptdatafromyourcomputer.Whentheprinter
isofflineyoucanusetheotherpanelbuttons.Forinstance,if youpressthe

13

[TEST/>]buttonforthrecsecondhandreleaseitjustafterSTATUSSHEET

isdisplayedwhenthelaserprinterisoffline,itfinishesprintingthecurrent

pageandthenfeedsin andprintsa statussheet.

Somebuttonson thepanellet youperformtwo functions.Holdingoneof

those buttons down, rather than quickly pressing it, selects a different
operation.For example,holdingdown the [TEST/>]buttonfor over six
secondsafterSTATUSSHEETisdisplayedmakes the StarLaserPrinter4
printitstestpattern.

2.1.2 Parametersettings

Fromthe panel youcan alsochangethe pararnetemthatdefinehow your
printerworks.Parameterjust means“variable”. If you’refamiliarwith
earlier kinds of pnntem, you’llunderstandthat laser printerparameters
controlpn%y muchthesamethingsDIPswitchesdo.(ADIPswitchor’’dual
in-linepackageswitch”isasetofsmallswitchesthat controlvariousprinter
functions.)

Theprinterstorestheseparametemaseasy-to-useprogrammenuitemsthat
youcan selectfromthecontrolpanel.Theseparametemspecify:

8

●

●

●

●

9

●

●

emulation(what printerthe StarLaserPrinteremulates)
numberof copies(thenumberof copiesof eachpageto beprinted)
character(whatcharacterfonttoprint)

job size(whatsizeof papertheprinterwilluse)

layout(howpageswillbe formatted)
paperfeed(howpaperwillbe fed)
page,mode(partialor full)
interface(howtheprintercommunicateswithyourcomputer)

Ad@auZtisthesettingtheStarLaserPrinter4willuseifnoneisspecifically
selectedbyaprogram.Whenyoufirsttumon orlaterresetyourprinterthese

defaultsettingswilltakeeffect.
Yourmainuseforthecontrolpanelwilllikelybeto setthedefaultsettings

youwantfor theseparameters.However,youwillprobablyfmdthepanel
convenienttoo when you wantto switchbetweenmanualand automatic
paperfeed.

2.1.3 Four versionsofparameters

TheStarLaserPrinter4 actuallystoresfourversionsof theseparametem:

s its “ultimatedefault”factorysettings,

14

● thepower-onsettingsineffectwhenyoufirstturnon theprinter,

● yourinitialsettingsforoneparticularsession,

● andthecurrentsettingsthattheprinteris usingnow.

Theseare in priorityorder.Thecurrentsettingsalwaysoverridetheinitial

sessionsettings,whichinturnoverridethepower-onsettings,whichinturn
overridethe factorysettings.

FactorysettingsareprogrammedintotheStarLaserPrinter4whenitisbuilt

atthe factory.Yourprinterkeepsthe factorysettingsfor its parametersin
ROM;theyneverchange.Youcancopythemintothe currentsettingsorany
other settingsas needed.But the only way you can returnto the factory
defaultsis fromthecontrolpanel;nocommandsdothis.

A few factorydefaultsettingsareas follows:

Item Factorydefaultsetting
Emulat;o.1 HPLaserJetIIP
Feeder

Multi-purposetray
Numberof Copies 1
Orientation

Portrait

Font

10-pitch12-pointCourier(internal)
Lines/inch

6 linesper inch

The power-onsettingsare the normaldefaultsettings.The printer keeps
themevenwhenyouturnoffthepower.Whenyouturnontheprinter,these
power-onsettingsgetcopiedintotheinitial andcurrentparametersettings.

YouprobablywillnotoftenchangetheStarLaserPrinter4’sinitialsettings
(sometimescalled“sessionsettings”).You’lllikelyonlychangethemwhen
you want to use a differentprinteremulation than normal.These initial
settingsstaythe sameasthepower-onsettingsuntilyouchangethem.

Ontheotherhand,yoursoftwarewillprobablychangethecurrentsettings

manytimeswithinthe samedocument,witheverychangeof fontor print

style.

2.1.4Howto changeparameters

Withthe printeroffline,if youpressthe [PROGRAM]buttontheprinter

goesinto“program’’mode. Youcanthenstepthroughthelaserprinter’sfour
levelsof programmenuto configureyourprinter(seepage46-48,opera-
tionsManual).That’stheprocessofchangingcertainprintersettingssoyour
computerandprintercan communicateproperly.

15

I

It’sactuallyprettyeasy.Flippingthroughandsettingparametersfromthe
panelis describedin detailin the StarL.userPrinter4 OperationsManual.

Basically,allyoudo ispressthe [ < ] or [> ] buttonsto scrollthroughthe
sequenceof possibleparametersandvalues,whichisclearlyshownonthe
paneldisplay.Youpress[v ]whenyouwanttogodownandscrollthrough

a lower menulevel. And you also press [

v ] when you want to save a

particularmenuitemas thevaluefor acurrentparametersetting.
SETPOWER-UPenablesyoutosavenewsettingsina permanentmemory

calledEEPROM.Thenewsettingscan be storedeven whenthe poweris
turnedoff.Thefinalmenu(LOADFACTORYSET)isusedwhenyouwant
to startfromthebeginning,withtheoriginalfactorysettings.

2.2CONTROLLINGTHE PRINTER

In this sectionyou’ll meettwo separatecontrolsoverhow the Star Laser­Printer4 itself works.TheINTERFACEparametercontrolscommunica­tions between the printer and your computer.And the EMULATION
parameterdetermines,among other things,which set of commandsthe
printerwilluse.Youcan settheseINTERFACEandEMULATIONpara­meterson the control panel.

2.2.1 TheINTERFACEparameter

The INTERFACEparameter,the mostbasicof the StarLaserPrinter4’s

configurationsettings,defineshowyourcomputerconnectsto theprinter.
You can set the INTERFACEto eitherSerialor Parallel.In mostsingle­computetenvironrnentsyou’lloptforthefasterParallelinterface;inamulti-

usernetworkyoumaybebetteroff with Serial.
Theparticularprinterinterfacesettingsdon’tmatterasmuchasmakingsure

theymatchthoseonyourcomputer.If youuseanMS-DOScomputer,you
can set yourcomputer’sparameterswiththe MODEcommand.See your
MS-DOSmanual.

MostMS-DOSandAT-compatiblecompute~supportupto three parallel

andtwo serialports,whichcomeon expansionboardsyouplugintoyour
computer.Whenyouinstallsuchboardsyoumustsetswitchesto indicate
thenumberandaddressesoftheseports.Ifyouspecifythewrongaddresses,
youwon’tbe ableto print.

16

Serialinterface:rate

IfyouaskfortheSerialinterfaceyou’llhavetotellyourprintermoreabout
howthedatawillbecomingin-in particularitsrateandunitsizeandthe
meaningsof any specialbits.

TheRateparameter specifieshow fastdatawillbe arriving, measuredin
baud(namedaftertheFrenchcommunicationsengineerJeanBaudot).Pick
anyof the followingdatatransferrates:

300baud
600baud

1200baud
2400baud
4800baud
9600baud(thedefault)

19200baud.

Roughly,onecharacter secondworksout to 11baud.Ifyou’renotsurehow

fast your computerwill transmit,the generalrule is to experiment.Try
sendingapageto printatthehighestspeed,andworkyourwaydownuntil

theprinter’soutputlooksOK.

Serialinterface:specialbits
InSerialmodeyou’llalsohaveto specify if yourcomputersends databits

in groupsof seven(mostcomputerssendeight,thedefault for a byte).
Sometimesanextrabit getsappendedtomakethe sum of all bits in each

characteralwaysoddoreven;that’scalledparity. Aparitybitcanhelp spot
transmissionerrors.Ifyourcomputersendsthat extraparitybit,you’llhave
to say whetherit producesan even or odd numberof “on” bits in the
character.

You’llalsohave toindicateif yourcomputersendstwostopbitstoindicate
theendofabyte,insteadofone,thedefault.Theseserialinterfacesettings
aredescribedinmoredetailinyourStarfuserPrinter4 @erationsMan~l.

Serialinterface:protocol

Finally,in Serialmodeyourcomputerwill use one of threeprofocoZsto
ensuredata is sent properly. Protocol(sometimesalso called“handshak­ing”)means“whosayswhatwhen”,andis the wayyourprintertellsyour
computerit’sreadytonxeivedata. Yourcomputerandprintercommunicate
by sendingprotocolcontrolcodes(they’reatthefrontoftheASCIItable).

17

SomepmgrammemcalltheXONand XOFFcontrolcodes“kissonandkiss

off’ otherscallthesameprotocolDC1andDC3(fordevicecontrol).Either

way,thesecodesletyourprinterruntheshow,tellingthecomputerwhento
startandstopsendingdata.Yourprinteraskstohavedataheldbackwhen

itsmemoryis nearlyfullor whenit sensesanERRORcondition.
DTR(DataTerminalReady)protocoldoesthe samethingslightlydiffer-

ently.Theprintersendsa continuoushigh-voltagesignaloverthecableas
long as it can acceptdata, but drops the voltage to say “whoa” to the
computer.

Look in your computer’soperationsmanual,in the sectiondealingwith

communicationsprotocols,to seewhichis bestfor yoursystem.You can
sticktotheprinter’sdefaultsifyourcomputerdoesnotusetheDTR,butdoes

use

XON/XOFF.

2.2.2 Checkingyourconnections

Yourcomputerandpnntermayhavetroublecommunicatingwhenyoufirst
introducethem to eachother.Thequickwayto findoutifyoursettingsand
printercable areworkingistosendyourprinteraprintoutfromyourscreen
(CTRL-PwithMS-DOS).

Whenthat’sdone youwillalsohaveto presstheprintbuttonontheprinter,
whichmakestheprinteradvancetoanewsheet.Nolaserprinterprintsand
ejectsapageuntilit’stoldto feeda form,oruntilithasreceivedallthelines

thepagecanhold.

If your Star LaserPrinter4 doesn’tprintwhat’son the computerscreen,
recheck your connectionsand interface settings. With an applications
programlikeLotus1–2–3orMicrosoftWord,youuseaprintersetuproutine
to match your computerwith yourprinter’soperatingcharacteristics.So
double-checkyoursoftwaresettings;your computer’soutput,forexample,
mightnotbegoingto theproperport.

2.2.3Printeremulations

OK, you’vegot yourprinterand computerconnectedproperly.Nowlet’s
focuson howyourprinterworks.

Your Star LaserPrinter 4 understands and uses the same commandsas
severalearlierkindsof printers.Yourprinterworksby emulatingone of

these:

18

● Hewlett-PackardLaserJet11P

● EpsonFX-850

Otherlaserprintersmayoffersuchemulationstoo,butoftenrequireinstal­lationof a new circuitboardfor eachemulation.StarMicmnicshas built
thesetwo emulationsintothe StarLaserPrinter4.

Youselectwhichemulationyouwanteitherby selectingit fromtheprint
programmenuontheStarLaserPrinter4’scontrolpanel,orby sendingthe
printeroneof thesupersetcommandsat theendof thischapter.

2.2.4 Whatare theemulatedprinterslike?

MostofthetimeyouwillprobablychooseHPLaserJet11Pemulation,which
is thedefaultwhenyouturnontheStarLaserPrinter4.That’sbecausethe
LaserJetIIP, liketheStarLaserPrinter4, is a laserprinter.Thisemulation
modegivesyouthebest controloveryourprinter’sfeatures,andworkswith
mostpopularapplicationsprograms.

TheFX-850emulationisquitepowerfultoo.It includesallthedot-matrix

printer commands(includinggraphics)used by hundredsof programs.

Mostly,you’llchoosethisoptionwhenyourunaprogramthatcannotsend

laserprintercommands.

2,2.5 TheEmulationparameter

The Star LaserPrinter4’s Emulationsetting defines which printer it is

imitating:Hewlett-PackardLaserJet11Por EpsonFX–850.

MostoftheotherEMULATIONvaluesbelowcanbechangedwithEscape

codesas wellas fromthe panel.

AfewcomputerschangecertaincontrolorEscapecodeswhensendingthem

totheprinter,whichnaturallycausesconfision.Moreover,manyprogram-

mersprefertoseehexadecimalprintoutwhentheyaredebuggingprograms.

To helpwiththesesituations,youcanmakeyourStarLaserPrinter4 print

inhexadecimalratherthanthe usualASCIImodebyswitchingONtheHEX

DUMPparametersetting.

19

I

2.2.6Hints:Thehexdump

.

●

●

●

To makeyourStarLaserPrinter4 ‘printin hexadecimalratherthanthe
usualASCIIsymbols,pressthecontrolpanelbuttonsthat puttheprinter
offlineand in PROGRAMmode.Moveto the EMULATIONparame­ter’sHEXDUMPsettingandselectON.

SomecontrolorEscapecodescanbeproblemsonafewcomputers;those
computemchangecertaincodeswhensendingthemtotheprinter.If you
thinkyouhavethisproblemyouneedto seeexactlywhatyourprinteris
receiving.Werecommendyourunashortprogramthatloopsthroughand
printstheASCIItable.PrintinhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCII
symbols.

If youspota problemcodeyoucantrytobypasstheproblem,eitherby
sendingeachcodedirectlyto the printer,or by changingyoursystem’s
printerdriver.Suchcomputer-specificsolutions,though,arebeyondthe
scopeof thismanual.We suggestthatif necessaryyouconsultanother
progranimermorefamiliarwithyourcomputer.

Actually,ifyouaredebugginganyprogramyou mayfindthishex-dump
modehelpfid. It canbe agreattrouble-shooter.

2.3CONTROLLINGTHE PAGE
In

this section we look at two controls you have over how the Star
LaserPrinter4 handlesand formatsits pages:You can set valuesfor the
PAPERFEEDand LAYOUTparametersonthe controlpanel.Attheendof
thissectionwe’llalsopreviewdifferentwaysto movetheprintposition.

2.3.1 ThePAPERFEEDparameter

ThePAPERFEEDparameterletsyouspecifybothwhatkindofpaperyou
wantandhowthepaperis fed.

Oneconvenientthingaboutalaserprinteristhatitdoesn’tneedcontinuous

forms, sometimescalledfanfohi paper. Otherprintersfeed in a stackof

forms—withpagesalljoinedbyperforations-by havingsprocketsengage
andpullalongpinfeedholespunchedalongeachsideofthepaper.Afterit’s
printedyouhave to tear off the pinfeed-holestripsand then separatethe
pages.

WiththeStarLaserPrinter4 youcanprintona varietyofordinarycutsheet
pages.

20

FortheFeedervalueofthisPAPERFEEDparameter,youfirstentereither
multi-purposetray,manualfeedor cassette(option)toindicatewhereyou
wantpaperfedfrom.Themulti-purposetrayhandlesvarioustypesand sizes
ofpaper(htter, Legal,A4,B5,Executive,OHPsheets,Labels,Envelopes).
Manualfeedmeansyoufeedeachsheetbyhandfromthemulti-purposetray.
Thecassettetrayautomaticallyfeedssinglesheets,much likesheet feeders
on othertypesof printers.

Thedefaultpapersize is A4,youcanspecifyothersizesgivenbelowtoo.A
different-sizedtrayautomaticallyselectsthatdifferentpapersize.

.
.

.

●

8.5 by 11inchletter-sizepaper

8.5by 14 inchlegal-sizepaper
B5 international(usedin everycountryexceptNorth America)
(182by 257mm)
thenarrower“executive”size(7.25by 10.5inches)

Oneothernicethingyoucan do is printdirectlyon envelopes.Withthis
PaperSizeparameteryoucanspecifyenvelopesin sizes,Monarch,COM-

10,InternationalC5 andDL.Thenjust workoutwhereto puttheaddress,

settheorientationtolandscape(seebelow),andslideyour envelopeintothe

multi-purposetray!
Inanyemulationmodeyoucansendyourprintercommandstochangepaper

sizeorfeedinpapermanually;youcanalsoselectthoseparametersfromthe
panel.Eitherway, a messagein theprinterdisplaytellsthe operatorwhat
papersizeto use.

2.3.2 Hints:Paper,labelsandtransparencies

.

.

ThebestpaperfortheStarLaserPrinter4 has a smoothfinishandisof

60to 105g/m2weight.Anypaperdesignedforphotocopiersshoulddothe
trickthough;Xemx4024andCanonNP printnicely.Highqualitycotton
bondpaper,whichcontainsupto25percentcottonfibres,workspassably
wellwithevenheavierweights.

Beawarethatanypuckeredor wovenfinishmaynotprintassharplyas
you’dlike.Avoid shinycoated paperormultipartforms.Anddon’teven
thinkaboutputtingin stapledor rippedpages.

21

I

● If youfrequentlychangepaperweights, you willprobablyget skewing

problems—linesthat print at an anglebecauseof misfeeding.For best
results,whenyourStarLaserPrinter4isfirstsetuphave thepaperfeeder
“squared”forpaperof atleast60 grams.Lighterpaper,thoughcheaper,
isn’treallythe way to economize.

● Wantto printonyourownpreprintedletterhead?Fine—solongasyour

logo’isn’tthermographed.Thickcoloredinkmaylookluxurious,butit
canalsowindupstuckalloveryourprinter’sroller.Stayawayfromany
inksthatsoftenatrelativelylowtemperatures;yourprinterfusespagesat
200°

c.

Thiswarning appliestocoloredpapertoo,ifithasbeentintedwithalow­temperaturedye.

● Whenprintingstartsfadingbecausethetonerislow, removethecartridge

andgentlymckitbackandforthhalfadozentimes.Don’ttipituporthe
tonermayspillout. Redistributingthetonerpowderthiswaycankeepthe
cartridgegoingforanothertrayof paper.

● No question,workingwithsinglelabelsheetsis more convenientthan

withcontinuouslabel stock.Laserprintersarefasterandproducebetter­lookinglabels than other printers.But laser printers,which work by
electrostaticphotographyrather than impact pressure, put different
stressesonlabelpaper.Eachsheethas tobendoverandthroughtheguide
rollers; moreover, fusing toner to the paper involvesheat. You can
eliminatetroubleby always feedinglabelsheetsmanually.

BothAvery’s“Lasergraphic”labelsand Canon’slabelsseem to work
fine.Yourmainconcernis thatthelabelscompletelycoverthebacking
sheetso it shows onlyattheoutsidemargins.Thatwayindividuallabels
can’teasilypeeloff.

Thesafestapproachistolaser-printsharpmastercopiesonpaperandthen
photocopythoselistsontolabels.Thiswillavoidputtingyourprinter’s
adjustmentfor paperthicknessoutof adjustment.

● If you wantto print transparenciesfor youroverheadprojector,some

films will actuallymelt in yourlaserprinter. Stick to 3M’smedium­weighttransparencyfilm(type501)or to Hewlett-Packard’s#92285J.

22

I

2.3.3 TheLAYOUTparameter

Thelayoutor@mat or setupof a pagerefersto howtextispositionedon
the page. Layout includespage orientation,marginsand the spacingof
charactersacrossandlinesdownthepage.Youcan controlthesewiththe
LAYOUTparameter.

You probablywon’t use the LAYOUT parameter on the front panel’s
piograrnmenuverymuchthough. Mostof thetimeyou’lleitherleavethe

StarLaserPrinter4 with its defaultsettings,or look afterpage formatting

withcommandsyousendfmm yourcomputer.

Pageorientation

Apage’sorientationtellsyouinwhichdirectiontheprintgoesonthepage.
Whenyouuseportraitorientationthelines areprintedastheyareinanormal

businessletter,acrossthewidth of thepage.Aportraitpaintingof a person

is usuallyvertical-hence the name.

LandsCap

Portrait

Whenyouuselandscapeorientationthewordsareprinted“ontheirsides,”

verticallyupthelengthofthepage.Textwrittenwithlandscapeorientation

onlylookscorrectwhenyouturnthe pagesoitslengthrunsside-to-side,just

likethepaintingof a landscape.
Envelopesmustbe printedwith landscapeorientation.You also will use

landscaperegularlyto printchafisor banners,andspreadsheetsor reports

withsomanycolumnstheywouldn’totherwisefiton the page.
AUinternalfonts, andalmostallcartridgeanddownloadedfonts,arestored

in the StarLaserPrinter4 withportraitorientation.

23

Margins,columnsandlines

Youcanchangemarginsettingsforall fouredgesofapage.Theleftandright

sidemarginscanhavevaluesfmm Oto 132,definingthemargincolumns
betweenwhichwordsandimagescanbe printed.Andthetop andbottom
marginscan be setat anywherefromOto 112lines.

Text

Length

{

Portrait

, Top Margin ,

\

Bottom Margin

/

Landscape

Orientation Orientation

Themeaningofaline(sometimescalleda“row”)isdefinedbythevertical
motionindex (VMI).Theprintermovestheprintpositiondownalinewhen

itgetsa LineFeedcode,usuallywhenit bumpsintotherightmargin.

You’llprobablyletyourcomputerprogramsetthelinedepth. Butfromthe

panelyou can set theVMIvaluein incrementsfrom 1/48to 255/48of an

inch.

2.3.4 Movingtheprintposition:a preview

Wh.hdot-matrixanddaisywheelprinters,youpickwheretoprintonthe page

eitherbymovingtheprintheadbackandforthorbymovingthepaperitself.

Laserpnntemdon’thaveprintheads,buttheprincipleremainsthesame:you

havetosayexactlywhereonthepageeachpictureandstringoftextistogo,

so eachpagecanbe constructedintheprinter’smemory.

Insteadoftalkingaboutpnntheadswetalkaboutmovingtheprintposition

(some people call it moving the “cursor,” using the computer-screen

analogy).Horizontally,youcanmovetheprint positionwithbackspaceand

carriagereturncommands.Vertically,youcanmovetheprintpositiondown

thepagebyprintingsomanylinesperinch,orbysendingline-feedandhalf

24