Star Micronics 8111 User Manual

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Applications Manual

Trademark Acknowledgements

LaserPrinter 8111: Star Micro&s Co., Ltd.
PageMaker: Aldus Corporation
Apple II +, Apples&t: Apple Computer Inc.
Bitstream, Zapf Humanist: Bitstream Inc.
Canon: Canon Inc.
Centronics: Cunronics Data Computer Corporatim

HP, LaserJet III: Hewlett-Packard Company

LaserControl: Insight Development Inc.
IBM PC, IBM Proprinter: International Business Machines Corp.
Optima, Century Schoolbook: Linotype Corporatia~
Lotus l-2-3: Lotus Development Corporation
M!?-DOS, Microsoft BASIC, Windows, Word, Microsoft BASIC: Microsoft Corporation
MultiMate: Multimate International

TRS-80: Radio Shack, a division of Tandy Corporatim

Epson, EX-800: Seiko Epsm Corporatim

WordPorlect: WordPerfect Corporation
Ventura Publisher: Xerox Corporatim

NOTICE

l All rights reserved. Reproductim of any w of this manual in any form whatsoever without

STAR’s expnxs pennissim is forbidden.

l ‘lhe contents of this manual are. subject to changp without notice.
l Alleffortshavebeenmade toensurctheaccuracyofthe contents ofthis manual at thetimeofpress.

However, should any ermrs be detected. STAR would greatly appreciate being informed of them.

l The above notwithstanding, STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors in this manual.

Q Copyright 199 1 Star Micro&s Co., Ltd.

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PREFACE

About this manual

This Star LaserPrinter 8111 Applications Manual gives you the information

you need to program the Star Micronics LaserPrinter 8111.

Why would you read this book? Most people using a laser printer just run
software packages with built-inprinter drivers. which look after everything

their computers send their printers. But many of us- small business people

and home computer users, not to mention the wizards who write those
software packages- want to benefit from all the new features offered by our

printers.
Do you want complete control over the characters and images you print? Do

you want to make your Star LaserPrinter 8111 work like some earlier kind of
printer? This manual provides the software help you need to get the most
from your LaserPrinter 8111.

Though this Applications Manual is really intended for intermediate to
advanced computer users, we’ve tried to accommodate relative novices too.
The information is organized so you can walk through the general theory
underlying printer programming before dancing into specific details. It
makes sense, therefore, to mad the first three chapters before jumping into the
middle.

There’s a good reason to read each chapter from its start too. People learning
how to use a new printer often find the terminology a barrier.
burying what may be new jargon in a Glossary at the back, we define each
new term the first time it appears. The whole first part of the chapter on fonts,

for example, defmes different aspects of afont (a collection of characters of
the same size and style).

So instead of

What’s in this manual?

l In “Getting to Know Your Star LaserPrinter 8111” we provide a list of the

features that make this a splendid printer, to help you choose which
features you want to exploit. There’s a bit on how laser printers work,
inside and out. The chapter then explains software in general terms,
including how to write control and Escape commands to make those
features work.

l “Controlling Your Printer” examines the parameters and “superset”

commands you give the StarLaserPrinter 8111 to direct precisely how you
want it to behave. These let you control the printer, manage page formats,
and specify what you want printed.

l For most of us, the “Fonts” chapter will be useful: how to use the fonts

built into the LaserPrinter 8111, plus those that come on cartridges or
computer disks.

l You may never look atmore than one or two of chapters4 through 6, which

cover Star LaserPrinter 8111 commands. Your LaserPrinter 8111 emulates

other printers:
they do. Just think of your Star LaserPrinter 8111 as three printers hiding
inside one unit.

it imitates other printers by accepting the same commands

. . .

If you want to write or modify a program that uses one of these printers­the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III, Epson EX-800, IBM Proprinter or ­chapters 4 through 6 show how your Star LaserPrinter 8111 can emulate

to accordingly. The chapters first describe how to control the printer and
to format pages, then how to move the print position, and finally how to
use fonts and graphics.

The chapter on the LaserJet III is longer and more detailed than the others.
That’s because you are more likely to use laser printer commands than
commands for dot matrix printers. (If you have software designed only
for dot matrix printers, you may have manuals for those printers anyway.)
We recommend you use LaserJet III emulation whenever possible, with
EX-800 emulation as your backup mode.

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l The final “Technical Supplement” containing the command and character

reference tables will probably get thumbed the most.

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Conventions

Incidentally, one of those Technical Supplement tables suggests a couple of
typographic conventions we’ll use. Base ten (decimal) numbers will gener­ally be used here; if we have to use base sixteen numbers (hexadecimal) we’ll
expressly say so.

And second, the lowercase L is practically identical to the number one (l
versus 1). Because lowercase L is used in many command descriptions, we’ll
use the character /to avoid confusion.

The Star LaserPrinter 8/N Operations Manual

This manual is the companion to the Star LaserPrinter 8111 Operations

Manual that came with your printer.

that requires care and delicate handling.
best, make sure you understand that Operations Manual first.

Your Operations Manual holds essential information about the LaserPrinter
8111, such as how to:

l unpack and set up your laser printer,
l connect the Star LaserPrinter 8111 to your computer’s serial or parallel

pofis

l link the LaserPrinter 8111 into a network of several computers,
l configure the LaserPrinter 8111 to your needs (with variables such as paper

size and speed of data transfer),

l load paper and the toner cartridge,
l operate the panel switches and display,
l run the LaserPrinter 8111 self-test,
l look after your printer to keep it in peak condition.

A laser printer is a fairly complex tool

So to use this Applications Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 GETTING TO KNOW YOUR STAR

LASERPRINTER 8III

Star LaserPrinter
Star LaserPrinter

8111 Hardware
8111 Software

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

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

1

1

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CHAPTER 2 CONTROLLING YOUR PRINTER

Parameters ................................................................................

Printer
Controlling
Controlling the Page
Controlling
The Star

the Printer.. ........................................................................

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

the Printing .......................................................................

LaserPrinter 8111

Superset ....................................................

CHAPTER 3 FONTS

Font Terminology
How the
Symbol
Managing

Star LaserPrinter

Sets

Fonts ...................................................................................

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

8111 Stores Fonts .......................................

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

CHAPTER 4 HP LASERJET III COMMANDS

HP LaserJet III Commands
Controlling
Page Orientation
Moving
Controlling Fonts
Using
Raster

‘Pattern

Vector
Macros

the Printer.. .......................................................................

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

the Print Position..

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

Your Own Fonts.. ......................................................................

Graphics ...................................................................................

Graphics

Graphics.. .................................................................................

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

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

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CHAPTER 5 EPSON EX-800 COMMANDS

EX-800

Controlling

Formatting

Moving

Controlling
Graphics

Commands ............................................................................

the Printer ........................................................................

Pages ................................................................................

the Print Position..

Fonts ................................................................................

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

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

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13
16

21
.28
.29

33

.33
.36
.39
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49

49

.5 1

.54
.58

66
.82
.86
.89
.94

116

119

119
121
122
125
130
139

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CHAPTER 6 IBM PROPRINTER COMMANDS

Proprinter Commands
Controlling the Printer
Formatting Pages

Moving the Print Position
Controlling Fonts
Graphics

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

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*..............................

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

CHAPTER 7 TECHNICAL SUPPLEMENT

Command summary
Symbol sets

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

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

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

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INDEX

145

145
146
147
147
150
153

155

156
164

215

This chapter introduces both the hardware and software aspects of the Star
LaserPrinter 8111’s personality, from fonts and print engine to ASCII and
Escape sequences.

STAR LASERPRINTER 8llI HARDWARE

Versatility

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Your Star Micronics Star Laser-Printer 8111 works with practically all
commercial software programs and computers. With features that go beyond
Star’s easy, affordable 9-pin and fast, quality-printing 24-pin dot matrix
printers, the Star Laser Printer is the logical next step in the series of fine Star
Micro&s printers.

. .

with up to 90,000 dots per square inch- no more NLQ (near letter quality)
compromises. The Star LaserPrinter 8111 produces eight of those pages a
minute. These numbers translate to about five times more resolution and
speed than the average dot-matrix printer.

Your Star LaserPrinter 8111 produces pages that look close to typeset quality,

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Star’s new printer is remarkably versatile. You can print complicated forms

(widthwise if you want) . . . detailed graphs . . . yourowncustomized typestyles
. . . digitized photographs . . . other languages (including Arabic and Japanese).

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You can even print your letterhead and logo as you print your letter, and
reprint them directly onto a business envelope. You don’t even need to

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remove the paper tray to print the envelope: just slide it into the manual feed
slot.

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1

The Star LaserPrinter 8111 is ideal for desktop publishing. The pages it
produces make perfect photocopy or instant-print masters. And all the main
desktop publishing systems, including Aldus Corporation’s PageMaker and
Xerox Ventura Pubisher, work splendidly with the Star LaserPrinter 8111.

With “page makeup” programs like these you will be able- maybe for the
first time- to deliver communications with the impact of top-notch
graphics.

Font options

You can print with an amazingly wide variety of type fonts and sizes. The

Star LaserPrinter 8111 comes with four built-in fonts, which can be printed
from 8.5 points to 12 points in size (apoint is about l/72 of an inch).
These fonts are:

CG Times Font

Univers Font

Courier Font

Line Printer Font

Besides these, you may be able to use optional cartridges and disks to give
your Star LaserPrinter 8111 a variety of extra fonts, such as these:

Helvet
Letter Gothic presentation fonts
Bar codes

line drawing

optical character reader fonts universal product code

You can load your Star LaserPrinter 8111’s memory with fonts stored on
computer disks. Literally hundreds of fonts are marketed by font-supply
companies. Some fonts are even obtainable from computer “user groups” or
“electronic bulletin boards”. Fonts you get this way are in the public domain,
which means you don’t need to pay a licence fee to use them.

Ask your Star LaserPrinter 8111 dealer about resources like these. Desktop
publishing with laser printers is fast-changing territory, and some Star
Micronics staff people have found electronic bulletin boards and computer
user groups quite helpful in keeping up with the changing pace. If you invest
a little time this way it may repay you well.

2

How your laser printer communicates

Your computer communicates with the Star LaserPrinter 8111 through either
a parallel cable or one of two kinds of serial cable. The printer’s interjhce,
the link or boundary it shares with your computer, defines whether the printer
will accept characters and commands from your computer one byte or one bit
at a time.

A bit is the smallest unit of computer or printer memory. It has either a low
or high electric charge, which we represent with the digits 0 and 1. Usually
eight adjacent bits are grouped to form a byte. Since a byte normally
represents one character, this string of bits- 01OOOOO1- might represent
the letter A.

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The serial interface accepts just one bit at a time from your computer. A
parallel interface can handle a whole byte at once, by moving data bits side-

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by-side along separate wires. You choose which interface method you want
to use by selecting it on the operator panel, as explained in your Star

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LaserPrinter 8111 Operations Manual.

The Star LaserPrinter 8111 is a computer

The Star LaserPrinter 8111 first maps the characters to be printed into its own

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random access memory (RAM). That is, the printer builds a “picture” in its
memory corresponding to the page you want to print. When that’s done the
printer can reproduce the page onto paper on its own, letting your computer
get on with other work.

Your Star LaserPrinter 8111 comes with one megabyte of RAM- the
equivalent of about one million characters. A Star LaserPrinter 8111 option
lets you add a second megabyte of RAM if, say, you need to map full-page
graphics or store more fonts. Accompanying all that RAM is another 5 12
kilobytes of read only memory (ROM), containing a library of internal fonts
and the programs that let the Star LaserPrinter 8111 emulate other printers.

A Motorola 68000 computer chip controls both the memory and the printing
mechanism in the printer, called the print engine. The printer stores a whole
page in RAM before printing it. (If a page is so dense that it overflows
memory-a most unlikely event-the Star LaserPrinter 8111 prints the page
on two sheets.)

3

The Print engine

It’s the print engine that forms the actual characters and graphics. The engine
directs its laser, a pinpoint stream of light pulses, through mirrors and lenses
onto the surface of a positively-charged rotating drum.

Mirror

Lens
Laser

ning mirror

Scam

Semiconductor

Photosensitive drum

laser diode

As the laser scans, it “draws”the page-map stored in your printer’s memory.
Wherever a light pulse strikes, that tiny part of the drum drops to a neutral
electrical charge. That spot then attracts fine toner powder as the drum rotates
past the powder compartment.

As the drum rotates further it meets the paper. The paper itself is negatively
charged by passing by a fine corona wire. Since opposite charges attract, the
negative paper clings to the positive drum. Then heat and pressure from a
roller melt orfuse the dots of toner onto the paper, precisely reproducing the
image.

Finally the paper slides into the output bin. The paper usually comes out face
down so it stacks in the correct sequence.

4

STAR LASERPRINTER 8JlI SOFTWARE

Binary and hexadecimal arithmetic

If you already know what hexadecimal numbers am, you can skip this section

and go ahead to read about ASCII.

The decimal number system with which we’re all familiar is a positional
counting system. There’s the “ones” position, the “tens” position, the “hun­dreds” position and so on. Each higher position is worth ten times more than
the position to the right of it, since the decimal system uses the base of ten.
Moreover, we need ten symbols to show the actual values that may be in each
position.

The binary system is positional too. There’s the “ones” position, the “twos”
position, the “fours” position, the “eights” position and so on. In binary each
position is worth only twice that of the position to its right. And we only need
two symbols- 0 (zero) and 1 (one& to show the values that may be in any
position. So in binary we get numbers that look like 1010 or 10001100.

The hexadecimal system is made of base-sixteen numbers. Hexadecimal is
positional like the other counting systems. And each higher position is worth

sixteen times as much as the position to its right.

We need sixteen different symbols to show all the possible values one
hexadecimal digit could have. We can use our decimal system’s ten symbols,
but we’ve had to borrow a few more from our alphabet to get all the symbols

we need. In hexadecimal, therefore, you can have a number that looks like
2C7C, or even FACE.

Here’s how the decimal, binary and hexadecimal number systems compare:

Decimal

0

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Binary

0001
0010
0011
0100
0101
0110
0111

Hexadecimal

0 8 loo0

1
2 10 1010 A
3
4 12 1100
5 13
6
7 15

Decimal

9

11 1011

14 1110 E

Binary

1001

1101

1111 F

Hexadecimal

8
9

B
C

D

5

The important thing to realize is that there’s more than one way to show the

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same numeric value. Computer programmers, for example, occasionally use

the hexadecimal system because it’s so compact. (Programmers often just

say “hex”.) This binary number:

101001011111110100110111111011010010110100001001

looks quite a bit tidier when it is written as A5 FD 37 ED 2D 09, which means
the same thing.

The ASCII table

Where does the Star LaserPrinter 8111 get the characters and instructions it

needs to print in the first place? It gets them from your computer, which sends

a stream of text and commands to your printer.

The program in your computer that controls everything sent to the printer

(called the printer driver) will usually be included with your computer
programs, such as your word processor. But the commands could also come
from a program you’ve written, perhaps in BASIC, a programming language
that uses common English words.

Internally, computers and printers use only the binary number system to
represent both commands and all the alphabetic, numeric and other key­board symbols. Nearly all of those machines use the same scheme to code
those symbols, the American Standards Code for Information Interchange

(ASCII).
Anexample: inourfamiliardecimal system, binary01001010 adds up to the

number 74. Depending on which program your printer is using, it can
interpret that binary string 010010 10 as either the number 74 or the symbol

J . The printer stores the symbol J at position 74 in a table in its memory.

That eight-bit binary string, or byte, can be broken into two halves. The left
or high-order part containing 0100 is called the zone portion; the right part
holding the 1010 is called the digits portion. And in the hexadecimal number

system, the zone and digit parts of that byte are represented as 4 and A
respectively (look them up in the list above).

So the laser printer understands the symbol J as 01001010, which we can

also represent as the decimal number 74 or the hexadecimal number 4A.
We’ve printed this byte vertically and horizontally below, showing how it
adds up to decimal 74 and hex 4A.

6

we

0x2’ = 0

1x26 =64
0x25 = 0
ox24 = 0

1~2~ = 8
ox22 = 0

1x2’ = 2
Ox2O = Q

74 Decimal

zone digits

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0100 1010 Binary
4 A

Hexadecimal

The ASCII table in the Technical Supplement shows all these equivalent
representations for the symbols your laser printer understands. The table
organizes them in ascending order. In fact, ASCII is organized in a way that
actually makes sense.

Flip back there for a quick look right now. See how you can slice the table
into clumps of 16 or 32, based on what’s in the zone portion under the
hexadecimal column? These clumps make subgroups of similar symbols:

l hex 00 to 1F are the command symbols called control codes,

. hex 20 to 40 are the common keyboard symbols and numerals,

l hex 41 to 60 are capital letters and the less common keyboard symbols,
l hex 61 to 7F are lowercase letters and a few final symbols.

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That takes care of the first 128 ASCII symbols. However, nearly every

computer and printer manufacturer treats the second half of the table
differently. Hewlett-Packard, for example, puts a variety of accented

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foreign language characters into positions 128-255 (often referred to as high

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

character graphics.

Control codes

The ASCII table shows symbols like J or 2 the way they actually print on the
laser printer. But ASCII includes mom than just printable characters: none
of the control code commands at the beginning of the table actually print.

Instead, when your computer sends a control code to the laser printer it

makes your printer do other things, such as sound its beeper.

7

Control codes mostly handle communications between your computer and
the printer at the lowest level, at cable level. For example, a couple of control
codes make sure the printer buffer (your printer’s storage memory) doesn’t
overflow. In this book we’ll indicate control codes enclosed by angle
brackets to their abbreviations in the table: <FF> means the Form Feed
control code, which advances the printer to the next page just as the PRINT
button does.

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Escapesequences

Control code 27, <ES0 or Escape, is a particularly important one for
printers. To tell your printer all the things you might need- setting margins,
saying where to print, choosing a particular font, starting graphics and so
on- requires many more than just two or three dozen control codes. So the
<ES0 control code has a special meaning: <ES0 means “the next
character specifies a command, not something to be printed”.

Therefore if you send just the character 4 to the printer it will print a 4 and
that’s all. But if you send the <ES0 code just before the 4 then the printer
(in EX-800 mode) will switch over to italics text. Extending the control
codes this way gives you many more commands to control your printer. In
fact, these “Escape sequences” make up most of the Star Laser Printer’s
language.

In this book we’ll leave spaces between characters when we show escape
sequences. You’ll find

a bit more readable than

<ESC> (sOplOh12vOs3T

But remember that you are not to send those spaces if you send commands

to the printer.

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To sum up, printer commands are of two types. A control code is a single­character command that tells your printer to do something, like move down
one line. An Escape sequence controls a printer operation too, but is more
than one character long. Since they am commands, neither control codes nor
escape sequences am usually printable characters.

8

Printer drivers

Most software packages already include the printer commands they need.

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i

The programs that send commands to the printer so you don’t have to enter
them yourself are called printer drivers.

Many programs ask you to install or conjigure your printer, which usually
means keying into a menu the particular setup information describing your
Star LaserPrinter 8111. You enter such things as how you want to underline,

alter line spacing, or move to a new print position.

Some programs, such as WordPerfect and the systems from Lotus Devel­opment Corporation, let you put printer Escape sequences before or right
inside the document you want to print. To turn on boldface, for example, you
might hold down special keys on your keyboard, often labelled CONTROL
or ALT, as you press another key. Or you might use a special Function key,
such as F6.

In fact, to take real advantage of your StarLaserPrinter 8111’s special abilities,
you might opt for a word processor that lets you specify font changes easily.

WordPerfect and Microsoft Word are strong at this, but are by no means the

only good font manipulators.
If you have trouble using a particular program with your Star LaserPrinter

8111, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software

supplier how the program interacts with your printer.
In this manual we refer to programs, fonts and other products sold by several

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companies. Please realize that mentioning these products does not mean Star
Micronics endorses them in any way.

Sending your own printer commands

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Without a printer driver, sending control codes and Escape sequences to
your printer properly requires some knowledge of a programming language
like BASIC or Pascal, or at least of how to put such codes into a program.
With programming languages, the computer doesn’t act on the commands
you put into a program until you tell it to run that program.

When you give a command to the printer from a computer program, you
normally enter each part of the command as a separate character. This way
you don’t affect anything else happening on the computer. You often send
each code or character in the command by giving its position in the ASCII
table, as a decimal or hex number.

9

A BASIC example

Here’s an example you can typo in right now, to clarify what we’re saying.
It’s written in Microsoft BASIC for a computer that uses the MS-DOS
operating system, so if you have a different computer or BASIC you may
have to translate a bit. We’ll show commands the way they’re written for an
Epson dot-matrix printer because your Star LaserPrinter 8 understands those
commands.

The LPRINT commands all send data to the printer. If the data is something
you want printed you just put it in quotation marks. If the data is a control
code you just say where it is in the ASCII table, giving its position as a regular
decimal number.

BASIC usually sends a carriage return after every 80 characters, to keep the
print position moving when it hits the end of a line. Unasked-for carriage
returns can mess up your printing, however, so it’s a good habit to put in a
WIDTH statement as shown. That lets us print over the whole page area.

The cBEL> control code - ASCII code 7 - is sent in BASIC as CHR$(7).
The <ES0 code itself is CHR$(27). And because we’re using the character
4 as part of an &SC> command, we type CHR$(52) instead of “4”.
So if you start BASIC and type these commands:

NEW

EXAMPLE

10 )

20 WIDTH "LPT1:",255
30 LPRINT CHR$(7)
40 LPRINT CHR$(27);CHR$(52)

50 LPRINT "ITALICS!"

60 END

RUN

you make the printer (in EX-800 mode) first sound its bell- most people
call it a beeper- and then print the line:

ITALICS!

Generally, when you send a control or Escape code it stays active until you
deactivate it. That’s what happens in line 40 of our program above. All
subsequent text will be italicized until you change it back to upright again.

10

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Most programming languages, and some versions of BASIC, let you treat the
printer as a file to which you can send data. When you write a program with
one of these languages you “open” the printer file, print into it, and then
“close” the file when you’re done. This programming jargon sounds funny
if you’re not used to it- but it works.

A few programming languages let you send commands to the printer a third

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way. Applesoft BASIC is one. With it, you can switchbetween printeroutput

and screen output.

Printer emulations

You noticed that we said “in EX-800 mode” up there? Your Star Laser­Printer 8111 responds to the same escape sequence commands that several

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other printers use. Being able to emulate the Epson EX-800 lets you use your
Star LaserPrinter 8111 with older programs that haven’t been updated to take
advantage of laserprinters. In fact, because it emulates three of the most
popular printers, you can use the Star LaserPrinter 8111 with just about any

microcomputer program around.

Unfortunately those printers often use different escape sequences for
exactly the same function. Those printers, moreover, provide escape se­quences for functions the Star LaserPrinter 8111 doesn’t need. When your

printer gets a command it doesn’t support, it just ignores the command.

Macros am single control codes you can define yourself, which do the work

of a whole long series of printer commands. If you am a programmer you will

be happy to hear the Star LaserPrinter 8111 supports up to 99 macros at once.

11

NOTES

12

You can control your Star LaserPrinter 8111 in two ways, either through front
panel parameters or through software commands. In this chapter we will
consider printer controls mostly from the perspective of the front panel.
However, we’ll also meet three special commands, the Star LaserPrinter 8111

superset.

Throughout this manual we approach parameters and commands the same

way: overall printer-level controls first, then page-level controls (layout and
print position movements), and finally character-level controls (fonts and
graphics). We’ll discuss these in general terms in this chapter.

The specific commands you can send to your printer to make it emulate, or
work like, other printers are described in chapters 4 through 6. The most
important fact about printer commands, though, is that you may not even
need to know how to use them. If your software systems include their own
printer drivers, you may want to read only this chapter and skip all of
chapters 4 through 6.

PRINTER PARAMETERS

The front panel

- The easiest way to control your Star LaserPrinter 8111 is through its front
panel, as explained in more detail in your Star LaserPrinter 8111 Operations

Manual.

When your printer is online (connected to and under the control of your
computer), its front panel display shows you the printer’s status. For
example, the READY light blinks when the printer is warming up. The
DATA light comes on whenever the printer is holding data it hasn’t printed
yet.

When you press the ON LINE button, the printer changes from normal to

ofline mode and cannot accept data from your computer. When the printer

is offline you can use the other panel buttons. For instance, if you press the

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printing the current page and then feeds in and prints a status sheet.
Some buttons on the panel let you perform two functions. Holding one of

those buttons down, rather than quickly pressing it, selects a different
operation. For example, holding down the TEST/PREVIOUS button for
over five seconds makes the Star LaserPrinter 8 print its test pattern.

Parameter settings

From the panel you can also change the parameters that define how your
printer works. Parameter just means “variable”. If you’re familiar with

earlier kinds of printers, you’ll understand that laser printer parameters
control pretty much the same things DIP witches do. (A DIP switch or “dual
in-line package switch’ is a set of small switches that control various printer
functions.)

The printer stores these parameters as easy-to-use program menu items that
you can select from the control panel. These parameters specify:

l character (what character font to print)
l layout (how pages will be formatted)
l paper feed (what paper the printer will use)
l command (which commands the printer will accept)
l interface (how the printer communicates with your computer)

A default is the setting the Star LaserPrinter 8 will use if none is specifically
selected by a program. When you first turn on or later reset your printer these
default settings will take effect,

Your main use for the front panel will likely be to set the default settings you
want for these parameters. However, you will probably find the panel
convenient too when you want to switch between manual and automatic

paper feed.

-

-

-

Four versions of parameters

The Star LaserPrinter 8 actually stores four versions of these parameters:

l its “ultimate default” factory settings,
l the power-on settings in effect when you first turn on the printer,
l your initial settings for one particular session,
l and the current settings that the printer is using now.

These are in priority order. The current settings always override the initial
session settings, which in turn override the power-on settings, which in turn
override the factory settings.

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override the factory settings.

Factory settings are programmed into the Star LaserPrinter 8111 when it is

built at the factory. Your printer keeps the factory settings for its parameters
in ROM; they never change. You can copy them into the current settings or

any other settings as needed. But the only way you can return to the factory

defaults is from the front panel; no commands do this.
A few factory default settings am as follows:

Item
Emulation
Feeder

Factory default setting
HP LaserJet III
Paper cassette

Number of Copies 1

Orientation Portrait
Font
Linesrtnch

The power-on settings am the normal default settings. The printer keeps

1 O-pitch 12-point Courier (internal)

6 lines per inch

them even when you turn off the power. When you turn on the printer, these

power-on settings get copied into the initial and current parameter settings.

You probably will not often change the Star LaserPrinter 8111’s initial set-

rings (sometimes called “session settings’*). You’ll likely only change them

-

when you want to use a different printer emulation than normal. These initial
settings stay the same as the power-on settings until you change them.

b_

On the other hand, your software will probably change the current settings
many times within the same document, with every change of font or print
style.

. . .

_....

How to change parameters

With the printer offline, if you press the PROGRAM button the printer goes
into “program” mode. You can then step through the laser printer’s four
levels of program menu to configure your printer. That’s the process of

L..

changing certain printer settings so your computer and printer can commu­nicate properly.

It’s actually pretty easy. Flipping through and setting parameters from the

. .

panel is described in detail in the Star LaserPrinter 8111 Operations Manual.
Basically, all you do is press the NEXT or PREVIOUS buttons to scroll

-.

through the sequence of possible parameters and values, which is clearly
shown on the panel display. You press ENTER when you want to go down

15

and scroll through a lower menu level. And you also press ENTER when
you want to save a particular menu item as the value for a current parameter
setting.

The three last menu headings let you load one version of the parameters into

another version. Two move the current parameter values into either the
initial or power-up parameters. The final menu option goes the other way,
letting you load the factory parameter settings as your current settings.

CONTROLLING THE PRINTER

In this section you’ll meet two separate controls over how the Star Laser­Printer 8 itself works. The INTERFACE parameter controls communica­tions between the printer and your computer. And the COMMAND parame­ter determines, among other things, which set of commands the printer will
use. You can set these INTERFACE and COMMAND parameters on the

front panel.

The 1NTERFACE parameter

The INTERFACE parameter, the most basic of the Star LaserPrinter 8’s

configuration settings, defines how your computer connects to the printer.

You can set the INTERFACE to either Serial or Parallel (in IBM or

Centronics mode). In most single-computer environments you’ll opt for the

faster Parallel interface; in a multi-user network you may be better off with

Serial.

The particular printer interface settings don’t matter as much as making sure

they match those on your computer. If you use an MS-DOS computer, you

can set your computer’s parameters with the MODE command. See your

MS-DOS manual.

Most MS-DOS and AT-compatible computers support up to three parallel

and two serial ports, which come on expansion boards you plug into your
computer. When you install such boards you must set switches to indicate
the number and addresses of these ports. If you specify the wrong addresses,
you won’t be able to print.

Serial interface: rate

If you ask for the Serial interface you’ll have to tell your printer more about
how the data will be coming in- in particular its rate and unit size and the
meanings of any special bits.

-

The Rate parameter specifies how fast data will be arriving, measured in

bati (named after the French communications engineer Jean Baudot). Rick
any of the following data transfer rates:

300 baud
600 baud

1200 baud
2400 baud
4800 baud
9600 baud (the default)

19200 baud.

Roughly, one character a second works out to 11 baud. If you’re not sure how
fast your computer will transmit, the general rule is to experiment. Try
sending a page to print at the highest speed, and work your way down until

the printer’s output looks OK.

Serial interface: special bits

In Serial mode you’ll also have to specify if your computer sends data bits

in groups of seven (most computers send eight, the default for a byte).
Sometimes an extra bit gets appended to make the sum of all bits in each

character always odd or even; that’s calledpa&y.

A parity bit can help spot
transmission errors. If your computer sends that extra parity bit, you’ll have
to say whether it produces an even or odd number of “on” bits in the
character.

You’ll also have to indicate if your computer sends two stop bits to indicate
the end of a byte, instead of one, the default. These serial interface settings
are described in more detail in your Star LmerPrinter 8111 Operations

Manual.

Serial interface: protocol

Finally, in Serial mode your computer will use one of three protocols to
ensure data is sent properly. Protocol (sometimes also called “handshak­ing”) means “who says what when”, and is the way your printer tells your
computer it’s ready to receive data. Your computer and printer communicate
by sending protocol control codes (they’re at the front of the ASCII table).

Some programmers call the XON and XOFF control codes “kiss on and kiss
off ‘; others call the same protocol DC1 and DC3 (for device control). Either
way, these codes let your printer run the show, telling the computer when to
start and stop sending data. Your printer asks to have data held back when its
memory is nearly full or when it senses an ERROR condition.

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DTR (Data Terminal Ready) protocol does the same thing slightly differ­ently. The printer sends a continuous high-voltage signal over the cable as
long as it can accept data, but drops the voltage to say “whoa” to the
computer.

Conversely, it’s the computer that holds the reins with the ETX/ACK (End­of-text/Acknowledge) protocol. The computer sends an ETX control code
after each string of data, and when the printer finally gets that code it sends
an ACK code back to the computer, asking for more. This protocol is less
used by modem computers because it doesn’t hold back data when the
printer’s memory gets swamped.

Look in your computer’s operations manual, in the section dealing with
communications protocols, to see which is best for your system. You can
stick to the printer’s defaults if your computer uses neither the DTR nor the
ETX/ACK protocol, but does use XON/XOFF.

If you want to enable DTR or ETX/ACK, or disable XON/XOFF, you’ll
have to set those parameter values accordingly. Turning on one of these
protocols automatically flips off the others.

Checking your connections

Your computer and printer may have trouble communicating when you first

introduce them to each other. The quick way to find out if your settings and
printer cable are working is to send your printer a printout from your screen
(CTRL-P with MS-DOS).

When that’s done you will also have to press the print button on the printer,
which makes the printer advance to a new sheet. No laser printer prints and
ejects a page until it’s told to feed a form, or until it has received all the lines
the page can hold.

If your Star LaserPrinter 8 doesn’t print what’s on the computer screen,

recheck your connections and interface settings. With an applications
program like Lotus 1-2-3 or Microsoft Word, you use a printer setup routine
to match your computer with your printer’s operating characteristics. So
double-check your software settings; your computer’s output, for example,
might not be going to the proper port.

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Printer emulations

OK, you’ve got your printer and computer connected properly. Now let’s

-.

focus on how your printer works.
Your Star LaserPrinter 8111 understands and uses the same commands as

several earlier kinds of printers. Your printer works by emulating one of

these:

l Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III

9 Epson EX-800

l IBM Proprinter

Other laser printers may offer such emulations too, but often require
installation of a new circuit board for each emulation. Star Micronics has
built these three emulations into the Star LaserPrinter 8111.

You select which emulation you want either by selecting it from the print
program menu on the Star LaserPrinter 8111’s front panel, or by sending the
printer one of the superset commands at the end of this chapter.

What are the emulated printers like?

Most of the time you will probably choose HP LaserJet III emulation, which

is the default when you turn on the Star LaserPrinter 8111. That’s because the

LaserJet III, like the Star LaserPrinter 8111, is a laser printer. This emulation
mode gives you the best control over your printer’s features, and works with
most popular applications programs.

-.

The EX-800 emulation is quite powerful too. It includes all the dot-matrix
printer commands (including graphics) used by hundreds of programs.
Mostly, you’ll choose this option when you run a program that cannot send

-_

laser printer commands.
The Proprinter, a dot-matrix printer like the EX-800, has a similar command

set. You likely will opt for Proprinter emulation only when you want to use
computer programs specifically designed for the Proprinter and IBM com­puter environment.

-.

b_

,I

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The Command parameter

The Star LaserPrinter 8’s Emulation setting defines which printer it is
imitating: Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series II, Xerox Diablo 630, Epson
EX-800 or IBM Proprinter.

Most of the other COMMAND values below can be changed with Escape
codes as well as from the panel.

As the Number of Copies setting suggests, the Star LaserPrinter 8 can print
either just one copy of each page sent to it, or multiple copies up to 99. Most
word processing and other packages, however, let you look after multiple
copies of a document without using this command. You may consequently
prefer to leave this at the default (one copy), changing it only as necessary
through software commands.

Two settings are only meaningful when you are using HP LaserJet series II
commands. First, if you enable Macro Overlay, from zero to 99 macros can
be active.

Second, most of the time you’ll want to print across the width of the page,
but occasionally you may want to print up the length of the page. Unlike most
other laser printers, your Star LaserPrinter 8 lets you rotate fonts to print
either way- you don’t have to buy separate fonts to print sideways on the

page.
Your printer normally feeds a new form when you rotate a font, to avoid

accidentally printing both orientations on the same page. But if you want to
intermix orientations, just change the value of FF on Rotate to NO. (Font

orientation is explained in more detail below with the LAYOUT parameter.)

E

A few computers change certaincontrol or Escape codes when sending them
to the printer, which naturally causes confusion. Moreover, many program­mers prefer to see hexadecimal printout when they are debugging programs.
To help with these situations, you can make your Star LaserPrinter 8 print
in hexadecimal rather than the usual ASCII mode by switching ON the HEX
DUMP parameter setting (see the sidebar below).

The last three COMMAND values concern the physical machine. You can
set the intensity of the printer’s LCD display from 1 (faint) to 7 (bright); its
default setting is 4. You can enable or disable both the beeper and the
Warning Alarm (which sounds continuously).

20

I

Hints: The hex dump

l To make your Star LaserPrinter 8111 print in hexadecimal rather than the

usual ASCII symbols, press the front panel buttons that put the printer
offline and in PROGRAM mode. Move to the COMMAND parameter’s

HEX DUMP setting and select ON.

l Some control or Escape codes can be problems on a few computers; those

computers change certain codes when sending them to the printer. If you
think you have this problem you need to see exactly what your printer is
receiving. We recommend you run a short program that loops through and
prints the ASCII table. Print in hexadecimal rather than the usual
ASCII symbols.

l If you spot a problem code you can try to bypass the problem, either by

sending each code directly to the printer, or by changing your system’s
printer driver. Such computer-specific solutions, though, are beyond the
scope of this manual. We suggest that if necessary you consult another
programmer more familiar with your computer.

l Actually, if you are debugging any program you may find this hex-dump

mode helpful. It can be a great trouble-shooter.

CONTROLLING THE PAGE

In this section we look at two controls you have over how the Star
LaserPrinter 8111 handles and formats its pages: You can set values for the
PAPER PEED and LAYOUT parameters on the front panel. At the end of
this section we’ll also preview different ways to move the print position.

The PAPER FEED parameter

The PAPER PEED parameter lets you specify both what kind of paper you

want and how the printer is to handle automatic print-position movements
(carriage returns and so on).

One convenient thing about a laser printer is that it doesn’t need continuous

form, sometimes called fanfold paper. Other printers feed in a stack of

forms- with pages all joined by perforations- by having sprockets engage

and pull alongpinfeed holes punched along each side of the paper. After it’s
printed you have to tear off the pinfeed-hole strips and then separate the
pages.

21

With the Star LaserPrinter 8 you can print on a variety of ordinary cut sheet

pages.
For the Feeder value of this PAPER FEED parameter, you first enter either

cassette or manual feed to indicate where you want paper fed from. The
cassette tray automatically feeds single sheets, much like sheet feeders on
other types of printers. Manual feed means you feed each sheet by hand.

The default paper size is 8.5 by 11 inch letter-size paper, a different-sized
tray automatically selects that different paper size. If you choose manual

feed you can specify other sizes too:

l 8.5 by 14 inch legal-size paper
l A4 international (used in every country except North America)

(210 by 297 mm)

l B5 international (used in every country except North America)

(182 by 257 mm)

l the narrower “executive” size (7.25 by 10.5 inches)

One other nice thing you can do is print directly on envelopes. With this
Paper Size parameter you can specify envelopes in sizes #lo, Monarch,
European C5 and DL. Then just work out where to put the address, set the
orientation to landscape (see below), and slide your envelope into the
manual feed slot. Easy!

In any emulation mode you can send your printer commands to change paper
size or feed in paper manually; you can also select those parameters from the
panel. Either way, a message in the printer display tells the operator what
paper size to use.

Auto parameters

The printposition refers to the point on the page where the next character will

be printed. When the printer reaches the end of a line, the Auto Parameters
settings tell it whether or not to automatically:

l return the print position to the left margin (carriage return, sometimes

just called “Return”),

l or move it down one line (line feed ),
l or keep text out of the side margin (auto wrap ),
l or keep text out of the bottom margin cform feed ).

22