Star Micronics LaserPrinter 4 User Manual

APPLICA TIONS MANUAL

80821860

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 whatsoever without

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 gives you the information youneedto programthe StarMicronicsLaserPrinter4.

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

Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharacte~andimagesyouprint?Do youwantto makeyourStarLaserPrinter4 worklikesomeearlierkindof printer? Thismanualprovidesthesoftwarehelpyouneedto get themost fromyourLaserPrinter4.

ThoughthisApplicationsManual is reallyintendedfor intermediateto advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo. The informationisorganizedso youcan walk throughthe generaltheory underlyingprinterprogrammingbeforedancinginto specificdetails. It makessense,therefore,to readthefirstthreechaptersbeforejumpinginto themiddle.

There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstarttoo.Peoplelearning howto useanew printeroftenfindtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof buryingwhatmaybenewjargoninaGlossaryattheback,wedefineeach newtermthefirsttimeitappears.Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts, forexarnple,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof the samesizeand style).

What’sin thismanual?

● In “Gettingto KnowYourStarLaserPrinter4“ we providea listof the

featuresthat make this a splendidprinter, to help you choosewhich feahuesyouwantto exploit. There’sa bit on how laserprinterswork, insideandout. Thechapterthenexplainssoftwarein generalterms,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 mostofus, the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful: howtousethefonts

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

● Youmayneverlookatchapters4 and5, whichcoverStarLaserPrinter

4 commands. YourLaserPnnter4 emulates otherprinters: it imitates otherprintersby acceptingthe samecommandstheydo. Just think of yourStarLaserPrinter4 as two printershidinginsideoneunit.

Ifyouwanttowriteormodifyaprogramthatusesoneoftheseprinters— theHewlett-PackardLaserJet11Por EpsonFX-850- chapters4 and5 showhow yourStar LaserPrinter4 can emulateto accordingly. The chaptersfirstdescribehowtocontroltheprinterandtoformatpages,then howtqmovetheprintposition,andfinallyhowtousefontsandgraphics.

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 havemanualsfor those printers anyway.) We recommendyou use LaserJetHP emulationwhenever possible,withFX-850emulationas yourbackupmode.

c Thefinal“TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-

ter mfextmcetableswill probablygetthumbedthe most.

Conventions

Incidentally,oneofthoseTechnicalSupplementtables suggestsacoupleof typographicconventionswe’lluse.Baseten(decimal)numberswillgenerallybe used here;if we havetouse base sixteennumbers(hexadecimal) we’llexpresslysay so.

Andsecond,the lowercaseLis practicallyidenticaltothenumberone(1versus 1). BecauselowercaseL is usedinmanycommanddescriptions,we’ll usethecharacter/to avoidconfusion.

TheStarLaserPrinter4 OperationsManual

ThismanualisthecompaniontotheStarLaserPrin?er4OperatwnsiWanuaZ thatcamewithyourprinter.Alaserprinteris a fairlycomplextoolthatrequirescareanddelicatehandling.Soto usethisApplicationsl14anualbest, makesureyouunderstandthat OperationsManual first.

Your OperationsManual holds essentialinformationabout the LaserPrinter4, such as howto:

●

unpackandsetup yourlaserprinter,

●

connecttheStarLaserPrinter4 toyourcomputer’sserialorparallelport,

✎

linktheLaserPrinter4 intoanetworkof severalcomputers,

✎

configuretheLaserPrinter4 to yourneeds(withvariablessuchas paper sizeandspeedof datatransfer),

●

loadpaperandthetonercartridge,

●

operatethe panelswitchesanddisplay,

●

runtheLaserPrinter4 self-test,

●

lookafteryourprinterto keep it in peakcondition.

CHAPTER1 GETTINGTOKNOWYOURSTAR

LASERPRINTER4

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

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

CHAPTER2 CONTROLLINGYOURPRINTER

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

2.2ControllingthePrinter

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

2.4ControllingthePrinting

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

CHAPTER3 FONTS

3.1FontTerminology

3.2HowtheStarLaserPrinter4 StoresFonts

3.3SymbolSets

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

CHAPTER4 HPLASERJETIIP COMMANDS

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

4.2ControllingthePrinter

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

4.4MovingthePrintPosition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER5 EPSONFX-850COMMANDS

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

5.2ControllingthePrinter

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

5.4MovingthePrintPosition

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

5.6Graphics

CHAPTER6 TECHNICALSUPPLEMENT

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

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

INDEX

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

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

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

95 99

113

119

15’7

Gettingto Know Your ‘” “

Star LaserPrinter

T& chapterintroducesboththehardwareandsoftwareaspectsof theStar 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, withupto90,000dotspersquareinch—nomoreNLQ(nearletterquality) compromises.The Star LaserPrinter4 producesfour of those pages a minute.Thesenumberstranslateto aboutfivetimesmoreresolutionand

aboutthreetimesmore speedthantheaveragedot-matrixprinter. Star’snewprinteris~markablyversatile.Youcanprintcomplicatedforms

(widthwiseif you want)... detailedgraphs... yourowncustomizedtypestyles... digitizedphotographs... Japanese).

otherlanguages(includingArabic and

Youcan even printyourletterheadandlogoas youprintyourletter, and reprintthemdirectlyontoa businessenvelope.You don’teven need to removethepapertraytoprinttheenvelope:justslideitintothemanualfeed slot.

The StarLaserPrinter4isidealfordesktoppublishing.Thepagesit produces makeperfectphotocopyorinstant-printmasters.Andallthemaindesktop publishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMaker andXerox VenturaPubisher,worksplendidlywiththeStarLaserPrinter4.With“page makeup”programsliketheseyouwillbe able—maybeforthefirsttime— to delivercommunicationswiththe impactof top-notchgraphics.

1.1.2Fontoptions

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

Thesefontsare:

Courier Courier 12point Bold Courier Courier 1Opoint Courier Courier LinePrinter 8.5point Medium

Besidesthese,youmaybeabletouseoptionalcartridgesanddisksto give yourStar LaserPrinter4 a varietyof extrafonts,suchasthese:

Helvet LetterGothic presentationfonts Barcodes

12point Medium 12point Italic

Medium 1Opoint Bold 1Opoint Italic

linedrawing

opticalcharacterreaderfontsuniversalproductcode

You can load your Star LaserPrinter4’smemory with fonts stored on computerdisks.Literallyhundredsof fonts are marketedby font-supply companies.Somefontsareevenobtainablefromcomputer’’usergroups”or “electronicbulletinboards”.Fontsyougetthiswayareinthepublicdomain, whichmeansyou don’tneedtopay a licencefeetousethem.

Ask your Star LaserPrinter4 dealer aboutresourceslike these. Desktop publishingwith laser printemis fast-changingterritory,and some Star Micronicsstaffpeople havefoundelectronicbulletinboardsandcomputer usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeepingupwiththechangingpace.Ifyouinvest a littletimethiswayitmayrepayyouwell.

1.2.3HowyourIaserprinter communicates

YourcomputercommunicateswiththeStarLaserPrinter4 througheither

apardef cableoroneoftwokindsof serialcable.Theprinter’sinterjzce, the link or boundaryit shares with your computer,defines whetherthe

printerwillacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyte or onebit at a time.

Abitisthesmallestunitof computerorprintermemory.Ithaseitheralow orhighelectriccharge,whichwerepresentwiththedigitsOand 1.Usually eight adjacentbits are grouped to form a byte. Since a byte normally representsonecharacter,thisstringofbits- O1OOOOO1—might represent 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 firstmapsthecharactemto beprintedintoits own randomaccessmemory(RAM).Thatis, theprinterbuildsa“picture”inits

memorycorrespondingtothepage youwanttoprint.Whenthat’sdonethe printercanreproducethepageontopaperonitsown,lettingyourcomputer getonwithotherwork.

YourStarLaserPrinter4 comeswithonemegabyteofRAM—theequivalentofaboutonemillioncharacters.AStarLaserPrinter4 optionlets you addasecondmegabyteofRAMif,say,youneedto mapfull-pagegraphics orstemmorefonts. AccompanyingallthatRAMis another512kilobytes ofreadonlymemory(ROM),containingalibraryofinternalfontsandthe programsthatlettheStarLaserPrinter4 emulateotherprinters.

An Intel 80960KAcomputerchip controls both the memory and the printingmechanisminthepnnter,calledtheprintengine.Theprinterstores a whole page in RAM before printing it. (If a page is so dense that it overflowsmemory-a mostunlikelyevent—theStarLaserPrinter4 prints thepageon two sheets.)

1.2.5ThePrintengine

It’s the print enginethat-formsthe actualcharactersand graphics.The enginedirectsitslaser,apinpointstreamoflightpulses,throughmirrorsand lensesontothesurfaceof a positively-chargedrotatingdrum.

Mirror

Lens Laserbeam

~%a~nirr~ mirror

nductor laser diode

Photosensitive drum

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

Asthedrumrotatesfurtheritmeetsthepaper.Thepaperitselfisnegatively chargedbypassingbyafinecoronawire.Sinceoppositechargesattract,the negativepaperclingsto thepositivedrum.Thenheatandpressurefroma rollermeltor~usethedotsoftonerontothepaper,preciselyreproducingthe image.

Finallythepaperslidesintotheoutputbin.Thepaperusuallycomesoutface downso it stacksin the correctsequence.

1.2STARLASERPRINTER4 SOFTWARE

1.2.1Binaryandhexadecimalarithmetic

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

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,weneedten symbolsto showthe actualvaluesthatmaybe 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)- toshowthevaluesthatmaybe inany

position.So inbinarywe getnumbersthatlooklike 1O1Oor 10001100.

Thehexadecimalsystemismadeofbase-sixteennumbers.Hexadecimalis

positionallike theothercountingsystems.Andeachhigherpositionisworth

sixteentimesasmuchas the positionto its right. We need sixteen differentsymbolsto show all the possiblevaluesone

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Binary

Ooo1 0010

0011

0100 0101 0110 0111

Hexadecimal

2 3 4 5 6 7

Decimal

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

Theimportantthingtorealizeisthatthere’smorethanonewayto showthe samenumericvalue.Computerprogrammers,forexample,occasionallyuse thehexadecimalsystembecauseit’s so compact.(Programmersoftenjust say“hex”.)Thisbinarynumber:

10100101111111010011011111101101OO1O11O1OOOO1OO1

looksquiteabittidierwhenitiswrittenasA5FD37ED2D09,whichmeans thesamething.

1.2.2TheASCII table

Wheredoesthe Star LaserPrinter4 get the charactersand instructionsit

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

sendsa streamof textandcommandsto yourprinter.

Theprogramin yourcomputerthatcontrolseverythingsentto the printer

(calledthe printer driver) will usually be includedwith your computer programs;suchasyourwordprocessor.Butthecommandscouldalsocome fromaprogramyou’vewritten,perhapsinBASIC,aprogramminglanguage thatusescommonEnglishwords.

Internally,computemand printersuse only the 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.

That eight-bitbinarystring,or byte, canbebrokenintotwohalves.Theleft orhigh-orderpartcontaining0100is calledthezoneportion;therightpart holdingthe 1010iscalledthedigitsportion.Andinthehexadecimalnumber system,the zone and digitparts of that byte are representedas 4 and A respectively(lookthemupin the list above).

SothelaserprinterunderstandsthesymbolJ as 01001010, whichwe can also representas the decimalnumber74 or the hexadecimalnumber4A. We’veprintedthisbyteverticallyandhorizontallybelow,showinghowit addsup to decimal74 andhex4A.

o x 27 = o

1x 26 = 64

0x25= o

x24= o

1X 23 = 8

0x2’ = o

1x 21 = 2

0x2° = Q

74 Decimal

zone digits

0100 1010 Binary 4 A Hexadecimal

The ASCIItablein the TechnicalSupplementshowsalltheseequivalent

~presentationsfor the symbolsyourlaserprinterunderstands.Thetable

organizesthemin ascendingorder.Infact,ASCIIisorganizedinawaythat

actuallymakessense.

Flipbacktherefor a quicklookrightnow.Seehowyoucan slicethetable into clumpsof 16or 32, based on what’sin the zoneportionunderthe hexadecimalcolumn?Theseclumpsmakesubgroupsof similarsymbols:

● hex 00 to IF arethecommandsymbolscalledcontrolcodes,

● hex 20 to 40 arethecommonkeyboardsymbolsandnumerals,

● hex41 to 60 arecapitallettersandthelesscommonkeyboardsymbols,

● hex 61 to 7F arelowercaselettersand a few finalsymbols.

That takes care of the first 128ASCIIsymbols.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.ButASCIIincludesmorethanjust printablecharacters:none

of the control codecommandsatthebeginningofthetableactuallyprint. Instead,when your computersends a controlcode to the laser printerit

makesyourprinterdo otherthings,suchassoundits beeper.

Controlcodesmostlyhandlecommunicationsbetweenyourcomputerand theprinteratthe lowestlevel,atcablelevel.Forexample,acoupleofcontrol codesmakesuretheprinterbuffer(yourprinter’sstoragememory)doesn’t overflow.In this book we’ll indicatecontrol codes enclosed by angle bracketsto their abbreviationsin the table:=&I%-meansthe Form Feed controlcode,whichadvancestheprinterto 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 special meaning: <ESC> means “the next characterspecifiesa command,notsomethingto beprinted”.

Thereforeif yousendjust the character4 to theprinterit willprinta4 and that’sall. Butif yousendthecESC>codejustbeforethe4 thentheprinter (in FX-850 mode)willswitchoverto italicstext.Extendingthe control codesthiswaygivesyoumanymorecommandsto controlyourprinter.In fact,these“Escapesequences”makeupmostoftheStarLaserPrinter’skmguage.

In thisbookwe’llleavespacesbetweencharacterswhenweshowescape sequences.You’llfind

<ESC>

abit morereadablethan

<ESC>(sOp10h12vOs3T

Butrememberthatyou arenotto sendthosespacesif yousendcommands to the printer.

To sumup,printercommandsareoftwotypes.A controlcodeis a singlecharactercommandthattellsyourprintertodosomething,likemovedown oneline.AnEscapesequencecontrolsaprinteroperationtoo,butismore thanonecharacterlong.Sincetheyarecommands,neithercontrolcodesnor escapesequencesareusuallyprintablecharacter.

(S@ IOh12vos 3T

1.2.5Printerdrivers

Mostsoftwarepackagesahvadyincludethe printercommandstheyneed. Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprinterso youdon’thaveto enter themyourselfa~ calledprinter drivers.

Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour StarLaserPrinter4.Youentersuchthingsas howyouwant to underline, alterlinespacing,ormoveto a newprintposition.

Someprograms,suchasWordPerfectandthesystemsfromLotusDevelopmentCorporation,let you put printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexample,you

mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabelledCONTROL

orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.OryoumightuseaspecialFunctionkey, suchasF6.

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

onlygoodfontmanipulator.

If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter

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

supplierhowthe programinteractswithyourprinter.

Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral companies.PleasemalizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar Micronicsendomestheminanyway.

1.2.6Sendingyour ownprinter commands

Without a printerdriver,sending controlcodesand Escapesequencesto yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage likeBASIC!or Pascal,or at leastofhowto put suchcodesintoaprogram. Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tactonthecommands youputinto a programuntilyoutellitto runthatprogram.

Whenyougivea commandto the printerfroma computerprogram,you normallyentereachpartofthecommandasaseparatecharacter.Thisway

. youdon’t affectanythingelsehappeningonthecomputer.Youoftensend

eachcodeorcharacterin thecommandby givingitspositionintheASCII table,asa decimalor hexnumber.

1.2.7A BASICexample

Here’sanexampleyoucantypein rightnow,to clarifywhatwe’resaying. It’s written in MicrosoftBASICfor a computerthat uses the MS-DOS operatingsystem,so if youhaveadifferentcomputeror BASICyou may havetotranslateabit.We’llshowcommandsthewaythey’rewrittenforan Epsondot-matrixprinterbecauseyourStarLaserPrinter4understandsthose commands.

TheLPRINTcommandsallsenddatatotheprinter.Ifthedatais something youwantprintedyoujust putit in quotationmarks.If thedataisa control codeyoujustsaywhexeitisintheASCIItable,givingitspositionasaregular decimalnumber.

BASICusuallysendsacarriagereturnafterevery80character, tokeepthe

print positionmovingwhenit hitstheendof a line.Unasked-forcarriage

returnscan messupyourprinting,however,so it’sagoodhabitto putin a WIDTHstatementas shown.Thatletsus printoverthe wholepagearea.

The<BEL>controlcode— ASCIIcode7—is sentinBASICasCHR$(7). The cESG codeitself isCHR$(27).Andbecausewe’reusingthecharacter 4 aspartof 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’s what happensin line 40 of our programabove.All

subsequenttextwillbe italicizeduntilyouchangeitbackto uprightagain.

Mostprogramminglanguages,andsomeversionsof BASIC,let youtreat theprinteras a filetowhichyoucansenddata.Whenyouwritea program withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,printintoit,andthen “close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargon soundsfunny if you’renotusedtoit—but it works.

Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandstotheprinterathird way. Applesoft BASICis one. With it, you can switchbetweenprinter output and screenoutput.

1.2.8Printeremulations

You noticedthat we said“in FX-850mode”up there? Your Star LaserPrinter4respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveraloiher printemuse.Beingableto emulateprintersliketheEpsonFX-850letsyou useyourStarLaserPrinter4witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeenupdated to take advantageof laserprinters.In fact,becauseit emulatestwo of the mostpopularprinters,youcanusetheStarLaserPrinter4withjustaboutany

microcomputerprogramaround.

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

quencesfor functions the 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.Ifyouareaprogrammeryouwill behappyto heartheStarLaserPrinter4 supportsupto 99 macrosat once.

MEMO

Controlling

YourPrinter

YoucancontrolyourStarLaserPrinter4intwoways,eitherthmughcontrol panelparameters or throughsoftwarecomrnana!s.In thischapterwe will considerprintercontrolsmostlyfromtheperspectiveofthecontrolpanel. However,we’llalsomeetfourspecialcommands,theStarLaserPrinter4

superset.

Throughoutthismanualweapproachparametersandcommandsthesame way:overallprinter-levelcontrolsficst,then page-levelcontrols(layoutand printpositionmovements),and finallycharacter-levelcontrols(fontsand graphics).We’lldiscusstheseingeneraltermsin thischapter.

Thespecificcommandsyoucansendto yourprintertomakeit emulate,or work like, other printers are describedin chapters 4 and 5. The most importantfact about printercommands,though,is that you may 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 easiestwayto controlyourStarLaserPrinter4 is throughits control panel,asexplainedin moredetailin yourStarLzserl%nter4 Operations

Manual.

Whenyourprinteris online(connectedto and underthe controlof your computer),its controlpaneldisplayshows you the printer’sstatus.For example,the READYlightblinkswhenthe printeris warmingup. The DATAlight comesonwheneverthe printerisholdingdataithasn’tprinted yet.

Whenyoupressthe [ONLINE]button,theprinterchangesfmmnormalto ofline modeandcannotacceptdatafromyourcomputer.Whentheprinter isofflineyoucanusetheotherpanelbuttons.Forinstance,ifyoupressthe

[TEST/>]buttonforthrecsecondhandreleaseitjustafterSTATUSSHEET

isdisplayedwhenthelaserprinteris offline,it finishesprintingthecurrent

pageandthen feedsin andprintsa statussheet.

Somebuttons on thepanellet youperformtwofunctions.Holdingoneof

those buttons down, rather than quickly pressing it, selects a different operation.For example,holdingdown the [TEST/>]buttonfor over six secondsafterSTATUSSHEETisdisplayedmakestheStarLaserPrinter4 printitstestpattern.

2.1.2 Parametersettings

Fromthe panel youcan alsochangethe pararnetemthatdefinehow your printerworks.Parameterjust means“variable”. If you’refamiliarwith earlier kinds of pnntem, you’ll understandthat laser printerparameters controlpn%ymuchthesamethingsDIPswitchesdo.(ADIPswitchor’’dual in-linepackageswitch”is asetofsmallswitchesthatcontrolvariousprinter functions.)

Theprinterstorestheseparametemaseasy-to-useprogrammenuitemsthat youcan selectfromthecontrolpanel.Theseparametemspecify:

emulation(whatprinterthe StarLaserPrinteremulates)

●

numberof copies(thenumberof copiesof eachpageto be printed)

●

character(whatcharacterfonttoprint)

●

job size(whatsizeof papertheprinterwilluse)

●

layout(howpageswillbe formatted)

paperfeed(howpaperwillbe fed)

●

page,mode(partialor full)

●

interface(howtheprintercommunicateswithyourcomputer)

Ad@auZtisthesettingtheStarLaserPrinter4willuseifnoneisspecifically selectedbyaprogram.Whenyoufirsttumon orlaterresetyourprinterthese

defaultsettingswilltakeeffect. Yourmainuseforthecontrolpanelwilllikelybetosetthedefaultsettings

youwantfor theseparameters.However,youwillprobablyfmdthepanel convenienttoo when you want to switchbetweenmanualandautomatic paperfeed.

2.1.3 Four versionsofparameters

TheStarLaserPrinter4 actuallystoresfourversionsof theseparametem:

s its “ultimatedefault”factorysettings,

● the power-onsettingsin effectwhenyoufirstturnon theprinter,

● yourinitialsettingsfor oneparticularsession,

● andthecurrentsettingsthat theprinteris usingnow.

Theseare in priorityorder.Thecurrentsettingsalwaysoverridetheinitial

sessionsettings,whichinturnoverridethepower-onsettings,whichinturn

overridethe factorysettings. FactorysettingsareprogrammedintotheStarLaserPrinter4whenitisbuilt

atthe factory.Yourprinterkeepsthe factorysettingsfor its parametersin

ROM;theyneverchange.Youcancopythemintothecurrentsettingsorany

other settingsas needed.But the only way you can returnto the factory

defaultsis fromthecontrolpanel;no commandsdothis.

A few factorydefaultsettingsareas follows:

Item Factorydefaultsetting Emulat;o.1 HPLaserJetIIP Feeder

Multi-purposetray Numberof Copies 1 Orientation Font Lines/inch

Portrait

10-pitch12-pointCourier(internal)

6 linesperinch

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

YouprobablywillnotoftenchangetheStarLaserPrinter4’sinitialsettings (sometimescalled“sessionsettings”).You’lllikelyonlychangethemwhen you want to use a differentprinteremulationthan normal.These initial settingsstaythesameasthepower-onsettingsuntilyouchangethem.

Ontheotherhand,yoursoftwarewillprobablychangethecurrentsettings manytimeswithinthe samedocument,witheverychangeof fontorprint

style.

2.1.4Howto changeparameters

Withthe printeroffline,if youpressthe [PROGRAM]buttontheprinter goesinto“program’’mode. Youcanthenstepthroughthelaserprinter’sfour levelsof programmenuto configureyourprinter(seepage46-48,operationsManual).That’stheprocessofchangingcertainprintersettingssoyour computerandprintercan communicateproperly.

It’sactuallyprettyeasy.Flippingthroughand settingparametersfromthe panelis describedin detail in theStarL.userPrinter4 OperationsManual.

Basically,allyoudoispressthe [ < ] or [ > ] buttonsto scrollthroughthe sequenceof possibleparametersandvalues,whichis clearlyshownonthe paneldisplay.Youpress[v ] whenyouwantto godownandscrollthrough

a lower menulevel. And you also press [

particularmenuitemas thevaluefor a currentparametersetting. SETPOWER-UPenablesyoutosavenewsettingsinapermanentmemory

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

2.2CONTROLLINGTHEPRINTER

In this sectionyou’llmeettwo separatecontrolsoverhowtheStarLaserPrinter4 itself works.The INTERFACEparametercontrolscommunications between the printer and your computer.And the EMULATION parameterdetermines,amongother things, which set of commandsthe printerwilluse.Youcan settheseINTERFACEandEMULATIONparameterson the controlpanel.

v ] when you want to save a

2.2.1 TheINTERFACEparameter

The INTERFACEparameter,the most basicof the StarLaserPrinter4’s

configurationsettings,defineshowyourcomputerconnectsto the printer. You can set the INTERFACEto eitherSerialor Parallel.In most singlecomputetenvironrnentsyou’lloptforthefasterParallelinterface;ina multi-

usernetworkyoumaybe betteroff withSerial. Theparticularprinterinterfacesettingsdon’tmatterasmuchasmakingsure

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

MostMS-DOSandAT-compatiblecompute~supportupto threeparallel

andtwoserialports,whichcomeonexpansionboardsyouplugintoyour computer.Whenyouinstallsuchboardsyoumustset switchesto indicate the numberandaddressesoftheseports.Ifyouspecifythe wrongaddresses, youwon’tbe able to print.

Serialinterface:rate

IfyouaskfortheSerialinterfaceyou’llhavetotellyourprintermoreabout howthedatawillbe comingin-in particularitsrateandunitsizeandthe meaningsof any specialbits.

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

300baud 600baud

1200baud 2400baud 4800baud 9600baud(thedefault)

19200baud.

Roughly,one character secondworksoutto 11baud.Ifyou’renotsurehow

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

theprinter’soutputlooksOK.

Serialinterface:specialbits InSerialmodeyou’llalsohaveto specifyif yourcomputersendsdatabits

in groupsof seven(mostcomputerssendeight,thedefaultfor a byte). Sometimesanextrabit getsappendedtomakethe sumof all bits in each

characteralwaysoddoreven;that’scalledparity.Aparitybitcanhelp spot transmissionerrors.Ifyourcomputersendsthatextraparitybit,you’llhave to say whether it produces an even or odd number of “on” bits in the character.

You’llalsohaveto indicateif yourcomputersendstwostopbitstoindicate theendof a byte,insteadof one,thedefault.Theseserialinterfacesettings aredescribedinmoredetailinyourStarfuserPrinter4 @erationsMan~l.

Serialinterface:protocol

Finally,in Serialmodeyour computerwill use one of threeprofocoZsto ensuredata is sent properly.Protocol(sometimesalsocalled“handshaking”)means“whosayswhatwhen”,andisthewayyourprintertells your computerit’sreadytonxeivedata.Yourcomputerandprintercommunicate by sendingprotocolcontrolcodes(they’reatthefrontoftheASCIItable).

SomepmgrammemcalltheXONand XOFFcontrolcodes“kissonandkiss off’ otherscallthesameprotocolDC1andDC3(fordevicecontrol).Either way,thesecodesletyourprinterruntheshow,tellingthecomputerwhento startandstopsendingdata.Yourprinterasksto havedataheldbackwhen itsmemoryis nearlyfullor whenit sensesan ERRORcondition.

DTR(DataTerminalReady)protocoldoesthe samethingslightlydifferently. Theprinter sendsa continuoushigh-voltagesignaloverthe cableas 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 see whichisbestfor yoursystem.You can sticktotheprinter’sdefaultsifyourcomputerdoesnotusetheDTR,butdoes

XON/XOFF.

use

2.2.2 Checkingyourconnections

Yourcomputerandpnntermayhavetroublecommunicatingwhenyoufirst introducethemto eachother.Thequickwayto findoutifyoursettingsand printercableareworkingistosendyourprinteraprintoutfromyourscreen (CTRL-PwithMS-DOS).

Whenthat’sdoneyouwillalsohaveto presstheprintbuttonontheprinter,

whichmakestheprinteradvanceto anewsheet.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;yourcomputer’soutput,forexample, might not be goingtotheproperport.

2.2.3Printeremulations

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

Your Star LaserPrinter4 understandsand uses the same commandsas severalearlierkindsof printers.Your printerworksby emulatingone of

these:

● Hewlett-PackardLaserJet11P

● EpsonFX-850

Otherlaserprintersmayoffersuchemulationstoo,butoftenrequireinstallationof a new circuitboardfor eachemulation.StarMicmnicshas built thesetwo emulationsintotheStarLaserPrinter4.

Youselectwhichemulationyouwanteitherby selectingit fromtheprint programmenuontheStarLaserPrinter4’scontrolpanel,orbysendingthe printeroneofthesupersetcommandsat the endof thischapter.

2.2.4 Whatare theemulatedprinterslike?

Mostofthe timeyouwillprobablychooseHPLaserJet11Pemulation,which is thedefaultwhenyouturnontheStarLaserPrinter4. That’sbecausethe LaserJetIIP, liketheStarLaserPrinter4,is a laserprinter.Thisemulation modegivesyouthe bestcontroloveryourprinter’sfeatures,andworkswith mostpopularapplicationsprograms.

TheFX-850emulationisquitepowerfultoo.It includesallthedot-matrix

printer commands(includinggraphics)used by hundreds of programs. Mostly,you’llchoosethisoptionwhenyourunaprogramthatcannotsend laserprintercommands.

2,2.5 TheEmulationparameter

The Star LaserPrinter4’s Emulationsettingdefineswhich printer it is

imitating:Hewlett-PackardLaserJet11PorEpsonFX–850. Most oftheotherEMULATIONvaluesbelowcanbechangedwithEscape

codesas wellas fromthepanel. AfewcomputerschangecertaincontrolorEscapecodeswhensendingthem

tothe printer,whichnaturallycausesconfision.Moreover,manyprogrammerspreferto seehexadecimalprintoutwhentheyaredebuggingprograms. To helpwiththesesituations,youcanmakeyourStarLaserPrinter4 print inhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCIImodebyswitchingONtheHEX DUMPparametersetting.

2.2.6Hints:Thehexdump

To makeyourStarLaserPrinter4 ‘printin hexadecimalratherthanthe

usualASCIIsymbols,pressthecontrolpanelbuttonsthatputtheprinter offlineand in PROGRAMmode.Moveto theEMULATIONparameter’sHEXDUMPsettingandselectON.

●

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

●

If youspotaproblemcodeyoucantry to bypasstheproblem,eitherby sendingeachcodedirectlyto theprinter,or by changingyoursystem’s

printerdriver.Suchcomputer-specificsolutions,though,arebeyondthe

scope of thismanual.Wesuggestthatif necessaryyou consultanother

progranimermorefamiliarwithyourcomputer.

●

Actually,ifyouaredebugginganyprogramyou mayfindthishex-dump

modehelpfid.It can be a greattrouble-shooter.

2.3CONTROLLINGTHEPAGE

this section we look at two controls you have over how the Star

LaserPrinter4 handlesand formatsits pages:You can set valuesfor the PAPERFEEDandLAYOUTparametersonthecontrolpanel.Attheendof thissectionwe’llalsopreviewdifferentwaysto movetheprintposition.

2.3.1 ThePAPERFEEDparameter

ThePAPERFEEDparameterletsyouspecifybothwhatkindofpaperyou wantandhowthepaperisfed.

Oneconvenientthingaboutalaserprinteristhatitdoesn’tneedcontinuous

forms, sometimescalledfanfohi paper. Otherprintersfeed in a stackof

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

WiththeStarLaserPrinter4 youcanprinton avarietyofordinarycutsheet pages.

Forthe FeedervalueofthisPAPERFEEDparameter,youfirstentereither

multi-purposetray,manualfeedorcassette(option)toindicatewhereyou

wantpaperfedfrom.Themulti-purposetrayhandlesvarioustypesandsizes ofpaper(htter, Legal,A4,B5,Executive,OHPsheets,Labels,Envelopes). Manualfeedmeansyoufeedeachsheetbyhandfromthemulti-purposetray. Thecassettetrayautomaticallyfeedssinglesheets,muchlikesheetfeeders on othertypesof printers.

Thedefaultpapersizeis A4,youcanspecifyothersizesgivenbelowtoo.A different-sizedtrayautomaticallyselectsthatdifferentpapersize.

8.5 by 11inchletter-sizepaper

8.5by 14 inchlegal-sizepaper

B5 international(usedin everycountryexceptNorth America) (182by257mm)

●

thenarrower“executive”size(7.25by 10.5inches)

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

10,InternationalC5andDL.Thenjust workoutwhereto puttheaddress, settheorientationto landscape(seebelow),andslideyourenvelopeintothe multi-purposetray!

Inanyemulationmodeyoucansendyourprintercommandstochangepaper sizeorfeedinpapermanually;youcanalsoselectthoseparametersfromthe panel.Eitherway, a messagein theprinterdisplaytellstheoperatorwhat papersizeto use.

2.3.2 Hints:Paper,labelsand transparencies

Thebestpaperfor the StarLaserPrinter 4 has a smoothfinishandis of

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

Beawarethat anypuckeredor wovenfinishmaynotprint as sharplyas you’dlike.Avoidshinycoatedpaperormultipartforms.Anddon’teven thinkabout puttingin stapledor rippedpages.

● If youfrequentlychangepaperweights,you willprobablygetskewing

problems—linesthatprintatan anglebecauseof misfeeding.For best results,whenyourStarLaserPrinter4isfirstsetup havethepaperfeeder “squared”forpaperof atleast60grams.Lighterpaper,thoughcheaper, isn’treallythe way to economize.

● Wantto printon yourownpreprintedletterhead?Fine—solongas your

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

200° Thiswarningappliestocoloredpapertoo,ifithasbeentintedwithalow-

temperaturedye.

● Whenprintingstartsfadingbecausethetonerislow,removethecartridge

andgentlymckitbackandforthhalfadozentimes.Don’ttipit uporthe tonermayspillout.Redistributingthe tonerpowderthiswaycankeepthe cartridgegoingfor anothertrayof paper.

● No question,workingwithsinglelabelsheetsis moreconvenientthan

withcontinuouslabelstock.Laserprintersarefasterandproducebetterlookinglabels than other printers.But laser printers,which work by electrostaticphotographyrather than impact pressure, put different stressesonlabelpaper.Eachsheethastobendoverandthroughtheguide rollers; moreover, fusing toner to the paper involvesheat. You can eliminatetroubleby alwaysfeedinglabelsheetsmanually.

BothAvery’s“Lasergraphic”labelsand Canon’slabels seemto work fine.Yourmainconcernis thatthelabelscompletelycoverthebacking sheetso it showsonlyattheoutsidemargins.Thatwayindividuallabels can’teasilypeel off.

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

● If you wantto print transparenciesfor your overheadprojector,some

films will actuallymelt in your laser printer. Stick to 3M’s mediumweighttransparencyfilm(type501)or to Hewlett-Packard’s#92285J.

2.3.3 TheLAYOUTparameter

Thelayoutor@mat or setupof a pagerefersto howtextispositionedon the page. Layout includespageorientation,marginsand the spacingof charactersacrossandlinesdownthepage.Youcan controlthesewith the LAYOUTparameter.

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

StarLaserPrinter4 with its defaultsettings,or look afterpageformatting

withcommandsyou sendfmmyourcomputer.

Pageorientation

Apage’sorientationtellsyouinwhichdirectiontheprintgoesonthepage. Whenyouuseportraitorientationthelinesareprintedastheyareinanormal

businessletter,acrossthewidthof thepage.A portraitpaintingofaperson

is usuallyvertical-hence the name.

LandsCap

Portrait

Whenyouuselandscapeorientationthewordsareprinted“ontheirsides,”

verticallyupthelengthofthepage.Textwrittenwithlandscapeorientation

onlylookscorrectwhenyouturnthepagesoitslengthrunsside-to-side,just

likethepaintingof a landscape. Envelopesmustbe printedwith landscapeorientation.Youalso will use

landscaperegularlyto printchafisor banners,and spreadsheetsor reports

withsomanycolumnsthey wouldn’totherwisefiton thepage. AUinternalfonts,andalmostallcartridgeanddownloadedfonts,arestored

in the StarLaserPrinter4 withportraitorientation.

Margins,columnsandlines

Youcanchangemarginsettingsforallfouredgesofapage.Theleftandright

sidemarginscan havevaluesfmm Oto 132,definingthe margincolumns betweenwhichwordsandimagescan be printed.Andthetop andbottom marginscan be set at anywherefromOto 112lines.

, Top Margin ,

Text

Length

{

Portrait Orientation Orientation

Bottom Margin

Landscape

Themeaningofaline (sometimescalleda “row”)is definedbythevertical motionindex(VMI).Theprintermovestheprintpositiondownalinewhen

itgetsa LineFeedcode,usuallywhenit bumpsintotherightmargin.

You’llprobablyletyourcomputerprogramsetthelinedepth.Butfromthe

panelyou can set the VMIvaluein incrementsfrom 1/48to 255/48of an

inch.

2.3.4 Movingtheprintposition:a preview

Wh.hdot-matrixanddaisywheelprinters,youpickwheretoprintonthepage

eitherbymovingtheprintheadbackandforthorbymovingthepaperitself.

Laserpnntemdon’thaveprintheads,buttheprincipleremainsthesame:you

havetosayexactlywhereonthepageeachpictureandstringoftextistogo,

so eachpagecanbe constructedin theprinter’smemory.

Insteadoftalkingaboutpnntheadswetalkaboutmovingtheprintposition

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

analogy).Horizontally,youcanmovetheprintpositionwithbackspaceand

carriagereturncommands.Vertically,youcanmovetheprintpositiondown

thepagebyprintingsomanylinesperinch,orbysendingline-feedandhalf

+ 140 hidden pages

Star Micronics LaserPrinter 4 User Manual

PREFACE

Conventions

TheStarLaserPrinter4 OperationsManual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1STARLASERPRINTER4 HARDWARE

1.2STARLASERPRINTER4 SOFTWARE

2.1 PRINTERPARAMETERS

2.2CONTROLLINGTHEPRINTER

2.3CONTROLLINGTHEPAGE