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.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

1

13

16

25

31

37

45

47

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

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

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

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

93

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.

4

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.

1

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.

2

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.)

3

I

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.

4

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

o

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Binary

Ooo1
0010

0011

0100
0101
0110
0111

Hexadecimal

o

1

2
3
4
5
6
7

Decimal

8

9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Binary

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

Hexadecimal

8
9

A
B
c
D
E
F

5

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.

6

o x 27 = o

1x 26 = 64

0x25= o

x24= o

0

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.

7

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.

8

(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.

9

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.

10

1

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.

11

MEMO

12

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

13

[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:

8

emulation(whatprinterthe StarLaserPrinteremulates)

●

numberof copies(thenumberof copiesof eachpageto be printed)

●

character(whatcharacterfonttoprint)

●

job size(whatsizeof papertheprinterwilluse)

●

layout(howpageswillbe formatted)

9

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,

14

● 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.

15

I

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.

16

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).

17

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:

18

● 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.

19

I

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

In

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.

20

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.

21

I

● 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

c.

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.

22

I

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.

23

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

24

line-feedcommands.You can alsomoveto tab settingsbothhorizontally
andvertically(handyfortablesandblankforms,or makingroomfor your
diagrams).

Butthosearen’tall. Dependingon whichprinteremulationyouareusing,
youcantellthe StarLaserPrinter4 to movetheprintpositionverticallyor

horizontallyin incrementsof:

1/10,1/12or similarfractionsof an inch(pitchsettings),
1/48,1/60,1/72,1/120or 1/216inch(lineor columndefinitions),
1/300inch(dots),or
1/720inch(tenthsof apoint).

These incrementsreflectthehistoryof twentiethcenturyprinting.Pitch,
referringtothenumberofcharactemprintedineachhorizontalinch,derives
fromhowtypewritersspacetheircharactem.Lines andcolumnswerefirst
usedbyearliercomputerprintem(onwhichtheyarecalledhorizontaland
verticalmotionindexes).Youalreadyknowaboutthe Star LaserPrinter4
beingable to print300dotsto theinch.Andtheunitby whichtypesetters
havemeasuredtext for centuriesis thepoint, about l/72nd of an inch.

Onehint about movingtheprintposition:youcanconfuseyourselfif you
usemomthanoneor twodifferentunitsduringthesamesession.Sodecide
beforehandhow accurately you need to move the print position (not

forgettinganygraphicsyouwantto include).Thensticktotheunit(s)you
choose.

Thecommandsthat movetheprintpositionin allthesewaysaredescribed
in chapters4 and 5, withthespecificprinteremulationyouwantto use.

2.4 CONTROLLINGTHEPRINTING

2.4.1 TheEMULATEATTRIBUTESparameter

TheEMULATEATI’RIBUTESparameterdefinesf&t attributesandsetup
values(if any) foreachoftheStarLaserPrinter4’s two emulationmodes.

Afont’sattributesorcharacteristicsdeterminewhatthatfontwilllooklike
whenitisprinted.Thenextchapter,“Fonts,”exploresthedetailsof allfont
attributesin more detail. But let’s have a quick overviewnow,because
you’llmeetthesetermsonthecontrolpanel’sprogrammenu.

25

Fontattributes:a preview

Orientation(portraitorlandscapeasdescribedearlier)isusuallythoughtof
as one attributeof a font; it’s not reallya pageformattingissue.Besides
orientation,thefontswithwhichyouprinthavetheseattributes:

Symbolset is sometimescalled“characterset”- whichcanbeconfusing,
sincesomepeoplesay“characterset”whentheymeana font.Symbolsets
are subgroupsof a font’ssymbolsthat are mostappropriatefor particular
countries,suchastheUK(f), France(h),LatinAmerica(fl)orJapan@).

Spacingandpitch arelinked.Characterscanbe spacedonthelinepropor-

tionally,soa narrowlettersuchas i takeslessroomthana wideletterlike
W. Orcharactm canbe spacedallthesamewidth:twelvecharacterstothe

inchisthemonospacedspacingcalled 12pitch.
Pointsizedefineshowbigcharacterswillprint,suchasIOor 12pointshigh.
Sryledefineswhethercharactersprintin uprightor italicstyle.
Strokeweightdefineshowboldatypefaceprints.

Finally,typt$aceitselfmeansthe artisticdesignof a font.Yourprinter’s

internaltypefacesinclude,LinePrinterand Courier.With the Star Laser­Printer 4 you can also use Helvet,Gothic, Script, Caslon, Orator and
hundredsmomtypefaces,whichyouloadintotheprinterfromcartridgeor
computerdisk.

Whenyouenablefontsetupparametersonthe controlpanel,it meansyou

startoff withparticularfontattributesasdefaultswhenyoufirstchoosean
emulatioq.WiththeFX-850emulationyoucanenableproportionalspacing

andboldprintassetupparameters.FX-850modealsoletsyoustartupwith
halfof yoursymbolset as graphicscharactersinsteadof italics.

2.5THESTARLASERPRINTER4 SUPERSET

2.5.1Doyou needto sendcommands?

Here’s an importantfact: you can set nearly every one of the above

parametemby sending your printer a correspondingEscape sequence

command.ThoseEscapesequencecommandswilloverrideanysettingyou

makefromthecontrolpanel.

Themainthingtorealizeaboutmostprintercommands,though,isthatyou

probablydon’t need to use them. Nearly all popularsoftwarepackages

26

I

includeprinterdrivers,whichsendcommandsto the printerso you don’t
haveto typethemyourself.Someof thoseprogramsaskyouto key in set­up paramettm about your printer. Other programs let you put printer
commandsbeforeorinsidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.

Butmaybethesoftwareyouusedoesn’thaveprinterdriversforanyprinter
yourStarLaserPrinter4 emulates:Youstillmightnothaveto writeprinter
cdmmandsyourself.

Severalcompaniessellprogramsthatlook after laser-printingcommands
for such software.Ask your dealer aboutf.userControl,Printworksfor

Lusers,PCLPakandRAMResidentPrintmerge.There’snotmuchpointin

reinventingthe wheel.

2.5.2 TheStarLaserPrinter4 superset

Besides the commands that emulate other printers, your laser printer
understandsfour othercommandscalledthe StarLaserPrinter4 superset.
The Star LaserPrinterahvaysunderstandssupersetcommands;it doesn’t
matterwhichemulationmodeyourprinterisusingatthemoment.Superset
Escapesequencecommandsstartwith~Sb [ so youcan quicklyspot
themina listof commands.

Onesupersetcommandgivesyouanotherwaytoswitchfromoneemulation
to another:you sendtheChangeEmulationsupersetcommandinsteadof
usingthecontrolpanel.Thesecondsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe
printingorientation,so youcan print sidewaysup the lengthof the page,
insteadofacrossitswidthintheusualway.Thethirdsupersetcommandlets
yotichangethepapersize.Thefourthsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe
papercassette.

2.5.3 TheChangeEmulationcommand

YoucanthinkofthesupersetChangeEmulationcommandasthekeytoyour
Star LaserPrinter4. The ChangeEmulationsupersetcommandlets you
switchfmm one setof printercommandsto another“on the fly,”through
software.

Thisisthe commandthatdefineswhatothercommandstheStarLaserPrinter
4will accept.WithChangeEmulationyouindicatewhichprinteremulation
programyou wanttheprinterto use.

27

I

Whenyoustartanewemulationyoualwaysstarta newpage.
Note:alwayssendCarriageReturnandFormFeed(controlcodes<CR>and

-@F>)just befo~ yougivethisChangeEmulationcommand.Theseforce
theprintertoprintanypartialpageinitsmemoryandstartanewpagewith
thenewemulation.If youforgetto issuethesecontrolcodesfirstthe Star
LaserPrinter4willdothemforyou-but yourChangeEmulationcommand
willjust resetthe printer’sparameterstotheirinitialdefaults,andnot give
youtheemulationyou askfor.

You issue the ChangeEmulationcommandwith the followingEscape
sequence:

<ESC>[ E n

For thevalueof n youenteranumberfromthistable:

n

O(zero)HPLaserJetUP
2

EMULATION
EpsonFX-850

2.5.4 TheSelectOrientationcommand

TheSelectOrientationsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe“attitude”in

whichthe StarLaserPrinter4 prints.

TochangefmmoneorientationtotheotheryousendthisSelectOrientation
Escapesequence:

<ESC>[O n

Forthe value n youput O(zero)for portraitorientation,

or 1 (one)forlandscapeorientation.

When you send this commandto print in landscapemode, the printer
automaticallyrotatesitscurrentfontsothatit printsas landscape.

The spotor line whereprintingstartson thepageis sometimescalledthe
origin orfopoffonn. The originchangeswhenyouswitchorientations.
Thatstartingprintpositionisin theupperleftcomerforapcmraitpage,but
in thelowerleft comerfor a landscapepage.

Youprobablywon’twanttochangeorientationallthatoften.Everytimeyou
do,theStarLaserPrinter4alsoresetsthepagemarginstoitslimits,andalso
howitdefineslinesandcolumns.So wheneveryougivetheSelectOrien-

28

tationcommandyoumaywanttofollowitwithEscapesequencestochange
thesideandtopmarginsandpaperlengthsettings.(Alternatively,youcould
puttheprinterofflineandresetthesefmmthecontrolpanel,asdescribed
underLAYOUTearlier.)

2.5.5 ThePaperSizecommand

ThePaperSizesupersetcommandletsyouchangethepapersizein which
the StarLaserPrinter4 prints.

This is the commandthat defineswhatsize the Star LaserPrinter4 will
accept. You issue the Paper Size commandwith the followingEscape
sequence:

<ESC>[ S n

For thevalueof n youentera numberfromthistable:

n

1

2
3
4
5

11
12
13
14

This commandcontrolsthe size that the printer should use when next

feedingfrom the selectedpaper feeder.If the printerdoes not have the
requestedsize,the controlpanelwilldisplaya messageinstructingyouto
insertthe requestedpaper/envelope.If theoperatoroverridesthatrequest,
therequestedsizeis ignoredandthecurrentsizeisused.

SIZE
Lettersizepaper
Legalsizepaper
A4 Internationalsizepaper
Executivesizepaper

B5 Internationalsizepaper
Monarchsizeenvelope
Com-10sizeenvelope
InternationalDL sizeenvelope
InternationalC5 sizeenvelope

2.5.6 ThePaperFeedercommand

ThePaperFeedersupersetcommandletsyouchangethepaperfeederfrom

whichtheprinterfeedspaper.
TochangethepaperfeederyousendthePaperFeederEscapesequence:

<ESC>[ C n

29

I

Forthevalue of n youentera numberfromthistable:

n

1 Multi-purposetray

2 Multi-purposetray

4
5 Optionalcassetteforonesheet,thenswitchestotheMuM-

Thiscommand,ifgivenatthebeginningofapage,controlsthefeederofthe
sheeton whichto printthatpage.

Ifthecommandisnotatthebeginningofthepage,itwillforceaFormFeed
and controlthe feederof the sheeton whichto printthe new page which
follows.

This commandis ignonxlwhentheoptionalcassetteis notinstalled.

PAPERFEEDER

for one sheet, then switches to the
optionalcassette
Optionalcassette

purposetray

30

tie fontsyouusedeterminewhatyourpageswilllooklike.Inthischapter
we’llfirstclari~ the meaningsof wordspeopleuse whenthey talk about
fonts.

Nextwe’llexaminethethreekindsof fonts(internal,cartridgeanddown­loaded)that you can use on your Star LaserPrinter4. We’ll cover the
particularsetsof symbolsyoucanchoosefor thosefontstoo.
Finally,we’llfindouthowto loadthe printerwithyourselectionoffonts.

3.1 FONTTERMINOLOGY

3.1.1 Typefacesandfonts

First,a fewdefinitions.A typ~aceis a familyof charactemwiththesame
basicdesign.Theartisticcharacterdesignyouchooseestablishesthe“tone
ofvoice”for allyourdocuments.

Several variables can characterize typefaces, including weight (light,

medium,bold),width(condensedorextended),andstyle(uprightoritalic).
Courier,forexample,isatypefacefamilythatincludesthecharactersinboth

Co’uriermedium italicandCourier bold uprighti

Let’s considerthesevariables.Boklprintissometimescalled“emphasized”

or’’double-strike”.Onearlierprintersboldfaceisgeneratedbyprintingeach
charactertwice;dot-matrixmachinesprintthesecondimpressionjustahair
belowor to therightof the firstone.

Withthe StarLaserPrinter4 you can havedifferentstrokeweightsin two
ways, dependingon which emulationyou are using. You can have two
differentfonts,storingandswitchingbetweenaboldanda mediumversion
ofthefont.Oryoucanusejust onefontandsetboldonandoffwithEscape
sequences.Thelatterway usesjust half as muchfontmemory.

31

Narrowcondensedfacesusedtobecalled“compnxsed”.Theycramabout
fivecharacteminthespacewherethreeusuallygo--ideal forspreadsheets.
An extendedface, particularlyon a dot-matrixprinter,goes by several
names:“expanded,
it’scalled,extendedprintiswiderthanit ishigh,andcanbefairlyeffective
in pageheadings.

Italiccharacters(sometimescalled“oblique”)areslanted.Ordinaryupright
charactemm oftencalled “reman”. YourStarLaserPrinter4 comeswitha
built-inuprightCouriertypeface.Moreover,from any of the Star Laser­Printer4’s built-intypefacesyoucan selecta subsetof uprightsymbols
calledRoman-8.

Afont isacompletesetofcharactersin aparticularsizeandtypeface.Inthe
worldoflaserprintm, thethreevariablesmentionedabove—weight,width
and style—are a few~ontattributes(sometimescalled“fontcharacteris-

tics”).Let’sconsiderthreemoreattributes:fontheight,spacingandpitch.

““enlarged”or’’double-width’’printing.Nomatterwhat

3.1.2Fontheight

Thebizselineisthe invisiblelineupon whichcharactemoftypesit.Sincethe
firstletterblocksweremadeofleadalloy,thedistancefromonebaselineto
thenext is calledZeuding(pronounced“ledding”).Typeitselfismeasured
fromthetopofanuscender(thepartextendingupinthebork, forexample)
to thebottomof a descender(thedown-strokeofthey or q ).
Themeasurementsusedtodescribefontsarepoint,sandpicus(derivedfrom
themarksandlettersinmedievalchurchalmanacs).Thereare 12pointsto
thepica,,andalmostexactly6 picas(72points)to the inch.

Laserprintersforcomputemmeasure~ontheightinpoints.Onlaserprinte~
the“whitespace”aboveascendersandbelowdescendemdependson how
the line is defined,so the line eonespondsto leading.This type you’re
readinghasafontheight of 12points,andis spacedalittlelessthan5lines
perinch.

32

Theo has beenkerned
closerto th-

f.

Thefontheight(24 points)is measured
from ●scenderto descender.

I

A font is a complete set of

characters in a particular

-

size and type[ ace.

Proportional

Uu

1

L;adingis tho
baselineto baseline
m~asuremcnt.

spacing

3.1.3Fontspacingandpitch

Youprobablyfirst heard the wordpitch in connectionwith typewriters.
Typewntersnonnallyusemonospacedspacing:theygiveeachcharacterthe
sameamountofspaceontheline.

Abouthalfthefontsavailableforlaserprintersusemonospacedspacingtoo.
Pitch is alwaysexpressedas so manycharactersper inch.Ten-pitch,for
example,meansa fontwithtencharactersin eachinchoftheline.

Typesetter for centurieshaveusedtwospecialsizesoftypefor mosttext.
EZitecharactersareIOpointshighand print12charactemperinch.Andpica
chararactersare 12 pointshigh and pitchedat 10 charactersto the inch.
You’lloften run acrossthesemonospacedfontsizesin the laser printing
world.

Swif

4

Ascender
Descender

Baseline

Ideallyeachcharacterinawordshouldnestleagainstitsneighbors sothey
appearevenlyspaced.Butadjacentroundcharactersareapttolooktoofar
apafi,whileflat-sidedcharactersmayappeartoo close.

Proportionalspacingtakesinto accountthe differencesin widthsamong
letters(compareii withWW).Proportionallyspacedprintingiseasiertoread
than typewriter-styleprintingin which all characters,includingpunctua­tion,havethesamewidth.

Real typesettersequipcertaincharactemwithkerns,letterpansthatextend
out to overlapadjoiningletters.In this word Typethey is kernedclosely

againstthe T. Kerningseparatesgreattypefromgoodtype.

33

3.2HOWTHESTAR LASERPRINTER4 STORESFONTS

3.2.1Bit-mappedfonts

StarMicronicshasearnedareputationforattractive,well-designedfontson

itsprinters,andthislaserprintercontinuesthetradition.
TheStarLaserPrinter4 usesbit-mappedfonts.Eachcharacters madeup

of a patternor “map”ofdots,justlikecharactersona dot-matrixprinteror
on yourcomputerscreen.Resolutionmakesthe difference:to makeeach
charactertheStarLaserPrinter4 usestenortwentytimesasmanydotsas
a dot-matrixprinteror computerscreendoes.

Everysizeofprintyouwant,pluseveryitalicorboldfacevecsion,hasitsown
bitmapandisnormallyconsidereda separatefont.It takesa gooddealof
printermemoryto holdallthe fontsyoumightwantatanygivenmoment.

Star Las&Pnnter4 fonts can be groupedinto three categories:internal,
cartridge,anddownloadablefonts.

3.2.2Internalfonts

TheStarLaserPrinter4 hassevenbuilt-ininternulfontsthatresideperma­nentlyin its read-onlymemory(ROM).That’swhy these are sometimes
called“residentfonts”:

Courier 12point Medium
Courier
Courier 12point Italic

Courier 1Opoint
Courier 1Opoint Bold
Courier 1Opoint Italic
LinePrinter

12point Bold

Medium

8.5point

Medium

Courieristhefaceusedonthemostcommonelectrictypewriters.Courier
is not printed with proportionalspacing.The LinePrinterfont, designed
originallyfor mainframecomputem,is smallanddesignedto packa lotof
charactersintoeveryinchof print(greatfor spreadsheets).

Withthesemost frequentlyusedfontsin ROM,a pagecan be assembled
muchfasterthanifthefontshadtobeloadedintotheprinterforeachprinting

job.

34

3.2.3Cartridgeanddownloadedfonts

YourStarLaserPrinter4 canusetwootherkindsof fonts,alongwiththose
builtintotheprinter.

Curtridgefonts,likethe internalones, are permanentlystored on ROM
chips.ThedifferenceisthatthoseROMsareinremovablecartridges.Your
StarLaserPrinter4 has a slotforonefontcartridge.

A cartridgemayholdanywherefromhalf a dozento two dozenfonts,all
differingfmmtheinternalfontsin size,style,strokeweightor symbolset.
You’llfindthatcartridgefontsopenup awiderrangeoftypefacestoo,such
as TmsRomn,PrestigeElite,HelvetandLetterGothic.Generally,cartridge
andinternalfonttypefacesm suitablefor bothtextandheadlines.

The third kind of font is neitherbuilt into your Star LaserPrinter4 nor

availablejust by slippingin a cartridge.You dowrdoudthis kind of font,
which means you use a computerprogram to send charactemfrom a
computerdiskto yourprinter’smemory.Anydownloadedfont(sometimes
called a “soft” or “installed”font) that you put into the printer’sRAM
disappearswhenyouturnoff theprinter,so youhavetodownloadthatfont
againnexttime youwantit.

Downloadablefontsrun the gamutfromEgyptianhieroglyphicsto those
eye-catchingdecorativefontsknownasdispkzyfonts.Theyalsoincludethe
more exoticforeign-languagecharacters,such as Arabicor Cynllic, and

symbolandmathematicalfonts(sometimeswithfractions).
Howcan you comparecartridgeand downloadablefonts?Whenyou use

cartridgefontsyou don’thaveto taketimeto downloadthem.Theydon’t

takeanyof yourStarLaserPrinter4’sRAMmemoryeither.Butdownload-

ablefontsoffermanymorechoices.Downloadablefontsusuallycostless

too.
Theprinteralwaysknowswhereits internalfontsare.For eachemulation

program,it alsokeepstrackof cartridgeanddownloadedfontsinapartof
its memorycalledthefont tuble.

SowiththeStarLaserPrinter4youcanhavemanyfontsavailableatanyone

time—theinternalfonts,thefontson anycassettesyou’vepluggedin,and

any fonts you have downloaded.You can change fonts in mid-lineto
emphasizea word or two wheneveryou want. You can mix internal,
cartridgeanddownloadedfontsin the samedocument.

35

3.2.4Hints:Wheretoget fonts

● Youcanprint anydowrdoadablefontthatworksonthe HPLaserJetIIP.

Severalothercompaniesselldownloadablefontswhichare compatible

withyourStarLaserPrinter4.TheBitstreamCorporationinBostonisone
ofthe morepopulm,Conographicisanother.Xeroxincludesasetoffonts
withits VenturaPublisherdesktoppublishingsoftware,whichyoucan
usew’ithyourprinter’sLaserJetIIPemulation.

● The SoftCraft companynow markets a Bitstream-developedproduct

called“Fontwa&’.WithFontwareyoucangeneratebit-mappedfontsof
anysizefromalibraryof outZinefonts.In outlinefontseachcharacter’s
profileisdefinedjustonceandtheprintergeneratesanyfontheightfrom
thatprofile,whichsavesprintermemory.

Outlinefontsdemandawesomecomputingpowerof theprinterthough,
so they’ve been availableonly on laser printers considerablymore
expensive than the Star LaserPrinter4. Now, with programs like
Fontware,yourStarLaserPrinter4 canturnoutelegantprintin anysize
withoutthathighprice.

● Don’thesitateto ask your Stardealerwhereyoucan buy cartridgeand

downloadablefonts.If youEally can’tfmd the oneyouneed,youcan
designanddownloadyourowncustomizedfonts.Thisisnoeasyjob,but
if you’recuriousit’sdescribedinchapter4.

36

3.3SYMBOLSETS

Let’s summarizebriefly,to put the subjectof symbolsetsin context.

The attributesof a fontdeterminewhatthat font will looklike when it is
printed. We covered all but orientationat the start of this chapter, and
orientationin thelastchapter.A font’sattributesinclude:

orientation(portraitorlandscape)
symbol

spacing(monospacedor proportional)
pitch(10or 16.66charactersperinch,forexample)
fontheight(measuredin points)
style(uprightoritalics)
strokeweight(light,mediumorbold)
typeface(LinePrinter,Courierandsoon)

Thoughthey are not font attributes,such printingfeaturesas subscripts,

superscriptsand underliningaretreatedalongwithfontsin the following
chaptm. Eachemulationhas itsownwayofprovidingthesefeatures.

Incidentally,thebestway to underlineisto usetheunderlinecommandin
theemulationyou areusing,insteadof backspacingandoverprintingwith
theseparateunderlinecharacter(-). If youdo thelatterwithproportionally
spacedtext,you’llusuallyfindtheunderliningis toolongforthetext.

set(whichwe’lllookatnext)

3.3.1 Whatare symbolsets?

Keyboardsdifferfromcountrytocountry,TheBritishneedtheirf symbol,
thqFrenchneedtheirq and6,the Spanishneedtheir~andfietc.Scientists
needparticularmathematicalsignstoo.ThereeasilycouIdbefourhundred
or morepossiblesymbolsfor anygivenfont.

However,thenumberofsymbolsprintersstorefor a fontislimitedto 256
slots,asinASCII.Sosomesymbols,ortheorderofsomesymbols,candiffer
in anyfont.Eachuniqueselectionandarrangementofsymbolsisasymbol
set (sometimescalleda “graphicset”or“characterset”).

The symbolat position91 for exampleis an openbracket,[ , in theusual
ASCIIsymbolset.ButthesamepositionhoIdsA(capitalAwithanumlaut)
in the Germansymbolset.

37

Youprobablywon’tchangesymbolsetsveryoften,unlessyouneedspecial
symbolsforyourtradeor regularlywritein a languageotherthanEnglish.
Whenyoudoneedthem,though,inoneoranotheremulationmodeyourStar

LaserPrinter4 supportssymbolsetsforallthesecountries:

U.S.(ASCII) UnitedKingdom
Germany
Italy
Spain

Besidestheseyourprintersupportssetscontainingjustsymbols,suchasthe
Greekalphabet(13),logic symbols(S),arrows(t), theqjistered trademark

symbol(@)and so on.

Sweden
Denmark Norway

France
Finland

3.3.2Eachemulationhassymbolsets

Yourlaserprinterworksby emulatingorfollowingcommandsdeveloped
originallyfor otherprinters.OneoftheStarLaserPrinter8’sadvantagesis
thatitoffefiyouachoiceofseveralbuilt-insymbolsetsforeachfontineach
emulation.

TheactualFX-850,printerdoesnotusesymbolsetstoproduceinternational

accentedcharactemandspecialsymbols.Instead,theFX-8501etsyoudefine

whichcharactersyouwantwithparametersettings.
WhenyourStarLaserPnnter4isemulatingtheHPLaserJetIIP,thenormal

default symbolset is the Roman-8 set. Roman-8includesall the usual
keyboardcharacters,numbersandsymbolsinASCII,plusaccentedfo~ign­languageCharactersandspecialsymbols(butnothingforlinedrawing).

TheEpsonFX-850emulationismllyvematile.Itletsyouhavebothofthose
IBMsymbolsetsplusEpson’sownstandardsymbolset.ThisEpsonsymbol
setisunusual:itcontainsbothuprightanditaliccharactersinthe sameset.
You may also choosefrom symbolsets for all the countriesmentioned
above,plusa secondunique set foreachof DenmarkandSpain.

3.3.3Defaultfontattributes

Whenyoupoweronyourprinterandchooseanemulation,theinternalfonts
startoffwithdefaultattributeswhichyoucanchangeasneeded.Thedefault
symbolsets dependon the emulation:in LaserJetIIP modethedefaultis
Roman-8,andinEpsonEX-800modeit’sEpsonStdUSA.

38

Besidesthese,allinternalfontsdefaultto portraitorientation,uprightstyle
(notitalics)andmediumboldness.Thetablebelowshowstheirotherdefault
attributes:

Typeface
Courier
LinePrinter

Technically,youcanuseanyoftheStarLaserPrinter4’sresidentfontswhen

yousendcommandsemulatingaparticularprinter.Buteachemulationonly
printsproperlywiththefontsdesignedforit.Furthermore,youcanonlyuse
symbolsets, or arrangementsof those fonts, which that emulationcan
handle.So be awarethat,if you try using fontsother than those recom­mended for a particularemulation,you will usually get printing in the
emulation’sdefaultfont.

If youwanta characterthat’snotinthefontyou’reusing,don’thesitateto
grabit. JustsendtheEscapesequencesthatselectyourdesiredsymbolset,
printwithit, thengobacktoyouroriginalfont.

Spacing Pitch Font height
monospaced 10 12point
monospaced

16.6 8.5point

3.4 MANAGINGFONTS

YoucanseewhichfontsarecurrentlyselectedonyourStarLaserPrinter4

byprintingastatussheetin offlinemode,asmentionedatthebeginningof
thischapter.AnotherTESTmodemenuitem,describedin the StarLuser-
Printer4 OperationsManual,alsolets you printouta list of all the fonts

availableon theprinterat anygivenmoment.

3.4.1Fonts

Most popular software packages,particularlyword processors,let you

choosefontsfromwithintheprogram.Theysendtheappropriatecommands
to the printerandyoudon’tneed to understandhowtheydoit.MultiMate

usespitchtoidentifydifferentfonts,forexample,whileWordPe&ectuses

printformats.Thepointis,youmaynotevenhavetoworryaboutselecting

whichfontto use.

Butnotallpackagesdothejob foryou.If youareinthissituation,youcan

selectanyfontattributementionedabove,eitherfromthecontrolpanelor

by sendinganEscapesequencecommandin oneoftheemulationmodes.

If youusethe controlpanelin programmode,selectCHARACTER.Just

pressthe [ > ] buttonto getto thefontattributeyouwantto set,press[ v ]

39

I

togettoitspossiblevalues,press[> ]toscanthroughthem,andfinallypress

[v ] to slap in thevalueyouwant.

Theproceduresforselectingafontfromacomputerprogramis a bitmom

complicated,anddependson whichemulationmodeyou areusing.These
fontselectionmethodsare detailedin the nexttwochaptem.

3.4.2’Hints:Desktoppublishingandpagedesign

● Desktoppublishingsystemshelp you automateyourspecificationsfor

margins,coverdesign,typefaces,fontsizes,placementofgraphicsand

regularfeatures.You build the specificationsyou want in templates,
standardpagedesignsyoulatersimplycallupon yourscreenandfillin
withtext.

● Somedesktoppublishingsystems,suchasAldus’sPageMaker,arepage-

oriented:you put each page togetherindividually.Theseare great for
shorteFdocuments,such as newsletters,brochuresand letters. Other
systems,such as Xerox’s VenturaPubZisher,a~ document-oriented.

Thatmakesthembettersuitedtotechnicalmanualsandlongproposalsor

reportsthat go throughmanydrafts.
Otherwaysinwhichsuchsystemsdifferincludewhethertheyshowon

yourscreenwhatyouwillgetonpaper(code-basedprogramsdon’t),how
welltheyhandlepictures,andhowhardtheyareto learn.Thinkabout
yourneedsbeforechoosingadesktoppublishingsystem.

● A few of today’scomputerprogramslet you see severaldifferentfont

sizesandtypefacesonyourcomputerscreen.Thatcapabilityisnecessary
if youwantto seeon-screenexactlywhatwillprint on yourStarLaser­Printer4. Desktoppublishemcall this capabilityWYSIWYG—“what
youseeis whatyouget”.

● Whenyoudesignyourpages,don’tvaryfontsizejustto fittextintothe

spaceavailable.Gowitha sizethat’seasyto read andbeconsistent.

Neverbetemptedtousealluppercaseletters.Whenyouwanttohighlight
text,switchto a boldfontor drawaboxaroundit.

● Don’tbe afraidto usewhitespace.Whitespacerelieveseyefatigueand

looksmoreattractive.

40

3.Optjonalfonts

M o f a f y S L 4 c i
i f T c g y m v i s s s f
h s a s w T y C f f e y
m a i a b l o m s s a s r f
7 t 1 p

o f o d t t A y S M d

a c o d f t f

H
L G p f
B c

l d f

o c r f
u p c

3.4.4 Usjngcartrjdgefonts

T g a t a f o a c

1 s t c y w i t s o t f o t p

2 u e t c p m o a c f y c

t s t f y w ( f e e i f
c

N D n i o p c o o t t D l

i O

3.4.5Howto downloadfonts

T d f f c d y n m t a s 6
miW r a l a5 c w ac o
d d ( h d i b

M c fop a n o t m
i I DeL B S H

L SoL a t P p d i M

W T u p h y d f t l y

a t f auf y w p o
M f f o d t y b t d i y p h

E s r i t f w s t p U a
y h t d i c t f f y c i y p (
L H m y m a af I n f I y d
f w t M C u m s t u t C o

4

T w k y c f “ t d y s w

te

pu

s p b s c
O l l a a c o e

3.4.6Downloadinga font:exampleone

E o i f a c r j M
S y b HeC S f a w

t d t r ( i a b c T H
d l f e f a C C a
CNI c y i t H c f C

1 deR ( I o B P R s

s P
O o t d y g a c a b f n

DOT l t r u f y m s t
p i o t a y c A p y t

D C

W t p a f t f I n y k i an b
Oa 3 T w t p a w y w t f s
peo
dii y p t p R b F t p
a i y w t p a s o t f a y r Y o N f y
o n
Y t d t s f t i a b f f e t
f t i f

y t e P o T ( t f

D C

T p w b t s b y h t r t u d f
I n f t u i a b f

3.4.7Downloadinga font:exampletwo

E t i f a c r A C P
d

P p a p d c H a a p
c PCw c t d i n t p a g f
T c f d f y C S f a t A p y
t

42

p w M W

P C

T a a“ c i t P i t c a
d f f a t f r i a b T p a i

y w t c af c A t a i t W
f m f t Y f y

A P h m t f d f w y w p o
t W f c W a k i t f d y w t
a A t s r t t H p d i t
APf y c e

T i F n o y C S f w a o t

p m o a y W a
W b e h y u t f d o y a

s A y k s c t c f w p
r s exb p T c a d i
t f t c

T p o d a f y d y i n s
stA y c o d t i H L 1 m c
a dof i d f i c 4

3.4.8Hints:Managingmemory

● P f s c b q c f y Y t

o f a s i y o f f f y g y
p b r i m A t r y w f
o A o t f w s d y l p

- t o 2 p

- l o l o p

- g

- m

-j t

● Y c t a a R b t y S

4 i y n t d m f

43

● Alc e a s o h p s i

pnu y c m t y As
a s t m s t h t d t b
p a i pah i am s

● S p m p a d e f a

n t f t f f p m t m r f t
n f T a c m g s i y s y
p w o p i a c n I k t p
R f b o H t d t c
sis d y p t

● Moyoaf( w

M C c b y p y f d a
t f w t s i t p m I y u a s
dof ( m t t d y w f i m
e t k i i t l p m Y d s
d f t w i y u ap s I y i an
h m s y d d d f

c Howf cad T

s e t a M o y l p m i n a
f s f b i h t s e p b p i a
w a a m o o y a u

T s h m m i a f e f p t p
o a p t [ b t p a s s Y p
w b a s a f m i y t t o i
m b d t m f I t w c p
w t c a f t t r

A ag r y c i a l ad d f i
ad A t t i f t s b p d
m g d s t m m t A t s o
aml p i t m f i o d

T k a w v o e f i m h m S
La4 u ( t s t p o a n
p t a t o b w t s m o R

44

HP LaserJetIIP ‘” “

Commands

‘ HeL 1 i a e k o y

S La4 Y s h n t r m p
s p i H L 1 m a t p l c
s L I c

B t L 1 i a l p t i c c g
y m c o y Stt i p w t o
b c s Y w p u t e c
m t t o R t r w p m e
i t c

W f t s s i t c a w d i C 2 f
s p m a p s c t w c
c t p t l “ o t p n w p af
a f w l d o w a p

A t e o t c w d h t c a u y o f
a a h t s t b w c m

4.1 L C

4.1.1 Whatdo LaserJetIIP commands/ooklike?

T L I e m i a d c c c
( a c f c r a s E s
( a c E f r t p B a t o L 1
e c y c s y S L 4 l l t

<

i w t c p i a s o t s t g c o
c t w t o b n i s v y w t u i
t c a C i t s c y w p

C n C

45

T i d m L H d f t o

p emF a E s e w a c l I

y d m t l c u y p w k w

t E s e a w t f c a p o t

s c

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L C ( 2 ) ; “ &

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w i B y w w t w

1 L C ( ; “ ; C (

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4.1.2 CombiningEscapesequences

L i t c w d o w t s af b j s
w f a y w s a b o p s I y
s a f b s e o i a y c b c t
y s suB i c m af b o r t
e t y c af T a t o c t n j
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46

H a w y c s y a f k t i t
c t h t s cop a j o l
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cop j o a c o t l c
ch

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t s t a w o b

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4.2.1Selftest

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<

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n

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T p w f p a p l i i m b r
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j t o y l p a s L I e o t

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Y m r t o p o a ap f i

T p w w o ap h e l i e h t l

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T p t y h i s t d p s f y l
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M s d t p o t p o w t p c p

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s a b l t i p l B a m i l Y
c c t m o a “ w l c d
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cof Y n w t s t p b t
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t deo t l o s ( c “ a h
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c

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t c

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s t c

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t t l m o t l o w i c s

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p f

< ( n @

F n e o o t f s v f y p f

VALUE S

n
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2

S t d s s
S t c f s s (
f t p t s i b m
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Siy c s e t d o t c s s f y
s f Y a m w t u t s s s f b
p a s f

6

T d t t y c s t f c t s w

s s y w f y s f

< ) n @

F n e o o t v f t t

VALUE

n
O(

S
S t d s s

1( S s s s a p f

2 S t c f s s

3 S a t d f a ( j

s s

E S s c

L t as l a h y u t c H t s
Y a a u t L t b w t u t G
s s a y a w am y B o a n u
chf s n i t r

T i t r y d t u ap p n s w t
n o t g t s o al c f y a l
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< ( O

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69

I y h f w - ( 3 t p w r t i s
C f n j i R s s

S

I y s m f a f e c p w t s

w B i y s p s t d o e c

dei w T d h y w y p f s

s t c

<

i w f n y p O( t g m

I y s prs i
b s i ah p f a T p w j i
t p r

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f t pa

<

P

P d h m c p i y w f a m
p f Y S Lai m f h

s o 1 1 o 1 c p i C o d
f w mop o h o s f c p
i

T s t p y w f t p f s t c

<

w f ny p i h m c p i y w F
< ( 1 H w p t c i e i

(SnP

o 1( t g p s

doy a s p

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T cop c f t s f i

<

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s T c s i d h p c b t
p a s f I l l t

< & n S

7

)SnH

F n y e ap c f t f t

C P I

1 c (
1 c (

F h
m h o t c y p i m i p s T

L I e p f i 6 1 1 1 a

3 p s I t f h y s a f i n a t

p w s t f w t s c t y r
T s f h f t p f u t f c F

n e t f h i p t y w

<

T s f h f t s f s t c

<

S

S d w y t i p i i
w a S t c t s t s y w f t p
f

<

i w f n y e Oi y w n u t

(SnV

)SnV

(SnS

o 1i y w i

P C n
O(
2

o u t w t

T s s f s f j r t p a u t

s n n

<

R t s i ar l a I ap f
s a h p a b d c i t s y w
y g t f w y s

S w

T w o a f d h l o b i p

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t w t b o c o t o e T f
c g y a r o 1 d o b t n m
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)SnS

7

S t c t s ap f w y d s w

<

i w y r n w an f – ( l t + (
b Y n t n s t g t l w A w o O
( p m p

T s t s w f t s f u t s n
w t c

<

A inn Y w l u o f t g y b
s p d n t k t B i p t p b w
e h ab f i t p Y j p t t y w i b
t t w t o o b 4 d

S y c u t c < & n H t b u y j n t
k t w i d o w y w t o I a m
spf l C t e j k t o h m
c y p I ap f y k t o t d
b u acht A b u 4d l t t
t t w y j p y t a

T
T l a y c g t c i t t T d o

c i w f d o t o a t m d f
a f B w y s a l p f t s a t b
o t l

(SnB

)SnB

T a t p f y w f y p f s t
c

<

F n e o o t f c n f t t

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P
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7

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s
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6
7
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9

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w f L itf s t b o o r

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o

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7

T B s w c s t s o d f w l
l t

1 L C ( 2 ) : “ ) s . 6 . 5 O

A asw h s a f p w a

f t l l t s f

4.Underline

Uni p f n a f a
Y c u i t w a a p f o w t – u

chI y b a u t u c h y
o f t u d c o t s l a y t

T u c w b W y t o t u
f t w t p w u a s p c
t i s

S t c t t o t u m

< & n D

i w f n y p O( t g f u

o 3 t g f u

A s t c t t o t u m

< &

4.How toprintEscapesequencesandcontrol

codes

Y u b E s a c c t p S h d y
p E s a c c

B y a c p c a i t d w Y w
d t w y w t s e e a i i s t t p
f e t d a s o t a c t d p t
w y t i s

T Trp c p t s o d t f i

w p a t a e E s o c
c Trp e p C R c w z

t p p b t t l m

7

T u Trp j p t c i i f o y
p d

< & n X
F n y s t n o b o d y w t p
D F l t T p c p E

s a c c w a e t B D
F p a t C R c s t l m l
t w i n p D F a p c a
b n a s

D F a i t E s o t t i o

a a t t i o T t o D F s t c

j b t d y w d

< Y

A t t o D F s t c a t e o t
d p d

< Z
T E Z s i p a ab f b a Z

4.Fontcontrol

T F C c h t m f d af s
a d f

Y c m a f e p o t w t F C
c T h y c w f y d a p f
d n g d w y r t s T p o t
s y g t a f w a o t t f y l s u
o o t f I c d a

W y p m g s w f y c a u t
c t d s o t Y c o d f y
doa i a c f a n d N t w
g l w y d af e w t f i o a u p
i t p m

T c f y s t c

<

n F

7

F n e o o t n f t t o f

do

F
D a t a p f
D a t f ( w t d
a t f i t s a r c
D j t f w t m r s I 2
D j t l c o t f y h

M t c f I t
M t c f I p
M a t c o t c f

Ab o exa t l f 6 W y g a f I t
a f y f n at c o t f i m T c
i a t f d f B y w n f 6t c
a t c o a i o c f

H h t a I n t a i o c f Y f
s t f t s t F I c t g i a I n a
f c t f i m w F C f 6 I y w
t c t s i R w y r t p y c b
s F C f 5

n

O(

1(

3
4
5
6

4.Example:Controllingfonts

L s h t l f c w t i B
P y w t m a w y c f ( d

w i i y w t p w i A t p 1 t

1 T n t i y n R s s b s

o s k c c o i c t
A y l w y s p f t A p y

t w t m t c f p F y a w t
d a t t f f p m t m r f s
g y b p

76

L s w a m a a u h f y t p

100i

1 L C ( 2 ) ; “ ;
1 L C ; “ ;

1 L “ h f t p

o A 1 - 1
1 L C ”
1 L CH
1 L C ; ;
1 L C
1 L C ’ ;

L

L l

o u f
L 1 t o t p w f p e f

norc T w
l Toy s a i 1

A fm1 f c c t m t c f
p a t d a t f

4.Example: Assigningfontnumbers

N l d a p i B F w a f n t t

C a Lim f a t a c f I P
C T w p s o e f

1 L C ( ; “ ( ;

. L C ( : “ (s:

1 L C (1 ) :
1 L

1 L C ( 2 ) : “
1 L C ( ; “ ( ;
1 L C ( : “ ( . 6 . 5 O ;
1 L C ( :
1 L C ( ;
1 L C ( ;
2 L C ( :

2 L C ( ; O O :
2 L CH
2 L C :
2 L C :
2 L C ;
2 L “ 1 - R C
2 L C :
2 L “ 2
2 L C ;
3 L “ 3 - C P C
3 L C ;
3 L C

C ( 2 ) : “ ● c I ;

● C6 ;

- R L

L 1 c t i C a l 1 i
p f L 1 g i f n l a l 1 m
te

L 151 sama

200tf No t

I s s 1
Linsaml

n d t o C f a l 3 t f

f f t p t p

78

4 U Y O F

Ch

4.6.1Fontdesignis tedious

A w f d i a a D e t t o p
l f i a f h

Sot y h t b y o t e i y d
w w a c i t f b Y m f e
w t p y o c c l I m b u
c w a c o g p 5 d h a 3 w l o
d

B d y o t i s t m s y
c o a m d f a y c f f f
dec

T n h w t d t j i t a a m w y
b y Lat s i y c g o o t f o

fou p n o t m F W i o K
a e o t f n w p t t m s y t t

o paf o d l k
E w a l t b a c f i a i p I

c f t c o af o u t 2 c s ac
d a prs a t j f o t s N m

f

4.6.2Howto downloadyourownfonts

c L a y a k w t i t b i y c
f a h d i t w w a s O y
c y o c y n t d t t y l

p
T p o d af y d y i s

d T d y f y f t f s

t y d a s y a c “

1 a af I n t y f

2 d a f h

3

4

5

i t p o e c t b d
s a c d a b f e c
s w t f i t b p o t

79

I

<F

1 A a f I t y f

T a a I t y f y s t c ( a u

“Af I n w a I n f n b Oa
3

<

n D

B s t c t c w t I n i
a a t a f I i i t e f w b d
w t n c

2 Doa h f y f
E i t p d h e m t c y f i w
d a e f w t s I n w y d t
h f y f

A f h i t l o i a w y p u t s
t f E f h 2 b l i s a t f o t f
Y s af h c t y p j b y d

t f c
T h c l l t

<

n W

a m b f i b t d d t f

atT n v i t a n o b o d d
a a 2 N u o L 1 c y m e
t A s 2 a 6 h n t n 2

H a‘ f h c

< ) 2 CkS

A f t a c a t f t r l l g
g B t 2 b t e o a A c e o
spap f a ( e i w b a
s A c t h t b c c

E b i t h i a n w y s a w s
h t b s a t n p i t A t C
s o t n i t h a w r y a y
S M d t h y b y f h T g y s
t t b s w e o t b m

8

MEANING

o-1

headerlength
2 blank
3

fontsize
4-5 blank
6-7

8

9

10

11
12

baselinepositionforcharactem

blank

cellwidth
blank
cellheight

orientation
13 spacing
14-15 symbolset
16-17 pitch
18-19 linespacing

20-22 blank
23 style
24

strokeweight

25 typeface

3)Positioningeachcharacterin your font
Beforeyoudownloadeachcharacteryouhaveto telltheprinterwherein its
fonttabletoputit.Youindicatewhereby sendingthiscommand:

<ESC>

*C n E

Fornyouputthedecimalnumber,betweenOand255,of thepositioninthe
fonttablewhereyouwantyourcharacterstored.

Yourprinter’sfonttableisjustliketheASCIItable.Beforeyousendeach
character,sayg, youhavetosaywhereyouwanttoputit.IntheASCIItable,
g is atdecimalposition103.So you sendthiscommand:

<ESC>

*C 103E

Andimmediatelyafterit yousendthe bitsthatmakeup the characterg.

4) Describing each character in your font
Thenextstepis to describeeachofyourcharacters,“mapping”whereyou

wanteachdotto go. Sendthiscommandbeforeeachcharacter:

<ESC>

(Sn W

Forn youenterthenumberofbytesyou’llbe sendingafterthiscommand,

81

to describe and map your character.Sixteen bytes are needed for the
description;the bit-map takes as many bytes as you’ve put into each
charactercell—perhapstwo ortie hundredbytes.

Aswiththefontheader,eachbyteinthecharacterdescriptionisanumber,

sent as the symbolat that positionin the ASCIItable.Codingcharacter
descriptionsis tricky too, so again we recommendyou ask your Star
Micronicsdealer for help. The tablebelowshowswhatthe bytes in the
characterdescriptionmean:

BYTE
o

1
2
3
4
5
6-7
8-9

10-11

12-13

14-15

MEANING

descriptionlength
blank

always14

always1
orientation
blank
leftoffset(blankspaceto left of character)
topoffset(blankspaceabovecharacter)
characterwidth
characterheight
printpositiontravel(proportionalspacingonly)

Thebitmapofthecharacterisjustthepattemofdotsinthecharacter,starting
atthetopleftofitscell.Youworkyourwayacrossthecellanddowntothe
bottomright,givingeachdot a valueofOifit’snottobeprintedand 1ifit
is.Thenyougroupthosedotsas 8-bitbytes.

5) Permhent or temporary?
Thelaststepindownloadingyourownfontistomakethefontpermanent
or temporary,using the Font Controlcommanddescribedearlier. The
command<ESb *C4 F willallowthefontto beerasedwhenyouresetthe
printer.Butthecommand<ESC>*C5 F willkeepyourfontavailableeven
afteryou Rset theprinter.

82

4.7 GRAPHICS

TheStarLaserPrinter4offerstwokindsofgraphics.Itprintsru.stergraphics

(sometimescalled “bit-mappedgraphics”),which specify each dot in a
graphicspattern.And it printspattern gruphics,which prints lines and
patternedblocks.

Be aware,though, that adding graphicelementsalwaysslowsupprinting

withlaserprintem.

4.7.1StartingRasterGraphics

The followingstepsshouldbeperformed(intheordershown)whenprinting

rastergraphics:

1)Definethe resolution

2) Settheorientationofthegraphicimage

3)Issuethe commandto startgraphics

4) Issuethe commandtosetthecompressiontechnique(if any)of
thegraphicaldata

5) Sendthecommandswhichtransferthe graphicsdata

6) Sendthecommandto end graphics

Beforegraphicsare sentto theprinter,the resolutionmustbe set. This is
achievedusingthe followingcommand:

<ESC>*t n R

wheren cantakeavalueof75, 100,150or 300.Thesevaluesrepresentthe
desiredvaluein dots/inch(dpi)of the printedgraphicimage.The default

,resolutionis75dpi.Anyfimtherresolutioncommandswillbeignoredbythe

printeruntila commandto endgraphicshasbeenreceived.
To set the orientationof the graphicimage,transmitthe followingcom-

mand:

<ESC>*r n F

WherencantakeavalueofeitherOor3.Wheren=O,rastergraphicsprinting
willtake placeinthe logicalpageorientation,andwhenn=3,rastergraphics
willbeprintedalongthewidthofthephysicalpage,~gardlessofthelogical
pageorientation.

83

I

Thecommandto startgraphicsmustbetransmittednext.Thiscommandis:

<ESC>*r n A

wherencantakeavalueofeitherOor 1.Whenn=O,themarginforprinting
graphics will be the left-most printableedge of the page (this is not

necessarilythe same as the left text margin).If n=l, the left marginfor

graphicsis set to the currentprintposition,and anygraphicsimagewill
appearonlytotherightof thatmargin.

Threegraphicdatacompressionformatsareavailablefordatatransfer.The
datacompressionformatto be usedis selectedusing the followingcom­mand:

<ESC>*b n M

wheren cantakethevalueO,1 or 2. AnyotherwilueisinterpretedasO.A
fill discussionofdatacompressiontechniquesis outsidethe scopeof this
manual,but a briefexplanationof thiscommandshouldbeuseful.

.

Wheren=O,noencodingtakesplace,anda simplebinarytransfertakes
place.Bit7 ofthe firstbytecorrespondstothefirstdotin a rasterrow,bit
6 to thesecond,andsoon.

.

Where n=l, run-lengthencodingtakes place. This is a compression

techniquewherethedatais dividedintopaics;thefirstbyteof eachpair

servingastherepetitioncountforthedatain thesecondpair.If thefirst

byteofthepairisequaltozero,thedatainthesecondbyteisnotrepeated.

●

Wheren=2,the data to followis in TaggedImageFileFormat(TIFF)
confofrningto RV.4.Ostandards.Thedemandsof spacedonotallowa
detailed discussion of TIFF standards here, but briefly, TIFF files
combinefeaturesofnon-encodedandnon-encoded.fdes.Manyproprie­tarygraphicspackagesuseTIFFencodingwhenstoringandtransmitting
graphicdata.

When transferringraster graphicdata, each line of raster data must be
prefixedby the command:

<ESC>*b n W

wherengivesthenumberofdatabytestofollow(themaximumis255before
anothersuchcommandissent).Thisdatamustfollowthecompressionrules
setin thepreviouscommand.Forinstance,aTIFFimageinterpretedin any

84

way otherthanthe TIFF formatwillproducevery strangeresults!Repeat

sendinglines of graphicsdata,prefixedby the abovecommand,untilthe
wholeimagehas beentransmitted.

To signalthe end of graphicdata transmission,send the followingcom­mand:

<ESC>* r B

Therearenoparameters.The LaserPrinter4 is nowin textmode.

4.7.2Rulesandpatterns

Patternsandlinesare easeto do.
Print shops call lines of any thicknessrules. A printedline in fact is a

rectangularareawithone“skinny”dimension,fromonetomanydotsthick.
Wewillusetheword“rules”too,to avoidconfusionwiththelinesusedto

measurepages.
Youfollowthesethreestepswhenyouuse ruleandpatterngraphics:

1) Definethedimensionsyouneed.

2) Choosethe graphicspatternyouwantto fill in those dimen­sions.

3) Printthepattern.

Rememberto sendthefollowingruleor patterncommandsin
thatorder.

4.7.3Definingruleorpatterndimensions

Definingthe dimensionsoftheareayouwanttofilljustmeansindicatingthe
horizontalandverticalsizeofthepattcm,ortherule’slengthandthickness.
Youcanindicatedimensionsineitherdotsordecipoints(tenthsofa point).

At300dotsor720decipointsto theinch,decipointmeasurementsaremore
accurate.The printer converts decipointvalues into dots, using 2.4 de­cipointsto the dot. It roundsup fractionsto the next integer.So 1225
decipointswouldworkoutto510.4dots,andthepnnterroundsthisupto511
dots.

Yourdimensioncommandsspecifyan areatotherightanddownfromthe
currentprintposition.Ifyoudefineanarealargerthanthepage,yourprinter
willacceptthe command.Itwill,however,cutoff yourpatternorruleatthe
boundariesof the page’sprintablearea.

85

Whenthe printerfinishesitsprint“map”of yourruleor pattern,theprint
positionautomaticallyreturns to the spot from which you started. That
means,forinstance,thatyoucanmakealightlyshadedrectangleandthen
startprintingtextrightoverit.Thiskindofboxcanbeusefulforsettingoff
particularinformationfromthemainbodyof yourtext.

Horizontally,youcan specifythe rulelengthorhorizontalpatternsize in
dotswiththis command:

<ESC>*cn A

in whichforn youenterhowmanydotsacrossthepageyouwantthe rule
or patternto be.

Alternatively,to specifythe horizontaldimensionfor a rule or patternin
decipoints,you canprintthis command:

<ESC>

*C n H

in whichn is thehorizontalruleorpatternsizein decipoints.
Vertically,youcanindicatethesizeofyourruleorpatternin dotswiththis

command:

<ESC>*c n B

inwhichnisthenumberofdotsdefiningthethicknessoftheruleorthedepth
ofthepattern.

Alternatively,to showtheverticaldimensionin decipoints,yousendthis

command:

<ESC>*c n V

inwhichnisthenumberofdecipointsintherule’sthicknessorthepattern’s
verticallength.

4.7.4Choosingandprintinga rule orpattern

Youneedbothof thenexttwocommandsto chooseandprinttheparticular

patternyouwantto fillyourdefinedarea.Thesecommandsworktogether.

Withthe PrintPatterncommand(whichactuallycomessecond)youspecify
whetheryouwanttofillyourrectangularareawithasolidblackrule,afinely

dotted gray-scalepattern,or a predefine linear pattern. And with the

SpecifyPatterncommandyoucanindicatewhichparticulardottedorlinear

86

I

patternyouwant.YoualwayssendtheSpecifyPatterncommandbefo~ the
PrintPatterncommand,evenif youwanta solidblackrule.

To indicatetheparticularpatternyou want,sendthefollowingcommand.
The generalmeaningof the n value you enter actuallydependson the
commandyouput afterthis:

<ESC>

If youwantasolidblackruleit doesn’tmatterwhatyouputinforn,asthe
printerignoresit.

Ifyouwantal-scaledottedpattern,fern youenterhereapementagenumber
from1to 100indicatingthedensitywithwhichyouwanttheboxfilled,from

lightto solid.Your n percentagewillcorrespondto oneof the eightgray-

scaledensitiesinthechartbelow.

*C n G

87

If youwantalinearpattern,for n youenterhereapatternnumberbetween

1~d 6 inclusive,identifyingoneof thelinearpatternsbelow.

#1

#3

#5

#2

#4

#6

You always send the followingPrint Pattern commandafter
Patterncommand.ThisPrintPatterncommandidentifieswhetherthearea
youhavedefinedistobefilledwitharule,dottedgray-scalepattern,orlinear
pattern:

<ESC>

*C n P

For n enteravaluefromthefollowingtable.(If you selecta linearpattern
here, but a dottedpattern in the previousSpecifyPatterncommand,the
printerwill ignorethisPrintPatterncommand.)

n VALUE
O(zero)

PATI’ERN
solidblack

1 white
2 dottedgray-scale
3

linear

88

4.Z5 Examples:Patterngraphics

Tospecifyablockfiveincheswideyoucoulduseahorizontaldimensionof

1500dots(5inchestimes300dots).Thatcommandwouldlooklikethis:

<ESC>

*C 1500A

To printthatareawitha25percentgray-scalepattern,thecommandsyou

sendwouldbe:

<ESC>
<ESC>

*C 25G
*C 2P

Buttoprintanareafilledwiththehorizontalbarpattern,thecommandsyou
sendwouldbe:

<ESC>
<ESC>

*C IG
*C 3p

(Youcouldcombinethesecommandsas<ESG *c lg 3P .)

4.8 MACROS

4.8.1 Usingmacros

There’sagreatshortcutthatsimplifiesthetaskofsendingcommandstoyour
LaserPrinter4:usemacros.Amacrois asinglecontrolcode,whichyoucan

define yourself, that does the work of a whole long series of printer
commands.AnyLaserJet11Pemulationcommandcangointoamacro.

Puttingmacrostogetherto automaticallyrepeatsequencesoftasksis like
usinga ml programminglanguage.YourStarMicronicsdealermayknow
of somepre-wnttenmacrosalreadyavailablefor the Star LaserPrinter4.

You’llfindmacrosespeciallyhandyfor creatingletterheadsandbusiness

forms,andalsofor settingtabs,subscriptsand superscripts.
Yourpnntercanstemupto32macroswithouttheoptionalRAMexpansion.

To manageprintermemoryyou can make a macro eithertemporary(it
disappearswhenyouresettheprinter)orpermanent(itdisappearsonlywhen
youturnoffthe printer).

You assigneach macro an ID numberwhenyou first defineit. Use this
SpecifyMacroIDcommandtospecify(inplaceof n)theIDnumberofthe
macroto whichyouwishtorefer:

<ESC>&fn Y

89

Forexamplesayyouwantto deleteamacronumbered80.Youwouldfirst

selectthat macrowiththecommandcESC>&f80Y.Thenyouwoulddelete
it withtheMacroControlcommandcESC>&f8Xasdescribedbelow.

4.8.2MacroControl

The Macro Control commandperforms severaljobs for you, such as
defining,mnning and deletingmacros.To managemacrosyou send the
followingcommand:

<ESC>&f n X

FornyouenteranumberfromO(zero)to 10to specifywhatmacrocontrol
functionyouwanttoperform.Thesefunctionsaredescribedinthefollowing
table:

n
O(zero)

1(one)

2

FUNCTION

Start definingmacro. Creates a new macro with the last
specifiedmacro number.This macro will be temporary;to

make it permanent use <ESC> &f 10X after your

definition.Theprinterwillmakea macroof the sequenceof

commandsthatfollowthisone,untilitgetsthe commandto

stopdefiningthe macro.
Stopdefiningmacro.
Executemacro. This optionmakes the printer run the last

specifiedmacro, changingprinter parametersaccordingto
whatitscommandssay.(Thepnnterparametersarethoseyou
might also set from the controlpanel.) Whenthe macro is
done,theprintpositionwillbejustwhereitwasbeforeyouran
themacro.

Callmacro.This optionalsomakesthe printer run the last
specifiedmacro. But before it runs the macro it saves the
currentparameters,andthenrestoresthemwhenthemacrois
finished.Again,whenthemacroisdonetheprintpositionwill
bejust whereit wasbeforeyouranthe macro.

Turnonautomaticmacro.Thisoptionautomaticallyrunsthe
lastspecifiedmacrooneverypageyouprint.Youcanusethis
optionto reproducethesamedesignon eachpage(a logoor
formdesignperhaps).Youcanhavemorethanoneautomatic

90

macro.Aswiththe“callmacro”option,thisonesavescurrent
parametersand print position,and restoresthem when the
macroisfinished.Anautomaticmacrowillterminateif you
changeorientationor pagelength.

5

6 Deleteallmacros.Thisoptionremovesallmacmsandauto-

7

8

9

10 Makelastspecifiedmacropermanent.

Turnoffautomaticmacro.Startingwiththecurrentpage,this
optionterminatesthelastspecifiedautomaticmacro.

maticmacrosfromprintermemory—evenmacmsyouhave
definedaspermanentwithoption10below.

Deletetemporarymacros.Thisoptionalsodeletestemporary
automaticmacros.

Deletelast specifiedmacro.
Makelast specifiedmacrotemporary.

4.8.3Examp/e:Macros

Thefollowingprogramloadsandrunsa macro.Themacrumovesan inch

andahalfrightanddownthreeinchesfromthetopleftcomerofthepage,
whereit printsa25percentgray-scalebar. It thenejectsthepaper.

100 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “&f6X”

200 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “&fIY”
300 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “&fOX”
400 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “*p450x1200Y” ;

500 LPRINTCHR$(27) ;“*c180h7200V”;

600 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “*c25G”;

700 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “*c2P” ;

800 LPRINTCHR$(12)

900 LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “&f1X”;

1000 LPRINTCHR$(27) ;“&f2X”;
1100 END

Line100clearsanyexistingmacros,thenline200specifiesthatthiswillbe
macroIDnumber1.Line300startsdownloadingthemacro.

Line400movesthe printpositiontoaspot450dotsrightand1200dotsdown
fromthe topleftcomerof thepage.

91

Lines500through700 selectthe 180-dotdeep and7200-dotwidepattern
andprintit.Line800doestheformfeedthatforcestheactualprinting.Line
900ends the downloadingprocess.

Atthetwolineweselectourmacroand actuallyrun it.

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Commands

The small-carriageFX-850 is one of Epson’s more recent dot-matrix
printers.Becauseof thepopularityoftheIBMPersonalComputer,which
was marketedwith a modifiedEpsonprinter,thousandsof softwarepro­gramsalreadyworkwithEpsonprintercommands.

Ifyouhaveaprogramthatdoesn’tworkwithlaserprintercommands,you’ll

ahnostcertainlyfinditwillworkwiththecommandsintheStarLaserPrinter
4’s FX-850emulationmode.YourStarLaserPrinter4willprintanydocu­mentsyoucreatewithstandardEpsoncommands.

Wefollowthe samesequenceinthischapteraswedidinearlierchaptem:

firstsomeprintermanagementandpagesetupcommands,thenwe’llcover
commandsthatmovetheprintposition,andfinallywe’llprintourdocument
withourchoiceof fontattributes.

5.1 FX-850COMMANDS

5.1.2 WhatdoFX-850commandslooklike?

Mostcommandsin theFX-850emulationlooklikethis:

<ESC>C

in whichC isthecodefor theparticularcommandyouwantto send.If the
commandincludesthe n signitindicatesanumericvariablethecommand
needs.For example,theFX-850commandto settherightmarginis this:

<ESC>Q n

in whichn is the columnnumberfor the rightmargin.Soto putthe right
marginat column65 you wouldsendthiscommand:

<ESC>Q 65

MostFX-850commandsworkliketoggleswitches:one<ESb codeturns
on a featweandanothercESC>codeturnsit off.

or

<ESC>C n

93

But somecommandsincludetwonvariables,whichamshownasnl andn2.
Thesenormally~pmsentbytestobe addedtogethertoproduceonesum,in
whichnl representssingleunitsandn2 represents256-unitgroups.

Finally,a few commandscanhavemany n variables(such as tab stops),
whichamlistedthe same way.And oneor two includea secondkindof
variable,whichaR showninthischapterassinglelowercaseletters,suchas
c or m.

5.1.2 Userealnumbers,notASC/1symbols

importantpoint:withFX-850commandsanynumberyouputafterthe

An

cESC> code is a real number,not the printableASCII symbolfor that

numberas in LaserJet11Pcommands.In FX-850mode, for the number

shownafteran<ESb codeyoumustenterwhatevercharacteroccupiesthat

position in the ASCII table. We’ll alwaysuse decimalnumbersin our

descriptions.

For example,in FX-850emulationyousettherightmargintocolumn55
withthiscommand:

<ESC>Q 55

Youwouldwritethiscommandin BASICas:

10 LPRINTCHR$(27); “Q”;CHR$(55)

That BASIC command sends the printer the symbol Q and whatever

characterhappenstobeinASCIIposition55.YourStarLaserPrinter4’sFX­850progiaminterpretsthese,not as ASCIIsymbols,butonlyasthecom-

mandthatmeans“makecolumn55 therightmargin”.

5.1.3 Unsupportedcommands

YourStarLaserPrinter4,becauseitisalaserprinter,ignoresthefollowing
FX-850commands:

c paperend

● sheetfeedercontrol <ESC><EIkb

● selectcolor

● copy,selectanddownloadcharacterset cESC>:<ESbYO<ES@ &

● selectdrafl/NLQmode

c selectNLQ font

94

cESC> 8 and<ESC>9

cESC> r
<ESC>X

<ESC>k