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LaserPrinter 8
Operator's Manual
200 pgs5.73 Mb0
User Manual
230 pgs8.45 Mb0
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Star Micronics LaserPrinter 8 User Manual

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Specifications and Main Features

  • Model: Star LaserPrinter 8
  • Print Technology: Laser
  • Print Speed: maximum 8 pages per minute speed
  • Resolution: High resolution i.e, maximum 90,000 dpi
  • Built in Fonts: Available in 4 fonts: Courier, Prestige Elite, Tms Romn, Line Printer
  • Font Sizes: The size ranges from 8.5 to 12 points
  • Memory: 1 MB RAM (Upgradeable up to 2 MB) and 512 ROM
  • Versatile Connectivity: Serial and Parallel interfacing
  • Emulation Support:
  • HP LaserJet II
  • Epson EX-800
  • IBM Proprinter
  • Xerox Diablo 630
  • Paper Handling: Cassette and hand fed
  • Supported Paper Sizes:
  • Letter (8.5 x 11)
  • Legal (8.5 x 14)

A4 (210 x 297 mm)

Executive (7.25 x 10.5)

  • Envelopes and others
  • Command Compatibility: Supports ASCII and Escape sequences
  • Operating System Support: Works with wide range of commercial software applications
  • Additional Features: Capable of graphics printing, funnel supporting many character sets, graphics, printing on different media like envelopes, transparencies, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Q: Which types of connections are supported by Star LaserPrinter 8?

A: There’s support for parallel and serial connection for Star LaserPrinter 8.

  • Q: How can I change the fonts on the Star LaserPrinter 8?

A: There are several ways including using built in fonts, purchasing additional cartridges, or transferring computer fonts onto printer disks.

  • Q: What is the max print speed of the Star LaserPrinter 8?

A: Star LaserPrinter 8 has the ability to produce 8 pages in a minute.

  • Q: What emulations does the Star LaserPrinter 8 support?

A: Emulations supported include HP laser jet series II, Epson ex800, IBM Proprinter, Xerox Diablo 630 emulations as well.

  • Q: How much memory does the Star LaserPrinter 8 have?

A: For RAM the device ships with 1 MB but its upgradeable to 2 MB while for ROM the printer has 512 KB.

  • Q: Does the Star LaserPrinter 8 support printing envelops?

A: The manual feed allows for the printer to support technologically advanced printing on multiple envelope types and sizes.

  • Q: Which types of paper does the printer take?

A: The Star LaserPrinter 8 is able to take standard paper, legal paper, A4 paper, executive paper and even numerous sizes of envelopes.

User Manual

L 8
Series
A M
8
Series
Applications Manual
PREFACE
About this manual
ThisSrarLuserPrinter8ApplicationsManual givesyou the information youneed to programthe StarMicronicsLaserPrinter8.
Whywouldyoureadthisbook? Mostpeopleusingalaserprinterjust run
softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything
theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus-small businesspeople and homecomputerusers, not to mentionthe wizards who write those softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesofferedbyour printers.
Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharactersandimagesyoupnnt? Do youwantto makeyourStarLaserPrinter8worklike someearlierkindof printer? Thismanualprovidesthesoftwarehelpyouneedto getthemost fromyourLaserPrinter8.
Thoughthis ApplicationsManual is reallyintendedfor intermediateto advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo. The informationis organizedso youcan walkthroughthegeneraltheory underlyingprinterprogrammingbeforedancinginto specificdetails. It makessense,therefore,to readthe firstthreechaptetxbeforejumpinginto themiddle.
There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstarttoo.Peoplelearning howtouseanewprinteroftenfindtheterminologya barrier. Soinsteadof buryingwhatmaybencwjargonin a Glossaryattheback,wedefineeach newtermthefirsttimeitappears.Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts, forexample,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof thesamesize and style).
What’s in this manual?
.
In “Gettingto KnowYourStarLaserPrinter8“we providea listof the featuresthat make this a splendidprinter,to help you choosewhich featuresyou wantto exploit. There’sabit on how laserprinterswork, inside andout. Thechapterthenexplainssoftwareingeneralterms,in­cluding how to write controland Escape commandsto make those featureswork.
.
“ControllingYour Printer” examinesthe parameters and “superset”
commandsyougivetheStarLaserPrinter 8to directpreciselyhowyou wantittobehave.Theseletyoucontroltheprinter,managepageformats, andspecifywhatyouwantprinted.
.
Formostof us, the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful: howtousethefonts built i_ntothe LaserPrinter8, plus those that come on cartridgesor computerdisks.
.
Youmay neverlook at more than one or two of chapters4 through7, which cover Star LaserPrinter8 commands. Your LaserPrinter8 emulatesotherprintem:itimitatesotherpnntembyacceptingthesame commandstheydo. JustthinkofyourStarLaserPrinter8 asfourprinters hidinginsideoneunit.
Ifyouwanttowriteormodifyaprogramthatusesoneoftheseprinters— the Hewlett-PackardLaserJetseriesII,EpsonEX-800,IBMProprinteror
XeroxDiablo630- chapters4 through7 showhow yourStar Laser­Printer8 canemulateto accordingly.Thechaptersfirstdescribehowto controltheprinterandto formatpages,thenhowto movetheprintposi­tion,and finallyhowto use fontsandgraphics.
ThechapterontheLaserJetseries11islongerandmoredetailedthanthe others.That’sbecauseyouaremorelikelytouselaserprintercommands than commandsfor dot matrixor daisywheelprinters. (If you have softwaredesignedonly for dotmatrixor daisywheelprinters,youmay have manualsfor those printers anyway.) We recommendyou use LaserJetseriesII emulationwheneverpossible,withEX-800emulation as yourbackupmode.
● Thefinal“TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-
ter referencetableswillprobablygetthumbedthemost.
Conventions
Incidentally,oneofthoseTechnicalSupplementtablessuggestsa coupleof typographicconventionswe’lluse.Baseten(decimal)numberswillgener­allybe usedhere;if we haveto use base sixteennumbers(hexadecimal) we’llexpresslysayso.
Andsecond,thelowercaseLispracticallyidenticaltothenumberone(1vcr­sus 1). BecauselowercaseL is usedinmanycommanddescriptions,we’ll usethecharactert’toavoidconfusion.
The Star LaserPrinter 8 Operations Manual
ThismanualisthecompaniontotheStarLaserPrinter8OperationsManual thatcamewithyourprinter. Alaserprinteris a fairlycomplextoolthatre­quirescareanddelicatehandling.SotousethisApplicationsManual best, makesureyouunderstandthatOperationsManual first.
Your OperationsManual holds essentialinformationabout the Lascr-
Pnnter,8,suchashow to:
● unpackandsetup yourlaserprinter,
● connecttheStarLaserPrinter8 toyourcomputer’sserialorparallelport,
● iinktheLaserPrinter8intoa networkof severalcomputers,
● configurethe LaserPrinter8to yourneeds(wilhvanablcssuchas paper
sizeand speedofdatatransfer),
● loadpaperandthetonercartridge,
● operatethe panelswitchesanddisplay,
● run the LaserPrinter8self-test,
● lookafteryourprintertokeepit in peakcondition.
CHAPTER 6 IBM PROPRINTER COMMANDS
ProprinterCommands............................................ .............................125
ControllingthePrinter.......................................................... ..............126
FormattingPages............................................................ ....................127
Movingthe PrintPosition... ............................................................... .127
ControllingFonts... ........................................... ..................................13(J
Graphics........ .............................................. ........................................133
125
CHAPTER 7 XEROX DIABLO630COMMANDS
DiabloCommands.. ............................ ................................. ...............135
ControllingthePrinter........... ...................... ................................. ......136
FormattingPages........ ....................................... ............................. ....137
Movingthe PrintPosition........ ...........................................................140
ControllingFonts. ............................................. ..................................145
Graphics
CHAPTER 8 TECHNICAL SUPPLEMENT
Commandsummary.......................................................... .................154
Symbolsets
INDEX
..... .................................................... .....................................
..... ................................................... ................................162
135
l~g
153
213
ThischapterintroducesboththehardwareandsoftwareaspectsoftheStar LaserPrinter8’s personality,from fonts and print engineto ASCII and Escapesequences.
STAR LASERPRINTER 8 HARDWARE
Versatility
YourStarMicronicsStarLaserPrinter8workswithpracticallyallcommcr­cialsoftwareprogramsandcomputers.WithfeaturesthatgobeyondStar’s easy,affordable9-pinand fast,quality-printing24-pindotmatrixprinters, the Star LaserPrinter is the logicalnext step in the series of fine Star Micronicsprinters.
Your Star LaserPrinter 8 produces pagesthat look close to typeset quality, with up to 90,000 dotsper squareinch— no more NLQ (near letter quality) compromises.
minute,These numberstranslateto aboutfivetimes more resolutionand speedthantheaveragedot-matrixprinter.
Star’snewprinterisremarkablyversatile.Youcanprintcomplicatedforms (widthwiseif you want) ... detailedgraphs... yourown customizedtype­styles... digitizedphotographs... otherlanguages(includingArabic and Japanese).
The Star LaserPrinter8 produceseight of those pages a
Youcan evenprintyourletterheadandlogo as you print yourletter, and reprintthem directlyonto a businessenvelope.You don’t even need to removethepapertraytoprinttheenvelope:justslideitintothe manualfeed slot.
1
The StarLaserPrinter8isidealfordesktoppublishing.Thepagesitproduces makeperfectphotocopyor instant-printmasters.And all themaindesktop publishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMakerandXerox VenturaPubisher,worksplendidlywiththeStarLaserPrinter8.With’’page makeup”programsliketheseyouwillbeable—maybeforthefirsttime— to delivercommunicationswiththe impactof top-notchgraphics.
Font options
Youcan print withan amazinglywidevarietyoftypefontsandsizes.The StarLaserPrinter8comeswithfourbuilt-infonts,whichcanbeprintedfrom
8.5pointsto 12pointsin size(apointis about1/72of an inch). Thesefontsarc:
Courier
Tms Romn
Prestige Elite
Lino Pr i ntar
Besidesfiese, youmaybe ableto useoptionalcartridgesanddisksto give yourStarL&serPnnter8 a varietyof extrafonts,suchas these:
Helvet
linedrawing LetterGothic presentationfonts Bar codes opticalcharacterreaderfontsuniversalproductcode
You can load your Star LaserPrinter8’smemory with fonts stored on computerdisks. Literallyhundredsof fontsare marketedby font-supply companies.Somefontsareevenobtainablefromcomputer“usergroups”or “electronicbulletinboards”.Fontsyougetthiswayareinthepublicdomain, whichmeansyou don’tneedto pay a licencefee to usethem.
Ask your Star LaserPrinter8 dealeraboutresourceslike these. Desktop publishingwith laser printersis fast-changingterritory, and some Star Micronicsstaffpeoplehavefoundelectronicbulletinboardsandcomputer usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeepingupwiththechangingpace.Ifyouinvest a littletimethiswayit may repayyou’well.
2
How your Iaserprinter communicates
YourcomputercommunicateswiththeStarLaserPrinter8througheithera
parallelcableor oneof twokindsof serialcable.The printer’sinterj2ace,
the link or boundaryit shares with yourcomputer,defineswhetherthe
printerwillacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyte or one bit at a time.
Abitisthesmallestunitofcomputerorprintermemory.Ithaseitheralow orhighelectriccharge,whichwerepresentwiththedigitsOand1.Usually eight adjacentbits are groupedto form a byte. Since a byte normally
representsonecharacter,thisstringofbits- O1OOOOO—might represent
theletterA. The serialinterfaceacceptsjust one bit at a time fromyourcomputer.A
parallelinterfacecanhandleawholebyteatonce,bymovingdatabitsside-
by-sidealongseparatewires.Youchoosewhichinterfacemethodyouwant
to use by selectingit on the operatorpanel, as explainedin your Star
LaserPrinter8 OperationsManual.
The Star LaserPrinter 8 is a computer
TheStarLaserPrinter8 firstmapsthecharactersto beprintedintoits own
randomaccessmemory(RAM).Thatis,theprinterbuildsa“picture”inits
memorycorrespondingtothepageyouwanttoprint.Whenthat’sdonethe
pnntercanreproducethepageontopaperonitsown,lettingyourcomputer
geton’withotherwork.
YourStarLaserPrinter8comeswithonemegabyteofRAM—theequiva-
lentof about onemillioncharacters.AStarLaserPrinter8 optionletsyou
addasecondmegabyteofRAMif,say,youneedtomapfull-pagegraphics
orstoremorefonts. AccompanyingallthatRAMis another512kilobytes
ofreadonlymemory(ROM),containinga libraryofinternalfontsandthe
programsthatlet theStarLaserPrinter8 emulateotherprinters.
AMotorola68000computerchipcontrolsboththememoryandtheprinting
mechanismintheprinter,calledtheprintengine.Theprintcrstoresawhole
pagein RAMbeforeprintingit. (If a pageis so dense that it overflows
memory-a mostunlikelyevent—theStarLaserPrinter8printsthepageon
two sheets.)
3
The Print engine
It’s tie print enginethat forms the actualcharactersand graphics.The enginedirectsitslaser,apinpointstreamoflightpulses,throughmirrorsand lensesontothe surfaceof a positively-chargedrotatingdrum.
r“’””’
Lens Laser beam
Scanning mirror
uctor laser diode
Photosensitive drum
Asthelaserscans,it“draws”thepage-mapstoredinyourprinter’smemory.
Whereveralight pulsestrikes,thattinypartof the drumdropsto a neutral
electricalcharge.That spot then attractsfine toner powder as the drum
rotatespastthepowdercompartment. Asthedrumrotatesfurtheritmeetsthepaper.Thepaperitselfisnegatively
chargedbypassingby afinecoronawire.Sinceoppositechargesattract,the negativepaperclingsto thepositivedrum.Thenheatandpressurefroma
rollermeltorjkre thedotsoftonerontothepaper,preciselyreproducingthe image.
Finallythepaperslidesintotheoutputbin.Thepaperusuallycomesoutface downso it stacksin the correctsequence.
4
STAR LASERPRINTER 8 SOFTWARE
Binary and hexadecimal arithmetic
If you alreadyknow what hexadecimalnumbersare, you can skip this sectionandgo aheadto readaboutASCII.
The decimalnumbersystemwithwhichwe’re all familiaris apositional counting system. There’s the “hundreds”positionandsoon.Eachhigherpositionisworthtcntimesmore
thanthepositionto therightof it, sincethedecimalsystemusesthebaseof ten.Moreover,weneedtensymbolstoshowtheactualvaluesthatmaybe in eachposition.
Thebinarysystemispositionaltoo.There’sthe“ones”position,the“twos” position,the“fours”position,the“eights”positionandsoon.Inbinaryeach positionisworthonlytwicethatofthepositiontoitsright.Andweonlyneed twosymbols-O (zero)and1(one)-to showthevaluesthatmaybe inany position.So in binarywe getnumbersthatlooklike 1010or 10001100.
Thehexadecimalsystemismadeofbase-sixteennumbers.Hexadecimalis positionalliketheothercountingsystems.Andeachhigherpositionisworth sixteentimesas muchas thepositionto itsright.
We need sixteendifferentsymbolsto show all the possiblevalues one hexadecimaldigit could have. We can use our decimal system’s ten
symbols,butwe’vehadtoborrowa fewmorefromour alphabettogetall thesymbolsweneed.Inhexadecimal,therefore,youcanhaveanumberthat looks like 2C7C,or evenFACE.
“ones” position,the “tens” position,the
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
1(W3
1001
1010 1o11 1100 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:
101001011111110100110111111011010010110100001001
looksquiteabittidierwhenitiswrittenasA5FD37ED2D09,whichmeans thesamething.
TheASCII table
Wheredoes the StarLaserPrinter8 get the charactersand instructionsit needsto print in the first place?It getsthem fromyourcomputer,which sendsa streamof text andcommandstoyourprinter.
Theprogramin yourcomputerthatcontrolseverythingsentto the printer (calledthe printer driver) will usuallybe includedwith your computer programsrsuchasyourwordprocessor.Butthecommandscouldalsocome fromaprogramyou’vewritten,perhapsinBASIC,aprogramminglanguage thatusescommonEnglishwords.
Internally,computemandprintersuse only the binarynumbersystemto representboth commandsand all the alphabetic,numericandother key­boardsymbols.Nearlyallof thosemachinesusethesameschemetocode thosesymbols,theAmericanStandardsCodeforInformationInterchange (ASCII). ‘
Anexample:inourfamiliardecimalsystem,binary01001010addsuptothe number 74. Dependingon which program your printer is using, it can interpretthatbinarystring01001010aseitherthenumber74orthesymbol J. TheprinterstoresthesymbolJ atposition 74 in a tablein itsmemory.
Thateight-bitbinarystring,orbyte,canbebrokenintotwohalves.Theleft orhigh-orderpartcontaining0100iscalledthe zoneportion;therightpart holdingthe1010iscalledthedigitspdion. Andinthehexadecimalnumber system,the zone and digit parts of that byte are representedas 4 and A respectively(lookthemup in the list above).
SothelaserprinterunderstandsthesymbolJ as01001010,whichwecan alsorepresentas the decimalnumber74 or thehexadecimalnumber4A. We’veprintedthisbyteverticallyandhorizontallybelow,showinghowit addsup to decimal74 andhex 4A.
6
=
= 64 =
n =
=0 =
=
o
o o 8
2 Q
o x 27
1x 26
0x25 0x 24
23
1x
x 22
0
1x 2’
ox 2°
74 Decimal
zone
0100
4
digits
1010 Binary
A
Hexadecimal
The ASCIItablein the TechnicalSupplementshowsallthese equivalent representationsfor thesymbolsyourlaser printerunderstands.The table organizesthemin ascendingorder.Infact,ASCIIisorganizedin awaythat ac@allymakessense.
Flipbacktherefor a quicklookrightnow.Seehowyoucanslicethetable into clumpsof 16 or 32, basedon what’s in the zone portionunder the hexadecimalcolumn?Theseclumpsmakesubgroupsof similarsymbols:
● hex00 to IF arethe commandsymbolscalledcontrolcodes,
● hex 20 to 40 arcthecommonkeyboardsymbolsandnumerals,
● hex41 to 60 arecapitallettersandthelesscommonkeyboardsymbols,
● hex’61to 7F arelowercaselettersand a few finalsymbols.
That takes care of the first 128 ASCII symbols.However,nearly every co’mputerand printer manufacturertreats the second half of the table differently. Hewlett-Packard,for example, puts a variety of accented
foreignlanguagecharactersintopositions128-255(oftenreferredtoashigh ASCII). Epson gives you a choice of either italics characters or IBM charactergraphics.
Control codes
TheASCIItableshowssymbolslikeJor2 thewaytheyactuallyprintonthe
laserprinter.ButASCIIincludesmorethanjustprintablecharacters:none
of thecontrolcodecommandsatthebeginningof thetableactuallyprint.
Instead,when your computersendsa controlcodeto the laser printer it
makesyourprinterdootherthings,suchas sounditsbccpcr.
7
Printer drivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesalreadyincludetheprintercommandstheyneed. Theprogramsthat sendcommandstotheprintersoyoudon’thavetoenter themyourselfare calledprinterdrivers.
Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour StarLaserPrinter8.Youentersuchthingsashowyouwant to underline, alterlinespacing,ormoveto a newprintposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPetiect andthesystemsfromLotusDevel­opment Corporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexarnple,you mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.Oryoumightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchas F6. Infact,totakerealadvantageofyourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptfora wordprocessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily. WordPerfectandMicrosoftWordarestrongatthis,butarebynomeansthe onlygoodfontmanipulators.
If youhavetroubleusingaparticularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter 8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthis manualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar Micronicsendorsesthemin anyway.
Sending your own printer commands
Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage likeBASICor Pascal,or at leastofhowto put suchcodesintoa program. Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands youput intoa programuntilyoutellit to runthatprogram.
Whenyougivea commandto the printerfroma computerprogram,you normallyentereachpartofthecommandasaseparatecharacter.Thisway youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend eachcodeor characterin thecommandbygivingitspositionin the ASCII table,as a decimalor hexnumber.
9
A BASIC example
Here’s anexample you can typoin right now, to clarify what we’re saying. It’s
writtenin MicrosoflBASICfor a computerthat uses the MS-DOS operatingsystem,soif you havea differentcomputeror BASICyoumay haveto translateabit.We’11showcommandsthewaythey’rewrittenforan Epsondot-matrixprinterbecauseyourStarLaserPrinter8understandsthose commands.
TheLPRINTcommandsallsenddatatotheprinter.Ifthedataissomething youwantprintedyoujust put it in quotationmarks.If thedatais a control codeyoujustsaywhereitisintheASCIItable,givingitspositionasaregular decimalnumber.
BASICusuallysendsacarnagereturnafterevery80characters,tokeepthe print positionmovingwhenit hitstheendof a line.Unasked-forcarriage returnscanmessup yourprinting,however,so ii’s a goodhabitto putin a WIDTHstatementas shown.Thatlets us printoverthe wholepagearea.
The<BEL>controlcode—ASCIIcode7— issentinBASICasCHR$(7). The <ESC>codeitself isCHR$(27).Andbecausewe’reusingthecharacter
part of an <ESC>command,we typeCHR$(52)insteadof“4”.
4 as Soif youstartBASICandtypethesecommands:
NEW
10 ‘ EXAMPLE 20 tiIDTH “LPT1 :”, 255 30 LPRINT CHR$(7)
40 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;CHR$(52)
50 LPRINT “ITALICS ! “ 60 END
RUN
youmakethe printer(inEX-800mode)firstsounditsbell—mostpeople callit a beeper—andthenprintthe line:
ITALICS!
Generally,whenyousendacontrolorEscapecodeit staysactiveuntilyou deactivateit. That’swhathappensin line40 of our programabove.All subsequenttextwillbe italicizeduntilyouchangeit backto uprightagain.
10
Mostprogramminglanguages,andsomeversionsof BASIC,letyoutreat theprinterasa fileto whichyoucansenddata.Whenyou writea program withone oftheselanguagesyou“open”the printerfile,printintoit,andthen “close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny if you‘renot usedto it—butit works.
Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandsto theprinterathird way. Applesoft BASIC is one. With it, you can switchbetweenprinter outputand screenoutput.
Printer emulations
You noticedthat we said“in EX-800mode”up there?Your Star Laser­Printer8respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveralother printersuse.BeingabletoemulateprintersliketheDiabloorEpsonEX-800 letsyouuseyourStarLaserPrinter8 witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeen updatedtotakeadvantageoflaserprinters.Infact,becauseitemulatesfour of themostpopularprinters,youcan usethe Star LaserPrinter8 withjust
about any microcomputerprogramaround. Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequencesfor
exactlythe same function.Those printers,moreover,provideescape se­quencesfor functionsthe Star LaserPrinter8 doesn’tneed, such as the
Diablo’sChangePrintwheelcommand.(Printwheels— sometimescalled “daisywheels”- areflatmetalorplasticprintelementsthatholdcharacters outfroma hubon “petals”.)Whenyourprintergetsa commandit doesn’t
support,itjust ignoresthe command. Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothework
ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyouareaprogrammeryouwill behappyto heartheStarLaserPrinter8 supportsupto 99 macrosatonce.
11
I
printingthecurrentpageandthenfeedsin andprintsa statussheet. Somebuttonson thepanellet youperformtwo functions.Holdingoneof
those buttons down, rather than quickly pressing it, selects a different operation.Forexample,holdingdown the TEST/PREVIOUS buttonfor overfivesecondsmakesthe StarLaserPrinter8printits testpattern.
Parameter settings
Fromthe panelyoucan also changethe parametersthatdefinehow your printerworks.Parameter earlierkinds of printers, you’llunderstandthat laser printer parameters controlprettymuchthesamethingsDIPswi~chesdo.(ADIPswitchor’’dual in-linepackageswitch”isasetofsmallswitchesthatcontrolvariousprinter functions.)
The printerstorestheseparametersaseasy-to-useprogrammenuitemsthat
youcan selectfromthe controlpanel.Theseparametersspecify:
.
character (whatcharacterfontto print)
.
layout (howpageswillbeformatted)
.
paper feed (whatpapertheprinterwilluse)
.
command (whichcommandsthe printerwillaccept)
●
interface (howtheprintercommunicateswithyourcomputer)
just means “variable”. If you’refamiliarwith
AdefaultisthesettingtheStarLaserPrinter8willuseifnoneisspecifically selectedbyqprogram.Whenyoufirstturnonorlatcrresetyourprinterthese defaultsettingswilltakeeffect.
Yourmainuseforthefrontpanelwilllikelybetosetthedefaultsettingsyou want for these parameters.However, you will probablyfind the panel convenienttoo when you want to switchbetweenmanualand automatic
paperfeed.
Four versions of parameters
TheStarLaserPrinter8actuallystoresfourversionsof theseparameters:
● its “ultimatedefault”factorysettings,
● thepower-onsettingsineffectwhenyou firstturnon theprinter,
● yourinitialsettingsforoneparticularsession,
● andthecurrentsettingsthattheprinteris usingnow.
are in priorityorder,Thecurrentsettingsalwaysoverridetheinitial
These
sessionsettings,whichinturnoverridethepower-onsettings,whichinturn overridethefactorysettings.
14
FactorysettingsarcprogrammedintotheStarLascrPnntcr8whenitisbuilt at the factory.Yourprinterkeepsthe factorysettingsfor iLsparametersin ROM;theyncvcrchangc.Youcancopythcmiruothecurrentsettingsor any other settingsas needed.Butthe onlyway you can returnto the factory dcfaulLsis fromthe frontpanel;no commandsdo this.
A few
factory default settings arc as follows:
Itcm Emulation Fccdcr Number of’Copies 1 Oricntatim Font 1(1-pitch12-point
Factory default setting HP LaserJet series II Paper cassctle
Portrait
Councr(intcmal)
Lines/inch 6 linesper inch
The power-onsettingsarc the normaldefaultsettings.The printer keeps
thcmevenwhenyouturnoffthepower.Whenyouturnonthepnntcr,these power-onsettingsgetcopiedintotheinitialandcurrentpararnctcrsctlings.
Youprobablywillnotof’tcnchangetheStarLaserPrinter8‘sinitialsettings (sometimescalled“sessionsettings”).You’lllikelyonlychangethcmwhen you want to use a differentpnntcr cmulationthan normal.These initial settingsstaythe sameas thepower-onsettingsuntilyouchangethcm.
Ontheotherhand,yoursoftwarewillprobablychangethecurrentsettings manyJimcswithinthe samedocument,witheverychangeof fontor print style.
How to change parameters
Withthe pnntcroffline,ifyoupressthePROGRAMbuttontheprintergoes into“program”mode.You can then step throughthe laser printer’sfour ICVCISof programmenu to configureyourprinlcr.That’sthe processof changingcertainprintersettingssoyourcomputerandprintercancommu­nicateproperly.
It’sactuallyprettyeasy.Flippingthroughand settingparametersfromthe panelisdcscnbcdin detailintheStarLuserPrintcr8 OperationsManual.
Basically,allyoudo is pressthe
NEXT or PREV1OUS buttonsto scroll
throughthescqucnccof possibleparametersandvalues,whichis clearly shownonthepaneldisplay.Youpress
ENTER whenyouwanttogodown
15
The Rateparameterspecifieshow fast data willbe arriving,measuredin baud(namedaftertheFrenchcommunicationsengineerJeanBaudot).pick anyof thefollowingdatatransferrates:
300baud 600baud
1200baud 2400baud 4800baud 9600baud(thedefault)
19200baud.
Roughly,onecharacter asecond worksoutto11baud.1fyou‘renot surehow
fast your computer will transmit, the general rule is to cxpcrimcnt. Try sending a page to print at the highest speed, and
workyourwaydownuntil
thepnntcr’soutputlooksOK.
Serial interface: special bits In-Serialmodeyou’llalsohaveto specifyif yourcomputersendsdatabits in groupsof seven(mostcomputerssendeight,thedefaultfor a byte).
Somelimesanextrabit gets appendedto makethe sumof all bitsin each characteralwaysoddoreven;that’scalledparity. Aparitybitcanhelpspot transmissionerrors.Ifyourcomputersendsthatextraparitybit,you’llhave to say whether it produces an even or odd numberof “on” bits in the character.
You’llalsohavetoindicateifyourcomputersendstwostopbitstoindicate thecndof a byte,insteadofone,thedefault.Theseserialintcrfaccsettings
aredcscnbedinmoredetailinyourStarLaserPrinter8OperationsManual. Serial interface: protocol
Finally,in Serialmodeyourcomputerwill use one of threeprotocolsto
ensure data is sent properly. Protocol (sometimes also called “handshak-
ing”)means“whosayswhatwhen”,andis thewayyourprintertellsyour
computerit’sreadytoreceivedata.Yourcomputerandpnntercommunicate bysendingprotocolcontrolcodes(they’reatthefrontoftheASCIItable).
SomeprogrammerscalltheXONand XOFFcontrolcodes“kissonandkiss off’;otherscallthesameprotocolDC1andDC3(fordevicecontrol).Either way,thesecodesletyourprinterruntheshow,tellingthecomputerwhento startandstopsendingdata.Yourprinterasksto havedataheldbackwhen itsmcmoryis nearlyfullor whenit sensesan ERRORcondition.
17
I
DTR(DataTerminalReady)protocoldoesthe samethingslightlydiffer­ently. The,printersendsa continuoushigh-voltagesignaloverthecableas long as it can accept data, but drops the voltageto say “whoa” to the computer.
Conversely,it’sthecomputerthatholdsthereinswiththeETX/ACK(End­of-text/Acknowledge)protocol.ThecomputersendsanETXcontrolcode aftereachstringofdata,andwhentheprinterfinallygetsthatcodeit sends anACKcodebackto thecomputer,askingfor more.Thisprotocolis less used by modem computersbecauseit doesn’thold back data when the printer’smemorygetsswamped,
Look in yourcomputer’soperationsmanual,in the sectiondealingwith communicationsprotocols,to sce whichis best for yoursystem.Youcan sticktotheprinter’sdefaultsifyourcomputerusesneithertheDTRnorthe ETX/ACKprotocol,butdoesuse XON/XOFF.
If youwantto enableDTRor ETX/ACK,or disableXON/XOFF,you’ll have to set thoseparametervalues accordingly.Turningon oncof these protocolsautomaticallyflipsoff theothers.
Checking your connections
Yourcomputerandprintermayhavetroublecommunicatingwhenyoufirst introducethcmtoeachother.Thequickwayto findoutif yoursettingsand printercableareworkingistosendyourprintera printoutfromyourscreen (CHW-P withMS-DOS).
Whenthat’sdoneyouwillalsohavetopresstheprintbuttonontheprinter, whichm’akestheprinteradvancetoanewsheet.No laserprinter printsand ejectsapageuntilit’stoldtofeedaform,oruntilithasreceivedallthelines thepagecanhold.
If yourStar LaserPrinter8 doesn’tprint what’son the computerscreen, recheck your connectionsand interface settings. With an applications
programlikeLotus1–2–3orMicrosoftWord,youuscapnntersctuproutine to matchyourcomputerwith your printer’soperatingcharactcnstics.So double-checkyoursoftwaresettings;yourcomputer’soutput,forcxarnple, might not begoingto theproperport.
18
Printer emulations
OK, you’vegot yourpnntcr and computerconncctcdproperly.NowIct’s focuson how yourpnntcr works.
Your Star LaserPrintcr 8 understands and uscs the same commands as several earlier kinds of pnntcrs. Your printer works by emulating onc of these:
● Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series H
● Epson EX-800
● Xerox Diablo 630
cIBM Propnntcr
Otherlaserprintersmayoffersuchemulationstoo,butoftenrequireinstal­lationof a ncwcircuitboardfor eachemulation.StarMicronicshas built thesefouremulationsintotheStarLaserPnntcr8.
select which emulation you want either by sclccling it from the print
You
program menu on the Star LascrPnnter 8’s front panel, or by sending the pnntcr onc of the supcrsct commands at the
cndof thischapter.
What are the emulated printers like?
Most of thetimeyouwillprobablychooseHPLaserJetseries11emulation,
whichisthedefaultwhenyouturnontheStarLaserPrintcr8.That’sbecause the LaserJetseriesH, like the Star LaserPrinter8, is a laser printer.This cmulationmodegivesyouthebestcontroloveryourpnntcr’sfeatures,and
workswithmostpopularapplicationsprograms. TheEX-800emulationisquitepowerfultoo.It includesallthedot-matrix
pnntcr commands(includinggraphics)used by hundredsof programs. Mmtly,you’llchoosethisoptionwhenyourunaprogramthatcannotsend laserprintercommands.
TheProprintcr,adot-matrixprinterliketheEX-800,hasasimilarcommand set.YoulikelywilloptforProprintcremulationonlywhenyouwanttouse computer programs spccilically designed for the Propnntcr and IBM computerenvironment.
Whenyouwantto emulateadaisywheelpnntcryouwillprefertheDiablo emulation.You may alsochoosethis if you use an older text processing programthat can’tccntcrorjustify its printing;Diabloprintercommands can lookafterthosethingsforyou.
19
I
The Command parameter
The Star LaserPrinter8’s Emulationsetting defines which printerit is
imitating:Hewlett-PackardLaserJetseries II, Xerox Diablo 630, Epson
EX–800or IBMPropnnter. Mostof the otherCOMMANDvaluesbelowcanbe changedwith Escape
codesaswellas fromthe panel. Asthe
citherjust one copy of each page sent to it, or multiple copies up to 99. Most
wordprocessingandotherpackages,however,let youlookaftermultiple copiesof a documentwithoutusingthiscommand.Youmayconsequently preferto leavethisatthedefault(onecopy),changingit onlyas necessary throughsoftwarecommands.
TwosettingsarconlymeaningfulwhenyouareusingHPLaserJetseries11 commands.First,if youenableMacroOverlay,fromzeroto99 macroscan be active.
Second,mostof thetimeyou’llwantto printacrossthewidthof thepage, butoccasionallyyoumaywanttoprintupthelengthofthepage.Unlikemost otherlaserpnntem,your Star LaserPrinter8 lets you rotatefontsto print eitherway—youdon’thaveto buyseparatefontsto printsidewaysonthe
page.
Yourprinternormallyfeedsa new formwhenyou rotatea font,to avoid
accidentallyprintingbothorientationsonthesamepage.Butifyouwantto intermixorientations,just changethevalueof FF on Rotateto NO. (Font orientationisexplainedinmoredetailbelowwiththeLAYOUTparameter.)
AfewcomputerschangecertaincontrolorEscapecodeswhensendingthem totheprinter,whichnaturallycausesconfusion.Moreover,manyprogram­merspreferto scchexadecimalprintoutwhentheyaredebuggingprograms. To helpwiththesesituations,youcan makeyourStarLaserPnntcr8 print inhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCIImodebyswitchingONtheHEX DUMPparametersetting(seethesidebarbelow).
Number of Copies setting suggests, the Star LaserPrinter 8 can print
ThelastthreeCOMMANDvaluesconcernthephysicalmachine.Youcan settheintensityoftheprinter’sLCDdisplayfrom 1(faint)to 7 (bright);its defaultsettingis 4. You can enableor disableboth the beeperand the WarningAlarm(whichsoundscontinuously).
20
I
Hints: The hex dump
● To make yourStar LaserPrinter8 print in hexadecimalratherthan the
usualASCIIsymbols,pressthe frontpanelbuttonsthatput the pnntcr offlineandinPROGRAMmode.MovetotheCOMMANDparameter’s
HEXDUMPsettingandselectON.
● SomccontrolorEscapecodescanbeproblemsonafewcomputcrs;those
computerschangecertaincodeswhensendingthemtotheprinter.Ifyou thinkyouhave thisproblem youneedto seeexactlywhatyourprinteris receiving.Werecommendyourunashortprogramthatloopsthroughand printsthe ASCIItable.PrintinhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCII symbols.
● If youspotaproblemcodeyoucantry to bypasstheproblem,eitherby
sendingeachcodedirectlyto theprinter,or by changingyoursystem printerdriver.Suchcomputer-specificsolutions,though,arebeyondthe scopeof thismanual.Wesuggestthatif necessaryyouconsultanother programmermorefamiliarwithyourcomputer.
● Actually,ifyouaredebugginganyprogramyou mayfindthishex-dump
modehelpful.It canbe a greattrouble-shooter.

CONTROLLING THE PAGE

In this section we look at two controls you have over how the Star LaserPrinter8 handlesand formatsits pages:You can set valuesfor the PAPERFEEDandLAYOUTparametersonthe frontpanel.Atthe end of thissectionwe’llalsopreviewdifferentwaysto movetheprintposition.
The PAPERFEED parameter
ThePAPERFEEDparameterletsyouspecifybothwhatkindofpaperyou wantandhowtheprinteris to handleautomaticprint-positionmovements (carriagereturnsandso on).
Oneconvenientthingaboutalaserprinteristhatitdoesn’tneed
forms,
sometimescalled~an~okipaper. Other printersfeed in a stackof forms—withpagesalljoinedbyperforations-by havingsprocketsengage andpull
alongpinfeed holespunchedalongeachsideofthepaper.Afterit’s
printedyou have to tearoff thepinfeed-holestripsand then separatethe pages.
continuous
21
WiththeStarLaserPrinter8youcanprintona varietyofordinarycutsheet pages.
FortheFeedervalueofthisPAPERFEEDparameter,youfirstentereither cassetteor manualfeed to indicatewhereyou want paper fed from.The cassettetray automaticallyfeedssinglesheets,muchlike sheetfecdemon othertypesof printers.Manualfeedmeansyoufeedeach sheetby hand.
Thedefaultpapersizeis 8.5by 11inchletter-sizepaper;a different-sized tray automaticallyselectsthat differentpapersize. If you choosemanual feedyoucan specifyothersizestoo:
● 8.5 by 14inch legal-size paper
● A4 international (used in every country except North America)
(210
by 297 mm)
● B5 international (used in every country except North America)
(182
by 257 mm)
● the narrower “executive”size (7.25by 10.5inches)
Oneothernicethingyoucan do is printdirectlyon envelopes.Withthis Paper Size parameteryou can specifyenvelopesin sizes #10, Monarch, EuropeanC5 andDL.Thenjust workoutwhereto puttheaddress,setthe orientationto landscape(see below), and slide your envelopeinto the manualfeed slot.Easy!
Inanyemulationmodeyoucansendyourprintercommandstochangepaper
sizeorfeedin,papermanually;youcanalsoselectthoseparametersfromthe panel.Either,way,a messagein theprinterdisplaytellsthe operatorwhat papersizeto use.
Auto parameters Thepnntposition
referstothepointonthepagewherethenextcharacterwill beprinted.Whentheprinterreachestheendof aline,theAutoParameters settingstellit whetheror notto automatically:
● returntheprintpositiontotheleftmargin(carriage return, sometimes
just called“Return”),
● or moveit downoneline (h%e~eed),
● or keeptextoutof the sidemargin(aurowrap ),
● or keep textoutof the bottommargin(jbrmfeed ).
22
Hints: Paper, labels and transparencies
.
ThebestpaperfortheStarLaserPrinter 8 has a smoothfinishandis of
20 to24 poundweight.Anypaperdesignedforphotocopiersshoulddo thetrick though;Xerox4024 andCanonNP printnicely. Highquality
cotton bond paper,whichcontainsupto 25percentcottontibres,works
passablywellwithevenheavierweights. The absolutelimits arc 16-poundpaperal thelight end and35-pound
stockattheheaviest.Withhcavypaper,openthetraysothepageswillbc dclivcrcdfaceup andwon’thaveto bendoverthefinalrollers.
.
Beawarethatanypuckeredorwovenfinishmaynotprint as sharplyas you‘dlike.Avoidshinycoatedpaperormultipartforms.Anddon’teven thinkaboutputtingin stapledorrippedpages.
●
If you frequentlychangepaperweights,you willprobablyget skewing problcms—linesthatprintal an anglebecauseof misfccding.Forbest results,whenyourStarLaserPrintcr8is firstsetuphavethepaperfccdcr “squared”forpaperof-atIcast20pounds.Lighterpaper,thoughchcapcr, isn’treallythewayto cconomizc.
✎
Wantto printonyourownpreprintedIcttcrhcad?Fine—so longasyour
logoisn’tthermographed.Thickcoloredinkmaylook luxurious,butit
canalsowindupstuckalloveryourpnntcr’sroller.Stayawayfromany inksthatsoftenatrelativelylowtemperatures;yourprinterfusespagesat
200: c.
Thiswarningappliestocoloredpapertoo,ifithasbeentintedwitha1ow-
tcmpcraturcdye.
✎
ThetoncrcartridgcinyourStarLascrPrintcr8shouldprintatleast4000 pages,20 refillsofthepapertray.Thecostof replacingatonercartridge is not muchmore than that of replacingprintwheelsand ribbonson a daisywhcc.1printer.
Butyou
canextendthelifeof a cartridge:Settheprintdensityto 7 or 8
formostof yourprinting—firstdraftsandinternalcompanywork—and
just turnthedialbackto4 or 5 for reportsor lettersthatmustlookgreat.
CAUTION:
the rollers beside the dial may be very hot.
23
.
Whenprintingstartsfadingbecausethetonerislow,removethecartridge andgentlyrockitbackandforthhalfa dozentimes.Don’ttipitup or the tonermayspillout.Redistributingthetonerpowderthiswaycankeepthe cartridgegoingforanothertrayof paper.
.
No question,workingwithsinglelabelsheetsis more convenientthan 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 involves heat. You can
eliminatetroubleby alwaysfeedinglabelsheetsmanually.
BothAvery’s“Lasergraphic”labelsand Canon’slabelsseemto work fine.Yourmainconcernis thatthelabelscompletelycoverthebacking sheetsoitshowsonlyattheoutsidemargins.Thatwayindividuallabels can’teasilypeeloff.
The safest approachistolaser-printsharpmastercopiesonpaperandthen photocopythoselistsontolabels.Thiswillavoidputtingyourprinter’s adjustmentforpaperthicknessoutof 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’sW2285J.
—
24
The LAYOUTparameter
The layout orformat or setup of apagerefersto howtextis positionedon
the page.Layoutincludespage orientation,marginsand the spacingof charactersacrossandlinesdownthepage.Youcan controlthesewith the LAYOUTparameter.
You probablywon’t use the LAYOUTparameteron the front panel’s programmenuverymuchthough.Mostof the timeyou’lleitherleavethe StarLaserPrinter8 with its defaultsettings,or lookafterpageformatting withcommandsyou sendfromyourcomputer.
Page orientation
Apage’sorientation tellsyouinwhichdirectiontheprintgoesonthepage. Whenyouuseportraitorientationthelinesareprintedastheyareinanormal businessletter,acrossthewidthofthepage.A portraitpaintingofaperson
usually vertical-hence thename.
is
Landscape
Portrait
Whenyouuselanakcape orientationthewordsareprinted“ontheirsides,” verticallyupthelengthofthepage.Textwrittenwithlandscapeorientation onlylookscorrectwhenyouturnthepagesoitslengthrunsside-to-side,just likethe paintingof a landscape.’
Envelopesmustbe printedwith landscapeorientation.Youalso will use
landscaperegularlyto printchartsor banners,andspreadsheetsor reports
withso manycolumnstheywouldn’totherwisefiton thepage. Allinternalfonts,andalmostallcartridgeanddownloadedfonts,arestored
in theStarLascrPnnter8 withportraitorientation.
25
Margins, columns and lines
Youcanchangemarginsettingsforallfouredgesofapage.Theleftandright sidemarginscanhavevaluesfromOto 132,definingthemargincolumns betweenwhichwordsandimagescarIbeprinted.Andthetop andbottom marginscanbe set at anywherefromOto 112lines.
Top Margin Side Margins
Text
Length
{
‘\Line
{
/
Column
Porlrait
@19
Bottom Margin
Orientation
Theactualmeaningof acolumnisdefinedbythesettingforthe
motion index
(HMI).The HMIjust meanshowwide you wantthe space
/
Landscape
Orientation
horizontal
characterto be.Eachcolumn,ruining frompagetopto bottom,willbethe widthof a space.
Youprobablywillletyoursoftwareworryaboutthespacewidth.Butifyou want,youcan set the HMIparameteronthe panelin incrementsof 1/120 inch—anywherefrom 1 to 255increments.
Similarly,the meaningofaline (sometimescalleda“row”)isdefinedbythe
verticalmotion index (VMI).Theprintermovestheprintpositiondowna
line when it gets a Line Feed code,usuallywhen it bumpsinto the right margin. Again,you’llprobablylet yourcomputerprogramsetthe line depth.But from the panel you can set the VMI value in incrementsfrom 1/48 to 255/48of an inch.
26
P
Moving the print position: a preview
Wlthdot-matnxanddaisywheelprinters,youpickwheretoprintonthepage eitherbymovingthepnntheadbackandforthorbymovingthepaperitself. Laserpnntemdon’thaveprintheads,buttheprincipleremainsthesame:you havetosayexactlywhereonthepageeachpictureandstringoftextistogo,
so eachpagecanbe constructedin theprinter’smemory. Insteadoftalkingaboutprintheadswetalkaboutmovingtheprint
(some people call it moving the “cursor,” using the computer-screen analogy).Horizontally,youcanmovetheprintpositionwithbackspaceand carriageretumcommands.Vertically,youcanmovetheprintpositiondown thepagebyprintingsomanylinesperinch,orbysendingline-feedandhalf
line-feedcommands.Youcan alsomoveto tab settingsboth horizontally
andvertically(handyfortablesandblankforms,ormakingroomforyour
diagrams).
Butthosearen’tall.Dependingonwhichprinteremulationyouareusing, you”cantellthe StarLaserPrinter8 to movetheprintpositionverticallyor
horizontallyin incrementsof:
1/10,1/12or similarfractionsof an inch(pitchsettings), 1/48,1/60,1/72,1/120or 1/216inch(lineor columndefinitions), l/3CN)inch(dots), or 1/720inch(tenthsof apoint).
These incrementsreflectthe historyof twentiethcenturyprinting.
referringtothenumberofcharactersprintedineachhorizontalinch,derives
fromhowtypewritersspacetheircharacters. usedby earliercomputerprinters(onwhichthey are calledhorizontaland verticalmotionindexes).YoualreadyknowabouttheStarLaserPrinter8 beingableto print300dotsto the inch.Andtheunitby whichtypesetters havemeasuredtextforcenturiesisthe
Lines andcolumnswerefirst
point, about l/72nd of an inch.
position
Pifch,
Onehintabout movingtheprintposition:youcanconfuseyourselfif you usemorethanoneor twodifferentunitsduringthesamesession.Sodecide beforehandhow accuratelyyou need to move the print position (not
forgettinganygraphicsyouwantto include).Thenstickto the unit(s)you choose.
Thecommandsthatmovetheprintpositioninallthesewaysaredescribed inchapters4 through7,withthespecificprinteremulationyouwanttouse.
27

CONTROLLING THE PRINTING

The EMULATEATT../BUTES parameter
TheEMULATEATTRIBUTESparameterdefinesfontattributesandsetup values (if any)foreachofthe StarLaserPrinter8’sfouremulationmodes.
Afont’s
attributesorcharacteristicsdeterminewhatthatfontwilllooklike
whenit isprinted.Thenextchapter,“Fonts,”exploresthedetailsofallfont attributesin more detail.But let’s have a quickoverviewnow, because you’llmeetthesetermson the frontpanel’sprogrammenu.
Font attributes: a preview
Orientation(portraitorlandscapeasdescribedearlier)isusuallythoughtof as one attributeof a font;it’snot reallya pageformattingissue. Besides orientation,thefontswithwhichyouprinthavetheseattributes:
Symbolset is sometimescalled“characterset”- whichcanbe confusing, sincesomepeoplesay“characterset”whentheymeana font.Symbolsets are subgroupsof a font’ssymbolsthat are mostappropriateforparticular countries,such as theUK(f), France(h),LatinAmerica(fi)or Japan(%).
Spacing andpitch arelinked.Characterscanbespacedon thelinepropor- tionally, so W. Orcharacterscanbespacedallthesamewidth:twelvecharacterstothe
inchis the
Pointsize dcfincshowbigcharacterswillprint,suchasIOor 12pointshigh.
Styledefineswhethercharactersprintin uprightor
Stroke weight defineshowbold a typefaceprints.
Finally,
anarrowlettersuchas i takeslessroomthana wideletterlike
monospaced spacingcalled 12pitch.
italic style.
typeface itselfmeansthe artisticdesignof a font. Yourpnntcr’s
internaltypefacesincludeTms Romn,LinePrinter,CourierandPrestige Elite.WiththeStarLaserPrinter8 youcanalsouseHelvet,Gothic,Script, Caslon,Oratorandhundredsmoretypefaces,whichyouloadintotheprinter fromcartridgeor computerdisk.
Whenyouenablefont
setupparameters onthefrontpanel,itmeansyoustart
off with particularfont attributesas defaults when you first choose an emulation.WiththeEX-800andDiabloemulationsyoucanenablepropor­tionalspacingandboldprintassetupparameters.EX-800modealsoletsyou startupwithhalfofyoursymbolsetasgraphicscharactersinsteadofitalics.
28
THE STAR LASERPRINTER 8 SUPERSET
Do you need to send commands?
Here’s an importantfact: you can set nearly every one of the above pararnctcrsby sending your printer a correspondingEscape sequence command.ThoseEscapesequencecommandswilloverrideanysettingyou makefromthe frontpanel.
Themainthingto realizeaboutmostprintercommands,though,isthatyou probablydon’t need to use them. Nearly all popularsoftwarepackages includeprinterdrivers,whichsendcommandsto theprinterso youdon’t haveto typethemyourself.Someof thoseprogramsaskyouto keyin set­up paramctcn about your printer. Other programslet you put printer commandsbeforeor insidethe documentyouwantto print.
Butmaybethesoftwareyouusedoesn’thaveprinterdriversforanyprinter yourStarLaserPnntcr8emulates:Youstillmightnothaveto writepnntcr commandsyourself.
Severalcompaniessell programsthatlook afterlaser-printingcommands for such software.Ask your dealer about
Lasers, PCLPak
reinventingthewheel.
andRAM Resident Printmerge. There’snotmuchpointin
LaserControl, Printworks for
The Star LaserPrinter8 superset
Besides the commands that emulate other printers, your laser printer understandsfourothercommandscalledtheStarLaserPrinter8 The Star LaserPrintcralways understandssupersetcommands;it doesn’t matterwhichemulationmodeyourprinterisusingatthemomcnl.Supcrsct Escapesequencecommandsstaflwilh<ESC>[ so you can quicklyspot themin a listof commands.
Onesupcrsetcommandgivesyouanotherwaytoswitchfromoneemulation to another:you sendthe ChangeEmulationsupersetcommandinsteadof usingthe frontpanel.The secondsupersetcommandlets you changethe printingorientation,so you can print sidewaysup thelengthof the page, insteadofacrossitswidthintheusualway.Thethirdsupcrsctcommandlets youchangethepapersize.Thefourthsupersctcommandletsyouchangethe papercassettefor thedual-cassetteprinter.
superset.
29
The Select Orientation command
The SelectOrientationsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe“attitude”in
whichtheStarLaserPrinter8prints. TochangefromoneorientationtotheotheryousendthisSelectOrientation
Escapesequence:
<ESC>[ O n
Forthevaluen youput O(zero)for portraitorientation,
or 1(one)forlandscapeorientation.
When you send this commandto print in landscapemode, the printer automaticallyrotatesits currentfontso thatit printsaslandscape.
The spotor line whereprintingstartson thepageis sometimescalledthe
origin or top ofform.
Thatstartingprintpositionisintheupperleftcornerforaportraitpage,but in thelowerleftcomer for a landscapepage.
TheStarLaserPrinter8letsyoumixportraitandlandscapeorientationson thesamepage.Becausethestartingprintpositionchangeswhenyouswitch orientationsthough,you have to rememberto re-orientcommandsthat move the print position.If you don’t want to allow the printer to mix orientations,usethefrontpanelprogrammenuto changetheCOMMAND parameterFFon ROTATEvalueto NO.
Theoriginchangeswhenyouswitchorientations.
Youprobablywon’twanttochangeorientationallthatoften.Everytimeyou do,th~StarLaserPrinter8alsoresetsthepagemarginstoitslimits,andalso howitdefineslinesandcolumns.So wheneveryougivetheSelectOrien­tationcommandyoumaywanttofollowitwithEscapesequencestochange thesideandtopmarginsandpaperlengthsettings.(Alternatively,youcould put rheprinterofflineandresetthesefromthefrontpanel,asdescribedunder LAYOUTearlier.)
31
The Paper Feeder command
ThePaperFeedersupersctcommandletsyouchangethepaperfeederfrom whichthedual-cassettetypeprinterfeedspaper.
To changethepaperfeederyousendthePaperFeederEscapesequence:
<ESC>[ C n
Forthevalueof n youentera numberfromthistable:
n
1 Uppercassette
2 Uppercassetteforonesheet,thenswitchestothelower
3 4 5
Thiscommand,ifgivenatthebeginningofapage,controlsthefeederofthe
sheeton whichto printthatpage. Ifthe commandisnotatthebeginningofthepage,itwillforceaFormFeed
andcontrolthe feederof the sheeton whichto printthe ncwpage which follows.
Thiscommandisignoredforthesingle-cassettetypepnntcrsincethistype
printerhas onlyonecassette.
PAPERFEEDER
cassette Optionalenvelopefeeder Lowercassette Lowercassettefor one sheet,then switchesto the upper casscttc
33
I
Select Simplex/duplex mode (DX type only)
Youcan changebetweensimplexandduplexmodeusingsoftwarecom-
mandsin any emulationmode.The commandto do thisis:
<ESC>[ D n
wheren isan ASCIIvalueof either“1” or “2”. If n is set to”1”, thenthe printerwillentersimplexmode,andifnis“2”,theprinterwillenterduplex mode.
Iftheprinterisinsimplexmode,the”1”optionwillhavenoeffect.Ifthe“2” optionis chosenwhiletheprinteris in duplexmode,itis onlyvalidifthen
face-downoutputstackhas been selected.Thepagecontainingthiscom­mandwillbecomethe faceof thedouble-sidedpage.
If the printeris in duplexmode, the “l” option will force single-sided printing,commencingwiththepagecontainingthiscommand.Iftheprinter isalreadyinduplexmode,thepagecontainingthiscommandwillbcforced to be the faceof thenextdouble-sidedpage.
The DUPLEXlight on the frontpanel will indicatethe currentsimplex/ duplexstatusof theprinterfollowingreceiptofthiscommand.
34
Narrowcondensedfacesusedto be called“compressed”.Theycramabout fivecharacteminthespacewherethreeusuallygo-ideal forspreadsheets. An extendedface, particularlyon a dot-matrixprinter,goes by several
names:“expanded,
it’scalled,extendedprintiswiderthanitishigh,andcanbefairlyeffective in pageheadings.
Italiccharacters(sometimescalled“oblique”)areslanted.Ordinaryupright
charactersareoftencalled“reman”.YourStarLaserPrinter8comeswitha built-inuprightCouriertypeface.Moreover,from any of the Star Laser­Printer 8’s built-intypefacesyou can selecta subsetof uprightsymbols calledRoman-8.
Afonf isacompletesetofcharactersinapafiicularsizeandtypeface.Inthe
worldoflaserprinters,thethreevariablesmentionedabove—weight,width
and style—are a few
tics”).Let’sconsiderthreemoreattributes:fontheight,spacingandpitch.
““enlarged”or’’double-width’’printing.Nomatterwhat
fontattributes(sometimescalled“fontcharacteris-
Fontheight
The baselineis theinvisiblelineuponwhichcharactersoftypesit.Sincethe
firstletterblocksweremadeofleadalloy,thedistancefromonebaselineto thenextis calledleading(pronounced“ledding”).Typeitselfis measured fromthetopofanascender(thepan extendingupintheb ork, forcxample) to the bottomof a descender(thedown-strokeof they orq ). Themeasurementsusedtodescribefontsarepointsandpicas(derivedfrom themarksandlettersin medievalchurchalmanacs).Thereare 12pointsto the pica, and almostexactly6 picas (72 points) to the inch. Your Star LaserPrinter 8 quitehandilyprintstypefrom6 to 36pointsin size.
Laserprintersforcomputersmeasurefontheightinpoints.Onlaserprinters the“whitespace”aboveascendersandbelowdescendersdependsonhow the line is defined,so the line correspondsto leading.This type you’re readinghasa fontheightof 12points,andis spacedalittlelessthan5 lines
per inch.
36
The o has been kerned
~~~~~~~
closer to the f.
The font height (24 points) is measured from
●scender to descender.
I
A font is a complete set of
4
~ characters in a particular
size and type~ace.
Proportional
Uu
t
L;ading is the baseline to bas-line measurement.
spacing
Serif
B.ss@line
Fontspacingandpitch
Youprobablyfirst heard the wordpitch in comection with typewriters. Typewritersnormallyusemonospacedspacing:theygiveeachcharacterthe sameamountof spaceontheline.
Abouthalfthefontsavailableforlaserprintersusemonospacedspacingtoo. Pitch is alwaysexpressedas so manycharactemper inch.Ten-pitch,for example,meansa fontwithtencharactersineachinchof theline.
Typesetter forcenturieshaveusedtwo specialsizesoftypeformosttext. Efitecharactersare IOpointshighand print12charactersperinch.Andpica
chararactersare 12 pointshigh and pitchedat 10 charactersto the inch. You’ll,often run acrossthesemonospacedfontsizes in the laser printing world.
Ideallyeachcharacterinawordshouldnestleagainstitsncighbourssothey appearevenlyspaced.Butadjacentroundcharactersare aptto look100far apart,whileflat-sidedcharactersmay appeartooclose.
Proportionalspacingtakesinto accountthe differencesin widthsamong letters(compareiiwithWW).Proportionallyspacedprintingiseasiertoread than typewriter-styleprintingin whichall characters,includingpunctua­tion,havethesamewidth.
Realtypesettersequipcertaincharactemwithkerns,letterpartsthatextend out to overlapadjoiningletters.In this word Typethey is kernedclosely
againsttheT. Kerningseparatesgreattypefromgoodtype.
37
HOW THE STAR
LASEI?PRINTER8
STORES FONTS
Bit-mappedfonts
StarMicmnicshasearnedareputationforattractive,well-designedfontson itsprinters,andthislaserprintercontinuesthetradition.
TheStarLaserPrinter8 usesbit-mappedfonts.Eachcharacterismadeup ofa patternor“map”of dots,justlikecharactersona dot-matrixprinteror on yourcomputerscreen.Resolutionmakesthe difference:to makeeach characterthe StarLaserPrinter8 usesten or twentytimesasmanydotsas
a dot-matrixprinteror computerscreendoes. Everysizeofprintyouwant,pluseveryitalicorboldfaceversion,hasitsown
bitmapandis normallyconsidereda separatefont.It takesa gooddealof printermemoryto holdallthe fontsyoumightwantat anygivenmoment.
Star LaserPrinter8 fonts can be groupedinto threecategories:internal, cartridge,anddowrdoadablefonts.
Internalfonts
The StarLaserPrinter8 has fourbuilt-ininternalfontsthat resideperma­nentlyin its read-onlymemory(ROM).That’swhy these are sometimes called“residentfonts”:
Courier
Tms Romn
Courieristhefaceusedon themostcommonelectrictypewriters.Neither CouriernorPrestigeElite,anothertypewriterface,areprintedwithpropor-
tional spacing.TmsRomnhowever,is alwaysspacedproportionally.Tms Romnis probablythemostreadableandmostpopularcommercialtypeset­tingface.TheLinePrinterfont,desi~ed originallyformainframecomput­ers,is smallanddesignedtopackalotof charactersintoeveryinchofprint
(greatfor spreadsheets).
Withthesemost frequentlyusedfontsin ROM,a pagecan be assembled muchfasterthanifthefontshadtobeloadedintotheprinterforeachprinting
job.
38
Prestige Elite
Line Printer
Cartridgeanddownloadedfonts
YourStar LaserPrinter8canusetwootherkindsof fonts,alongwiththose
builtintotheprinter.
Cartridgefonts,like the internalones, are permanentlystored on ROM chips.ThedifferenceisthatthoseROMsaminremovablecartridges.Your StarLaserPrinter8 has slotsfortwo fontcartridges.
Eachcartridgemayholdanywherefmmhalfadozentotwodozenfonts,all differingfromtheinternalfontsin size,style,strokeweightor symbolset. You’llfindthatcartridgefontsopenupa widerrangeoftypefacestoo,such as HelvetandLetterGothic.Generally,cartridgeandinternalfonttypefaces aresuitableforbothtextandheadlines.
The third kind of font is neitherbuilt into your Star LaserPrinter8 nor
availablejust by slippingin a cartridge.You downioadthiskind of font, which means you use a computerprogram to send characters from a computerdisktoyourprinter’smemory.Anydownloadedfont(sometimes called a “soft” or “installed”font)that you put into the printer’s RAM disappearswhenyouturnofftheprinter,soyouhavetodownloadthatfont againnext time youwantit.
Downloadablefonts run the gamutfromEgyptianhieroglyphicsto those eye-catchingdecorativefarm knownasdisplayfonts.Theyalsoincludethe more exoticforeign-languagecharacters,such as Arabicor Cynllic, and symboland mathematicalfonts(sometimeswithfractions).
Howcan you comparecartridgeanddownloadablefonts?Whenyou use cartridgefontsyoudon’thaveto taketimeto downloadthcm.Theydon’t take anyof yourStarLaserPrinter8‘sRAMmemoryeither.Butdowrdoad­ablefontsoffermanymorechoices.Downloadablcfontsusuallycost less too.
Theprinteralwaysknowswhereitsinternalfontsarc. For eachemulation program,it alsokeepstrackof cartridgeanddownloadedfontsin apartof itsmemorycalledthe~onttable.
Sowiththe StarLaserPrinter8youcanhavemanyfontsavailableatanyone time—theinternalfonts,thefontson anycassettesyou’vepluggedin, and any fonts you have downloaded.You can change fonts in mid-line to emphasizea word or two wheneveryou want. You can mix internal, cartridgeanddownloadedfontsin the samedocument.Youcanuse fonts frombothcartridgeslotswithinthe samedocumenttoo.
39
I
Hints:Wheretoget fonts
● YoucatiprintanydownloadablefontthatworksontheHPLascrJctseries
II. Severalothercompaniesselldownloadablefontswhicharecompat­iblewithyourStarLaserPrinter8.TheBitstreamCorporationinBoston isoneofthemorepopular;Conographicisanother.Xeroxincludesaset of fontswithits VenturaPublisherdesktoppublishingsoftware,which
youcan usewithyourprinter’sLaserJetIIemulation.
● The SoftCraftcompanynow markets a Bitstmam-developedproduct
called“Fontwarc”.WithFontwareyoucangeneratebit-mappedfontsof
anysizefroma libraryof outlinefonts.In outlinefontseachcharacter’s profileisdefinedjustonceandtheprintergeneratesanyfontheightfrom thatprofile,whichsavesprintermemory.
Outlinefontsdemandawesomecomputingpowerof theprinterthough,
so they’ve been availableonly on laser printers considerablymore expensive than the Star LaserPrinter 8. Now, with programs like Fontware,yourStarLaserPrinter8 canturnoutelegantprintin anysize
withoutthathighprice.
● Don’thesitateto ask yourStardealerwhereyoucanbuy cartridgeand
downloadablefonts.If you reallycan’tfind the oneyouneed,youcan designanddownloadyourowncustomizedfonts.Thisisnoemyjob,but if you’recuriousit’sdescribedin chapter4.
40

SYMBOL SETS

Let’ssummarizebriefly,to putthe subjectof symbolsetsin context. The attributesof a fontdeterminewhatthat font willlooklike when it is printed.We coveredall but orientationat the start of this chapter,and orientationin the last chapter.A font’sattributesinclude:
.
orientation (portraitor landscape)
.
symbol set (whichwe’lllookat next)
.
spacing (monospacedor proportional)
.
pitch (10or 16.66charactersperinch,forexample)
.
font height (measuredin points)
.
style (uprightor italics)
●
stroke
✎
typeface (LinePrinter,TmsRomn,Courierandso on)
Thoughthey are not font attributes,such printingfeaturesas subscripts,
superscriptsandunderliningaretreatedalongwith fontsin thefollowing
chapters.Eachemulationhasitsownwayof providingthesefeatures. Incidentally,thebestwayto underlineisto usethe underlinecommandin
theemulationyou areusing,insteadofbackspacingandoverprintingwith theseparateunderlinecharacter(–).Ifyoudothelatterwith spacedtext,you’llusuallyfindtheunderliningis too longfor the text.
weight (light,mediumorbold)
proportionally
Whatare symbol sets?
Keyboardsdifferfromcountrytocountry.TheBritishneedtheirf symbol, theFrenchneedtheirQand6,theSpanishneedtheir~andiletc. Scientists needparticularmathematicalsignstoo.Thereeasilycouldbefourhundred or morepossiblesymbolsfor anygivenfont.
However,thenumberof symbolsprintersstorefor a fontis limitedto 256 slots,asinASCII.Sosomesymbols,ortheorderofsomesymbols,candiffer in anyfont.Eachuniqueselectionandarrangementofsymbolsisa symbol set (sometimescalleda “graphicset”or “characterset”).
The symtmlatposition91 for exampleis an openbracket,[ , in the usual
ASCIIsymbolset.ButthesamepositionholdsA(capitalAwithanumlaut) in the Germansymbolset.
41
I
The EpsonEX-800emulationis reallyversatile.It lets youhaveboth of
thoseIBMsymbolsetsplusEpson’sownstandardsymbolset.ThisEpson symbolset is unusual:it containsbothuprightanditaliccharactersin the same set. You may also choosefrom symbolsets for all the countries mentionedabove,plusaseconduniquesetforeachof DenmarkandSpain.
Withthe Diabloemulation,Roman-8is the normalsymbolset.
Default font attributes
Whenyoupoweronyourprinterandchooseanemulation,theinternalfonts startoffwithdefaultattributeswhichyoucanchangeasneeded.Thedefault symbolsetsdependon the emulation:in LaserJetII andDiablomodesthe defaultisRoman-8,inProprintermodeit’sIBMSet1,andinEpsonEX-800 modeit’sEpsonStd USA.
Besidesthese,allinternalfontsdefaulttoportraitorientation,uprightstyle (notitalics)andmediumboldness.Thetablebelowshowsthcirotherdefault attributes:
Typeface Spacing
Courier PrestigeElite monospaced 12 TmsRomn proportional – LinePrinter monospaced
monospaced 10
Pitch Font height
12point 10point 10point
16.6
8.5point
Technically,youcanuseanyoftheStarLaserPrinter8’sresidentfontswhen
yousendcommandsemulatingaparticularprinter.Buteachemulationonly
printsproperlywiththefontsdesignedforit.Furthermore,youcanonlyuse
symbolsets, or arrangementsof those fonts, which that emulationcan handle.So be aware that, if you try usingfonts other than those recom­mended for a particularemulation,you will usuallyget printingin the emulation’sdefaultfont.
If youwanta characterthat’snotin thefontyou’reusing,don’thesitateto grabit. JustsendtheEscapesequencesthatselectyourdesiredsymbolset, printwithit, then go backto youroriginalfont.
43

MANAGING FONTS

Youcan sccwhichfontsarecuncntlyselectedon yourStarLaserPrinter8 byprintinga statussheetinofflinemode,asmentionedatthebeginningof thischapter.AnotherTESTmodemenuitem,describedin theStar Luser­Printer8 OperationsManual,alsoletsyouprintout a list of all thefonts
availableon the printerat anygivenmoment.
Selectingfonts
Most popular software packages,particularlyword processors,let you choosefontsfromwithintheprogram.Theysendtheappropriatecommands to theprinterandyoudon’tneedto understandhowtheydo it.A4uhiilfate uscspitchto identifydifferentfonts,forexample,whileWordPerfect print formats.Thepointis, youmaynotevenhave to worryaboutselecting whichfontto use.
Butnotallpackagesdothejob foryou.If youarcin thissituation,youcan selectanyfontattnbutcmentionedabove,eitherfromthefrontpanelorby sendingan Escapesequencecommandinoneof the emulationmodes.
Ifyouuscthefrontpanelinprogrammode,you’llsccthese attnbutcsunder theFontAttnbutcslevelof theEMULATIONAttributes menu.Just
pressthe
ENTER togettoitspossiblevalues,pressNEXT toscanthroughthem,and
finallypress
NEXT buttonto getto the fontattnbutcyou want to set,press
ENTER toslapin thevalueyouwant.
uses
Theproceduresforselectinga fontfroma computerprogramisa bitmore complicated,anddependson whichemulationmodeyou are using.These fontselectionmethodsaredetailedin thenextfourchapters.
Hints:Desktoppublishingandpage design
● Desktoppublishingsystcmshelp you automateyourspecificationsfor
margins,coverdesign,typefaces,fontsizes,placementofgraphicsand regular features.You buildthe specificationsyou want in tempfates, standardpagedesignsyoulatersimplycallup on yourscreenandfillin withtext.
● Somcdcsktoppublishingsystems,suchasAldus’sPageMaker,arepage-
oncnted:you put each page togetherindividually.These are greatfor shorter documents,such as newsletters,brochuresand letters. Other
44
systems,such as Xerox’sVenturaPublisher, are document-oriented.
Thatmakesthembettersuitedtotechnicalmanualsandlongproposalsor
reportsthatgo throughmanydrafts. Otherwaysin whichsuchsystemsdifferincludewhethertheyshowon
yourscreenwhatyouwillgetonpaper(code-basedprogramsdon’t),how wellthey handlepictures,andhowhard they arc to learn.Think about yourneedsbeforechoosinga desktoppublishingsystem.
● A fewof today’scomputerprogramslet you seeseveraldifferentfont
sizesandtypefacesonyourcomputerscreen.Thatcapabilityisncccssary if youwantto seeon-screenexactlywhatwillprint on yourStarLaser­Printcr8. Desktoppublisherscall thiscapabilityWYSIWYG—“what
yousee is whatyouget”. While“screenfonts”that matchthe fontsyou use on your StarLaser-
Printer8werenotavailablewhenthismanualwaswritten,youmayeven-
tuallybeabletogetthem.WYSIWYGdependsonwhatsoftwareyouarc using.
● Whenyoudesignyourpages,don’tvaryfontsizejust to fittextintothe
spaceavailable.Go witha sizethat’seasyto readandbe consistent. Ncvcrbctcmptedtousealluppercaseletters.Whenyouwanttohighlight
text,switchto a boldfontor drawa boxaroundit.
● Don’tbeafraidtouscwhitespace.Whitespacerclicvcscyefatigueand
looksmoreattractive.
45
I
Optional fonts
ManyoptionalfontsavailableforyourStarLaserPrinter8complementits internalfonts.Thesecangiveyoumorevarietyinsymbolsets,spacing,font height, styleand strokeweight.To yourCourierorTms Romn fonts,for example,youmightadditalicsandbold,legalormathsymbolsets,andsizes
rangingfrom7 to 14points. Optionalfontsofferdifferenttypefacestoo.AskyourStarMicronicsdealer
about cartridgesor disksforthefollowing:
Helvet linedrawingfonts LetterGothic presentationfonts
Barcodes opticalcharacter~ader fonts
universalproductcode
Using cartridge fonts
To gainaccessto afonton a cartridge:
1)pressthe ON LINE buttontoput theprinteroffline,
2) slidethecartridgeyouwantintooneofthecartridgeslotsonthefront of the printer,
3)pressthe ON LINE buttonto puttheprinterbackonline,
4) useeitherthefrontpanelmenuor a commandfromyourcomputerto selectthe fontyouwant(explainedfor each emulationin following chapters).
Note: Do notinsertorpullcartridgesoutoftheprinterwhiletheprinteris
online. Youcan use fontsfrombothcartridgeslotswithinonedocument. A coupleof intcrcslingnotesaboutdefaultcartridgefonts:First, say you
haveselcctcdonthefrontpanelmenua cartridgefontas yourdefaultfont. Lateryouturnofftheprinter.Ifyouslipthecartridgebackinbeforeyouturn
on theprinteragain,thatfontwillstillbeyourdefaultfont. Second,somecartridgescontaintheirowndefaultfont.Thatmeansassoon
as you slide such a cartridgeintothe printer,that cartridge’sdefaultfont becomes the printer’s new default font automatically.To change the printer’sdefaultfromthatonthecartridgeyoumustselectanotherfontfrom the frontpanel.
46
How to download fonts
To downloadfontsfromcomputerdiskyou’llneedmomthana small64K
microcomputer.Werecommendatleasta 512Kcomputerwithacoupleof diskdrives(a harddiskis better).
Many commercialfont-managementprogramsare now on the market, including Insight Development’sL.userControl,Blaha Software’s Hot
Lead, SoftCraft’sLuserFonts,and the PCL printerdriverin Microsoft’s
Windows.Theseutilityprogramshelp you downloadfonts,then let you
accessthefontsautomaticallyfromyourwordprocessororotherprograms. Mostfont files on disk that youbuy to downloadinto your printerhave
Escapesequencesrightin thefile,whichsimplifytheprocess.Usuallyall
youhaveto do is copythe file from yourcomputerinto your printer (in LaserJet11modeyoumustassignafontIDnumberfirst).If youdownload fontswiththeMS-DOSCOPYutility,makesuretousetheCOPY/Boption.
Thatwillkeepyourcomputerfrom“interpreting”thedatayousend,which
sometimesproducesbadlyshapedcharacters. OK,let’slookat a coupleof examples.
Downloading a font: example one
Exampleoncis fora computerrunningjust MS-DOS. Sayyou’veboughtHewlett-Packard’sCenturySchoolbookfontsandwant
to downloadtheregular(upright),italicsandboldfacecharacters.TheHP disk Iabels for each tile are CN1OORPN.R8P,CNIOOIPN.R8Pand CN1OOBPN.R8P.In case you’reinterested,that’sHP’scodefor CeNtury,
100dccipoints,Regular(orItalicorBold),ProportioNal,Roman-8symbol
set,Portrait. One of the disks you get also contains a batch tile named
DOWNLOAD.BAT.To loadthe regularuprightfont you makesure the printerisonline,then afteryourcomputer’sA>promptyoutype:
DOWNLOADCN1OORPN.R8P
WhentheprogramasksforthefontIDnumberyoukeyinanumberbetween Oand32767.ThenwhentheprogramaskswhetheryouwantLhefontstored permanentlyor temporarilyyou type either P or T (a tcmporaryfont disappearsif you press the printer’sRESET button).Finallythe program asksif youwantto printa sampleof thefontandyoureplyYor N forycs or no.
47
I
Youthendo thesamefortheitalicsandboldfacefiles,forexampletyping fortheitalicsfont:
DOWNLOADCN1OOIPN.R8P
Thepromptswillbethesame,butyouhavetoremcmbertouscdifferentfont
IDnumbersfortheupright,italicandboldfacefonts.
Downloading a font: example two
Exampletwo is for a computerrunningAldusCorporation’sPageMaker
desktoppublishingprogramwithMicrosoftWindows.
PageMakerprovidesa print dnvcr calledHPPCL.DRV,and a program
calledPCLPFM.EXEwhichcrcatcsthe datait needstoprinta givenfont.
TocreatefontdataforyourCenturySchoolbookfonts,attheA>promptyou
type:
PCLPFMCNIOO*.R8P
Theastc&k, a“wildcardcharacter,”indicatesthatPCLPFMisto createa
datatileforallthreefonts—regular,italicsandbold.Theprogramasksif youwanttocreateafilecalledAPPNDWIN.INItoappendintotheWindows fontmenutile:typeY foryes.
AfterPCLPFMhasmadethefontdatafile,withyourwordprocessoropen theWindowsfilecalledWIN.INIandkey inthefontdefaultsyouwantto apply. At the section refcrnng to the HPPCL printer driver, insert the APPNDWIN.INIfileyoucrcatcdearlier.
That’sit!Fromnowon yourCenturySchoolbookfontswillappearon the print menusof all yourWindowsapplications.
Withbothexamples,how youusc theformdependson yourapplications software.As youknow,sendingcommandsto changefontswillprobably requiresomeexperimenting:bepatient.Thesecommandsaredescribedin thefollowingfourchapters.
The processof downloadinga font you’vedesignedyourselfis not so
straightforward.AsyoucanonlydothisinHPLaserJet11mode,creatingand downloadingfontsis dcscribcdfurtherin chapter4.
48
Hints: Managing memory
.
Piintingfancystuffcanbequitecumbersomeforyourprinter.Youtrade offfancinessagainstspeed:ifyouoptforfewerflourishes,yougiveyour printerbreathingroom in memory.And that rewardsyou with faster output.Anyof the followingwillslowdownyourlaserprinter:
- textover20points,
- lotsof linesor patterns,
- graphics,
- macros,
-justifiedtext.
.
YoumaychoosetoaddanoptionalRAMboardtoyourStarLaserPnnler 8 if youneedto downloadmanyfonts.
.
Altcmatively,considereither a softwareor hardwareprint
printingholdsupyourcomputermorcthanyou’dlike.Aspoolerprovides
a separatetemporarymcmory space that holds the documents10bc pnntcd,and is particularlyhandyin a multi-usersystem.
.
Some page makeup programs automaticallydownload each font as needed,thenflushthatfontfromprintermemoryto makeroomfor the
next font.This approachcan makegood senseif you’resharingyour
printerwith otherpeoplein a computernetwork.It keepsthe pnntcr’s RAMfrombecomingoverloaded.However,thedownloadingtimecan sigriificantlyslowdownyourprinter’sthroughput.
●
Moretypically,youwilldownloadafontinthemorning(perhapswiththe MS-DOSCOPYcommand)beforeyou print yourfirstdocument,and that font will then stay in the printer’smemory.If you use a single downloadedfont(or macro)throughoutthe day, you will find it most efficientto keepit in thelaserprinter’smemory.Youdefinitelyshould downloadfontsthiswayifyouuseaprintspooler.Ifyou’reinanc[work, however,makesureyoudon’tdownloadduplicatefonts.
✎
Howmanydownloadablefontscanyouhaveinonedocument?That’snot so easyto answer.Mostof yourlaserprinter’smemoryis notavailable for storingfonts,becauseit hasto storeeachpagebeforeprintingit, as WC1lasanymacrosoroverlaysyouareusing.
spooler if
49
I
To see how much memoryis availablefor extra fonts,put the printer offlineandpresstheTESTbuttontoprintastatussheet.Yourprinterwill beepand showa front-panelmessageif youtry to overloadits memory by downloadingtoomany fonts.It then willcontinueprintingwiththe closestavailablefontto thatrequested.
Asageneralrule,youcanincludeatleastadozendowrdoadablcfontsin adocument.Addedtotheinternalfonts,thatshouldbeplenty—it doesn’t
make good design sense to mix many typefaces.A telltale sign of
amateurishlaserprintingis toomanyfontsin onedocument.
To keep a widevarietyof extra fontsin memory,however,many Star LascrPrintcr8users(especiallythosesharingtheprinteron a network) preferto add theoptionalboardwiththesecondmegabyteof RAM.
TheHewlett-PackardLaserJetseriesIIis anearlierkindoflaserprinterthan
your StarLaserPrinter8.Youshouldhavenotroublerunningmostpopular
softwarepackagesinHPLaserJetIImode,asthoseprogramslikelycansend
LaserJet11commands.
BecausetheLaserJetII
morecontroloveryourStar LaserPrinter8 thanis possiblewith the other
built-incommandsets.Youwillprobablyusethisemulation’scommands
morethanthe others. Recognizingthat reality,we’veput more examples
intothischapter.
Wefollowthe samesequencein this chapteras we did in Chapter2: first
some printer managementand page setup commands,then we’ll cover
commandsthatpoisethelaser“pen”overthepaper,nextwe’llpick a font,
andfinallywe’lllay downourwordsandpictures.
Attheendofthechapterwedescribehowtocreateanduseyourownfonts,
andalsohow to sav~timeby writingcommand
isalaserprinter,though,itscommandscangiveyou
macros.

HP LASERJET II COMMANDS

What do LaserJet
The LaserJet11emulationmodeincludesa dozencommoncontrolcodes
(suchas<CR> forcarnagereturns)andsingle-characterEscapesequences
(such as cESD E for resettingthe printer).But all the other LaserJetII
emulationcommandsyoucan‘sendyourStarLaserPrinter8looklikethis:
<ESC>ccn C
II commands
look like?
in whichthecc prefixis a symbolor two showingthegeneralcategoryof
commandstowhichthisonebelongs,n issomevariableyouwanttousein
thiscommand,andC is the specificcommandyouwantperformed.
51
I
TwoimportantdetailsmakeLaserJetIIcommandsdifferentfromtheother
printeremulations.First,all Escapesequencesendwith a capitalletter.If youdon’tmakethelastcharacteruppercase,yourprinterwon’tknowwhen
theEscapesequenceendsandwilltreatfollowingcharactersaspartofthe
samecommand. Second,inLaserJetIIcommandseachnumbcrorcharacteryouputafterthe
cESC>codeisanactualASCIIsymbol.Withtheothcremulations,usually
any number you put after an <ESC>code identifiesa characterin that
positionin the ASCIItable.
Forexample,theLaserJet11commandthatsetstherightmarginto column
65 is:
<ESC>&a 65M
whichyouwouldcodein BASICas:
10 LPRINTCHR$(
That commandsends your printer the symbols “6” and “5,” which its LaserJet11programinterpretsasthecolumnnumber.
HowcvcrifyouwereusingEpsonEX-800emulation,thecommandthatsets therightmarginlookslikethis:
<ESC>Q 65
whichin BASICyouwouldwritethisway:
iO LPRINTCHR$(27) ; “Q”;CHR$(65)
Thatcommandsendsthepnntcrwhatevercharacterhappenstobein ASCII
position65. Yourprinter’sEpsonProgram,though,interpretsit only as a
decimalnumbermeaningcolumn65.
27 ) ; “&a65M”
Combining Escape sequences
Laterin thischapterwedescribeonewaytoselectafont,byjust specifying
whatfontattributesyouwant,suchasboldor proportionalspacing.If you selectafontbyspecifyingeveryoneofitsattributes,youcanbecertainthat you’reselectingsuccessfully.Butitcouldmeanafairbitofrepetitivetyping
eachtimeyouchoosea font.Thisappliesto othercommandstoo,notjust
fontselection.
52
Here’s a way you can save yourself a few keystrokes: type in those commandsthathavethe samecommand-categoryprefixasjust one long Escapescquencc.To combinecommandsthis way, type the <ESC>and command-categoryprefixjust once,andcapitalizeonlythelastcommand character.
Forexample,todefinethestyle,weightandcharacterfacefortheprimary font,youmightsendthesecommand:
<ESC> <ESC> <ESC>
whichwouldproduceitalicsboklface
(S 1S (S 7B (S 5T
TmsRomn. Butthissinglecommand
doesthe samething,allwithoncblow:
<ESC>
(S IS 7b ST

CONTROLLING THE PRINTER

Self test
Youcan checkhow yourLaserPrinter8 is printingandhavea look at its
parametersettingsby sendingthisSelfTest command:
<ESC>
Noticethatthe z islowercase;thisistheonlyLaserJetIIcommandthatends with~ smallletter.AfteryousendaSelfTest command,the pnntcrfinishes printinganypagesleftinitsmemory.Thenonanewpageitprintsitscurrent parameters(justimportantitemssuchasnumberofcopiesandfontsinuse).
The printer finishesoff the page with a continuousdisplay of all the
charactersin its defaultfont.
Theprinteralsoquicklychecksitsinterface.Assumingit findsnotrouble,
theprinteris thenreadyforyournextpage.If theprinterdetectsaproblcm
it shows a front panel message,which you can look up in your Star
LaserPrinter8 OperationsManual.
Z
53
Set number of copies
Youcan printup to 99 copiesof eachof thepagesyou sendto the printer. Youmaysendthiscommandanywherewithinthetextonapage;itwillstay in effect for that and all subsequentpages until you send anothersuch command:
<ESC>&!n X
Allyouhaveto do is changethe n signin thiscommandto thenumberof pagesyouwant.(The!characterafterthe &is a lowercaseL.)
Set feed se/ection
Onethingyoucandoisprintdirectlyonenvelopesaswellasregularpaper. YouusethisFeedSelectcommandtotellyourprintertoselecteitherapage fromthepapertray,or apageor envelopefromthemanualfeed slot:
<ESC>&tn H
For n enteroneof thenumbersfromthistable:
n
O(zero)theprinteronlyejectsthe currentpage
1(one) thepnntertakesitsnextpagefmmthepapercassette(upper
2 3’ theprinteracceptsan envelopeyoufeedin manually 4 6 theprinteracceptsanenvelopefromtheoptionalenvelope
Shouldan unprintedpagebe in theprinter’smemorywhenyougivethis command,the paperfor thatpagewillfeedfromwhereyou’veindicated.
Thereforeyou can makethis the last commandon a page.The new feed
settingstaysin operationuntilyouchangeit.
FEEDSELECTED
cassettefor the dual-cassettetype) theprintertakesa regularpagemanually
theprintertakesitsnextpagefromthelowerpapercassette feeder
Reset
Mostsoftwarepackagesautomaticallyresettheprintertotheinitialdefaults beforestartingaprintjob.It’sagoodideaforyoutofollowthesamepractice,
just to makesureyougetthesettingsyouwant.
54
I
Youcan now send yourletterfromyourwordprocessingprogramto the printerandfeedinthosepages.Whenyou’redone,youmaywanttosendthe <ESC>E commandonemore time.

PAGE ORIENTATION

Youmightreasonablythinkof pageorientationasa pageformattingissue. Toprintwordswidthwiseon a page,however,eachletterineffecthastolie onitsback.Soorientationisactuallyafontattribute,andistreatedassuch lateron in thischapter.
Page Length
Thepapertray youhaveinstalledsetsthedefaultpagesizefor yourlaser printer.Whenyouwantadifferentsize,andwhenyouchangethetray,you’ll need to reset that page size. You shouldalwayschangethe page length be~oreyou send text for printing.The Page Lengthcommandsets the numberoflinesthatcanprintonapage(linesperinchtimesthenumberof inches).
ThePageLengthcommandformatis:
<ESC>&/n P
wheren isthenumberoftextlinesonthepage;itcanbeanynumberbetween 5 and 128.
Thedefaultnumberof linesis thelengthof thepapertray times6 linesper inch.For 11-inchlener-sizepaperthatworksoutto 66lines(that’salsothe defaultwhenyouhaven’tputin a tray).
If you don’t want the defaultlength,you shouldsend the Page Length commandbejbreyousendtextforpnnting.Thetablebelowshouldhelpyou
picktherightnumberoflines.Decidewhichorientationandpapersizeyou want,thenusc then underyourpreferredlines/inch:
If you havesetthe paperfeederfromthe frontpanelto “AUTOSELEC-
TION”,a“selectpagelength”command(<ESO&tn P)willautomatically
selectthecassettewhichcontainsthepaperselectedbythecommand.Ifno
cassettecurrentlycontainstherightsizeof paper,thedisplaywillask you to inserttheappropriatesizeof paper.
56
<ESC>&t’tzF
ThePageLength,TopMarginandTextLengthcommandsthereforework togetherto setthebottommargin:
bottommargin= pagelength- (topmargin+ textlength). Thebottommarginis calledthe“perforationregion”withprintemthatuse
continuousforms.Younormallywantto skiptheperforationsbetweenthe continuouspages,but sometimesyou don’t (for examplewhenyouprint
labels). Thoughyoulikelywon’toftenwanttodo it, theStarLaserPrinter8willlet
youcompletelyignorethebottommargintoo.If youchoosetoprintbelow thebottommargin,rememberthatyoumightlosewordsorgraphicsinthe unprintableregionattheedgeof thepage.The commandlookslikethis:
<ESC>&tn L
Ifyouwanttoallowprintingbelowthebottommargin,fornenterO(zero). Butif youwantto forbidprintingbelowthe margin,whichis thedefault,
enter 1(one). In Laserjetmode, you can tell the printer whetheryou want to print in
simplexorduplexmode,andalsotodefineshort-or long-egeprinting.The commandtodo thisis:
<ESC>&/’/zS
(notethatthe characterfollowingthe“&” is a lowercase“L”),andn is an ASCIInumberwhichmaybeeither’’O”,“l’’or’’2”.Ifnis“O”,simplexmode willbeselectedforthenextpagetobeprinted.Ifnis”1”or“2”,thenduplex modewillbeselectedforthenextpage—” 1“selectinglong-edgebinding, and“2” selectingshort-edgebinding(regardlessof pageorientation).Any othervalueswillbe ignored.
59
Page Side Selection (DX type only)
The followingcommandallowsyou to selecton what side of a pagethe followingdata willbeprinted-whentheprinteris in duplexmode:
<ESC>&a n G wherenisanASCIIvaluefrom“O”to“3”.If nis“O”,thefollowingdatawill
beprintedon thenextsideafterthecurrentside(ifthecurrentsideis aface
side,thenextsidewillbe a back,andviceversa).If nis” l“, thenextside willautomaticallybecomea faceside(if thecurrentsideisa faceside,the currentpagewillbeejectedwiththebacksideblank).If n is setto “2”,the next sidewillautomaticallybecomeabackside(ifthecurrentsideis aback side,thenextpagewillbe printedwiththe facesideblank).
Example: Page formatting
OK,let’shaveago atformattingapage.Thepictureofthepagewewantis
just below.Theactualwidthof thetexton thepagedependsonwhichfont
weuse.Let’splanon usingour 16.66-pitchLinePrinterfontateightlines perinch.
column70
\
,,.,
I
r
\ cccaeiordfootnotes
pegs length = 112 ines
top margin= 8 lines
texr length.
100lines
margin
bonom
4 lines
column10
1
{
,,,,
i
Asitprints,wealsowanttopermittheoccasionalone-linefootnotebelow thenormalbottommargin.Andwhenwe’refinishedprinting,let’sresetthe sidemarginssowe canswitchto our usualfontwidth.
60
Hereare the commandsthatwillproducethisformatforus:
<ESC>&tl 12P <ESC>&a IOt’70M <ESC>&t’8eIOOfOL
(We’llsendourpagehere.) <ESC>9

MOVING THE PRINT POSITION

Many ways to move
The LaserPrinter8 providesexcellentcontrol over the print position—
whereyoupoiseyourlaser“pen”.Horizontally,youcansendbackspaceand carriagereturncommands.Vertically,youcanmovetheprintpositiondown thepagebyprintingsomanylinesperinch,orbysendingline-feedandhalf line-feedcommands.Youcanmovehorizontallyorverticallytotabsettings as well.
Thosearen’tall.Youcan alsotelltheStarLaserPnntcr8to moveitsprint position,eitherverticallyor horizontally,in incrementsof:
1/10, 1/12or 3/50inch(pitchsettings), 1/48or 1/120inch(lineor columndefinitions),
<1/300inch(dots),
1/720inch(tenthsof apoint). Allthesecommandsaredescribedbelow. Onehintaboutmovingtheprintposition:youcanconfuseyourselftrying
to usc more than two differentunits duringthe same session.So decide beforehandhowpreciseyouneed to be in movingthe printposition,not forgettinganygraphicsyouwantto include.Thenstickto the unit(s)you choose.
Lines per inch
Thisverticalline-spacingcommandgivesyoumoreoptionsthanjustthesix oreightlinesperinchofearlyprinters.Usethiscommandto sethowmany linesyouwantin eachverticalinchof yourpage:
<ESC>&tn D
61
Forn youenterthenumberoflinesperinchyouwant—anyof: 1,2,3,4,
6,8, 12,16,24or48. Ifyouenteranumberotherthanthesetheprinterwill
ignore the command.
Defining the space and column
Beforeyouuseprintpositioningcommands,youfirstmay wantto change thedefinitionsofthelineorspace(sometimescalled“verticalandhorizontal motionindexes,”VMIandHMI).Thesedefinitionsdon’tactuallymovethe print position.Instead,they define two basicunits you can use in print positioncommands.
What’simportantaboutthespaceisthatitdefineshowfartheprintposition travelsforeverycharacteryouprint(exceptforproportionallyspacedtext). The spacecanalsobethoughtofasthewidthofaverticalprintcolumn.One columnwidthisthewidthofthespacecharacterinthecurrentfont,nomatter
whetherit is monospacedorproportionallyspaced.
Occasionallyyou may wantto changespacewidthto overridethecurrent pitchsetting. Let’slookatanexample.Thespacewidthcomesinunitsof
l/120thofaninch,andtheCourierfontcanprintIOcharacterspcrinch. Each
charactercovers a tenth—12/120the of an inch, so that font’sdefault
spacewidthis 12units.If wechangeits spacewidthto 6, each character
wouldhalf-overlaptheone beforeit. If youareusing<S1>and<SO>to shiftbetweenaprimaryandsecondary
font,it’sa goodideato changethespacewidthaftereveryshift. To changethe spacewidthyousendthiscommand:
<ESC>&k n H
inwhichforn youcanenteranumberfromO(zero)to840.AwidthofOwill printcharactersontopof eachother;a widthof 840willprintthemseven inchesaprt.
Defining line depth
Thelinedepth(sometimescalledthe“verticalmotionindex”)specifieshow
fardownapagetheprintpositionwillmoveforeachlinefeed.Youprobably
won’tusethelinedepthasmuchaslines-per-inch.Linedepthcanbemore precisebutitisn’taseasytocalculate.Thelinedepthcomesinmultiplesof
l/48thof an inch.
Theimportantfactaboutthelinedepthis thatwhenyouchangeit you are
62
changingtheactualmeaningof a “line”. youeffectivelydecreasethenumberoflinesperinch,andincreasethepage length.
Thecommandyousendto setthelinedepthlookslikethis:
<ESC>&?nC
(notethatthecharacterafterthe“&”isalower-case“L”)inwhichforn you canenteranumberfromOto336.If n iszero,lineswillbeprintedontopof eachother,andif 336,theywillbe printed7 inchesapart.
Whenyouincreasethelinedepth
Moving the PRINT position horizontally
Youcan use threedifferentunitsto movethe print positionhorizontally:
columns(space-widths),dots(eachl/300thof aninch),ortenthsof a point
(decipoints).Bothcolumnsanddecipointscanbe fractionstotwo decimal
places, such as 45.75 dccipoints— which provides a great degree of
accuracyfor graphicsapplications.
Moreover,foreachoftheseyoucanmovetheprintpositionhorizontallyin
twoways.Youcanmoveabsolutelyfromtheleftedgeofthepage.Oryou
canmoverelatively,awayfromthecurrentprintposition.Toshowyouwant
tomoveawayfromthecurrentprintposition,youputaplus(+)orminus(–)
signbeforethenumberof unitsyouwantto move.
Ifyousend acommandthatwouldputtheprint positionoutsideeitherside
margin,theLaserPrinter8willletyoudojustthat.However,youcan’tsend
theprint positionfurtherthanits printablelimitsattheedgesofthe page.
Horizontal moves: by columns, decipoints and dots
To movethe print positionhorizontallya numberof columns,send the
command:
<ESC>&a n C
inwhichforn youenterthenumberofcolumnsyouwishto movetheprint position. So to moveto column45 yousendthe command:
<ESC>&a45C
Buttomove45 columnsto therightofthecurrentprintposition,yousend:
<ESC>&a+45C
63
Tomovetheprintpositionhorizontallyacertainnumbcrofdecipoints,send thecommand:
<ESC>&an H
inwhichfornyouenterthenumberofdecipointsyouwishtomovetheprint position(precededbya+or– signifyouwanttomoveawayfromthecurrent position).
Youcanmovetheprintpositionhorizontallybydotsbothwaystoo.Youcan
moveanumberofdotsawayfromtheleftedgeof thepage,oryoucanmove
a numberof dotsawayfromthecurrentprintposition.
To movehorizontallythisway,sendthe command:
<ESC>*pn X
in whichforn youputeitherthenumberof dotsawayfromthepageedge, or (precededby a + or– sign)the relativenumberof dots away fromthe currentposition.
Soto move20 dotsfromtheleftedgeyousendthiscommand:
<ESC>*p20X
Andtomove20 dotsto theleftof thecurrentpositionyousend:
<ESC>*p–20X
Youcanalsomovethecursor8columnsatatimehorizontallybyuscofthe horizontaltab command.Simplysend a tabcharacter:
<HT>
to do this.Reversetabbingisnotpossible.
Moving the print position vertically
Youcan usc similarunitsto movetheprintpositionvertically:lines,dots, or decipoints.Both lines and decipointscan be fractionsto two decimal places.
Youcanalsomovethe printpositionabsolutelydownfromthetopedge of thepage,orrelatively,awayfromthecurrentprintposition.Again,toshow youwantto moveawayfromthecurrentprintpositionyouputaplus(+)or
minus(–) signbeforethenumberof unitsyou wantto move.
64
I
Andto move20 dotsup you send:
<ESC>*p–20Y
Combining move commands
Onethingaboutmovingtheprintpositionwiththeabovecommandsis that
theylet youthinkof yourpagein termsof Cartesiancoordinates. Allwemeanisthatyoucancombinehorizontalandverticalmovementsthat
usethesameunits.If yousendthiscommand,
<ESC>*p40x20Y
theprintpositionwillmovetoa spot40dotsfromtheleft edgeof thepage and20 dotsdownfromthetopedge.Andif yousendthisone:
<ESC>&a+40h–20V
theprintpositionwillmoveright40 decipointsandup 20decipoints.
Backspace
The Backspacecontrolcodeworksexactlyasyoumightexpect:itmovesthe printpositiononecolumnto the left.
<BS>
Movingtheprintpositionbackdoesnotdestroyanycharactersalreadysent. In fact, becauseof that, this commandcan be quite useful. It lets you supcrimpow”onecharacteroveranother.
Sayyou’wanttoindicateablankspaceastheletter it,anoldprogrammingsymbol.Justsendthe andtheslash,andyougetthis:~.
b witha slash/ through
bandthenfollowitwith<BS>
Carriage return
TheCarriageRctumcommandbyitselfonlymovestheprintpositionback to the leftmarginof thelineon whichit currentlysits:
<CR>
If youwanttheprintpositionto movedowna lineas well,senda separate Line Feed command each time, or use Define AutomaticLine Ends
(explainedbelow)to couplethesetwocontrolcodes.
66
For n enteroneof thenumbersfromthistable:
n
AUTOMATICCOMMAND
O(zero)cCR>,cLF> and<FF>workaccordingtotheirbasic
definitions,
1(one) <CR>willalsogenerateacLF> (butcLF> and<FF>stay
thesame),
2
cLF> or <FF>willproducea <CR>too(<CR>byitself won’tchange),
3
<CR> generatesa <LF>too,andeither<LF>or <FF> producesa<CR>.
Afteryou sendthe command<ESC>&k 2 G forexample,everytimethe printergetsa LineFeedcommanditwillmovetheprintpositiondownand overto thestartof theline.when itgetsa FormFeed,theprinterwillalso movetheprintpositionbackto theleft.
Autowrap
Onenicethingwegetusedtowithawordprocessingprogramisnothaving to worryaboutwordsgoingpastthe rightmargin.Wedon’thaveto listen forthattypewriterbellatthemarginanymore.
This commanddoes pretty much the same thing your word processing programdoes.Theimportantdifferenceisthatitdoesnotwrapwords.When
youturnon Autowrap,if you sendtoomanycharactersfora linethelaser
pnntcrprintstheoverflowonthenextline.
IfAutowrapison,whentheprintergetsacharacterthatwouldprintbeyond
the rightmargin,itreturnstheprintpositionforthatcharacterbacktotheleft
andone linedown(CarnageReturnandLineFeed).
TheAutowrapcommandworkslikea toggleswitch:
<ESC>
&S m C
If for n youenterO(zero)thenthiswrap-aroundmodewillapply. Butif for n youput 1 (one)this automaticwrappingof characterswillnot
happen.Thedefaultif youdon’tsenda commandisno wrapping. Note: Even when Autowrapis on, the printerwill print beyondthe right
margin if you have sent one of the direct positioningcommands
describedabove,whichmovetheprintpositionpastthemargin.
68
Also,notethatAutowrapdoesn’tmovethe wholeword downto thenext
line— that’sajob for a wordprocessor,notyourlaserprinter.
Pushing and popping the print position
Thisprovidesa wonderfulwaytokeeptrackoftheprintposition.it works
by lettingyoukeep a listof up to 20 printpositions. Youcan“push”thecurrentprintpositionontothetop of thelist whenever
youwant.Later,youcan“pop”offwhateverpositionisatthetopofthelist, makingitthecurrentprintposition.
When would you want to save and restore print positions this way? Wheneveryouneedtointerruptwhatyou’reprintingnowtosticksomething specialontothe page.Thisismost handywhenyouneed tojump fromtext to graphicsandback.
Sayyou’vewrittenoneroutinethatputsthepagenumberin thesameplace on.evcrypage, and anotherthat under certaincircumstancesprintstwo heavyIincs.Youprintmcrnly alonguntilyouhaveto printthelines.You thenpushthecurrentprintpositiontoexecutethe line-printingroutine.
Butpart waythroughthat youhitthe page-numberspot.So youpushthe
printpositionagainandrunthepage-numberroutine.Thenyoucanpopthe printpositiontoprintthesecondline.Andwhenthat’sdoneyoupopitagain to returnto printingtext.
As you mightsuspect,thiscan involvefairlycomplicatedprogramming, typicallyusingthe macrocommandsdescribedlaterin thischapter.
To pushorpop a printpositionyousendthiscommand:
<ESC>&f n S
For n youenter Oto push(save)thecurrentprintposition,
or 1to pop(restore)thelast positionsavedoff the list.
Note: The last positionpushedonto the list will alwaysbe the first onc
poppedbacklater.
69
I

CONTROLLING FONTS

Font selection
The LaserJetII emulationlets you defineand selectfontsthreeways: as primary and secondary fonts, or by font identificationnumber, or by description.We’lllookatthefirsttwowaysnow,andexplainselectingafont
by its attributesalittlefurtheron. Howeveryouchoosetorefertofonts,rememberthatafontmustbeavailable
beforeyouselectit.Soifyouwantto selectacartridgeordownloadedfont, youfirst haveto putin thecartridgeor downloadthefont.
Selecting primary or secondary fonts
Ofthe threeselectionmethods,youwillsavethemostprogrammingtimeby
shifting back and forth between primary and secondary fonts. That’s
counterbalanced,though,by the fact that youoften need more than two
fonts.
Typically,you use primary and secondaryfonts to flip back and forth
betweentwodifferentsymbolsets—forexampleIBMsymbolsets1and2. Youcandesignateanytwofonts,whetherinternal,cartridgeordownloaded, as primaryand secondary.
The way you show you’re talking about a primary font in an Escape
sequenceis to follow the <ESC> symbolwith a left parenthesis.For example,
<ESC>
meansyou want yourprimaryfont pitchedat ten charactersto the inch. Typinga rightparenthesisinsteadmeansyouarereferringtothesecondary font:
<ESC>
Youdefinea fontas primaryor secondaryasyouselectit.To makea font
yourprimaryorsecondaryfont,youusefont-descriptionEscapesequences suchas thosejust above,specifyingtheattributesyouwant.
If youdon’texplicitlyindicatewhatattributesyouwantforthe primaryor secondaryfont, the printerwill use the samedefaultfont for both.This defaultfont’sattributesincludetheRoman-8symbolset,10-pitchspacing,
12-pointheight,uprightstyle,mediumweight,and Couriertypeface.
70
(S 10H
)S 10H
I
secondaryfonts?YouwanttoselectadownloadedfontIDasyoursecondary font.Thisis the commandto send:
<ESC>) n X
Font attributes
Thethirdwayto selecta fontistosimplydescribewhatfontattributesyou
want.(Remember,selectingafontdoesnotmodifyafont.Youcan’tgetbold or14-pointcharactersifyoudon’thaveaboldor14-pointfontintheprinter.)
Inlistingtheattributesyouwant,itwillhelpyoutoprioritizethemthesame
wayyourLaserPrinter8does.Yourpnnterranksthevariousattributesafont
can havethis way(frommostto leastimportant):
orientation
symbolset
spacing(proportionalor monospaced)
pitch(charactersper inch)
fontheight (in points)
style(italicor upright)
strokeweight(lighttobold)
typeface
The laser printer just zips down this chain of attributesone by one, eliminatingfontsthatdon’tmatchwhatyouwant,untilit getsdownto one uniquefontthatmatchesyourrequest.If theprintermatchesdownto, say,
styleorweightbutcangonofurther,itwillgiveyouitsclosestfonttoyour request.
And if youdon’t specifya particularvaluefor someattribute,the printer assumesyouwantthevaluethatattributehadin the lastfontyouspecified (orthedefaultvalue if you’vejust turnedon theprinter).Thiscansaveyou someeffort:ifthefontyouwanthasanattributethesameasthecurrentfont, youdon’thaveto specifythatattributeagain.
Orientation
Portrait orientationprints text across the width of a page. Landscape orientationprintstextsidewaysupthelengthof a page.
The StarLaserPrinter8 is moreflexibleaboutorientationthanmostother laser printers;it lets you simplyrotateany portraitfont to the landscape
orientationorviceversa.To startyouoff whenyouchangeorientation,the printerresets all its marginsand its column and linedefinitionsto their
72
defaultsettings.
Whenyouwantto selecttheoppositeorientation,sendthis command:
<ESC>&tn O
in whichfor n youput Otogetportraitorientation,
or 1to getlandscapeorientation.
(Notice:the/character afterthe &is a lowercaseL.)
Symbol sets: a review
Eachfontcanhavemanysymbolsets,eachbeingasubsetofallthepossible charactersof the font. These subgroupsinclude different symbols for different nations or for lawyers or artists or mathematicians.Any two symbol sets, moreover,may store the same symbolat a different font positionin theprinter’smcmory.
The defaultLaserJetIIemulationsymbolsetisRoman-8,whichincludesall
ASCIIcharactersplusdozensofaccentedletters.Butyoucanuseanyofthe sets shown below.Technicallyyou can pair any symbol set with any internal,cartridgeordownloadedfont;howeveritdocsn’tmakemuchsense to printtextwitha mathor line-drawingsymbolset.
LaserJetHmodeprovidestwodifferentsymbolset commands.Youputa codeintoone commandto selectaparticularsymbolsetforyourprimary orsecondaryfont.YouU.SCtheothercommandtoselectthecurrentordefault symbolset for yourprimaryor secondaryfont.
Selecting a symbol set
Thisfirstsymbolsetcommandletsyouselectaparticularsymbolsetforthe current font. To select a symbol set for your primary font, send this command:
<ESC>( n
Forn enteroneof thefollowingsymbolcodes.The firstcharactermustbe a digit andthe secondanuppercaseletter.
CODEn OA OB OD OE OF OG
SYMBOLSET Math-7symbols LineDrawcharacters 1S0 60:Norwegian RomanExtension 1S0 25: French HPGerman
73
01 OK ON 00 OQ 0s Ou
OY
ID IE IF IG
10 IQ 1s
IU
2K 2Q 2s 2U
3Q
3s 4s 5s ,
6S
8M
‘8Q
8U
8Y 9Q
10U 1lQ 1IU 12U 15U
1S0 15:Italian JIS ASCII ECMA~94Latin 1 OCR-A Math-8Asymbols 1S0 11:Swedish
US-ASCII
BarCode3 of 9
1S0 61: Norwegian 1S0 UK 1S0 69:French 1S0 21: German OCR-B Math-8Bsymbols HP Spanish Legal 1S0 57: Chinese Pi font-Asymbols 1S0 17:Spanish 1S0 IRV OCR-BExtension 1S0 10:Swedish 1S0 16:Portuguese 1S0 84:Portuguese 1S0 85:Spanish Math-8symbols IBM-PCSet Roman-8 BarCode EAN/UPC IBM-PCExtension IBM-PC(US) ECMA-947Bit IBM-PC(Denrnark/Nonvay) PC-850 Pi fontsymbols
To selecta symbolsetcodefor yoursecondaryfont,fliptheparenthesis:
<ESC>) n
andfor n substituteyourchoicefromthecodesabove. 74
I
Selecting the current or default symbol set
Yourprintercan useeithertheprimaryor thesecondaryfontasitscurrent
font. And that currentfont has its currentsymbolset. Yourprinteralso remembemitsdefaultfontandsymbolset,whichareCourierwithRoman­8 (unlessyou’vechangedtheirinitialparametervaluesthroughthe front
panelmenu). The followingcommandlets youselectoneof thosesymbolsetsfor your
primaryfont.
<ESC>( n @
For n enteroneof the followingselectionvaluesforyourprimaryfont:
n VALUE O(zero)or 1(one) 2
3
Similarly,youcanselecteitherthedefaultorthecurrentsymbolsetforyour secondaryfont. You also may want to use the same symbolset for both primaryandsecondaryfonts.
To do thesetasks,you can sendthe followingcommandto select which symbolset you wantfor yoursecondaryfont:
<ESC>) n @
For n enteroncof thevaluesfromthistable:
n VALUE O(zero) Selectsthedefaultsymbolset
1(one) Selectssamesymbolset as primaryfont 2 3 Selectsall the defaultfont’s attributes(notjust
SELECTION
Selects’the currentfont’ssymbolset
symbolset)
SELECTION Selectsthedefaultsymbolset Selectsthecurrentfont’ssymbolset(this forcesthe printerto selectits bestmatch­ing font) Selectsallof thedefaultfont’sattributes (notjust symbolset)
Example: Symbol set commands
Let’stakeashortlookathowyouusethesecommands.Here’sthescenario: YouarealreadyusingtheTmsRomntypeface,butwanttousetheGerman symbolsetasyouarewritingareportforyourBerlinofficeandneedumlaut charactersforseveralnamesin the report.
75
I
Thenin thereportyoudecidetousea proprietaryproductname,sowantto nipout tograbthe@symbolonalegalcartridgefont you’vealreadyloaded, thenreturnto yourGermanset.Whenyourreport’salldone,youwantto returntheprinterto itsRoman-8default.
Herearc the commandsthatwilldo thejob forus:
<ESC>( OG
(youstartyourreporthere)
~ESC>( IU @
<ESC>( OG
(youfinishyourreporthere)
<ESC>( O@
Ifyouhadfinishedwith<ESC>(3@theprinterwouldreturntoitsstandard Courierfont:notjust itsRoman-8symbolset.
Spacing
If youspecifymonospaccdfor a font,eachcharacterprintswiththe same width.Butif youspecifyproportionalspacingthedesignofeachcharacter determinesits width.To definehow you want yourprimaryfont spaced, sendthiscommand:
<ESC>
in whichforn youput O(zero)to getmonospaced,
Ifyouspecifyproportionalspacingitdoesn’tmatterifyoualsospecifypitch,
becausespacingisa.higherpnorityfontattribute.Theprinterwilljustignore
thepitchrequest.
76
(S /z P
or 1(one)to getproportionalspacing.
I
To selectfontheightforthesecondaryfont,sendthiscommand:
<ESC>
Style
)S /z V
Styledefineswhetheryourtextisprintedin italicsorupright,thewaythese wordsare.Sendthiscommandtoselectthe styleyouwantfortheprimary font:
<ESC>
in whichfor n you
(S rz S
enter Oif youwantnormaluprighttext,
or 1if you
want italics.
Toselectstyleforthesecondaryfont,justreversetheparenthesisandusethe
samen numbers:
<ESC>
)S ~ S
Rememberthatstyleisarelativelylow-priorityattribute.Ifaparticularfont
satisfiesallhigherpriorityattributesbutdoesn’tcomeinthestyleyouwant, you’ll get thatfontwithoutyourstyle.
Stroke weight
Theweightof a fontdefineshowlightlyor boldlyit prints. WithLaserJet11emulationyoucan be more flexibleaboutstrokeweight
thanwiththe boldon/offcommandsoftheother emulations.Thefollowing commandgivesyou a rangeof 15degreesof boldness,thoughnolmany fontsexploitthatrange.
Sendthis commandtoselectaprimaryfontwithyourdesiredstrokeweight:
<ESC>
(S /z B
in whichyoureplacen witha numberfrom–7 (meaninglight)to +7 (very
bold).Youneedthenegativesigntogetthelighterweights.A weightof O
(zero)producesmediumprint.
To selectthe strokeweightfor lhe secondaryfont,use the samenumbers
withthiscommand:
<ESC>
)S /z B
Anincidentalnote:Youwilllikelyuseoptionalfontsto giveyouboldface, soprobablydon’tneedto knowthis.Butit’spossibleto printboldwi~houl evenhavingaboldfontintheprinter.Youjustprintthetextyouwantinbold twotimes,withthe overprintoffsetby4 decipoints.
78
So youcanuse the command <ESC> &a n H to backup, youjust needto
knowthe widthin decipointsof whatyou want to overprint.In a mono­spaced-pitchfontlike Courierthat’seasy:just keep track of how many charactersyouprint.Inaproportionalfontyou’dkeeptrackofthedecipoints byusingacharacter-widthtable.Afterbackingup4 decipointslessthanthe totaltextwidthyoujust print yourtextagain.
Typeface
The
lastattributeyoucan givetocharactersistheirtypeface.Thedesignof charactersis whatfontdesignersoftenthinkofasthemaindeterminantfor a font.Butwhenyouselectalaserprinterfont,typefacesits at thebottom of thelist.
To assign the particularface you want for your primaryfont, send this
command:
<ESC>
(S ~ T
For n enteroneof the fontcodenumbersfromthis table:
TYPEFACE n Lineprinter Pica Elite Courier
O(zero)
1(one)
2
3
Helvet 4
<Tms Romn 5
Gothic
script Prestige Caslon
6 7 8 9
Orator 10 Presentation 11 LineDraw 12 PCLine
13
OCR 14 BarCode
15
Toassignacharacterfacetothesecondaryfont,justfliptheparenthesisand
usethesamen numbers:
<ESC>
)S rI T
79
Example: Font attributes
Let’sputthelasthalfdozenfontaltnbutcstogetherin an example.Say we wanttoselectanicefont—asmallLinePrinter- forthefootnotesinareport we’vefinished.Let’smakeitoursecondaryfont,sincethebodyofourreport is donein the primaryfont.
We’ll go with the defaultsfor orientationand symbol set. But let’s be specificabouttheotherattributes,andlet’sremembertoputtheminpriority order.
Wedecideonamonospacedof 16.66charactersperinchandaheightofjust sevenpoints(footnotesshouldlooksmallerthanourregulartext).To keep itreadable,weopt fortheordinaryuprightstyleandmediumweightin the LinePrintertypeface.Oursequenceof individualcommandswouldlook likethis:
<ESC> <ESC> <ESC> <ESC> <ESC> <ESC>
)S OP )S 16.66H )S 7V )S OS )S OB )S OT
Sincethese font attributesall start with the same )s command-category prefix,let’sput themalltogetherinonccommand:
<ESC>
)S OP 16.66h 7V@ObOT
TheBASICstatcmentwccouldsendto selectourdesiredfontwouldlook
likethis;
100 LPRINTCHR$(27);“)sOp16.66h7vOsObOT”
And assuming we have such a font in our printer, we‘d get a
font that looks like this sentence for our footnotes.
Underline
Underliningis printingfeature,nota fontattribute. Youcanunderlinein two ways:as a print feature,or withthe– underline
character.If youbackspaceandusetheunderlinecharacter,however,you oftenfindthe underlinedoesn’tcomeoutthe samelengthas yourtext.
The underlinecommandworks better. When you turn on the underline 80
featurethisway,theprinterwillunderlineallsubsequentprintablecharac-
ters,includingspaces.
Sendthiscommandto turn on theunderliningmode:
<ESC>&dn D
in whichfor n youput O(zero)to get fixedunderline,
or 3 to getfloatingunderline.
Andsendthiscommandto turn off the underlinemode:
<ESC>&d@
How toprint Escape sequences and control codes
Youuse bothEscapesequencesandcontrolcodestoprint.Sohowdo you printEscapesequencesandcontrolcodes?
Butyouactuallycanprintcommands,andintwodifferentways.Youwould
dothiswhenyouwanttoseeeverythingexactlyasitissentto theprinter—
forexample,todebuga stringof textandcommandsthatdocsn’tprintthe wayyouthinkit should.
The Transparentprint commandprintsthe stringof data that followsit
withoutpaying attentionto any embeddedEsca~ sequencesor control codes.TransparentprintevenprintsCarriageReturncodeswithoutzapping theprintpositionbackto the left margin.
TouscTransparentprint,justputthiscommandimmediatelyinfrontof your printdata:
<ESC>&pn X For n youspecifythenumberof bytesof datayouwantto print. Display Functions,like the Transparentprint command,prints Escape
sequcnccsandcontrolcodeswithoutactuallyexecutingthcm.ButDisplay FunctionspaysattentiontoCarnageReturncodes,sotextlooksmorelike the way it normallyprints. DisplayFunctionsalso prints commandsas blanks,not as symbols.
DisplayFunctionsactuallyinvolvestwoEscapesequences,onetoturniton andanotherto turnitoff.To turnon DisplayFunctions,sendthiscommand
just beforethedata youwantdisplayed:
<ESC>Y
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And to turnoff DisplayFunctions,send this commandat theend of the
displayedprintdata:
<ESC>Z
ThatEscapeZ sequenceitselfprintsas a blankfollowedby a Z.
Font control
The FontControlcommandhastwomainfunctions:definingafont’sstatus, anddeletingfonts.
Youcanmakea fonteitherpermanentor temporarywiththeFontControl command.Thishelpsyoucontrolwhichfontsyoudelete,aspermanentfonts donotgetdeletedwhenyouresetthesystem.Thepermanentor tcmporary statusyougiveto a fontwillapplyonlyto thefontyoulastspecified,using oneof thefontID commandsdescribedabove.
Whenyourprinter’smemorygetsstuffedwithfonts,youcanalsousc this command to delete some of them. You can only delete fonts you’ve downloaded,asinternalandcartridgefontsareneverdeleted.Notextwill getlostwhenyoudeletea font,evenwhenthatfontisonanunprintedpage in thepnntcr’smemory.
To controlfontsyousendthiscommand:
<ESC>
For n enteroneof the numbersfromthistableof functions:
FUNCTION
Deletealltemporaryandpermanentfonts Deletealltemporaryfonts(anotherwaytodelete ailtemporaryfontsis to senda resetcommand) Dclctcjust the fontwiththe mostrecentlyspecilicdID 2 Deletejust thelastcharacterof the fontyouhave downloaded
Makethe currentfontID temporary 4
MakethecurrentfontID permanent Makea temporarycopyof thecurrentfont
Abitofexplanationaboutthatlastfunction6: Whenyougivea fontID to anyfontyoufirstneedatemporarycopyofthatfontinmemory.Thatcopy isalreadytherefordownloadedfonts.Butyouwillneedfunction6tocreate a temporarycopyof an internalor cartndgcfont.
82
*C n F
n
O(zero)
1(one)
3
5 6
Example: Assigning font numbers
Nowlet’sdo a program in BASIC. Firstwe’ll assignfont numbers to the
Courier
Thenwe’llprintsamplesof eachfont.
andPresigeresidentfontsandto a cartridgefont,IBMPCCourier.
100 LPRINTCHR$(27) ;“(8U” ; 110
LPRINTCHR$(27 ) ; “ ( sOp10h12vOs Ob3T” ;
120 LPRINT CHR$ ( 15) ; 130 LPRINT CHR$(27) ; “*cID” ; 140 LPRINT CHR$( 27 ) ; “*c6F” ;
150 LPRINT CHR$( 27 ) ; “ ( 8u” ; 160 LPRINT CHR$(27) ; “ (sOp12h10vOsOb8T” ; 170 LPRINT CHR$(15) ; 180 LPRINT CHR$(27) ; “*c2D” ; 190 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“*c6F” ;
200 LPRINT CHR$(27);’’(1OU” ;
210 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;’’(soplOhl2vOsOb3T’” ; 220 LPRINT CHR$(15); 230 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“*c3D”; 240 LPRINT CHR$(27); ’’*C6F” ; 250 LPRINT CHR$(27) ;“(lX”;
260 LPRINT “Font 1 - Resident Courier”
270 LPRINT CHR$(27); ’’(2X” ;
280 LPRINT “Font 2 -
29Q LPRINT CHR$(27); ’’(3X” ; 300 LPRINT “Font 3 - Cartridge PC Courier” 310 LPRINT CHR$(27); ’’(1X” ; 320 LPRINT CHR$(12)
Resident Prestige”
Line 100and 110 callstheinternalCourierfontandline 120makesitthe pnmaryfont. Line 130givesit fontID numberl, and line 140makesit temporary.
Lines150through190dothesamethingforthePrestigefon~andlines200 through240forthccartridgcfont NoticethatthccartridgefonthastheIBM symbolset code 10U.
Lines250through300printout samplesofthethreefonts.Finally,line310 resetsthedefaulttoourintemalCounerfont,andline320performsthefinal formfeed to printthe page.
84

USINGYOUR OWN FONTS

Font design is tedious
A warning:font design is an art. Don’t expectto turn out professional­lookingfontsin a fewhours.
Sometimes,though,youhavetobuildyourowntypeface,evenif youdon’t workwith a companyin the font-sellingbusiness.Youmay, for example, want to print yourown customizedcompanylogo. It meansbuildingup characterswithina cellorgrid,perhaps50dotshighand35wide—lotsof dots.
Because defining your own typeface is so tedious, make sure you’ve checked out as many downloadablefonts as you can find from font developmentcompanies.
The next handiestway to do thejob is to ask around,maybe where you
boughtyourLaserPrinter8,to seeif youcangetoneofthefont-creatingor
font-editingutilityprogramsnowonthemarket.FontGen[V+isone.Keep
aneyeout,too,fornewwordprocessingtoolsthatmightsaveyouthetrouble
of painstakinglyfiguringoutdetailslikekerning.
Evenwithaidslikethese,buildinga customfontis an intricateprocess.It
callsforthecreationofa familyofupto 200characterssharinga common
designandproportionalscheme,andthat’sjust foronctypesize.No mean
feat. ‘
How to download your own fonts
Charactersthat you define and store yourself are called “user-defined”
characters.Let’sassumeyoualreadyknowwhattextistobeinyourcustom
font,andhavedesigneditstypeface,weight,widthandstyle.Onceyou’ve createdyour own characters,you’llneedto downloadthemto yourlaser printer.
Theprocessofdownloadinga fontyou’vedesignedyourselfis somewhat detailed.To downloadyourfont,youfollowthefollowingsteps:
1) assigna fontIDnumberto yourfont,
2) downloada fontheader,
3)
4) senda characterdescriptorandbit mapforeachcharacter,
5)
identifythepositionof eachcharacterto be downloaded,
specifywhetherthefile is to be permanentortemporary.
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1) Assigning a font ID to your font
ToassignanIDtoyourfont,yousendthiscommand(describedaboveunder “Assigningfont ID numbem”)with an ID numberfor n betweenOand
32767:
<ESC>*C n D
Beforesendingthat commandthough,check whetherthe ID numberis alreadyallocatedto anotherfont.If it is, thatexistingfontwillbe deleted withthenextcommand.
Downloading a header for your font
2) Evenif theprinterdoesn’thaveenoughmemorytocreateyourfont,itwill delete any existingfontwiththesameID numberwhenyoudownloadthe headerfor yourfont.
A font’sheaderis thelistof its attributes,whichyourprinteruscsto select thatfont.Eachfontheader,26 byteslong,is sto~d atthe frontof thefont. Yousend-afontheadercommandto yourprinterjust beforeyoudownload the font’scharacters.
Theheadercommandlookslikethis:
<ESC>
)S n W
and must be followed immediatelyby the data describing the font’s attributes.The n valueis the actualnumberof bytesof descriptiondata, almostalways26.Note:unlikeotherLaserJetIIcommands,youmustenter theASCIIsymbols2 and6 here,notthenumber26.
Here’satypical fontheadercommand:
<ESC>)S 26WO<SUB>OIOOO<RS>O<RS>O2OO1<FF>OdOWOOOOdWX>
Asidefromthe actualcommandat thefront,the restlookslikegobbledy­gook?But there’s26 bytesthere,each one an ASCIIcharacter,each one specifyingaparticularfontattribute.(Theencloseditemswithbracketsare
singleASCIIcharactersthathappento be controlcodes.)
Eachbytein the headeris a number,whichyousendas whateversymbol happensto be storedat thatnumericpositionin the ASCIItable.Coding someofthesenumbersistricky,however,andwerecommendyouaskyour
StarMicronicsdealertohelpyoubuildyourfontheader.Togetyoustarted,
thetablebelowshowswhateachof thosebytesmeans:
86
BYTE o-1 2
3
4-5
6-7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14-15 16-17
18-19 20-22 23 24
25
Positioning each character in your font
3)
MEANING headerlength
blank fontsize blank baselinepositionforcharacters blank cellwidth blank cellheight orientation
spacing symbolset
pitch
linespacing blank style strokeweight typeface
Beforeyoudownloadeachcharacteryouhavetotelltheprinterwherein its fonttableto put it. Youindicatewhereby sendingthiscommand:
<<ESC>
*C n E
Fornyouputthedecimalnumber,betweenOand255,of thepositioninthe
fonttablewhereyouwantyourcharacterstored.
Yourprinter’sfonttableisjust liketheASCIItable.Beforeyousendeach character,sayg, youhavetosaywhereyouwanttoputit.IntheASCIItable, g is atdecimal position103.So yousendthiscommand:
<ESC>
*C 103E
Andimmediatelyafterit yousendthebits thatmakeup the characterg.
Describing each character in your font
4)
Thenextstepisto describeeachofyourcharacters,“mapping”whereyou
wanteachdotto go.Sendthiscommandbeforeeachcharacter:
<ESC>
(S n W
Forn youenterthenumberof bytesyou’llbe sendingafterthiscommand,
87
I
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—perhapstwoor threehundredbytes.
Aswiththefontheader,eachbyteinthecharacterdescriptionis anumber,
sent as the symbolat thatpositionin the ASCIItable. Codingcharacter descriptionsis tricky too, so again we recommendyou ask your Star Micronicsdealer for help. The table below shows what the bytesin the characterdescriptionmean:
BYTE MEANING
o
1
2 always14
3 4 orientation 5 blank
6-7
8-9
10-11 character width 12-13 characterheight 14-15 printpositiontravel(proportionalspacingonly)
descriptionlength blank
always1
leftoffset(blankspacetoleft of character) topoffset(blankspaceabovecharacter)
Thebitmapofthe characters justthepattemof dotsinthecharacter,starting atthetopleftofitscell.Youworkyourwayacrossthecellanddowntothe bottomright;givingeachdota valueof Oifit’snotto beprintedand 1if it is.Thenyou.groupthosedotsas 8-bitbytes.
Permanent or temporary?
5)
The
laststepin downloadingyourownfontis to makethefontpermanent or temporary,using the Font Controlcommanddescribedearlier. The command<ESC>*c4 F willallowthefontto beerasedwhenyouresetthe printer.ButthecommandcESC>*C5F willkeepyourfontavailableeven
afteryou resettheprinter.
88

GRAPHICS

TheStarLaserPrinter8offerstwokindsofgraphics.Itprin~srastergraphics (sometimescalled“bit-mappedgraphics”),which specify each dot in a graphicspattern. And it prints pattern graphics,which prints Iincs and pattcmcdblocks.
Bc aware,though,thataddinggraphicelementsalwaysslowsup printing withlaserprinters.
Starting raster graphics
Youfollowthesefourstepswhenyouuserastergraphics,intheordershown:
1)
2) Issuethecommandto start graphics.
3) Sendthecommandsto transferrastergraphics.
4)
‘Youmustdefinethe resolutionof yourrastergraphicsbeforeyou use the
StartRasterGraphicscommand.Todefinethe resolutionyouneedin your graphics,sendthiscommand:
<ESC>*tn R
For the valueof n you can entereither75, 100,150or 300.Thatnumber defineshowmanydotspcrinchyouwantin yourfinalgraphicimage.The defaultresolutionis75dotspcrinch.Aftergraphicshavestarted,theprinter willignoreanyresolutioncommanduntilit receivesthecommandto end graphics.
Definewhatresolutionyouneed.
Sendthecommandto endgraphics.
Rastergraphicsstartprintingeitherattheleftpageedgeor thecurrentprim position.Tostartrastergraphicsyou sendthiscommand:
<ESC>Wn A
Youcanputin eitherO(zero)or 1(one)forthen value.If youenterO,the marginforgraphicswillbcsetattheleftmostpnntablcedgeofthepage(not the same as the left marginfor text).But if you enter 1,the margin for graphicswillbe set at the columnof the currentprint position,and your
imagewillappearonlyto the rightof thatgraphicsmargin.
Aprogramminghint:moveyourprintpositionindotincrementswhenever
you’redealingwith graphics.It’s easier than tryingto calculatecolumn-
widthsordccipoints.
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Sending and ending raster graphics
Graphicsprintingis independentof textmarginboundaries,includingthe perforationskipregion.It is bnlylimitedby theprintableareaandthepage length.
Totransferraslergraphicsyousendthiscommandatthebeginningofeach lineof rasterdata:
<ESC>*bn W
Forn youenterthenumberof bytesof graphicsdatato followonthisline. Thedatamustfollowimmediatelyafterthe Win thiscommand.
Databytesarcinterpretedasonclineofrastergraphicsdata(onedatarow). Eachbyteismadeupofeightbits.Thebitsof rastergraphicsdata(1‘sand O’s) yousendto theprinterdescribesingledotsto beprinted:a 1indicates
youwanta dotprinted,anda Oindicatesyoudo not wanta dotprinted.
Usethefollowingcommandtocnd rastergraphics:
<ESC>*rB
Afterendinggraphicsyoucan thensendtextto mergewithit.
Rules and patterns
Patternsandlinesare easeto do.
Print shopscall lines of any thicknessrules. A printedline in fact is a
rectangularareawithone“skinny”dimension,fromonctomanydotsthick.
Wewillusctheword“IUICS”too,to avoidconfusionwiththelinesusedto
measurepages.
Youfollowthesethreestepswhenyouuseruleandpatterngraphics:
1) Definethedimensionsyouneed.
2) Choosethe graphicspatternyouwantto till in thosedimen­sions.
3) Printthe pattcm. Rcmcmberto sendthefollowingruleor patterncommandsin thatorder.
90
Defining rule or pattern dimensions
Definingthedimensionsoftheareayouwanttofilljustmeansindicatingthe horizontalandverticalsizeofthepattern,ortherule’slengthandthickness. Youcanindicatedimensionsineitherdotsordecipoints(tenthsofa point).
At300dotsor720 decipointsto theinch,decipointmeasurementsarcmom accurate.The printerconvertsdecipointvaluesinto dots, using 2.4 de­cipointsto the dot. It rounds up fractionsto the next integer. So 1225 decipointswouldworkoutto510.4dots,andthepnntcrroundsthisupto511 dots.
Yourdimensioncommandsspecifyanareatotherightanddownfromthe currentprintposition.Ifyoudefineanarealargerthanthepage,yourprinter willacceptthecommand.It will,however,cutoffyourpattcmorruleatthe boundariesof thepage’sprintablearea.
Whentheprinterfinishesits print“map”of your ruleor pattern,theprint positionautomaticallyreturnsto the spot from which you started.That means,forinstance,thatyoucanmakealightlyshadedrcctanglcandthen startprintingtextrightoverit.Thiskindofboxcanbeusefulforsettingoff particularinformationfromthe mainbodyof yourtext.
Horizontally,youcan specifytherule lengthor horizontalpatternsizein dotswiththiscommand:
cESC> *cn A
in whichforn youenterhowmanydotsacrossthepageyou wanttherule or patternto be.
Alternatively,to specifythe horizontaldimensionfor a ruleor pattcmin decipoints,youcan printthiscommand:
<ESC>
*C n H
in whichn is thehorizontalrule,or patternsizein decipoints. Vertically,youcanindicatethesizeofyourruleorpatternindotswiththis
command:
<ESC>
*C n B
inwhichnisthe numberof dotsdefiningthethicknessofthendcorthcdepth of the pattern.
91
Alternatively,to showtheverticaldimensionin decipoints,yousendthis command:
<ESC>
*C n V
inwhichnisthe numberofdecipointsintherule’sthicknessorthepattcm’s verticallength.
Choosing and printing a rule or pattern
Youneedbothofthenexttwocommandstochooseandprinttheparticular patternyouwanttofillyourdefinedarea.Thesecommandsworktogether.
WiththePrintPatterncommand(whichactuallycomessecond)youspecify whetheryouwanttofillyourrectangularareawithasolidblackrule,afinely dotted gray-scalepattern, or a predefine linear pattern.And with the SpecifyPattcmcommandyoucanindicatewhichparticulardottedorlinear patternyouwant.YoualwayssendtheSpecifyPatterncommandbeforethe PrintPauem command,evenif youwanta solidblackrule.
To indicatetheparticularpatternyouwant,sendthe followingcommand. The generalmeaningof the n value you enter actuallydependson the commandyouput afterthis:
<ESC>
If youwanta solidblackruleitdocsn’tmatterwhatyouputinfor n, asthe printerignoresit.
Ifyouwanta1-scaledottedpattern,fern youcnterhercapercentagenumber from1to 100indicatingthedensitywithwhichyouwanttheboxfilled,from lightto solid.Yourn percentagewillcomcspondto oneof theeightgray­scalcdensitiesin thechartbelow.
*C n G
1- 20/0
E ‘D
92
3-10 %0
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