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

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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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
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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 ).
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