Star Micronics 8 Series, LaserPrinter 8 Series Applications Manual

L 8

Series

A M

8

Series

Applications Manual

Trademark Acknowledgements

LaserPrinter 8: StarMicronicsCo., Ltd.
PageMaker: Aldus CqSOraticsr
Apple II +, Applesoft: Apple ComputerInc.
BitStream,~apf Humanist: BitstreamInc.
Canon: CanonInc.
Centronics: CentronicsData Computer Corporation
HP, LaserJet Series H: Hewlett-PackardCompany
LaserControl: InsightDevelopmentfrrc.
IBM PC, IBM Proprinter: InternationalBusinessMachinesCorp.
Optim~ Century Schoolbook: LinotypeCorporation
Lotus 1-2-3: Lotus Development Corporation
MS-DOS, Microsoft BASIC, Windows, Word, Microsoft BASIC: Microsoft Corporation
MultiMate: Muhrrratefntemational
TRS-80: RadioShack, a division of TandyCorporation

Epson, EX-800: Seiko EpsursCorporation

WordPerfect: WordPerfect Corporation
Ventura Publisher, Hyplot, Diablo 630: XeroxCorporatimr

NOTICE

. Alf rights reserwed.Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form whatsoever without

STAR’s express permission is forbidden.
. The contents of this manual are subject to change without notice.
. AUeffons have been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this manual at the time of

press. However, sbould any errors be detected, STAR woufd greatly appreciate being informed

of them.
. The above rrotwithstarrding,STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors in this manual.

@Copyright 1989Star Micrcstics Co., Ltd.

PREFACE

About this manual

ThisSrar LuserPrinter8ApplicationsManual givesyouthe information

youneed toprogramtheStarMicronicsLaserPrinter8.

Whywouldyoureadthisbook? Mostpeopleusingalaserprinterjust run

softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything

theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus-small businesspeople

and home computerusers, not to mentionthe wizardswho write those

softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesofferedbyour

printers.

Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharactersandimagesyoupnnt? Do

youwantto makeyourStarLaserPrinter8 worklikesomeearlierkindof

printer? Thismanual providesthesoftwarehelpyouneedto getthemost

fromyourLaserPrinter8.

ThoughthisApplicationsManual is really intendedfor intermediateto

advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo.

The informationis organizedso youcan walkthroughthegeneraltheory
underlyingprinterprogrammingbeforedancinginto specificdetails. It
makessense,therefore,to readthefirstthreechaptetxbeforejumpinginto
themiddle.

There’sagood reasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstarttoo.Peoplelearning
howtouseanewprinteroftenfindtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof
buryingwhatmaybencwjargonin aGlossaryattheback,we defineeach
newtermthefirsttimeitappears.Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexample,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof
thesamesizeandstyle).

What’s in this manual?

.

.

.

.

In “Gettingto KnowYourStarLaserPrinter8“we provide a list of the
featuresthat make this a splendidprinter,to help you choosewhich
featuresyou wantto exploit. There’sa bit onhowlaserprinterswork,
insideandout. Thechapterthenexplainssoftwareingeneralterms,in­cluding how to write control and Escape commandsto make those
featureswork.

“ControllingYour Printer” examines the parameters and “superset”

commandsyougivetheStarLaserPrinter8to direct preciselyhowyou
wantittobehave.Theselet youcontrolthe printer,managepageformats,
andspecifywhatyouwantprinted.

Formostofus, the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful: howtousethefonts
built i_ntothe LaserPrinter8, plus those that come on cartridgesor
computerdisks.

Youmay neverlookat more thanoneor two of chapters 4 through7,
which cover Star LaserPrinter8 commands. Your LaserPrinter8
emulatesotherprintem:itimitatesotherpnntembyacceptingthesame
commandstheydo. JustthinkofyourStarLaserPrinter8 asfourprinters
hidinginsideoneunit.

Ifyou wanttowriteormodifyaprogramthatusesoneoftheseprinters—
theHewlett-PackardLaserJetseriesII,EpsonEX-800,IBM Proprinteror

XeroxDiablo630- chapters4 through7 showhow yourStarLaser­Printer8 canemulateto accordingly.Thechaptersfirstdescribehowto
controltheprinter andto formatpages, thenhowto move theprintposi­tion,and finallyhowto usefontsandgraphics.

ThechapterontheLaserJetseries11islongerandmoredetailedthanthe
others.That’s becauseyouaremorelikelytouselaserprintercommands
than commandsfor dot matrix or daisywheelprinters. (If you have
softwaredesignedonly fordotmatrixor daisywheelprinters,youmay
have manualsfor those printers anyway.) We recommendyou use
LaserJetseriesII emulationwheneverpossible,withEX-800emulation
as yourbackupmode.

● Thefinal“TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-

ter referencetableswillprobablygetthumbedthemost.

Conventions

Incidentally,oneofthoseTechnicalSupplementtablessuggestsacoupleof
typographicconventionswe’lluse.Baseten(decimal)numberswillgener­allybe usedhere;if wehaveto use basesixteennumbers (hexadecimal)
we’llexpresslysayso.

Andsecond,thelowercaseLispracticallyidenticaltothenumberone(1vcr­sus 1). BecauselowercaseL isusedinmanycommanddescriptions,we’ll
usethecharactert’toavoidconfusion.

The Star LaserPrinter 8 Operations Manual

Thismanualis thecompaniontotheStarLaserPrinter8OperationsManual
thatcamewithyour printer. Alaserprinterisa fairlycomplextoolthatre­quirescareanddelicatehandling. SotousethisApplicationsManual best,
makesureyouunderstandthatOperationsManual first.

Your OperationsManual holds essentialinformationaboutthe Lascr-

Pnnter,8,suchashowto:

● unpackandsetup yourlaserprinter,

● connecttheStarLaserPrinter8 toyourcomputer’sserialorparallelport,

● iinktheLaserPrinter8intoa networkof severalcomputers,

● configuretheLaserPrinter8to yourneeds (wilhvanablcssuchaspaper

sizeand speedofdatatransfer),

● loadpaperandthetonercartridge,

● operate the panelswitchesanddisplay,

● runthe LaserPrinter8 self-test,

● lookafteryourprintertokeepit in peakcondition.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 GETTING TO KNOW YOUR STAR

LASERPRINTER 8

1

Star

LaserPrinter8Hardware..... ............................................................1

StarLaserPrinter8Software..... .............................................................5

CHAPTER 2 CONTROLLING YOUR PRINTER

13

PrinterParameters...... ................................. .........................................13

Controllingthe Printer..........................................................................16

ControllingthePage........ .....................................................................21

Controllingthe Printing........................................................................28

TheStarLaserPrinter8 Superset.........................................................29

CHAPTER 3 FONTS

35

FontTerminology..... ......................................... ...................................35

HowtheStarLaserPrinter8 StoresFonts..... .......................................38

SymbolSets..........................................................................................41

ManagingFonts.......... ..........................................................................44

CHAPTER4 HPLASERJETII COMMANDS

51

HPLaserJetIICommands........ ............................................................51

ControllingthePrinter............ ..............................................................53

PageOrientation..... ..............................................................................56

MovingthePrintPosition..... ........................................................,.......61

ControllingFonts..... .............................................................................70

UsingYourOwnFonts...........:......,...... ................................................85

Graphics....................................... .........................................................89

Macros..................................................................................................94

CHAPTER 5 EPSON EX-800 COMMANDS

99

EX-800Commands...... ........................................................................99

Controllingthe Printer......................... ...............................................101

FormattingPages........ ........................................................................102

MovingthePrintPosition............. ........... ..........................................105

ControllingFonts.......... ......................................................................110

Graphics.............................................................................................119

CHAPTER 6 IBM PROPRINTER COMMANDS

125

ProprinterCommands..... ....................................................................125

ControllingthePrinter... .....................................................................126

FormattingPages........ ........................................................................127

MovingthePrintPosition...... .............................................................127

ControllingFonts................................................................................13(J

Graphics..............................................................................................133

CHAPTER 7 XEROX DIABLO630COMMANDS

135

DiabloCommands..............................................................................135

ControllingthePrinter... .....................................................................136

FormattingPages..................................... ...........................................137

MovingthePrintPosition..... ..............................................................140

ControllingFonts................................................................................145

Graphics

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

l~g

CHAPTER 8 TECHNICAL SUPPLEMENT

153

Commandsummary...........................................................................154

Symbolsets

.................................... ....................................................162

INDEX

213

ThischapterintroducesboththehardwareandsoftwareaspectsoftheStar
LaserPrinter8’s personality,from fonts and print engineto ASCII and
Escapesequences.

STAR LASERPRINTER 8 HARDWARE

Versatility

YourStarMicronicsStarLaserPrinter8workswithpracticallyallcommcr­cialsoftwareprogramsandcomputers.WithfeaturesthatgobeyondStar’s
easy,affordable9-pinandfast,quality-printing24-pindotmatrixprinters,
the Star Laser Printer is the logicalnext step in the series of fine Star
Micronicsprinters.

Your Star LaserPrinter 8 produces pages that look close to typeset quality,
with up to 90,000 dots per square inch— no more NLQ (near letter quality)
compromises.

The Star LaserPrinter8 produceseight of those pages a
minute,These numberstranslateto aboutfivetimesmore resolutionand
speedthantheaveragedot-matrixprinter.

Star’snewprinterisremarkablyversatile.Youcanprintcomplicatedforms
(widthwiseif you want)... detailedgraphs... yourown customizedtype­styles... digitizedphotographs... other languages(includingArabicand
Japanese).

Youcan evenprintyourletterheadandlogo as you printyourletter,and
reprintthem directlyonto a businessenvelope.You don’t even need to
removethepapertraytoprinttheenvelope:justslideitintothemanualfeed
slot.

1

TheStarLaserPrinter8isidealfordesktoppublishing.The pagesitproduces
makeperfectphotocopyorinstant-printmasters.Andallthemaindesktop
publishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMakerandXerox
VenturaPubisher,worksplendidlywiththeStarLaserPrinter8.With’’page
makeup”programslikethese youwillbeable—maybeforthefirsttime—
to deliver communicationswiththe impact of top-notchgraphics.

Font options

Youcan print withanamazinglywidevarietyoftypefontsandsizes.The
StarLaserPrinter8comeswithfourbuilt-infonts,whichcanbeprintedfrom

8.5pointsto 12pointsin size(apointis about1/72of an inch).
Thesefontsarc:

Courier

Prestige Elite

Tms Romn

Lino Pr i ntar

Besidesfiese, youmaybe abletouseoptionalcartridgesanddiskstogive
yourStarL&serPnnter8 a varietyof extrafonts,suchasthese:

Helvet

linedrawing
LetterGothic presentationfonts
Bar codes opticalcharacterreaderfontsuniversalproductcode

You can load your Star LaserPrinter8’smemory with fonts stored on
computerdisks. Literallyhundredsof fonts are marketedby font-supply
companies.Some fontsare evenobtainablefromcomputer“usergroups”or
“electronicbulletinboards”.Fontsyougetthiswayareinthepublicdomain,
whichmeansyoudon’t needto pay alicencefeetousethem.

Ask your Star LaserPrinter8 dealer aboutresourceslike these. Desktop
publishingwith laser printers is fast-changingterritory,and some Star
Micronicsstaffpeoplehavefoundelectronicbulletinboardsandcomputer
usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeepingupwiththechangingpace.Ifyouinvest
a littletimethiswayit mayrepayyou’well.

2

How your Iaserprinter communicates

YourcomputercommunicateswiththeStarLaserPrinter8througheithera

parallelcableor oneof twokindsof serialcable.Theprinter’sinterj2ace,

the link or boundaryit shares with your computer,defineswhetherthe

printerwillacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyte

or onebitat a time.
Abitisthesmallestunitofcomputerorprintermemory.Ithaseitheralow

orhighelectriccharge,whichwerepresentwiththedigitsOand1.Usually
eight adjacentbits are groupedto form a byte. Since a byte normally
representsonecharacter,thisstringofbits- O1OOOOO—mightrepresent
theletter A.

The serialinterfaceacceptsjust onebit at a time fromyourcomputer.A
parallelinterfacecanhandleawholebyteatonce,bymovingdatabitsside­by-sidealongseparatewires.Youchoosewhichinterfacemethodyou want
to use by selectingit on the operatorpanel, as explainedin your Star

LaserPrinter8 OperationsManual.

The Star LaserPrinter 8 is a computer

TheStarLaserPrinter8firstmapsthecharactersto beprintedintoitsown
randomaccessmemory(RAM).Thatis,theprinterbuildsa“picture”inits

memorycorrespondingtothepageyouwanttoprint.Whenthat’sdonethe
pnntercanreproducethe pageontopaperonits own,lettingyourcomputer
geton’withotherwork.

YourStar LaserPrinter8comeswithonemegabyteofRAM—theequiva-
lentof aboutonemillioncharacters.AStarLaserPrinter8 optionletsyou
addasecondmegabyteofRAMif,say,youneedtomapfull-pagegraphics
orstoremorefonts. AccompanyingallthatRAMisanother512kilobytes
ofreadonlymemory(ROM),containingalibraryofinternalfontsandthe
programsthatlettheStarLaserPrinter8 emulateotherprinters.

AMotorola68000computerchipcontrolsboththe memoryandthe printing
mechanismintheprinter,calledtheprintengine. Theprintcrstoresawhole
pagein RAM beforeprintingit. (If a page is so densethat 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 surface of a positively-chargedrotatingdrum.

r“’””’

Lens
Laser beam

Scanning mirror

uctor laser diode

Photosensitive drum

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

Asthedrumrotatesfurtheritmeetsthepaper.The paperitselfisnegatively
chargedbypassing by afine coronawire.Sinceoppositechargesattract,the
negativepaperclings to thepositivedrum. Then heatandpressurefroma
rollermeltorjkre thedotsoftonerontothepaper,preciselyreproducingthe
image.

Finallythepaperslidesintotheoutputbin.Thepaperusuallycomesoutface
downso it stacksin the correct sequence.

4

STAR LASERPRINTER 8 SOFTWARE

Binary and hexadecimal arithmetic

If you alreadyknow what hexadecimalnumbersare, you can skip this
sectionandgoaheadto readaboutASCII.

The decimalnumbersystemwith whichwe’reall familiaris a positional
counting system. There’s the

“ones” position,the “tens” position,the

“hundreds”positionandsoon.Eachhigherpositionis worthtcntimesmore

thanthepositiontotherightofit,sincethedecimalsystemusesthebaseof
ten.Moreover,weneedtensymbolsto showtheactualvaluesthatmaybe
in eachposition.

Thebinary systemispositionaltoo.There’sthe“ones”position,the“twos”
position,the“fours”position,the “eights”positionandsoon.Inbinaryeach
positionisworthonlytwicethatofthepositiontoitsright.Andweonlyneed
twosymbols-O (zero)and1(one)-to showthevaluesthatmaybeinany
position.So inbinarywe getnumbersthatlooklike 1010or 10001100.

Thehexadecimalsystemismadeofbase-sixteennumbers.Hexadecimalis
positionalliketheothercountingsystems.Andeachhigherpositionisworth
sixteentimesasmuchasthepositionto itsright.

We need sixteendifferentsymbolsto show all the possiblevaluesone
hexadecimaldigit could have. We can use our decimal system’s ten

symbols,butwe’vehadtoborrowa fewmorefromouralphabettoget all
thesymbolsweneed.Inhexadecimal,therefore,you canhaveanumberthat
lookslike2C7C, or evenFACE.

Here’showthe decimal,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’smorethanonewaytoshowthe
samenumericvalue.Computerprogrammers,forexample,occasionallyuse
thehexadecimalsystembecauseit’sso compact.(Programmersoftenjust
say“hex”.)Thisbinarynumber:

101001011111110100110111111011010010110100001001

looksquiteabit tidierwhenitiswrittenasA5FD37ED2D09,whichmeans
thesamething.

TheASCII table

Wheredoes the Star LaserPrinter8 get the charactersand instructionsit
needsto printin the firstplace?It gets themfromyourcomputer,which
sendsa streamof textandcommandsto yourprinter.

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.Nearlyallofthosemachinesusethesameschemeto code
thosesymbols,theAmericanStandardsCodefor InformationInterchange
(ASCII). ‘

Anexample:inourfamiliardecimalsystem,binary01001010addsuptothe
number 74. Dependingon which program your printer is using, it can
interpretthatbinarystring01001010aseitherthenumber74orthesymbol
J. The printerstoresthesymbolJ at position74in a tablein its memory.

Thateight-bitbinarystring,orbyte,canbebrokenintotwohalves.Theleft
orhigh-orderpartcontaining0100iscalledthezoneportion;therightpart
holdingthe1010iscalledthedigitspdion. Andinthehexadecimalnumber
system,the zoneand digitparts of that byte are representedas 4 and A
respectively(lookthemup in thelistabove).

SothelaserprinterunderstandsthesymbolJ as 01001010,whichwecan
alsorepresentas the decimalnumber74 or the hexadecimalnumber4A.
We’veprintedthisbyteverticallyandhorizontallybelow,showinghowit
addsup todecimal74 andhex4A.

6

o x 27

1x 26

0x25
0x 24

1x

23

0

x 22

1x 2’

ox 2°

zone

0100

4

=

o

= 64
=

o

n

o

=

8

=0
=

2

=

Q

74 Decimal

digits

1010 Binary

A

Hexadecimal

The ASCIItablein theTechnicalSupplementshows all theseequivalent

representationsfor the symbolsyourlaser printerunderstands.The table
organizesthem in ascendingorder.Infact,ASCIIisorganizedinawaythat
ac@allymakessense.

Flipbacktherefor aquicklookrightnow.Seehowyoucan slicethetable
into clumpsof 16 or 32, basedon what’s in the zone portionunderthe
hexadecimalcolumn?Theseclumpsmakesubgroupsof similarsymbols:

● hex00 to IF arethecommandsymbolscalledcontrolcodes,

● hex 20to 40 arcthecommonkeyboardsymbolsandnumerals,

● hex41 to 60 arecapitallettersandthelesscommonkeyboardsymbols,

● hex’61to 7F arelowercaselettersanda fewfinalsymbols.

That takes care of the first 128ASCII 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 charactersor IBM
charactergraphics.

Control codes

TheASCIItableshowssymbolslikeJor2 thewaytheyactuallyprintonthe
laserprinter.ButASCIIincludesmorethanjust printablecharacters:none
of thecontrolcodecommandsatthebeginningof thetableactuallyprint.
Instead,when your computersendsa controlcode to the laser printer it
makesyourprinterdootherthings,suchas sounditsbccpcr.

7

I

Controlcodesmostlyhandlecommunicationsbetweenyourcomputerand
thepnnter.atthelowestlevel,atcablelevel.Forexample,acoupleofcontrol
codesmakesuretheprinterbufler(yourprinter’sstoragememory)doesn’t
overflow. In this book we’ll indicatecontrol codes enclosed by angle
bracketsto their abbreviationsin the table:<FF> means the Form Feed
controlcode,whichadvancesthe printerto thenextpagejustasthePRINT
buttondoes.

Escape sequences

Controlcode 27, <ESC>or Escape, is a particularlyimportantone for

printers.Totellyourprinter allthe thingsyou might need— setting margins,
saying where to print, choosing a particular font, starting graphics and so
on— requires many more thanjust two or three dozen control codes. So the

<ESC> control code has a special meaning: <ESC> means “the next
character specifies a command, not something to be printed”.

Thereforeif yousendjust thecharacter4 totheprinterit willprinta4 and
that’sall. 13utifyousendthe<ESC>codejustbeforethe4 thentheprinter

(in EX-800

mode) will switch over to italics text. Extending the control

codes this way gives you many more commands to control

yourprinter.in
fact,these“Escapesequences”makeupmostoftheStarLaserPnntcr’slan­guage.

In this book we’llleavespaces betweencharacterswhenwe showescape
sequences.You’llfind

<ESC>

(SopIOh12vos3T

a bitmorereadablethan

<ESC>(sOp10h12vOs3T

Butrememberthatyouarenotto sendthose spacesifyousendcommands

to theprinter.
To sumup, printer commandsareoftwotypes.A controlcodeis asingle-

charactercommandthattellsyourprintertodosomething,likemovedown
oneline.AnEscape sequencecontrolsa printeroperationtoo,butis more
thanonecharacterlong.Sincetheyarecommands,neithercontrolcodesnor
escapesequencesamusuallyprintablecharacters.

8

Printer drivers

Mostsoftwarepackagesalreadyincludetheprintercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprintersoyoudon’thavetoenter
themyourself are calledprinterdrivers.

Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter8.Youentersuchthingsas howyouwant to underline,
alterlinespacing,ormoveto a newprintposition.

Someprograms,suchas WordPetiect andthesystemsfromLotusDevel­opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexarnple,you
mighthold downspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL
orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.OryoumightuseaspecialFunctionkey,

suchas F6.
Infact,totakerealadvantageofyourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities,

youmightoptforawordprocessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord arestrongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulators.

If youhavetroubleusingaparticularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter
8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.

Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendorsesthemin anyway.

Sending your own printer commands

Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASICorPascal,orat leastofhowtoput suchcodesintoa program.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youput intoa programuntilyoutellit to runthatprogram.

Whenyougivea commandto theprinterfroma computerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartofthecommandasaseparatecharacter.Thisway
youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeor characterinthecommandbygivingitspositionin theASCII
table,as a decimalor hexnumber.

9

A BASIC example

Here’s an example you can typoin right now, to clarify what we’re saying.
It’s

writtenin MicrosoflBASICfor a computerthat uses the MS-DOS
operatingsystem,soif youhavea differentcomputeror BASICyoumay
haveto translateabit.We’11showcommandsthewaythey’rewrittenforan
Epsondot-matrixprinterbecauseyourStarLaserPrinter8understandsthose
commands.

TheLPRINTcommandsall senddatatotheprinter.Ifthedataissomething
youwantprintedyoujust putit inquotationmarks.If thedatais acontrol
codeyoujustsaywhereitisintheASCIItable,givingitspositionasaregular
decimalnumber.

BASICusuallysendsacarnagereturnafterevery80characters,tokeepthe
print positionmovingwhenit hitsthe endof aline.Unasked-forcarriage
returnscanmessupyourprinting,however,so ii’sagoodhabitto putina
WIDTHstatementas shown.Thatletsus printoverthe wholepagearea.

The<BEL>controlcode—ASCIIcode7— issentinBASICasCHR$(7).
The<ESC>codeitselfisCHR$(27).Andbecausewe’reusingthecharacter
4 as

part of an <ESC>command,wetypeCHR$(52)insteadof“4”.

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

youmaketheprinter(inEX-800mode)firstsoundits bell—mostpeople
callit abeeper—andthenprinttheline:

ITALICS!

Generally,whenyousendacontrolorEscapecodeitstaysactiveuntilyou
deactivateit. That’swhathappensin line 40 of our programabove.All
subsequenttextwillbeitalicizeduntilyouchangeitbacktouprightagain.

10

Mostprogramminglanguages,andsomeversionsof BASIC,letyoutreat
theprinterasa fileto whichyoucansenddata.Whenyouwritea program
withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”the printerfile, printintoit,andthen
“close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny
if you‘renotusedto it—butit works.

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

Printer emulations

You noticedthat we said “in EX-800mode”up there?YourStar Laser­Printer8respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveralother
printersuse.BeingabletoemulateprintersliketheDiabloorEpsonEX-800
letsyouuseyourStarLaserPrinter8 witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeen
updatedtotakeadvantageoflaserprinters.Infact,becauseitemulatesfour
of themostpopularprinters,youcanusethe StarLaserPrinter8withjust
aboutanymicrocomputerprogramaround.

Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequencesfor
exactlythe same function.Thoseprinters,moreover,provideescape se­quencesfor functionsthe Star LaserPrinter8 doesn’tneed, such as the
Diablo’sChangePrintwheelcommand.(Printwheels— sometimescalled
“daisywheels”- areflatmetalorplasticprintelementsthatholdcharacters
outfromahubon “petals”.)Whenyourprintergetsa commanditdoesn’t
support,itjust ignoresthecommand.

Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothework

ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyouareaprogrammeryouwill
behappyto heartheStarLaserPrinter8 supportsupto 99 macrosatonce.

11

12

:-m

-

,’ ,. .; . ; ,. ,: ,, .:.. ,. ,’ , ,’.: ~:,, ,. .., ,,.,,. \ ;,, $.

‘ ~~•‘eotitroiling’r’ ‘● -

-,,vd&fipfi3$6+;;:,i;
,.

Youcancontrolyour StarLaserPrinter8 intwoways,eitherthroughfront

panelparameters or through softwarecommands. In thischapterwewill

considerprinter controls mostly from the perspectiveof the frontpanel.
However,we’llalsomeetfourspecialcommands,the Star LaserPrinter8

superset.

Throughout this manual we approach parameters and commands the same

way:overall pnnter-level controlsfirst,then page-level controls (layoutand

print position movements), and finally character-level controls

(fontsand

graphics).We’lldiscussthesein generaltermsin thischapter.
Thespecificcommandsyoucansendtoyourprintertomakeit emulare,or

worklike,otherprintersare describedin chapters4 through7. The most
importantfactaboutprinter commands,though, is thatyou maynot even
needto knowhowtousethem.Ifyoursoftwaresystemsincludetheirown
printer drivers, you may want to read only this chapter and skip all of
chaptem4 through7.

PRINTER PARAMETERS

The front panel

TheeasiestwaytocontrolyourStarLaserPrinter8isthroughitsfrontpanel,
asexplainedinmoredetailinyourStarLaserPrinter8OperationsManuai.

Whenyourprinteris online(connectedto and underthe controlof your
computer),its front panel display shows you the printer’s status. For
example,the READYlight blinkswhen the printeris warmingup. The
DATAlight comesonwhenevertheprinterisholdingdataithasn’tprinted
yet.

Whenyoupressthe ON

LINE button,theprinterchangesfromnormalto

ofline modeandcannotacceptdatafromyourcomputer.Whentheprinter
isofflineyoucanusetheotherpanel buttons.Forinstance,ifyoupressthe

TEST/PREVIOUS button when the laser printer is offline,it finishes

13

I

printingthecurrentpageandthenfeedsin andprintsa statussheet.
Somebuttons on thepanellet youperformtwo functions.Holdingoneof

those buttonsdown, rather than quickly pressing it, selects a different
operation.Forexample,holding down the TEST/PREVIOUS buttonfor
overfivesecondsmakestheStarLaserPrinter8printitstestpattern.

Parameter settings

Fromthe panelyoucan alsochangethe parametersthatdefinehow your
printerworks.Parameter

just means “variable”. If you’refamiliarwith

earlierkinds of printers, you’llunderstandthat laser printerparameters
controlprettymuchthe samethingsDIPswi~chesdo.(ADIPswitchor’’dual
in-linepackageswitch”isasetofsmallswitchesthatcontrolvariousprinter
functions.)

character (whatcharacterfontto print)
layout (howpageswillbeformatted)
paper feed(whatpapertheprinterwilluse)
command (whichcommandstheprinterwillaccept)
interface (howtheprintercommunicateswithyourcomputer)

Theprinterstorestheseparametersaseasy-to-useprogrammenuitemsthat

youcan selectfromthe controlpanel.Theseparametersspecify:

.

.
.
.

●

Adefaultisthe settingtheStarLaserPrinter8willuseifnone isspecifically
selectedbyqprogram.Whenyoufirstturnonorlatcrresetyourprinterthese
defaultsettingswilltakeeffect.

Yourmainuseforthe frontpanelwilllikelybe tosetthedefaultsettingsyou
want for these parameters.However,you will probably find the panel

convenienttoo when you wantto switchbetweenmanualand automatic

paperfeed.

Four versions of parameters

TheStarLaserPrinter8actuallystoresfourversionsoftheseparameters:

● its “ultimatedefault”factorysettings,

● thepower-onsettingsin effectwhenyoufirstturnontheprinter,

● yourinitialsettingsfor oneparticularsession,

● andthe currentsettingsthattheprinterisusingnow.

These

are in priorityorder,Thecurrentsettingsalwaysoverridetheinitial

sessionsettings,whichinturnoverridethepower-onsettings,whichinturn
overridethefactorysettings.

14

FactorysettingsarcprogrammedintotheStarLascrPnntcr8whenitisbuilt

at the factory.Yourprinterkeepsthe factorysettingsforiLsparametersin

ROM;theyncvcrchangc.Youcancopythcmiruothecurrentsettingsorany

other settings as needed.Butthe only way you can returnto the factory

dcfaulLsis fromthe frontpanel;nocommandsdothis.

A few

factory default settings arc as follows:

Itcm

Factory default setting

Emulation

HP LaserJet series II

Fccdcr

Paper cassctle
Number of’Copies 1
Oricntatim

Portrait
Font 1(1-pitch12-point

Councr(intcmal)

Lines/inch 6 linesper inch

The power-onsettingsarc the normaldefaultsettings.The printer keeps

thcmevenwhenyouturnoffthe power.Whenyou turnonthepnntcr,these
power-onsettingsgetcopiedintotheinitialandcurrentpararnctcrsctlings.

Youprobablywillnotof’tcnchangetheStarLaserPrinter8‘sinitialsettings
(sometimescalled“sessionsettings”).You’lllikelyonlychangethcmwhen
you want to use a differentpnntcr cmulation than normal.These initial
settingsstaythesameasthepower-onsettingsuntilyouchangethcm.

Ontheotherhand,your software willprobablychangethecurrentsettings

manyJimcs withinthe samedocument,witheverychangeof fontor print

style.

How to change parameters

Withthepnntcroffline,ifyoupressthe PROGRAMbuttonthe printergoes

into“program”mode.Youcan then step throughthe laser printer’sfour
ICVCISof programmenuto configureyourprinlcr.That’sthe processof
changingcertainprintersettingssoyourcomputerandprintercancommu­nicateproperly.

It’sactuallyprettyeasy.Flippingthroughand settingparametersfromthe
panelisdcscnbcdin detailintheStarLuserPrintcr8 OperationsManual.

Basically,allyoudo is pressthe

NEXT or PREV1OUS buttonsto scroll

throughthescqucnccof possibleparametersandvalues,which is clearly

shownonthepaneldisplay.Youpress

ENTER whenyouwanttogodown

15

andscrollthrough a lowermenulevel.AndyoualsopressENTER when
youwanttosaveaparticularmenuitcmasthevalueforacurrentparameter
setting.

Thethreelastmenuheadingsletyouloadone versionoftheparametersinto
anotherversion.Two movethe currentparametervalues into either the
initialor power-upparameters.Thefinalmenuoptiongoestheotherway,
lettingyouloadthefactoryparametersettingsasyourcurrentsettings.

CONTROLLING THE PRINTER

In thissectionyou’ll meettwo separatecontrolsoverhowthe StarLaser­Printer8 itselfworks.The INTERFACEparametercontrolscommunica­tionsbetweentheprinterandyourcomputer.AndtheCOMMANDparame­terdetermines,amongotherthings,whichsetofcommandstheprinterwill
use. You can settheseINTERFACEand COMMANDparametersonthe
frontpanel.

The INTERFACEparameter

The INTERFACEparameter,the mostbasicof the Star LaserPrinter 8’s

configurationsettings,defineshowyourcomputerconnectsto theprinter.
You can set the INTERFACEto either Serial or Parallel (in IBM or
Ccntronicsmode).Inmost single-computerenvironmentsyou’lloptforthe
fasterParallelinterface;inamulti-usernetworkyoumaybe betteroff with
Serial. ~

The particularprinter interface settingsdon’tmatter asmuch asmaking sure

theymatchthoseon your computer.If youuseanMS-DOScomputer,you
can set yourcomputer’sparameterswiththe MODEcommand.See your
MS-DOSmanual.

MostMS-DOSandAT-compatiblecomputerssupportupto threeparallel

andtwo serialports,whichcomeon expansionboardsyoupluginto your

computer.Whenyouinstallsuchboards youmustsetswitchesto indicate

thenumberandaddressesoftheseports.Ifyouspecifythewrongaddresses,
youwon’tbe ableto print.

Serial interface: rate
IfyouaskfortheSerialinterfaceyou’llhavetotellyourprintermoreabout
howthedatawillbecomingin—inparticularitsrateandunitsizeandthe
meaningsof anyspecialbits.

16

The Rateparameterspecifieshowfastdata willbe arriving,measuredin
baud(namedaftertheFrenchcommunicationsengineerJeanBaudot).pick
anyof thefollowingdatatransferrates:

300baud
600baud

1200baud
2400baud
4800baud
9600baud(thedefault)

19200baud.

Roughly,one character asecondworksoutto 11baud.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: specialbits

In-Serialmodeyou’llalsohavetospecifyifyourcomputersendsdatabits
in groupsof seven(mostcomputerssendeight,thedefaultfor a byte).

Somelimesanextrabitgets appendedto makethe sumof all bitsin each
characteralwaysodd oreven;that’scalledparity. Aparitybitcanhelpspot
transmissionerrors.Ifyourcomputersendsthatextraparitybit,you’llhave
to say whetherit producesan even or odd number of “on” bits in the
character.

You’llalsohave toindicateifyourcomputersendstwostopbitstoindicate
thecndof abyte,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’reatthe frontof theASCIItable).

SomeprogrammerscalltheXONandXOFFcontrolcodes“kissonandkiss
off’;otherscall thesameprotocolDC1andDC3(fordevicecontrol).Either
way,thesecodesletyourprinterruntheshow,tellingthecomputerwhento
startandstopsendingdata.Yourprinteraskstohavedataheldbackwhen
itsmcmoryis nearlyfullor whenitsensesan 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’sthe computerthatholdsthereinswiththe ETX/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 your computer’soperationsmanual,in the sectiondealingwith

communicationsprotocols,to sce whichis bestfor yoursystem.Youcan

sticktotheprinter’sdefaultsifyourcomputerusesneithertheDTRnorthe

ETX/ACKprotocol,butdoesuseXON/XOFF.

If you wantto enableDTRor ETX/ACK,or disableXON/XOFF,you’ll

have to set thoseparametervaluesaccordingly.Turningon onc of these
protocolsautomaticallyflipsoff theothers.

Checking your connections

Yourcomputerandprintermayhavetroublecommunicatingwhenyoufirst
introducethcmtoeachother.Thequickwaytofindoutif yoursettingsand

printercableareworkingistosendyourprinteraprintoutfromyourscreen

(CHW-P withMS-DOS).

Whenthat’s doneyouwillalsohavetopresstheprintbuttonontheprinter,
whichm’akestheprinteradvancetoanewsheet.Nolaserprinterprintsand
ejectsapage untilit’stoldtofeedaform,oruntilithasreceivedallthelines
thepagecanhold.

If yourStar LaserPrinter8 doesn’tprintwhat’son thecomputerscreen,
recheck your connectionsand interface settings. With an applications

programlikeLotus1–2–3orMicrosoftWord,youuscapnntersctup routine
to match yourcomputerwithyourprinter’soperatingcharactcnstics.So
double-checkyoursoftwaresettings;your computer’soutput,forcxarnple,
mightnotbegoingto theproperport.

18

Printer emulations

OK, you’ve gotyourpnntcr andcomputerconncctcdproperly.NowIct’s
focuson howyourpnntcrworks.

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

● Xerox Diablo 630

● Epson EX-800

cIBM Propnntcr

Otherlaserprintersmayoffersuchemulationstoo,butoftenrequireinstal­lationof a ncw circuitboardfor eachemulation.StarMicronicshas built
thesefouremulationsintotheStarLaserPnntcr8.

You

select which emulation you want either by sclccling it from the print
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?

MostofthetimeyouwillprobablychooseHPLaserJetseries11emulation,
whichisthe defaultwhenyouturnontheStarLaserPrintcr8.That’sbecause
the LaserJetseriesH, like theStar LaserPrinter8, is a laser printer.This
cmulationmode givesyouthebestcontroloveryourpnntcr’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 spccilicallydesigned for the Propnntcr and IBM
computerenvironment.

WhenyouwanttoemulateadaisywheelpnntcryouwillprefertheDiablo
emulation.You may alsochoosethisif you use an older textprocessing
programthat can’tccntcrorjustifyits printing;Diabloprintercommands
can lookafterthosethingsfor you.

19

I

The Command parameter

The Star LaserPrinter8’s Emulationsetting defines which printer it is

imitating: Hewlett-PackardLaserJetseries II, Xerox Diablo 630, Epson
EX–800or IBMPropnnter.

Mostof theotherCOMMANDvaluesbelowcanbe changedwithEscape
codesaswellas fromthepanel.

Asthe

Number of Copies setting suggests, the Star LaserPrinter 8can print

citherjust one copy of each page sentto it,or multiple copies up to 99. Most

wordprocessingandotherpackages,however,let youlookaftermultiple
copiesof adocumentwithoutusingthiscommand.Youmayconsequently
preferto leavethisatthedefault(onecopy),changingit onlyasnecessary
throughsoftwarecommands.

Twosettingsarconly meaningfulwhenyouareusingHPLaserJetseries11
commands.First,ifyouenableMacroOverlay,fromzeroto99 macroscan
be active.

Second,mostof thetimeyou’llwantto printacrossthewidthof thepage,
butoccasionallyyoumaywanttoprintupthelengthofthe page.Unlikemost
otherlaserpnntem,yourStarLaserPrinter8 lets yourotatefontsto print
eitherway—youdon’t haveto buyseparatefontsto printsidewaysonthe

page.

Yourprinternormallyfeedsa new formwhenyou rotatea font,to avoid
accidentallyprintingbothorientationsonthesamepage.Butifyouwantto

intermixorientations,just change the valueof FF on Rotateto NO. (Font
orientationisexplainedinmoredetailbelowwiththeLAYOUTparameter.)

AfewcomputerschangecertaincontrolorEscapecodeswhensendingthem
totheprinter,whichnaturallycausesconfusion.Moreover,manyprogram­mersprefertoscchexadecimalprintoutwhentheyare debuggingprograms.
To helpwiththesesituations,youcanmakeyourStarLaserPnntcr8print
inhexadecimalratherthanthe usualASCIImodebyswitchingONtheHEX
DUMPparametersetting(seethesidebarbelow).

ThelastthreeCOMMANDvaluesconcernthephysicalmachine.Youcan
settheintensityoftheprinter’sLCDdisplayfrom1(faint)to7 (bright);its
defaultsettingis 4. You can enable or disableboth the beeper and the
WarningAlarm(whichsoundscontinuously).

20

I

Hints: The hex dump

● To makeyourStar LaserPrinter8 printin hexadecimalratherthanthe

usualASCIIsymbols,pressthe frontpanelbuttonsthat putthe pnntcr
offlineandinPROGRAMmode.MovetotheCOMMANDparameter’s

HEXDUMPsettingand selectON.

● SomccontrolorEscapecodescanbeproblemsonafewcomputcrs;those

computerschangecertaincodeswhensendingthemtotheprinter.Ifyou
thinkyouhavethisproblemyouneedtoseeexactlywhatyourprinteris
receiving.Werecommendyourunashortprogramthatloopsthroughand
printsthe ASCIItable.PrintinhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCII
symbols.

● If youspota problemcodeyoucantryto bypasstheproblem,eitherby

sendingeachcodedirectlyto theprinter,orby 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
PAPERFEEDandLAYOUTparametersonthefrontpanel.Atthe end of
thissectionwe’llalsopreviewdifferentwaysto movetheprintposition.

The PAPER FEED parameter

ThePAPERFEEDparameterletsyouspecifybothwhatkindofpaperyou
wantandhowtheprinteristo handleautomaticprint-positionmovements
(carriagereturnsandsoon).

Oneconvenientthing aboutalaserprinteristhat it doesn’tneed

continuous

forms,

sometimescalled~an~okipaper. Otherprintersfeed in a stack of
forms—withpagesalljoinedbyperforations-by havingsprocketsengage
andpull

alongpinfeed holespunchedalongeachsideofthepaper.Afterit’s

printedyou have to tearoff the pinfeed-holestrips andthen separatethe
pages.

21

WiththeStarLaserPrinter8youcanprintonavarietyofordinarycutsheet
pages.

FortheFeedervalue ofthisPAPERFEEDparameter,youfirstentereither
cassetteor manualfeed to indicatewhereyou want paper fed from.The
cassettetray automaticallyfeedssinglesheets,muchlikesheetfecdemon
othertypesof printers.Manual feedmeansyoufeedeachsheetby hand.

Thedefault papersizeis 8.5by 11inchletter-sizepaper;a different-sized
tray automaticallyselectsthatdifferentpapersize. If youchoosemanual
feedyoucanspecifyothersizestoo:

● 8.5 by 14 inch 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 putthe address,setthe
orientationto landscape(see below), and slide your envelopeinto the
manualfeed slot.Easy!

Inanyemulationmodeyoucansendyourprintercommandstochangepaper

sizeorfeedin,papermanually;you canalsoselectthoseparametersfromthe
panel.Either,way,a messagein theprinterdisplaytellstheoperatorwhat
papersizeto use.

Auto parameters
Thepnntposition

referstothepointonthe pagewherethenextcharacterwill
beprinted.Whentheprinterreachestheendof aline,theAutoParameters
settingstellit whetherornotto automatically:

● returntheprintpositiontotheleftmargin(carriage return, sometimes

just called“Return”),

● or moveit downoneline(h%e~eed),

● or keeptextoutof thesidemargin(aurowrap ),

● or keeptextoutof thebottommargin(jbrmfeed ).

22