32 Line Matrix Printer PCL II Programmer's Reference Manual

Character Font Selection

The printer can print several different character sets (fonts). By performing a

printer self-test, you can see which fonts are installed in your printer. You may

specify any of these fonts from an application. On the self-test printout, each

available character font is printed along with a parameter number to the left of

the printed font.

There are two ways to select a font from those available:

• By entering the parameter number via the control panel (function 1 =

primary character set; function 2 = secondary character set)

• By specifying the attributes of the desired fonts using escape sequences.

The list below contains the font attributes, listed in order of descending

priority:

• Symbol Set (ASCII, Roman-8, Line Draw, etc.)

• Pitch (10,12,13.3,15,16.67, 20)

• Style (Upright/Italic)

• Density (High-Speed, Near Letter Quality)

The attributes are specified for both primary and secondary fonts so that you

may switch between the primary and secondary fonts using the Shift Out (SO)

and Shift In (SI) control codes. Notice that the only difference between the

primary and secondary font escape sequences is the direction of the

parentheses. The left parenthesis “(“ is used for primary fonts and the right

parenthesis “)” for secondary. Upon receiving these font attribute commands,

the printer selects the best fitting font from those available.

It is not necessary to specify all four font attributes when selecting a font. If

any of the attributes are not specified, the printer defaults to those attributes

last specified (or, if none have been specified, from the control panel default

font). For example, if you wish to select a font without selecting a print pitch,

the print pitch last specified will be in effect. If you had not previously specified

a print pitch, the printer will use the print pitch of the default font that was last

specified from the control panel (provided that the particular symbol set

selected is available in the current pitch).

The escape sequences used for specifying the character font attributes are

explained in the following paragraphs.