Laser Printer Applications Manual
Printer drivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesalreadyincludethe printercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprinterso youdon’thavetoenter
themyourselfare calledprinterdrivers.
Manyprogramsask youto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoa menutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter8. Youentersuchthingsas howyouwant to underline,
alterline spacing,or moveto a newprintposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPetiect andthesystemsfromLotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexarnple,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL
or ALT,asyoupressanotherkey.Oryoumightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchas F6.
In fact,to takerealadvantageof yourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordprocessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord arestrongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulators.
If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwith yourStarLaserPrinter
8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendorsesthemin any way.
Sending your own printer commands
Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodes and Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASICor Pascal,or atleastof howto putsuchcodesinto a program.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youput intoa programuntilyoutell it to runthatprogram.
Whenyou givea commandto the printerfrom a computerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartof thecommandas a separatecharacter.This way
youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeor characterin thecommandby givingits positionin theASCII
table,as a decimalor hex number.
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