Laser Printer Applications Manual

Mostprogramminglanguages,and someversionsof BASIC,let youtreat

theprinteras a fileto whichyoucan senddata.Whenyouwritea program

withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,printintoit,andthen

“close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny

if you‘renot usedto it—butit works.

Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandstotheprinterathird

way. Applesoft BASICis one. With it, you can switch betweenprinter

outputand screenoutput.

Printer emulations

You noticedthat we said “in EX-800mode”up there?Your Star Laser-

Printer8respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveralother

printersuse.BeingabletoemulateprintersliketheDiabloorEpsonEX-800

letsyouuseyourStarLaserPrinter8 witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeen

updatedtotakeadvantageoflaserprinters.In fact,becauseitemulatesfour

of themostpopularprinters,youcanuse the StarLaserPrinter8 withjust

aboutany microcomputerprogramaround.

Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequences for

exactlythe same function.Thoseprinters,moreover,provideescapese-

quencesfor 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

be happyto hearthe StarLaserPrinter8 supportsup to 99 macrosat once.