memory
The part of the printer’s electronic system that is used to store information. Some information is fixed and is used to control how the printer operates. Information that is sent to the printer from the computer (such as downloaded fonts) is stored in memory temporarily. See also "RAM" on page 462 and "ROM" on page 462.
orientation
Refers to the direction in which characters are printed on a page. This direction is either portrait, where the length of the page is longer than its width, or landscape, where the width is longer than its length.
outline font
A font whose outline is described mathematically, allowing it to be rendered (printed or drawn) smoothly at any size.
PCL
The command language built into the
photoconductor unit
A component of the printer that contains a photosensitive print drum.
pitch
A measure of the number of characters per inch (cpi) for
point size
The height of a particular font as measured from the top of the tallest character to the bottom of the lowest. A point is a typographic unit of measure equivalent to 1/72 of an inch.
portrait
Printing that is oriented upright on the page (as opposed to landscape, in which printing is oriented sideways on the page). This is the standard orientation for printing letters or documents.
ppm (pages per minute)
The number of pages can be printed in one minute.
printer driver
Software that sends instructions to the printer to tell it what to do. For example, your printer driver accepts print data from your word processor application and sends instructions to the printer on how to print this data.
Glossary 461