nonvolatile memory

The portion of the printer’s memory that is not lost when you turn off the printer. The ROM portion of nonvolatile memory is permanent. The EEPROM portion is permanent unless it is reprogrammed.

number systems

Three number systems are commonly used with printers:

decimal is base 10 and uses the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. This is the most familiar system.

hexadecimal (hex) is base 16 and uses the characters O-9and A-F. This is frequently used by programmers. Any decimal number between 0 and 255 can be expressed by a two-digit hexadecimal number.

binary is base 2 and uses only the digits 0 and 1. All information in a computer system is handled in binary form to represent electrical signals that are on or off. A binary digit is often called a bit; any decimal between 0 and 255 can be expressed by an eight-bit binary number.

oblique

Refers to a typestyle in which upright characters have been pivoted to produce a slant. Sometimes referred to as italic.

off line

When the printer is off line, it cannot communicate with the computer.

on line

When the printer is on line, it can communicate with the computer.

Glossary GL-7