Some codes tell the printer to print a character, and other codes tell it to turn on or off certain printer functions, such as emphasized or Letter Quality. Because the codes between 0 and 127 are basically standardized by the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), they are referred to as ASCII numbers in this manual.

Nearly all of the codes for printer functions require more than one number and begin with a special code, called the escape code. This code signals that the next number is a code for a printer function and its name is usually printed with the first three letters capitalized (Escape) or it is abbreviated ESC or (ESC) .

In the demonstration programs in this manual, you’ll see how ASCII and ESCape codes are used in the BASIC programming lan- guage.

•LPRINT signals that information is to be sent to the printer.•The CHR$ (character string) function is used for numerical codes.•CHR$(27) is the ESCape code.

•Quotation marks are used for printable characters, such as letters of the alphabet.

Your word processing or business program may use other methods to send those codes, such as pressing the ESC key for the ESCape code. See your software manual for further information and use Appendix B of this manual to find the proper codes. Appendix D also has some suggestions on using LQ features with applications soft- ware.

Demonstration Programs

To enable you to see the LQ features in action, this manual includes demonstrations in the BASIC programming language. Although you will probably not do much of your printing using BASIC, the demonstrations are in BASIC because nearly all personal computer systems include some version of this language. Therefore, almost everyone can try the examples.

As you run the programs (or even as you read the explanations and look at the printed examples), you learn how the LQ responds to the messages your computer sends it by printing letters, numbers, sym- bols, and graphics in various print modes.

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