This is called “Dot Matrix Printing”.

Dots are printed according to a pre-designed “Matrix” or “Grid” system, where each letter, number and punctuation mark is formed by arrangement of dots. In the above figure, the print head moves from left to right. Since the MX-82 is a bidirectional printing type, the head can also move from right to left to print characters

(2) Character and line spacing

Line spacing means the pitch from the top of dots that forms a character on a line to the top of dots on the next line.

It is absolutely necessary to separate characters vertically for ease in reading each sentence. Most typewriters and printers have a switch or lever to change the line spacing (1/6” or 1/8”). The MX-82 also can do this of course. In addi- tion, you can set it programmably with some ESC codes with a range from 1/72” to 85/72”.

See what happens when you set the line spacing to 1/8” and 1/6”.

Look at the following figures, (a) and (b). The line spacing, i.e. the pitch from the

top of upper “g” or “G” character to the top of the “g” or “G” on the next line is 1/8”. That corresponds to 9-dot skipping. If you type a “g” on the first line and a “G” on the next line, the two characters will be close to each other. This is a little bit hard to read in a long message including upper case characters and lower case ones. In other uses, however, this line spacing is effective. You can understand its effectiveness when using the bit image mode.

On the other hand, with 1/6” line spacing, there is no problem even if upper case characters and lower case ones are mixed in a message. In this case, a minimum of 1/24” line spacing is created between characters vertically. If you want greater line spacing or less, input the ESC A control code.

3 dots = 1124”

12dots =1/w

- Line spacing

(a) 1/8” line spacing

(b) 1/6" line spacing

Fig. 62 Line Spacing

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