Negative Motion Command

Note

The Negative Motion command specifies whether negative motion will be used, thus determining whether the full page must be buffered before printing can begin.

?&a#N

#= 0 - Picture contains negative motion (page formatting printers)

1- Picture contains no negative motion (swath printers)

Default = 0

Range = 0, 1

If the page contains no negative motion, using the ?&a1N command increases print speed.

Negative motion includes:

Vertical motion toward the top of the page

HP-GL/2 operations

Print directions other than 0 degrees

Landscape text

When the top of the character cell on the next line is above the top of the character cell on the current line

The default value of 0 delays printing until all the processing of input data for a page is complete. This is for software that needs to compose the data before printing.

A value of 1 allows data to be printed as received, rather than first stored in a buffer. Otherwise, printing will be delayed until all processing of input data is complete.

This command must be sent before any printable data is received by the printer.

2-90 Printer-Specific Differences

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HP L5 manual Negative Motion Command, ?&a#N