Star Micronics 4000 user manual Glossary

Glossary

To further aid you in the understanding of the printer and computer peripherals, we have created this glossary of terms. Some of the terms listed in this glossary appear in this User's Manual, while others are commonly used computer terminology.

A

Animate

This refers to a printer icon used when the Printer Status Display is an active win- dow. If Animate is selected, the Printer Status Display will show paper feeding into and out of the printer.

Application

A program that you use to perform a spe- cific task on your computer. These include programs for word-processing or graphics creation.

ATM fonts

An abbreviation for Adobe Type Manager. This font system was developed by Adobe Systems.

Attribute

The characteristics of a font. It includes orientation, symbol set, spacing, pitch, point size, style, stroke and typeface.

B

Backup

To make a copy of the original floppy dis- kette or a file on the hard disk. Making a backup of your disks or files ensures that you won't lose data if the originals are lost or damaged.

Bit

Binary digit. This is the smallest unit of information that a computer can hold. The value of a bit (which is either 1 or 0) repre- sents a two-way choice (on or off, true or false, black or white).

Bitmap

A set of bits that represent a graphic im- age.

Bitmapped character

A character in a font that's rendered as a bitmap and drawn as a pixel pattern on the screen. See also font and pixel.

Bitmapped font

A font in a single point size made up of bitmapped characters. Some fonts stored in the computer system are bitmapped fonts.

Buffer

A "holding area" in the memory where in- formation can be stored by one program or device and then read by another. For ex- ample, some printers have built-in memory to store text that comes from the computer faster than it can printed. This memory, which frees the computer for other work while the printer is printing is called a printer buffer.

Button

An image on your screen which resembles a push-button. You can click to designate, confirm or cancel an action.

Byte

A series of 8 bits that represent one charac- ter.

C

Cancel button

A button that appears in most dialog boxes which you can use to cancel any command or option you may have chosen.

Central processing unit (CPU)

The brain of the computer. It is the micro- processor which performs the actual com- putations.

Centronics parallel port

A standard wiring configuration for paral-

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