1.2.5Printer drivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesahvady includetheprinter commandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsend commandstotheprinterso youdon’t haveto enter
themyourselfa~ calledprinter drivers.
Manyprogramsask youto installor configureyourprinter,which usually
meanskeyingintoamenu theparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter4.You enter suchthingsas howyou want to underline,
alterline spacing,ormove to anewprint position.
Someprograms,suchas WordPerfect andthe systemsfrom LotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,letyou put printerEscapesequencesbefore or right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexample,you
mightholddownspecialkeyson yourkeyboard,oftenlabelledCONTROL
orALT, asyoupress anotherkey.Oryou mightuseaspecialFunctionkey,
suchas F6.
Infact, totake realadvantageofyour StarLaserPrinter4’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptfor awordpmcessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWorda~ strongat this,butare byno meansthe
onlygood fontmanipulator.
Ifyou havetroubleusing aparticularprogramwithyour StarLaserPrinter
4, you’ll probablyget answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowthe programinteractswithyour printer.
Inthismanualwerefer toprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleasemalizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendomesthemin anyway.
1.2.6Sendingyour ownprinter commands
Withoutaprinterdriver, sendingcontrol codesand Escape sequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASIC!orPascal,or at leastof how toput suchcodes intoaprogram.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton the commands
youput intoaprogram untilyoutell it to run thatprogram.
Whenyou give acommandto the printer fromacomputerprogram, you
normallyentereachpart ofthe commandas aseparatecharacter.Thisway
.youdon’taffect anythingelsehappeningonthe computer.Youoften send
eachcodeor characterin the commandbygivingits positionin the ASCII
table,as adecimalor hex number.
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