Star Micronics 4 manual 8Printeremulations

1

Most programminglanguages,and someversionsof BASIC,let you treat the printeras a file to whichyou can senddata. Whenyou write a program withoneof theselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,printintoit, andthen “close”the file whenyou’redone.This programmingjargon soundsfunny if you’renot used to it— but it works.

A fewprogramminglanguageslet yousendcommandsto theprintera third way. Applesoft BASIC is one. With it, you can switch between printer outputand screenoutput.

1.2.8Printeremulations

You noticed that we said “in FX-850 mode” up there? Your Star Laser- Printer4 respondsto thesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveraloiher printemuse. Beingableto emulateprinterslike the EpsonFX-850lets you use yourStarLaserPrinter4witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeenupdated to take advantageof laserprinters.In fact, becauseit emulatestwo of the mostpopularprinters,youcanusetheStarLaserPrinter4withjust aboutany microcomputerprogramaround.

Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequences for exactly the same function.Those printers,moreover,provide escape se- quences for functionsthe Star LaserPrinter4 doesn’t need, such as the Epson’s Half-Speed Command. When your printer gets a command it doesn’tsupport,it just ignoresthe command.

Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothe work of awholelongseriesofprintercommands.If youareaprogrammeryouwill be happyto hear the Star LaserPrinter4 supportsup to 99 macrosat once.

11