PREFACE
About thismanual
This StarLaserPrinter4ApplicationsManual givesyou theinformation
youneed to programthe StarMicronicsLaserPrinter4.
Whywouldyou readthis book? Mostpeopleusing alaserprinterjust run
softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything
theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus- smallbusinesspeople
and home computerusers, not to mentionthe wizards who write those
softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesofferedbyour
pnntem.
Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharacte~andimagesyouprint? Do
youwant to makeyour StarLaserPrinter4worklike someearlier kindof
printer? Thismanualprovidesthe softwarehelpyou needto get the most
fromyour LaserPrinter4.
Thoughthis ApplicationsManual is reallyintended for intermediateto
advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedto accommodaterelativenovicestoo.
Theinformationis organizedso you can walkthrough thegeneral theory
underlyingprinterprogrammingbefore dancing into specificdetails. It
makessense,therefore,to readthe first threechaptersbeforejumpinginto
themiddle.
There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromits starttoo.Peoplelearning
howto useanew printeroften findtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof
buryingwhatmay benewjargon in aGlossaryat theback, wedefineeach
newtermthefirsttimeitappears.The wholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexarnple,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (a collectionofcharactersof
thesame sizeand style).