What’sin thismanual?
In“Getting to KnowYour StarLaserPrinter4“ we providealist of the
featuresthat make this asplendid printer,to help you choose which
feahuesyou want to exploit. There’sabit on howlaser printerswork,
insideandout. The chapterthen explainssoftwareingeneralterms, in-
cludinghow to write control and Escape commands to make those
feahueswork.
“ControllingYour Printer” examines the parameters and “superset”
commandsyougivethe StarLaserPrinter 4to directpreciselyhow you
wantitto behave.Theseletyoucontroltheprinter,managepageformats,
andspecify whatyou wantprinted.
Formost ofus, the “Fonts”chapterwillbe useful: how touse thefonts
built into the LaserPrinter4, plus those that come on cartridges or
computerdisks.
Youmay neverlook at chapters4and5, whichcover StarLaserPrinter
4commands.Your LaserPnnter4 emulates otherprinters: it imitates
otherprinters by acceptingthesame commandsthey do. Justthink of
yourStar LaserPrinter4 as twoprinters hidinginsideone unit.
Ifyouwant towriteor modifyaprogramthatusesoneof theseprinters—
theHewlett-PackardLaserJet11PorEpsonFX-850- chapters4and 5
showhow your Star LaserPrinter4can emulateto accordingly. The
chaptersfirstdescribehowtocontroltheprinterandtoformatpages,then
howtqmovethe printposition,andfinallyhowtouse fontsandgraphics.
The chapteron the LaserJet IIP is longer and mom detailedthan the
others.That’sbecauseyouare momlikelytouse laserprintercommands
thancommandsfordotmatnx printers. (If youhave softwa~ designed
onlyfor dot matrix printers, youmay have manuals for thoseprinters
anyway.) We recommendyou use LaserJet HP emulationwhenever
possible,withFX-850 emulationasyour backupmode.
cThefinal “TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-
ter mfextmcetableswillprobablyget thumbedthe most.