Printer drivers
Most softwarepackagesalreadyincludethe printercommandsthey need. The programsthat sendcommandsto the printerso youdon’thaveto enter them yourselfare calledprinter drivers.
Manyprogramsask you to installor configureyourprinter,whichusually meanskeyinginto a menuthe particularsetupinformationdescribingyour Star LaserPrinter8. You enter suchthingsas how you want to underline, alterline spacing,or moveto a new printposition.
Someprograms,such as WordPetiect and the systemsfrom LotusDevel- opmentCorporation,let you put printerEscape sequencesbefore or right insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.To turnonboldface,forexarnple,you mightholddownspecialkeyson yourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL or ALT,as youpressanotherkey. Or youmightuse a specialFunctionkey, such as F6.
In fact,to takereal advantageof yourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities, youmightoptfor a wordprocessorthatlets youspecifyfontchangeseasily. WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord arestrongatthis,butare by no meansthe only good font manipulators.
If you havetroubleusing a particularprogramwith yourStar LaserPrinter 8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software supplierhow the programinteractswith yourprinter.
Inthismanualwereferto programs,fontsandotherproductssoldby several companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar Micronicsendorsesthem in any way.
Sending your own printer commands
Withouta printer driver, sendingcontrolcodes and Escape sequencesto yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeof a programminglanguage like BASICor Pascal,or at leastof how to put such codesinto a program. Withprogramminglanguages,the computerdoesn’tact on the commands you put into a programuntil you tell it to run that program.
When you give a commandto the printer from a computerprogram,you normallyentereach partof the commandas a separatecharacter.This way you don’t affectanythingelse happeningon the computer.You often send each codeor characterin the commandby givingits positionin the ASCII table, as a decimalor hex number.
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