Star Micronics 8 Series manual Moving the print position a preview

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Moving the print position: a preview

Wlthdot-matnxanddaisywheelprinters,youpickwheretoprinton thepage eitherby movingthepnntheadbackandforthor by movingthepaperitself. Laserpnntemdon’thaveprintheads,buttheprincipleremainsthesame:you haveto sayexactlywhereonthepageeachpictureandstringof textis to go, so each page can be constructedin the printer’smemory.

Insteadof talkingaboutprintheadswe talk aboutmovingthe printposition (some people call it moving the “cursor,” using the computer-screen analogy).Horizontally,youcanmovetheprintpositionwithbackspaceand carriageretumcommands.Vertically,youcanmovetheprintpositiondown thepagebyprintingsomanylinesper inch,or by sendingline-feedandhalf line-feedcommands.You can also move to tab settingsboth horizontally and vertically(handyfor tablesand blankforms,or makingroomfor your diagrams).

But those aren’tall. Dependingon whichprinteremulationyou are using, you”can tell the Star LaserPrinter8 to movethe print positionverticallyor horizontallyin incrementsof:

1/10,1/12or similarfractionsof an inch (pitch settings), 1/48,1/60,1/72,1/120or 1/216inch (lineor columndefinitions), l/3CN)inch (dots),or

1/720inch (tenthsof a point).

These incrementsreflect the history of twentiethcentury printing.Pifch, referringto thenumberof charactersprintedin eachhorizontalinch,derives from how typewritersspacetheircharacters.Lines and columnswere first used by earliercomputerprinters(on whichthey are calledhorizontaland verticalmotionindexes).You alreadyknow aboutthe Star LaserPrinter8 being ableto print 300 dots to the inch. And the unit by whichtypesetters have measuredtext for centuriesis the point, about l/72nd of an inch.

One hint aboutmovingthe printposition:you can confuseyourselfif you usemorethanoneor two differentunitsduringthe samesession.So decide beforehand how accurately you need to move the print position (not forgettingany graphicsyou wantto include).Then stick to the unit(s)you choose.

The commandsthatmovethe printpositionin all thesewaysare described in chapters4 through7, withthe specificprinteremulationyouwantto use.

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