PREFACE
About this manual
ThisSrarLuserPrinter8ApplicationsManual givesyou theinformation
youneed toprogram theStar MicronicsLaserPrinter8.
Whywouldyou readthis book? Mostpeopleusingalaser printerjust run
softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything
theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus-small businesspeople
and homecomputer users, not to mentionthe wizards who write those
softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesofferedbyour
printers.
Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharactersandimagesyoupnnt?Do
youwant tomake yourStar LaserPrinter8worklike someearlierkind of
printer? Thismanualprovidesthe softwarehelpyou needto get themost
fromyour LaserPrinter8.
Thoughthis ApplicationsManual is reallyintended for intermediateto
advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo.
The informationisorganizedso you can walkthroughthe generaltheory
underlyingprinterprogrammingbefore dancing into specificdetails. It
makessense,therefore,to readthe firstthree chaptetxbeforejumpinginto
themiddle.
There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstart too.Peoplelearning
howto useanewprinteroften findtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof
buryingwhatmay bencwjargon inaGlossary atthe back,we defineeach
newtermthefirsttimeitappears.The wholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexample,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof
thesame sizeand style).