Star Micronics 8 Series manual Cartridgeand downloadedfonts

Cartridgeand downloadedfonts

YourStar LaserPrinter8 can use two otherkindsof fonts,alongwiththose built into the printer.

Cartridgefonts, like the internalones, are permanentlystored on ROM chips.Thedifferenceis thatthoseROMsam in removablecartridges.Your Star LaserPrinter8 has slots for two font cartridges.

Eachcartridgemay holdanywherefmmhalfa dozento twodozenfonts,all differingfrom the internalfontsin size,style,strokeweightor symbolset. You’llfindthatcartridgefontsopenup a widerrangeof typefacestoo,such as HelvetandLetterGothic.Generally,cartridgeandinternalfonttypefaces are suitablefor both text and headlines.

The third kind of font is neither built into your Star LaserPrinter8 nor availablejust by slippingin a cartridge.You downioadthis kind of font, which means you use a computer program to send characters from a computerdiskto yourprinter’smemory.Anydownloadedfont(sometimes called a “soft” or “installed”font) that you put into the printer’s RAM disappearswhenyouturn off theprinter,so you haveto downloadthatfont againnexttime you want it.

Downloadablefonts run the gamut from Egyptianhieroglyphicsto those eye-catchingdecorativefarm knownas displayfonts. Theyalsoincludethe more exotic foreign-languagecharacters,such as Arabic or Cynllic, and symboland mathematicalfonts (sometimeswith fractions).

How can you comparecartridgeand downloadablefonts? When you use cartridgefonts you don’t haveto take time to downloadthcm. They don’t takeanyof yourStarLaserPrinter8‘sRAMmemoryeither.Butdowrdoad- able fontsoffer many more choices.Downloadablcfontsusuallycost less too.

The printer alwaysknowswhereits internalfonts arc. For each emulation program,it also keepstrackof cartridgeand downloadedfontsin a part of its memorycalledthe~onttable.

SowiththeStarLaserPrinter8youcanhavemanyfontsavailableat anyone time—the internalfonts,the fontson any cassettesyou’vepluggedin, and any fonts you have downloaded.You can change fonts in mid-line to emphasize a word or two whenever you want. You can mix internal, cartridgeand downloadedfonts in the same document.You can use fonts fromboth cartridgeslotswithinthe samedocumenttoo.

39