Star Micronics LC24-20 Download Characters, Defining Your OWN Characters with Standard Mode

chapter 9

DOWNLOAD CHARACTERS

With this printer you can create new characters and symbols, download their dot data. and have them printed in place of selected characters in the regular character set. Characters that can be generated in this way range from simple but useful symbols like the check mark through to complex Chinese or Japanese characters.

Regular characters are permanently stored in the printer’s ROM, but char- acters you design are downloaded and stored in RAM for use.

Before you start to define your own characters, you must set the EDS switch A-3 to the OFF position. Otherwise, the RAM is used to store the input buffer, and the download commands are ignored.

DEFINING YOUR OWN CHARACTERS WITH STANDARD MODE

Designing and printing your own characters has two requirements: first, designing the shape of the character, calculating the data necessary to make the shape, and sending that data to the printer, and secondly, sending the command to print the downloaded characters instead of the regular charac- ters. There are a number of design constraints for download characters:

“The matrix or grid on which you design the characters depends upon the print mode as shown below:

Character mode	Horizontal	Vertical
Draft characters	9	24
LQ pica characters	31	24
LQ elite characters	27	24
LQ semi-condesed	19	16
LQ proportional	37	24
Draft super/subscript	7	16
LQ super/subscript	19	16
LQ prop. super/subscript	37	16

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