The normal character height is 24 cells, and the width is varied by the

character mode as shown below.

 

Character

mode

Character width

Draft characters

 

LQ

pica

characters

2;

LQ

elite

characters

23

LQ

semi-condensed

 

LQ

proportional

::

Figure C-l shows the matrix with the telephone symbol filled in. Note

that there are no pairs of horizontally adjacent dots. The pins in the print head cannot fire fast enough to print adjacent dots in the horizontal direction.

To the printer, a normal character is represented

three bytes for each

-

column. If you are working by hand, you can calculate the data as shown

 

in Figure C-l and enter them via the < ESC > “8~” < 0 > printer command.

 

If you use the program in this appendix, proceed as

follows.

 

The program starts by asking whether you want to read characters from an existing file. If you are going to add the telephone symbol to a file of

download characters you have already generated, answer yes; if you are going to create a new file, answer no. The arrow on the screen toggles between Yes and No when any key except Return is pressed. The Return key enters your choice.

In the same way the program asks you to select Standard or IBM mode;

normal or super/subscript, and character mode, then to confirm whether

to continue or start over. Continuing, on the next screen the program asks

what character you want to redefine, offering the exclamation mark(!) as a suggestion. If you want to print the telephone symbol in place of the ex-

clamation mark, press Return. If you want to assign the telephone symbol to another character, press the key of that character.

Next you must choose the spaces between characters. After you have defined the character width and left space, the cursor enters the character

box. You can move the cursor with the numeric keypad. For example, pressing the “6” key moves to the right; pressing the “3” key moves diagonally down to the right. The function keys control the setting and clearing of dots. After Fl is pressed the cursor clears the dot in each position it is moved to. F3 causes the cursor to set dots. F2 allows the cursor to pass over dots without either setting or clearing them.

Each dot is represented by two adjacent solid blocks, occupying its own position and the position to the right. This reflects the fact that the printer

cannot print horizontally adjacent dots. The program automatically censors adjacent dots.

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Star Micronics NX-2400 user manual Semi-condensed Proportional