Chapter 7

D C

Withthis printer you can create new characters and symbols, download their dot data, and
havethem printedin placeof selected characters in theregular characterset. Charactersthat
can be generated in this way range from simple but useful symbols like the check mark
through to complex Chinese or Japanese characters.
Regularcharacters are permanently stored in the printer’s ROM, but characters you design
are downloaded and stored in RAM for use.
Before you start to define your own characters, you must set the DIP switch 2to OFF.
Otherwise, the RAM is used to store the input buffer, and the download commands are
ignored.

DEFINING YOUR OWN 24-DOT CHARACTERS

Designing and printing your own characters has two requirements: first, designing the
shapeof the character, calculating the data necessary to make the shape, and sending that
datato the printer, and secondly, sending the command to print thedownloaded characters
instead of the regular characters. There are anumber of design constraints for download
characters:
.The matrix or grid on which you design thecharacters depends upon the print mode as
shown below:
Character mode Horizontal Vertical
Pica characters 31 24
Elite characters 27 24
Semi-condensed 19 16
Proportional 37 24
Super/subscript 19 16
Proportional super/subscript 37 16
.The minimum width of,a character is ilve dots.
.Dots cannot overlap.
.You may define any position in the ASCII table upto 127characters.
Photocopy the grid in Figure 7-1 to help design your new characters. We will use atiny
representation of atelephone symbolfor our example.
Chapter7 DOWNLOAD CHARACTERS 67