1.2.5Printerdrivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesahvadyincludethe printercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandsto theprinterso youdon’thaveto enter
themyourselfa~ calledprinter drivers.
Manyprogramsask youto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoa menutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter4. Youentersuchthingsas howyouwant to underline,
alterline spacing,or moveto a newprintposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPerfectand thesystemsfromLotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexample,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabelledCONTROL
or ALT,asyoupressanotherkey.Or youmightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchas F6.
In fact,to takerealadvantageof yourStarLaserPrinter4’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordpmcessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord a~ strongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulator.
If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter
4, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleasemalizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendomesthemin any way.
1.2.6Sendingyour ownprintercommands
Withouta printerdriver, sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASIC!or Pascal,or atleastof howto put suchcodesinto a program.
Withprogramminglanguages,the computerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youputinto a programuntilyoutellit to runthatprogram.
Whenyou give a commandto the printerfrom a computerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartofthecommandas a separatecharacter.Thisway
. youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeorcharacterin thecommandby givingitspositionin the ASCII
table,as a decimalor hexnumber.
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