Star Micronics 4111 Instructions for use

APPLICATIONS MANUAL
80821885

Trademark Acknowledgements
LaserPrinter 4111:Star Micronics Co,, Ltd.
PageMaker: Aldus Corporation
Applesoft: Apple Computer Inc.
Bitstream: Bitstream Inc.
Canon:Canon Inc.
HP, LaserJet:Hewlett-Packard Company
LaserControl:Insight Development Inc.
IBM PC: International Business Machines Corp.
Century Schoolbook: Linotype Corporation
Lotus 1-2-3:Lotus Development Corporation
MS-DOS, Microsoft BASIC, Windows, Word: Microsoft Corporation
MultiMate: Multimate International
WordPerfect:WordPerfect Corporation
Ventura Publisher: Xerox Corporation
NOTICE
●All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form whatsoever without
STAR’s express permission is forbidden,
●The contents of this manual are subject to cbange without notice
●Allefforts havebeenmadetoensure theaccuracyofthecontentsofthis manualatthetimeofpress.
However,sbouldanyerrors bedetected, STAR wouldgreatlyappreciatebeinginformedofthem.
.The above notwithstanding, STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors in this manual
@Copyright 1992Star Micronics Co,, Ltd

I
PREFACE
About this manual
This StarLu.~erPrinter4111Application.~Manual gives you the information
you need to program the Star Micronics LaserPrinter 4111.
Why would you read this book? Most people using alaser printerjust run
softwarepackages with built-inprinter drivers, which lookaftereverything
theircomputers sendtheirprinters.Butmany of us—smallbusinesspeople
and home computer users, not to mention the wizards who write those
softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesoffered byour
printers.
Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharacters and imagesyouprint?This
manual provides the software help you need to get the most from your
LaserPrinter 4111.
Though this Applications Manual is really intended for intermediate to
advanced computer users,we’ve tried to accommodate relativenovicestoo.
The information is organized so you can walk through the general theory
underlying printer programming before dancing into specific details. It
makessense,therefore,toreadthefirstthreechaptersbeforejumping intothe
middle.
There’s agoodreason toreadeach chapterfrom itsstarttoo.Peoplelearning
how to use anew printer often find the terminology abarrier. So instead of
burying what may be newjargon in aGlossary at the back, we define each
newtermthefirsttimeitappears.Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexample, defines different aspectsof afhzt (acollection ofcharacters of
the same size and style).

I
What’sin this manual?
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In “Getting to Know Your Star LaserPrinter 4111”we provide alistof the
features that make this asplendid printer, to help you choose which
features you want to exploit. There’s abit on how laser printers work,
inside and out. The chapter then explains software in general terms,
including how to write control and Escape commands to make those
features work.
‘&ControllingYour Printer” examines the parameters you give the Star
LaserPrinter 4111to direct precisely how you want itto behave. These let
you control theprinter, manage page formats, and specify what you want
printed.
Formostofus,the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful:howtousethefontsbuilt
intothe LaserPrinter 4111,plusthosethatcome on cartridges or computer
disks.
You may look at chapters 4and 5, which cover Star LaserPrinter 4111
commands. Your LaserPrinter 4111emufates (imitates) Hewlett-Packard
LaserJet 111by accepting the same commands they do.
If you want to write or modify aprogram that uses the Hewlett-Packard
LaserJet III, chapters 4and 5show how your Star LaserPrinter 4111can
emulate to accordingly.
The chapter on “Printer Control Language” is longer and more detailed
than the other. That’s because you are more likely to use laser printer
comtiands than commands for vector graphics.
Thefinal“Technical Supplement”containingthecommand andcharacter
reference tables will m-obablvget thumbed the most.
●
✌JG-

Conventions
Incidentally,one of thoseTechnical Supplementtables suggestsacouple of
typographic conventions we’ll use. Base ten (decimal) numbers will gener-
allybeusedhere;ifwehavetousebasesixteennumbers(hexadecinzczi)we’11
expressly say so.
And second, the lowercase Lis practically identical to the number one
(1versus 1).Because lowercase Lis used in many command descriptions,
we’11use the character ~to avoid confusion.
The Star LaserPrinter 4/// Operations Manual
ThismanualisthecompaniontotheStarLuserPrinter41110peration.rManual
that came with your printer. Alaser printer is afairly complex tool that
requirescare anddelicatehandling. Soto usethisApplicationsManual best,
make sure you understand that Operations Manual first.
Your OperationsMattualholdsessential information abouttheLaserPrinter
4111.such as how to:
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unpack and set up your laser printer,
connect the Star LaserPrinter 4111to your computer’s serial or parallel
port.
link the LaserPrinter 4111into anetwork of several computers,
configuretheLaserPrinter41Htoyourneeds(with variablessuchaspaper
size and speed of data transfer),
load paper and the toner cartridge,
operate the panel switches and display,
run the LaserPrinter 4111self-test,
look after your printer to keep it in peak condition.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Getting to know Your Star LaserPrinter 4111............................................. 1
1.1Star LaserPrinter 4111Hardware ................................................. 1
1,2Star Laserprinter 4111software ...........................................,,.....5
2. Controlling Your Printer ............................................................................ 13
2.IPrinter Parameters .................................................................. . 13
2.2 Controlling the Printer.............................................................. 16
2.3 Controlling the Page .................................................................20
2.4 Controlling the Printing............................................................25
2.5 The Star LaserPrinter 4111Superset..........................................26
3. Fonts .............................................................................................................27
3.1 Font Terminology .....................................................................27
3.2 How the Star Laserprinter 4111Stores Fonts ............................30
3.3 Symbol Sets ..............................................................................33
3.4 Managing Fonts ........................................................................34
4. Printer Control Language ..........................................................................4l
4.1 Printer Control Language .........................................................41
4,2 Controlling [he printer ..................................................,...........43
4.3 Page Orientation .......................................................................46
4.4 Moving the Print Position ........................................................51
4,5 Controlling Fonts......................................................................61
4.6 Using Your Own Fonts ............................................................79
4.7 Raster Graphics ........................................................................84
4.8 Pattern Graphics .......................................................................87
4.9 Macros ......................................................................................93
5. Vector Graphics .....................................................................................,....97
5.1 GL/2Commands and Syntax ...................................................97
5,2 controlling the prin[er ......................................... ....................99
5.3 Configuration and Status ........................................................ 102
5,4 Vector Group ........................................ ................................. 106
5.5 Polygon Group ....................................................................... 110
5.6 Line and Fill Attribute Group................................................. 113
5.7 Character Group ..................................................................... I19
5.8 Escape Sequences in GL/2 Mode ........................................... 126

6. Technical Supplement ............................................................................... 129
6.1 CommandSummary............................................................... 129
6.2 Symbolsets ............................................................................ 134
Index .............................................................................................. .. ....... .... 165

m
GettingbKnoW’Yow ‘” “
StarLaserPrinte~4111
This chapter introduces both the hardware and software aspects of the Star
LaserPrinter 4111’spersonality, from fonts and print engine to ASCII and
Escape sequences.
1.1 STAR LASERPRINTER 4111HARDWARE
1.1.1 Versatility
Your Star Micronics Star LaserPrinter 4111works with practically all
commercial softwareprogramsandcomputers.With featuresthatgo beyond
Star’s easy, affordable 9-pin and fast, quality-printing 24-pin dot matrix
printers,theStarLaser Printer isthelogicalnextstepintheseriesoffineStar
Micronics printers.
Your Star LaserPrinter 4111produces pagesthatlookclosetotypesetquality,
with up to 90,000 dotsper square inch—no more NLQ (near letterquality)
compromises. The Star LaserPrinter 4111produces four of those pages a
minute. These numbers translate to about five times more resolution and
about three times more speed than the average dot-matrix printer.
Star’snew printer isremarkably versatile. You can printcomplicated forms
(widthwiseifyouwant)...detailedgraphs...yourowncustomized typestyles
...digitizedphotographs...otherlanguages(includingArabicandJapanese).
You can even print your letterhead and logo as you print your letter, and
reprint them directly onto abusiness envelope. You don’t even need to
remove thepaper tray to printtheenvelope:just slideit intothemanual feed
slot.
1

The Star LaserPrinter 4111is ideal for desktop publishing. The pages it
produces make perfect photocopy or instant-printmasters. And allthe main
desktoppublishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMaker and
Xerox Ventura Publisher, work splendidly with the Star LaserPrinter 4111.
With “page makeup” programs likethese you will be able—maybe for the
first time —to deliver communications with the impact of top-notch
graphics.
1.1.2Font options
You can print with an amazingly wide variety of type fonts and sizes. The
Star LaserPrinter 4111comes with two built-in bit-mapped fonts and two
built-in scalable fonts, which can be printed from 3points to 999.75 points
in size (a point is about 1/72of an inch).
These fonts are:
CG Times Font
Univers Font
Courier Font
Line Printer Font
Besides these, you may be able to use optional cartridges and disks to give
your Star LaserPrinter 4111avariety of extra fonts, such as these:
Prestige fonts
Letter Gothic fonts
HGothic fonts
Roman fonts
Presentation fonts
Optical Character Reader fonts
Line drawing
Bar codes
You can load your Star LaserPrinter 4111’smemory with fonts stored on
computer disks. Literally hundreds of fonts are marketed by font-supply
companies. Somefontsare even obtainablefrom computer“user groups”or
“electronicbulletinboards”.Fontsyougetthisway are inthepublicdomain,
which means you don’t need to pay alicence fee to use them.
2

Ask your Star LaserPrinter 4111dealer about resources like these. Desktop
publishing with laser printers is fast-changing territory, and some Star
Micronics staff people have found electronic bulletin boards and computer
usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeeping up withthechangingpace. Ifyou invest
alittle time this way it may repay you well.
.1.1.3How your laser printer communicates
Your computercommunicates with the StarLaserPrinter 4111througheither
aparallel cable or one of two kinds of serial cable. The printer’s inter-ace,
thelinkorboundaryitshareswithyourcomputer,defineswhethertheprinter
willacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyteoronebit
at atime.
Abit is the smallest unit of computer or printer memory. It has either alow
or high electric charge, which we represent with the digitsOand 1.Usually
eight adjacent bits are grouped to form abyte. Since abyte normally
represents one character, this stringof bits—01000001—might represent
the letter A.
The serial interface accepts just one bit at atime from your computer. A
parallel interfacecan handle awhole byteat once, by moving data bitsside-
by-sidealong separate wires. You choose which interfacemethod you want
to use by selecting it on the operator panel, as explained in your Sfar
LaserPrinter 4111Operations Manual.
1.1.4 The Star LaserPrinter 4111is acomputer
The StarLaserPrinter 4111firstmaps thecharacters to beprinted intoitsown
random access memory (RAM). That is, the printer builds.a“picture” in its
memory corresponding to the page you want to print. When that’s done the
printer can reproduce the page onto paper on itsown, letting yourcomputer
get on with other work.
Your Star LaserPrinter 4111comes with one megabyte of RAM —the
equivalent of about one million characters. AStar LaserPrinter 4111option
lets you add asecond megabyte of RAM if, say, you need to map full-page
graphics or store more fonts. Accompanying all that RAM is another 2
megabytes of read only memory (ROM), containing alibrary of internal
fonts and the programs that let the Star LaserPrinter 4111emulate other
printers.
3

An Intel 80960SAcomputer chip controlsboththememory and the printing
mechanism inthe printer, called the printengine. The printer storesawhole
page in RAM before printing it. (If apage is so dense that it overflows
memory—amost unlikelyevent—the StarLaserPrinter4HI printsthepage
on two sheets.)
1.1.5 The Print engine
It’stheprintenginethatformstheactualcharacters andgraphics.The engine
directs itslaser, apinpointstreamoflightpulses, through mirrors and lenses
onto the surface of apositively-charged rotating drum.
r“i””r
Lens
Laserbeam
Scanningmirror
ctor laserdiode
~Photosensitive drum
Asthe laser scans,it“draws” thepage-map stored inyourprinter’s memory.
Wherever alight pulse strikes, that tiny part of the drum drops to aneutral
electricalcharge.Thatspotthenattractsfinetonerpowder asthedrumrotates
past the powder compartment.
As the drum rotates further itmeets the paper. The paper itself isnegatively
charged by passingbyafinecorona wire. Sinceoppositecharges attract, the
negative paper clings to the positive drum. Then heat and pressure from a
rollermelt or,fusethe dotsoftoner ontothe paper, precisely reproducing the
image.
Finally thepaper slidesintotheoutputbin.The paper usuallycomes outface
dowmso it stacks in the correct sequence.
4

1.2 STAR LASERPRINTER 4111SOFTWARE
1.2.1 Binary and hexadecimal arithmetic
Ifyoualreadyknowwhathexadecimalnumbersare, youcan skipthissection
and go ahead to read about ASCII.
The decimal number system with which we’re all familiar is apositional
counting system. There’s the “ones” position, the “tens” position, the
“hundreds”position and soon.Each higherposition isworth ten timesmore
than the position to the right of it, sincethe decimal system uses the base of
ten. Moreover, we need ten symbols to show the actual values that may be
in each position.
The binary system ispositionaltoo. There’s the “ones” position,the “twos”
position,the“fours” position,the“eights”positionand soon.Inbinaryeach
positionisworth onlytwicethatofthepositionto itsright.And weonlyneed
two symbols—O (zero)and 1(one)—to showthevaluesthatmaybe inany
position. So in binary we get numbers that look like 1010or 10001100.
The hexadecimal system is made of base-sixteen numbers. Hexadecimal is
positionalliketheothercounting systems.And each higherposition isworth
sixteen times as much as the position to its right.
We need sixteen different symbols to show all the possible values one
hexadecimaldigitcouldhave.Wecanuseourdecimal system’stensymbols,
butwe’ve had to borrow afew more fromour alphabettoget allthe symbols
we need. In hexadecimal, therefore, you can have anumber that looks like
2C7C, or even FACE.
Here’show the decimal, binary and hexadecimal number systemscompare:
Decimal Binary
o 0000
I0001
20010
3 0011
4O1oo
50101
60110
7 01I1
Hexadecimal
o
2
3
4
5
6
7
Decimal
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Binary
1000
100I
1010
lo]I
I100”
IIol
I110
1111
Hexadecimal
x
9
A
B
c
D
E
F
5

The importantthing to realize isthat there’s more than one way to showthe
samenumericvalue.Computerprogrammers, forexample,occasionallyuse
the hexadecimal system because it’s so compact. (Programmers often just
say “hex”.) This binary number:
101001011111110100110111111011010010110100001001
looksquiteabittidierwhen itiswrittenasA5 FD 37ED 2D09, whichmeans
the same thing.
1.2.2 TheASCII table
Where does the Star LaserPrinter 4111get the characters and instructions it
needstoprintinthefirstplace?Itgetsthemfrom yourcomputer, which sends
astream of text and commands to your printer.
The program in your computer that controls everything sent to the printer
(called the printer driver) will usually be included with your computer
programs, suchasyour word processor. Butthe commands could also come
from aprogram you’vewritten,perhaps inBASZC,aprogramming language
that uses common English words.
Internally, computers and printers use only the binary number system to
representbothcommandsandallthealphabetic,numericandotherkeyboard
symbols. Nearly all of those machines use the same scheme to code those
symbols,theAmericanStandardsCodeforInformationInterchange(ASCII).
An example:inourfamiliar decimal system,binary01001010 addsup to the
number 74. Depending on which program your printer is using, it can
interpret that binary string 01001010 as either the number 74 or the symbol
J. The printer stores the symbol./ at position 74 in atable in its memory.
That eight-bit binary string,or byte.,can be broken into two halves. The left
or high-order part containing 0100 is called the zone portion; the right part
holdingthe 1010iscalledthedigitsportion.And inthehexadecimal number
system, the zone and digit parts of that byte are represented as 4and A
respectively (look them up in the list above).
6

SothelaserprinterunderstandsthesymbolJas 01001010,which wecan also
represent as the decimal number 74 or the hexadecimal number 4A. We’ve
printed this byte vertically and horizontally below, showing how it adds up
to decimal 74 and hex 4A.
o x 27
1x 26
0x25
0x24
1x 23
0x22
1x 2’
ox2°
zone
0100
4
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
digits
1010
A
o
64
0
0
8
0
2
0
74 Decimal
Binary
Hexadecimal
The ASCII table in the Technical Supplement shows all these equivalent
representations for the symbols your laser printer understands. The table
organizes them in ascending order. In fact, ASCII isorganized in away that
actually makes sense.
Flip back there for aquick look right now. See how you can slice the table
into clumps of 16 or 32, based on what’s in the zone portion under the
hexadecimal column? These clumps make subgroups of similar symbols:
●hex 00 to 1Fare the command symbols called control codes,
.hex 20 to 40 are the common keyboard symbols and numerals,
.hex 41 to 60 are capital letters and the less common keyboard
symbols,
.hex 61 to 7F are lowercase letters and afew final symbols.
That takes care of the first 128 ASCII symbols. However, nearly every
computer and printer manufacturer treats the second half of the table
differently.Hewlett-Packard, forexample,putsavarietyofaccentedforeign
languagecharacters intopositions 128-255(oftenreferred to as/zighASCZl).
Epson gives you achoice of either italics characters or IBM character
graphics.
7

1.2.3 Control codes
The ASCII table shows symbolslike.Jor2 theway they actuallyprinton the
laser printer. But ASCII includes more thanjust printable characters: none
of the control code commands at the beginning of the table actually print.
Instead,whenyourcomputersendsacontrolcodetothelaserprinteritmakes
your printer do other things, such as sound its beeper.
Control codes mostly handle communications between your computer and
theprinteratthelowestlevel,atcable level.Forexample, acoupleofcontrol
codes make sure the printer lmjfer (your printer’s storage memory) doesn’t
overflow. In this book we’ll indicate control codes enclosed by angle
brackets to their abbreviations in the table: <FF> means the Form Feed
controlcode, which advances the printerto the next page-justasthe [PRINTI
button does.
1.2.4 Escape sequences
Control code 27, <ESC> or Escape, is aparticularly important one for
printers.To tellyourprinterallthethingsyoumightneed— settingmargins,
saying where to print,choosing aparticularfont, startinggraphics and so on
—requires many more than just two or three dozen control codes. So the
<ESC> control code has aspecial meaning: <ESC> means “the next
character specifies acommand, not something to be printed”.
Therefore if you sendjust the chara$ter: to the printer it will print aJand
that’s all. But if you send the <ESC> codejust before the cthen the printer
willswitch overto printselftest. Extending thecontrolcodesthis way gives
you many more commands to control your printer. In fact, these “Escape
sequences” make up most of the Star Laser Printer’s language.
In this book we’ll leave spaces between characters when we show escape
sequences. You’ll find
<ESC> (S OP IOh
abit more readable than
12vos 3T
<ESC> (sop IOh12vOS3T
8

But remember that you are not to send those spaces if you send commands
to the printer.
To sum up, printer commands are of two types. Acw?trolcode is asingle-
character command that tells your printer to do something, likemove down
one line. An Escape sequence controls aprinter operation too, but is more
than onecharacter long.Sincethey are commands, neither control codesnor
escape sequences are usually printable characters.
1.2.5 Printer drivers
Most software packages already include the printer commands they need.
The programs that send commands to the printer so you don’t have to enter
them yourself are called printer dri~’ers.
Many programs ask you to install or configure your printer, which usually
means keying into amenu the particular setup information describing your
Star LaserPrinter 4111.You enter such things as how you want to underline,
alter line spacing, or move to anew print position.
Someprograms, suchas WordPerjict and the systemsfrom Lotus Develop-
mentCorporation, letyouputprinterEscape sequencesbeforeor rightinside
thedocumentyouwantto print.To turn on boldface, for example, you might
hold down special keys on your keyboard, often Iabelled CONTROL or
ALT, asyoupressanotherkey.OryoumightuseaspecialFunctionkey, such
as F6.
In fact, to take real advantage of your Star LaserPrinter 4111’sspecial
abilities, you might opt for aword processor that lets you specify font
changes easily. WordPerfect and Microsoft Word are strong at this, but are
by no means the only good font manipulators.
If you have trouble using aparticular program with your Star LaserPrinter
4111,you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplier how the program interacts with your printer.
In thismanual we referto programs, fontsand otherproductssold by several
companies. Pleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmean Star
Micronics endorses them in any way.

1.2.6Sending your own printer commands
Withoutaprinterdriver,sendingcontrolcodesandEscape sequencestoyour
printer properly requires some knowledge of aprogramming language like
BASIC or Pascal, or at least of how to put such codes into aprogram. With
programming languages,thecomputerdoesn’tactonthecommands youput
into aprogram until you tell it to run that program.
When you give acommand to the printer from acomputer program, you
normally enter each part of the command as aseparate character. This way
you don’t affect anything else happening on the computer. You often send
each code or character in the command by giving its position in the ASCII
table, as adecimal or hex number.
1.2.7A BASIC example
Here’s an example you can type in right now, to clarify what we’re saying.
It’s written in Microsoft BASIC for acomputer that uses the MS-DOS
operating system, so if you have adifferent computer or BASIC you may
have to translate abit.
The LPRINT commands all send data to theprinter. Ifthe data is something
youwantprintedyoujust putitinquotationmarks. Ifthedataisacontrol code
you just say where it is in the ASCII table, giving its position as aregular
decimal number.
BASIC usually sends acarriage return after every 80characters, to keep the
print position moving when it hits the end of aline. Unasked-for carriage
returns can mess up your printing, however, so it’s agood habit to put in a
WIDTH statement as shown. That lets us print over the whole page area.
The <BEL> controlcode—ASCII code7— issent inBASIC asCHR$(7).
The <ESC> code itselfisCHR$(27). And because we’re usingthecharacter
zas part of an <ESC> command, we type CHR$(112) instead of “z”.
So if you start BASIC and type these commands:
10

NEW
10 ‘ EXAMPLE
20 WIDTH “LPT1:’’,255
30 LPRINT CHR$(7)
40 LPRINT CHR$(27);CHR$(112)
50 END
RUN
youmaketheprinterfirst sounditsbell—most peoplecall itabeeper— and
then print the self test.
Generally, when you send acontrol or Escape code it staysactive until you
deactivate it.
Mostprogramming languages,andsomeversionsofBASIC, letyoutreatthe
printer as afileto which you can send data. When you writeaprogram with
one of these languages you “open” the printer file, print into it, and then
“close” the file when you’re done. This programmingjargon soundsfunny
if you’re not used to it—but it works.
Afew programming languages letyou send commands to theprinter athird
way.ApplesoftBASIC isone.Withit,youcan switchbetweenprinteroutput
and screen output.
1.2.8Printer emulations
YourStarLaserPrinter4111respondstothesameescapesequencecommands
that the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III printer uses.
Macros are singlecontrolcodes youcan define yourself, which do the work
ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyou areaprogrammer youwill
be happy to hear the Star LaserPrinter4111supportsup to 99 macros atonce.
11

MEMO
12