Star LaserPrinter 4 Instructions for use

80821860
APPLICATIONS MANUAL

Trademark Acknowledgements
LaserPrinter 4: StarMicronicsCo., Ltd.
PageMaker: Aldus Corporation
BitStream, Zapf Humanist: BitstreamInc.
Canon: CanonInc.
HP, LaserJet ffP: Hewlett-PackardCompany
LaaerControl: InsightDcvelcpmentInc.
IBM PC: IntematicmalBusinessMachinesCorp.
Optim~ Century Schoolbook: LinotypeCorporation
Lotus 1-2-3: LotusDevelopmentCorporation
MS-DOS, Microsoft BASIC, Window%Word: Microsoftcorporation
MultiMate: Multimatcfntematicnal
Epson, FX-8SO:.%&of@s’I Corpusaticn
WordPerfect: WordPerfectCorporation
Ventura Publisher:XeroxCorporation
NOTICE
●All rightsreserved.Reproductionof anypartof this msmsafin anyform whatsoeverwithout
STAR’s expresspermissicitis forbidden.
.‘firecontentsof this manualarcsubjectto changewithoutnotice.
●Alf effortshavebeenmadeto ensuretheaccuracyof thecontentsof thismanualatthetime of
press.However,shouldanyerrorsbe detected,STAR wouldgrszdyappreciatebeinginformed
of them.
●‘llte abovenotwithstanding,STARcanassumeno responsibilityforanyerrorsin thismanual.
@Ccpyright1990StarMicrunicsCo., Ltd.

PREFACE
Aboutthismanual
This StarLaserPrinter4ApplicationsManual givesyoutheinformation
youneedto programthe StarMicronicsLaserPrinter4.
Whywouldyoureadthisbook? Mostpeopleusingalaserprinterjust run
softwarepackageswithbuilt-inprinterdrivers,whichlookaftereverything
theircomputerssendtheirprinters.Butmanyofus- smallbusinesspeople
and home computerusers, not to mentionthe wizards who write those
softwarepackages—wanttobenefitfromallthenewfeaturesofferedbyour
pnntem.
Doyouwantcompletecontroloverthecharacte~andimagesyouprint?Do
youwantto makeyourStarLaserPrinter4worklikesomeearlierkindof
printer? Thismanualprovidesthesoftwarehelpyouneedto getthemost
fromyourLaserPrinter4.
Thoughthis ApplicationsManual is reallyintendedfor intermediateto
advancedcomputerusers,we’vetriedtoaccommodaterelativenovicestoo.
The informationis organizedso youcan walkthroughthe generaltheory
underlyingprinterprogrammingbefore dancinginto specificdetails. It
makessense,therefore,to readthefirstthreechaptersbeforejumpinginto
themiddle.
There’sagoodreasontoreadeachchapterfromitsstarttoo.Peoplelearning
howtouseanew printeroftenfindtheterminologyabarrier. Soinsteadof
buryingwhatmaybenewjargonin aGlossaryattheback,wedefineeach
newtermthefirsttimeitappears.Thewholefirstpartofthechapteronfonts,
forexarnple,definesdifferentaspectsofafont (acollectionofcharactersof
the samesizeandstyle).

What’sin thismanual?
●In “Gettingto KnowYourStarLaserPrinter4“ weprovidealistof the
featuresthat make this asplendidprinter,to help you choosewhich
feahuesyouwantto exploit. There’sabiton howlaserprinterswork,
insideandout. Thechapterthenexplainssoftwarein generalterms,in-
cluding how to write control and Escape commandsto make those
feahues work.
●“ControllingYour Printer” examines the parameters and “superset”
commandsyougivetheStarLaserPrinter4to directpreciselyhowyou
wantittobehave.Theseletyoucontroltheprinter,managepageformats,
andspecifywhatyouwantprinted.
●Formostofus, the“Fonts”chapterwillbeuseful: howtousethefonts
built into the LaserPrinter4, plus those that come on cartridgesor
computerdisks.
●Youmayneverlookatchapters4and5, whichcoverStarLaserPrinter
4commands. YourLaserPnnter4 emulates otherprinters: it imitates
otherprintersby acceptingthe samecommandsthey do. Justthinkof
yourStarLaserPrinter4 as twoprintershidinginsideoneunit.
Ifyouwanttowriteormodifyaprogramthatusesoneoftheseprinters—
theHewlett-PackardLaserJet11PorEpsonFX-850- chapters4and5
showhow yourStar LaserPrinter4can emulateto accordingly. The
chaptersfirstdescribehowtocontroltheprinterandtoformatpages,then
howtqmovetheprintposition,andfinallyhowtousefontsandgraphics.
The chapteron the LaserJetIIP is longer and mom detailedthan the
others.That’sbecauseyouaremomlikelytouselaserprintercommands
thancommandsfordotmatnx printers. (If youhavesoftwa~ designed
only for dot matrixprinters,you may havemanualsfor thoseprinters
anyway.) We recommendyou use LaserJetHP emulationwhenever
possible,withFX-850emulationas yourbackupmode.
cThefinal“TechnicalSupplement”containingthecommandandcharac-
ter mfextmcetableswillprobablygetthumbedthemost.

Conventions
Incidentally,oneofthoseTechnicalSupplementtablessuggestsacoupleof
typographicconventionswe’lluse.Baseten(decimal)numberswillgener-
allybe usedhere;if we haveto use basesixteennumbers(hexadecimal)
we’llexpresslysayso.
Andsecond,thelowercaseLispracticallyidenticaltothenumberone(1ver-
sus 1). BecauselowercaseLisusedinmanycommanddescriptions,we’ll
usethecharacter/to avoidconfusion.
TheStarLaserPrinter4OperationsManual
ThismanualisthecompaniontotheStarLaserPrin?er4OperatwnsiWanuaZ
thatcamewithyourprinter.Alaserprinteris afairlycomplextoolthatre-
quirescareanddelicatehandling.SotousethisApplicationsl14anualbest,
makesureyouunderstandthatOperationsManual first.
Your OperationsManual holds essentialinformationabout the Laser-
Printer4, suchashowto:
●
●
✎
✎
●
●
●
●
unpackandsetup yourlaserprinter,
connecttheStarLaserPrinter4 toyourcomputer’sserialorparallelport,
linktheLaserPrinter4intoanetworkof severalcomputers,
configuretheLaserPrinter4to yourneeds(withvariablessuchaspaper
sizeandspeedof datatransfer),
loadpaperandthetonercartridge,
operatethepanelswitchesanddisplay,
runtheLaserPrinter4self-test,
lookafteryourprintertokeepit in peakcondition.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER1GETTINGTOKNOWYOURSTAR
LASERPRINTER41
1.1StarLaserPrinter4Hardware...........................................................1
1.2StarLaserPrinter4Software........................................................-5
CHAPTER2CONTROLLINGYOURPRINTER 13
2.1PrinterParameters....................................................................O.....13
2.2ControllingthePrinter
....................................................................16
2.3ControllingthePage.......................................................................20
2.4ControllingthePrinting
..................................................................25
2.5TheStarLaserPrinter4SuWmet...................................................26
CHAPTER3FONTS 31
3.1FontTerminology
...........................................................................31
3.2HowtheStarLaserPrinter4StoresFonts......................................34
3.3SymbolSets....................................................................................37
3.4ManagingFonts..............................................................................49
CHAPTER4HPLASERJETIIP COMMANDS 45
4.1HPLaserJetIIPCommands...........................................................45
4.2ControllingthePrinter
....................................................................47
4.3PageOrientation.............................................................................50
4.4MovingthePrintPosition..............................................................54
4.5ControllingFonts............................................................................63
4.6UsingYourOwnFonts......:............................................................79
4.7Graphics..........................................................................................83
4.8Macros............................................................................................88
CHAPTER5EPSONFX-850COMMANDS 93
5.1FX-850Commands........................................................................93
5.2ControllingthePrinter
....................................................................95
5.3FormattingPages...........................................................................-96
5.4MovingthePrintPosition..............................................................99
5.5ControllingFonts..........................................................................104
5.6Graphics
........................................................................................113
CHAPTER6TECHNICALSUPPLEMENT 119
6.1Commandsummary.....................................................................120
6.2SymbolWK...................................................................................125
INDEX 15’7

Gettingto Know Your ‘” “
Star LaserPrinter4
T& chapterintroducesboththehardwareandsoftwareaspectsoftheStar
LaserPrinter4’s personality,from fonts and print engineto ASCII and
Escapesequences.
1.1STARLASERPRINTER4HARDWARE
1.1.1Versatility
YourStarMicronicsStarLaserPrinter4workswithpracticallyallcommer-
cialsoftwareprogramsandcomputers.WithfeaturesthatgobeyondStar’s
easy,affordable9-pinandfast,quality-printing24-pindotmatrixprinters
the Star Laser Printer is the logicalnext step in the series of fine Star
Micronicsprintem.
YourStarLaserPrinter4 producespagesthatlookclosetotypesetquality,
withupto90,000dotspersquareinch—nomoreNLQ(nearletterquality)
compromises.The Star LaserPrinter4producesfour of those pages a
minute.Thesenumberstranslateto aboutfivetimesmore resolutionand
aboutthreetimesmorespeedthanthe averagedot-matrixprinter.
Star’snewprinteris~markablyversatile.Youcanprintcomplicatedforms
(widthwiseif you want)... detailedgraphs... yourown customizedtype-
styles... digitizedphotographs... otherlanguages(includingArabicand
Japanese).
Youcan evenprintyourletterheadandlogo as youprintyourletter,and
reprintthem directlyonto abusinessenvelope.You don’teven need to
removethepapertraytoprinttheenvelope:justslideitintothemanualfeed
slot.
1

TheStarLaserPrinter4isidealfordesktoppublishing.Thepagesitproduces
makeperfectphotocopyorinstant-printmasters.Andallthemaindesktop
publishingsystems,includingAldusCorporation’sPageMaker andXerox
VenturaPubisher,worksplendidlywiththeStarLaserPrinter4.With“page
makeup”programsliketheseyouwillbe able—maybeforthefirsttime—
to delivercommunicationswiththeimpactof top-notchgraphics.
1.1.2Fontoptions
Youcan print withanamazinglywidevarietyoftypefontsandsizes.The
StarLaserPrinter4comeswithsevenbuilt-infonts,whichcanbe printed
from 8.5pointsto 12pointsin size(apointis about1/72of aninch).
Thesefontsare:
Courier 12point Medium
Courier 12point Bold
Courier 12point Italic
Courier 1Opoint Medium
Courier 1Opoint Bold
Courier 1Opoint Italic
LinePrinter 8.5point Medium
Besidesthese,youmaybe abletouseoptionalcartridgesanddisksto give
yourStarLaserPrinter4avarietyof extrafonts,suchasthese:
Helvet linedrawing
LetterGothic presentationfonts
Barcodes opticalcharacterreaderfontsuniversalproductcode
You can load your Star LaserPrinter4’s memory with fonts stored on
computerdisks.Literallyhundredsof fontsare marketedby font-supply
companies.Somefontsareevenobtainablefromcomputer’’usergroups”or
“electronicbulletinboards”.Fontsyougetthiswayareinthepublicdomain,
whichmeansyoudon’tneedto pay alicencefeetousethem.
Ask your Star LaserPrinter4dealeraboutresourceslike these. Desktop
publishingwith laser printemis fast-changingterritory,and some Star
Micronicsstaffpeoplehavefoundelectronicbulletinboardsandcomputer
usergroupsquitehelpfulinkeepingupwiththechangingpace.Ifyouinvest
alittletimethiswayitmayrepayyouwell.
2

1.2.3HowyourIaserprinter communicates
YourcomputercommunicateswiththeStarLaserPrinter4througheither
apardef cableoroneoftwokindsofserialcable.Theprinter’sinterjzce,
the link or boundaryit shareswith your computer,defineswhetherthe
printerwillacceptcharactersandcommandsfromyourcomputeronebyte
or onebit at atime.
Abitisthesmallestunitofcomputerorprintermemory.Ithaseitheralow
orhighelectriccharge,whichwerepresentwiththedigitsOand 1.Usually
eight adjacentbits are groupedto form abyte. Since abyte normally
representsonecharacter,thisstringofbits- O1OOOOO1—mightrepresent
theletterA.
The serialinterfaceacceptsjust onebit at atimefromyourcomputer.A
parallelinterfacecanhandleawholebyteatonce,bymovingdatabitsside-
by-sidealongseparatewires.Youchoosewhichinterfacemethodyouwant
touseby selectingitonthecontrolpanel,asexplainedin yourStarLuser-
Printer4OperationsManual.
1.2.4TheStarLaserPrinter4is acomputer
TheStarLaserPrinter4firstmapsthecharactemto beprintedintoitsown
randomaccessmemory(RAM).Thatis,theprinterbuildsa“picture”inits
memorycorrespondingtothepageyouwanttoprint.Whenthat’sdonethe
printercanreproducethepageontopaperonitsown,lettingyourcomputer
geton withotherwork.
YourStarLaserPrinter4comeswithonemegabyteofRAM—theequiva-
lentof aboutonemillioncharacters.AStarLaserPrinter4optionletsyou
addasecondmegabyteofRAMif,say,youneedtomapfull-pagegraphics
orstemmorefonts. AccompanyingallthatRAMis another512kilobytes
ofreadonlymemory(ROM),containingalibraryofinternalfontsandthe
programsthatlettheStarLaserPrinter4emulateotherprinters.
An Intel 80960KAcomputerchip controlsboth the memory and the
printingmechanisminthepnnter,calledtheprintengine.Theprinterstores
awholepage in RAM beforeprintingit. (If apage is so dense that it
overflowsmemory-a mostunlikelyevent—theStarLaserPrinter4prints
thepageontwo sheets.)
3

I
1.2.5ThePrintengine
It’s the print enginethat-formsthe actualcharactersand graphics.The
enginedirectsitslaser,apinpointstreamoflightpulses,throughmirrorsand
lensesontothesurfaceof apositively-chargedrotatingdrum.
+
Mirror
Lens
Laserbeam
~%a~nirr~ mirror
nductor laser diode
Photosensitive drum
Asthelaserscans,it“draws”thepage-mapstoredinyourprinter’smemory.
Whereveralightpulsestrikes,thattinypartof thedrumdropsto aneutral
electricalcharge.That spot then attractsfine toner powderas the drum
rotatespastthepowdercompartment.
Asthedrumrotatesfurtheritmeetsthepaper.Thepaperitselfisnegatively
chargedbypassingbyafinecoronawire.Sinceoppositechargesattract,the
negativepaperclingsto thepositivedrum.Thenheatandpressurefroma
rollermeltor~usethedotsoftonerontothepaper,preciselyreproducingthe
image.
Finallythepaperslidesintotheoutputbin.Thepaperusuallycomesoutface
downso it stacksin thecorrectsequence.
4

1.2STARLASERPRINTER4SOFTWARE
1.2.1Binaryandhexadecimalarithmetic
1fyou alreadyknow what hexadecimalnumbersare, you can skip this
sectionandgo aheadto readaboutASCII.
The decimalnumbersystemwithwhichwe’reall familiaris apositional
counting system. There’s the “ones” position,the “tens” position, the
“hundreds”positionandsoon.Eachhigherpositionisworthtentimesmore
thanthepositiontotherightofit,sincethedecimalsystemusesthebaseof
ten.Moreover,weneedtensymbolsto showtheactualvaluesthatmaybe
in eachposition.
Thebinarysystemispositionaltoo.There’sthe“ones”position,the“twos”
position,the“fours”position,the“eights”positionandsoon.Inbinaryeach
positionisworthonlytwicethatofthepositiontoitsright.Andweonlyneed
twosymbols- O(zero)and1(one)- toshowthevaluesthatmaybeinany
position.So inbinarywegetnumbersthatlooklike 1O1Oor 10001100.
Thehexadecimalsystemismadeofbase-sixteennumbers.Hexadecimalis
positionalliketheothercountingsystems.Andeachhigherpositionisworth
sixteentimesasmuchasthepositionto itsright.
We need sixteendifferentsymbolsto show all the possiblevalues one
hexadecimaldigit could have. We can use our decimal system’s ten
symbols,butwe’vehadto borrowafewmorefromouralphabetto getall
thesymbolsweneed.Inhexadecimal,therefore,youcanhaveanumberthat
lookslike2C7C,or evenFACE.
Here’showthedecimal,binaryandhexadecimalnumbersystemscompare:
Decimal
o
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Binary
Ooo1
0010
0011
0100
0101
0110
0111
Hexadecimal
o
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Decimal
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Binary
1000
1001
1010
1o11
11(X)
1101
1110
1111
Hexadecimal
8
9
A
B
c
D
E
F
5

Theimportantthingtorealizeisthatthere’smorethanonewaytoshowthe
samenumericvalue.Computerprogrammers,forexample,occasionallyuse
thehexadecimalsystembecauseit’sso compact.(Programmersoftenjust
say“hex”.)Thisbinarynumber:
10100101111111010011011111101101OO1O11O1OOOO1OO1
looksquiteabittidierwhenitiswrittenasA5FD37ED2D09,whichmeans
thesamething.
1.2.2TheASCIItable
Wheredoesthe Star LaserPrinter4get the charactersand instructionsit
needsto printin the firstplace’?It getsthemfmm yourcomputer,which
sendsastreamof textandcommandsto yourprinter.
Theprogramin yourcomputerthatcontrolseverythingsentto theprinter
(calledthe printer driver) will usuallybe includedwith your computer
programs;suchasyourwordprocessor.Butthecommandscouldalsocome
fromaprogramyou’vewritten,perhapsinBASIC,aprogramminglanguage
thatusescommonEnglishwords.
Internally,computemand printersuse only the binarynumbersystemto
representboth commandsand all the alphabetic,numericand otherkey-
boardsymbols.Nearlyallof thosemachinesusethesameschemeto code
thosesymbols,theAmericanStandardsCodefor InformationInterchange
(ASCII).
Anexample:inourfamiliardecimalsystem,binary01001010addsuptothe
number 74. Dependingon which program your printer is using, it can
interpretthatbinarystring01001010aseitherthenumber74orthesymbol
J. The printerstoresthesymbolJatposition74in atablein itsmemory.
Thateight-bitbinarystring,orbyte,canbebrokenintotwohalves.Theleft
orhigh-orderpartcontaining0100is calledthezoneportion;therightpart
holdingthe1010iscalledthedigitsportion.Andinthehexadecimalnumber
system,the zone and digitparts of that byte are representedas 4and A
respectively(lookthemup in thelistabove).
SothelaserprinterunderstandsthesymbolJas 01001010,whichwecan
also representas the decimalnumber74 or the hexadecimalnumber4A.
We’veprintedthisbyteverticallyandhorizontallybelow,showinghowit
addsup to decimal74 andhex4A.
6

ox27 =o
1x 26 =64
0x25=o
0x24=o
1X23 = 8
0x2’ = o
1x21 = 2
0x2° = Q
74 Decimal
zone digits
0100 1010 Binary
4AHexadecimal
The ASCIItablein theTechnicalSupplementshowsall theseequivalent
~presentationsfor the symbolsyourlaserprinterunderstands.The table
organizestheminascendingorder.Infact,ASCIIisorganizedinawaythat
actuallymakessense.
Flipbackthereforaquicklookrightnow.Seehowyoucanslicethetable
into clumpsof 16or 32, basedon what’sin the zoneportionunderthe
hexadecimalcolumn?Theseclumpsmakesubgroupsof similarsymbols:
●hex00 to IF arethecommandsymbolscalledcontrolcodes,
●hex20 to 40 arethecommonkeyboardsymbolsandnumerals,
●hex41 to 60 arecapitallettersandthelesscommonkeyboardsymbols,
●hex61to 7F arelowercaselettersandafewfinalsymbols.
That takes care of the first 128ASCII symbols.However,nearly every
cofnputerand printer manufacturertreats the second half of the table
differently. Hewlett-Packard,for example,puts avariety of accented
foreignlanguagecharactemintopositions128-255(oftenreferredtoashigh
ASCIZ).Epson gives you achoice of either italics charactersor IBM
charactergraphics.
1.2.3Controlcodes
TheASCIItableshowssymbolslikeJor2 thewaytheyactuallyprintonthe
laserprinter.ButASCIIincludesmorethanjust printablecharacters:none
of thecontrolcodecommandsatthebeginningof thetableactuallyprint.
Instead,when your computersendsacontrolcodeto the laser printerit
makesyourprinterdo otherthings,suchas sounditsbeeper.
7

Controlcodesmostlyhandlecommunicationsbetweenyourcomputerand
theprinteratthelowestlevel,atcablelevel.Forexample,acoupleofcontrol
codesmakesuretheprinterbuffer(yourprinter’sstoragememory)doesn’t
overflow.In this book we’ll indicatecontrol codes enclosedby angle
bracketsto their abbreviationsin the table:=&I%-meansthe Form Feed
controlcode,whichadvancestheprintertothenextpagejust asthePRINT
button.does.
1.2.4Escapesequences
Controlcode 27, cESG or Escape,is aparticularlyimportantone for
printers.Totellyourprinterallthethingsyoumightneed- settingmargins,
sayingwhereto print,choosingaparticularfont,startinggraphicsand so
on- requiresmanymorethanjusttwoorthreedozencontrolcodes.Sothe
<ESC> control code has aspecial meaning:<ESC> means “the next
characterspecifiesacommand,notsomethingto beprinted”.
Thereforeif yousendjust thecharacter4to theprinterit willprinta4and
that’sall. Butif yousendthecESC>codejustbeforethe4 thentheprinter
(in FX-850 mode)will switchoverto italicstext.Extendingthe control
codesthiswaygivesyoumanymorecommandsto controlyourprinter.In
fact,these“Escapesequences”makeupmostoftheStarLaserPrinter’skm-
guage.
In thisbookwe’llleavespacesbetweencharacterswhenwe showescape
sequences.You’llfind
<ESC>(S@IOh12vos 3T
abit morereadablethan
<ESC>(sOp10h12vOs3T
Butrememberthatyouarenotto sendthosespacesif yousendcommands
to theprinter.
To sumup,printercommandsareoftwotypes.Acontrolcodeis asingle-
charactercommandthattellsyourprintertodosomething,likemovedown
oneline.AnEscapesequencecontrolsaprinteroperationtoo,butis more
thanonecharacterlong.Sincetheyarecommands,neithercontrolcodesnor
escapesequencesareusuallyprintablecharacter.
8

1.2.5Printerdrivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesahvadyincludetheprintercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprintersoyoudon’thavetoenter
themyourselfa~ calledprinter drivers.
Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter4.Youentersuchthingsashowyouwant to underline,
alterlinespacing,ormoveto anewprintposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPerfectandthesystemsfromLotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,let youputprinterEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexample,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabelledCONTROL
orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.OryoumightuseaspecialFunctionkey,
suchasF6.
In fact,totakerealadvantageofyourStarLaserPrinter4’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordpmcessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord a~ strongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulator.
If youhavetroubleusingaparticularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter
4, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleasemalizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendomesthemin anyway.
1.2.6Sendingyourownprintercommands
Withoutaprinterdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASIC!or Pascal,or atleastof howtoputsuchcodesintoaprogram.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youputintoaprogramuntilyoutellitto runthatprogram.
Whenyou giveacommandto the printerfrom acomputerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartofthecommandasaseparatecharacter.Thisway
.youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningonthecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeorcharacterin thecommandbygivingitspositionin theASCII
table,as adecimalor hexnumber.
9

1.2.7A BASICexample
Here’sanexampleyoucantypeinrightnow,toclarifywhatwe’resaying.
It’s written in MicrosoftBASIC for acomputerthat uses the MS-DOS
operatingsystem,so if youhaveadifferentcomputeror BASICyoumay
havetotranslateabit.We’llshowcommandsthewaythey’rewrittenforan
Epsondot-matrixprinterbecauseyourStarLaserPrinter4understandsthose
commands.
TheLPRINTcommandsallsenddatatotheprinter.Ifthedataissomething
youwantprintedyoujust putit in quotationmarks.If thedatais acontrol
codeyoujustsaywhexeitisintheASCIItable,givingitspositionasaregular
decimalnumber.
BASICusuallysendsacarriagereturnafterevery80character, tokeepthe
print positionmovingwhenit hitstheendof aline.Unasked-forcarriage
returnscanmessup yourprinting,however,so it’sagoodhabitto putin a
WIDTHstatementas shown.Thatletsus printoverthewholepagearea.
The<BEL>controlcode—ASCIIcode7—is sentinBASICasCHR$(7).
ThecESG codeitselfisCHR$(27).Andbecausewe’reusingthecharacter
4aspartof an cESC>command,wetypeCHR$(52)insteadof“4”.
So if youstartBASICandtypethesecommands:
NEW
10 ‘ EXAMPLE
20 WIDTH “LPT1:“,255
30 LPRINTCHR$(7)
40 LPRINTCHR$(27);CHR$(52)
50 LPRINT“ITALICS!“
60 END
RUN
youmaketheprinter(inFX-850mode)firstsounditsbell-most peoplecall
it abeeper—andthenprinttheline:
ITALICS!
Generally,whenyousendacontrolorEscapecodeitstaysactiveuntilyou
deactivateit. That’swhathappensin line40 of our programabove.All
subsequenttextwillbe italicizeduntilyouchangeitbacktouprightagain.
10

1
Mostprogramminglanguages,andsomeversionsof BASIC,let youtreat
theprinterasafileto whichyoucansenddata.Whenyouwriteaprogram
withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,printintoit,andthen
“close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny
if you’renotusedto it—butit works.
Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandstotheprinterathird
way. Applesoft BASICis one. Withit, you can switchbetweenprinter
outputandscreenoutput.
1.2.8Printeremulations
You noticedthat we said“in FX-850mode”up there?Your StarLaser-
Printer4respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveraloiher
printemuse.BeingabletoemulateprintersliketheEpsonFX-850letsyou
useyourStarLaserPrinter4witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeenupdated
to take advantageof laserprinters.In fact,becauseit emulatestwo of the
mostpopularprinters,youcanusetheStarLaserPrinter4withjustaboutany
microcomputerprogramaround.
Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequencesfor
exactlythe samefunction.Thoseprinters,moreover,provideescapese-
quencesfor functionsthe Star LaserPrinter4doesn’tneed, such as the
Epson’s Half-SpeedCommand.When your printer gets acommandit
doesn’tsupport,itjust ignoresthecommand.
Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothework
ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyouareaprogrammeryouwill
behappyto heartheStarLaserPrinter4supportsup to 99macrosatonce.
11

MEMO
12

Controlling
YourPrinter
YoucancontrolyourStarLaserPrinter4intwoways,eitherthmughcontrol
panelparameters or throughsoftwarecomrnana!s.In thischapterwe will
considerprintercontrolsmostlyfromtheperspectiveof thecontrolpanel.
However,we’llalsomeetfourspecialcommands,the StarLaserPrinter4
superset.
Throughoutthismanualweapproachparametersandcommandsthesame
way:overallprinter-levelcontrolsficst,thenpage-levelcontrols(layoutand
printpositionmovements),andfinallycharacter-levelcontrols(fontsand
graphics).We’lldiscusstheseingeneraltermsin thischapter.
Thespecificcommandsyoucansendto yourprintertomakeit emulate,or
work like, other printers are describedin chapters4and 5. The most
importantfact aboutprintercommands,though,is thatyoumaynot even
needto knowhowtousethem.If yoursoftwaresystemsincludetheirown
printer drivers, you may want to read only this chapter and skip all of
chaptem4and5.
2.1 PRINTERPARAMETERS
2.1.1 Thecontrolpanel
The easiestwayto controlyourStarLaserPrinter4is throughits control
panel,asexplainedin moredetailin yourStarLzserl%nter4Operations
Manual.
Whenyourprinteris online(connectedto and underthe controlof your
computer),its controlpanel displayshows you the printer’sstatus.For
example,the READYlight blinkswhen the printeris warmingup. The
DATAlightcomesonwhenevertheprinterisholdingdataithasn’tprinted
yet.
Whenyoupressthe[ONLINE]button,theprinterchangesfmmnormalto
ofline modeandcannotacceptdatafromyourcomputer.Whentheprinter
isofflineyoucanusetheotherpanelbuttons.Forinstance,if youpressthe
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[TEST/>]buttonforthrecsecondhandreleaseitjustafterSTATUSSHEET
isdisplayedwhenthelaserprinterisoffline,itfinishesprintingthecurrent
pageandthenfeedsin andprintsastatussheet.
Somebuttonson thepanellet youperformtwo functions.Holdingoneof
those buttons down, rather than quickly pressing it, selects adifferent
operation.For example,holdingdown the [TEST/>]buttonfor over six
secondsafterSTATUSSHEETis displayedmakestheStarLaserPrinter4
printitstestpattern.
2.1.2 Parametersettings
Fromthe panelyoucan alsochangethepararnetemthatdefinehow your
printerworks.Parameterjust means“variable”. If you’refamiliarwith
earlier kinds of pnntem, you’llunderstandthat laser printerparameters
controlpn%ymuchthesamethingsDIPswitchesdo.(ADIPswitchor’’dual
in-linepackageswitch”isasetofsmallswitchesthatcontrolvariousprinter
functions.)
Theprinterstorestheseparametemaseasy-to-useprogrammenuitemsthat
youcan selectfromthecontrolpanel.Theseparametemspecify:
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emulation(whatprinterthe StarLaserPrinteremulates)
numberof copies(thenumberof copiesof eachpageto beprinted)
character(whatcharacterfontto print)
job size(whatsizeof papertheprinterwilluse)
layout(howpageswillbe formatted)
paperfeed(howpaperwillbe fed)
page,mode(partialor full)
interface(howtheprintercommunicateswithyourcomputer)
Ad@auZtisthesettingtheStarLaserPrinter4willuseifnoneisspecifically
selectedbyaprogram.Whenyoufirsttumon orlaterresetyourprinterthese
defaultsettingswilltakeeffect.
Yourmainuseforthecontrolpanelwilllikelybeto setthedefaultsettings
youwantfor theseparameters.However,youwillprobablyfmdthepanel
convenienttoo when you wantto switchbetweenmanualand automatic
paperfeed.
2.1.3 Four versionsofparameters
TheStarLaserPrinter4actuallystoresfourversionsof theseparametem:
sits “ultimatedefault”factorysettings,
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