Printer drivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesalreadyincludetheprintercommandstheyneed.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprinterso youdon’thavetoenter
themyourselfare calledprinterdrivers.
Manyprogramsaskyouto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter8.Youentersuchthingsashowyouwant to underline,
alterlinespacing,or moveto a newprintposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPetiect andthesystemsfromLotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexarnple,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL
orALT,asyoupressanotherkey.Oryoumightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchasF6.
Infact,totakerealadvantageofyourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordprocessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord arestrongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulators.
If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwithyourStarLaserPrinter
8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendorsesthemin anyway.
Sending your own printer commands
Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofaprogramminglanguage
likeBASICor Pascal,or at leastof howto putsuchcodesintoa program.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youputintoa programuntilyoutellit to runthatprogram.
Whenyou givea commandto the printerfrom a computerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartof thecommandas aseparatecharacter.Thisway
youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeor characterin thecommandby givingits positionin theASCII
table,as a decimalor hexnumber.
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