Star Micronics 8 Series - Page 28

I
The Command parameter
The Star LaserPrinter8’s Emulationsetting defines which printer it is
imitating:Hewlett-PackardLaserJetseries II, Xerox Diablo 630, Epson
EX–800or IBMPropnnter.
Mostof theotherCOMMANDvaluesbelowcanbe changedwithEscape
codesas wellas fromthepanel.
Asthe
Number of Copies setting suggests, the Star LaserPrinter 8 can print
citherjust one copy of each page sentto it,or multiple copies up to 99. Most
wordprocessingandotherpackages,however,let youlookaftermultiple
copiesofa documentwithoutusingthiscommand.Youmayconsequently
preferto leavethisat thedefault(onecopy),changingit onlyasnecessary
throughsoftwarecommands.
TwosettingsarconlymeaningfulwhenyouareusingHPLaserJetseries11
commands.First,if youenableMacroOverlay,fromzeroto99macroscan
be active.
Second,mostof thetimeyou’llwantto printacrossthewidthof thepage,
butoccasionallyyoumaywanttoprintupthelengthofthepage.Unlikemost
otherlaser pnntem,yourStar LaserPrinter8 lets you rotatefontsto print
eitherway—youdon’thaveto buyseparatefontsto printsidewaysonthe
page.
Yourprinternormallyfeedsa new formwhenyou rotatea font,to avoid
accidentallyprintingbothorientationsonthesamepage.Butifyouwantto
intermixorientations,just changethevalueof FF on Rotateto NO. (Font
orientationisexplainedinmoredetailbelowwiththeLAYOUTparameter.)
AfewcomputerschangecertaincontrolorEscapecodeswhensendingthem
totheprinter,whichnaturallycausesconfusion.Moreover,manyprogram-
mersprefertoscchexadecimalprintoutwhentheyaredebuggingprograms.
To helpwiththesesituations,youcanmakeyourStarLaserPnntcr8 print
inhexadecimalratherthantheusualASCIImodebyswitchingONtheHEX
DUMPparametersetting(seethesidebarbelow).
ThelastthreeCOMMANDvaluesconcernthephysicalmachine.Youcan
settheintensityoftheprinter’sLCDdisplayfrom 1(faint)to 7 (bright);its
defaultsetting is 4. You can enableor disableboth the beeper and the
WarningAlarm(whichsoundscontinuously).
20