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Note
If your application program does not list the EX printers, you may want
to contact the manufacturer to find whether an update is available.
A quick test
After setting up your application program, print a sample document
to be sure the program and the EX are communicating properly If the
document doesn’t print correctly recheck the program’s printer selection
and installation procedure. If you’re still having trouble printing, consult
the troubleshooting section in Appendix D.
Computer-Printer Communication
Computers and printers communicate by using codes to represent
characters and commands. To be sure the two devices use the same
codes, almost all manufacturers of computers, printers, and software use
the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, which is
usually referred to by its abbreviation, ASCII.
The ASCII standard includes codes for printable characters (letters,
punctuation marks, numerals, and mathematical symbols) and 33 other
codes called control codes: The control codes are for such functions as
sounding the beeper and performing carriage returns. Because the 33
control codes are not enough to control all possible printer functions,
most printer commands are actually a sequence of two or more codes.
One of the 33 control codes, the escape code, signals the beginning of
a sequence of codes. Therefore, most printer commands are sequences
of codes, the first of which is the escape code. This manual uses the
ASCII abbreviation EX for this code.
When using control codes to select printer functions for an
application program or programming language, check the manual for
the program or language to find the appropriate method of inserting the
code into the program. Further details on the methods to use are in the
rest of this chapter.
3-2
Using the EX with Application Programs