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The print head is able to print graphics in addition to text because
graphic images are formed on the FX about the same way that pictures in
newspapers and magazines are printed. If you look closely at a
newspaper photograph, you can see that it is made up of many small
dots. The
FX
also forms its images with patterns of dots. The images
printed by the FX can be as finely detailed as the ones at the beginning of
this section.
In its main graphics mode the FX prints one column of dots for each code
it receives, and it uses only the top eight of the nine pins. Therefore,
your graphics program must send codes for dot patterns, one number for
each column in a line. For each of those columns the print head prints
the pattern of dots you have specified.
To
print figures taller than eight dots, the print head makes more than
one pass. The printer prints one line, then advances the paper and prints
another, just as it does with text.
To keep the print head from leaving gaps between the graphics lines as it
does between the text lines, the line spacing must be changed to eliminate
the space between lines. With a change in line spacing, the FX can print
finely detailed graphic images made up of adjacent lines, each no more
than 8/72-inch tall.
Each pass of the print head prints one piece of the total pattern, which
can be as tall or short and as wide or narrow as you desire. You don’t
have to fill the whole page or even an entire line with your graphics
figures. In fact, you can use as little or as much space as you like for a
figure and put it anywhere on the page.
Pin labels
The graphics mode requires a method to tell the printer which pins to fire
in each column. Since there are
256
possible combinations of eight pins,
you need a numbering system that allows you to use a single number to
specify which of the
256
possible patterns you want. By labelling each
pin with its own number, you can use a numbering system that allows
you to specify exactly which pins should be fired.
To fire any one pin, you send its number, according to the numbering
system shown in the figure on the next page. To fire more than one pin at
4-10
Using Software and Graphics