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PCL5e. Hewlett-Packard's Printer Command Language,
a data stream used for printing.
pel (picture element). (1) An element of a raster
pattern; a point where a toned area on the
photoconductor may appear. (2) On an
all-points-addressable output medium, each pel is an
addressable unit. On a row-column addressable output
medium, the only pel addressable is the beginning of a
character cell.
photoconductor. The material that is used as the
medium for transferring images to paper.
physical page. The form on which the printer is
printing, such as an 8-1/2 x 11-inch sheet of paper. See
also page. Contrast with logical page.
pitch. A unit of measurement for the width of a printed
character. It identifies the number of graphic characters
per inch; for example, 10-pitch has ten graphic
characters per inch. Uniformly spaced fonts are
measured in pitches. Contrast with point.
point. A unit of measurement for describing type sizes.
There are 12 points to a pica, about 72 points to an
inch.
point of origin. The location of the first print position
on a logical page. The point of origin is usually stated in
terms of X and Y coordinates. The point of origin used
by a printer can be affected by factors such as printable
area and forms orientation.
portrait orientation. Pertaining to a display or hard
copy with greater height than width. Contrast with
landscape orientation.
PostScript. (1) A page description language with
interactive graphics capabilities that was developed by
Adobe Systems, Inc. (2) An interpretive programming
language that describes the appearance of text,
graphical shapes, and sampled images on a printed
page by defining a print file format that is the interface
between document composition applications and raster
printing devices.
preprinted form. A sheet of forms containing a
preprinted design of constant data with which variable
data can be combined. See also forms.
Print-Error Marker (PEM). Small, black, rectangular
marks that indicate incorrectly placed data in the valid
printable area.
print position. The physical positions of the characters
constituting a print line relative to the form.
print quality. The quality of printed output relative to
existing standards and in comparison with jobs printed
earlier.
print surface. The side of a form that receives the
printed image.
printable area. The area on a sheet of paper where
print can be placed.
R
raster. (1) In computer graphics, a predetermined
pattern of lines that provides uniform coverage of a
display space. (2) The coordinate grid that divides the
display area of a display device. (3) In this printer, an
on/off pattern of electrostatic images produced by the
laser print head under control of the character generator.
raster font. A font in which each character is defined
by a raster bitmap.
raster pattern. A series of picture elements (pels)
arranged in scan lines to form an image.
raster scan. A technique of generating or recording the
elements of an image by a line-by-line sweep across the
entire output medium.
resident font. Those font data sets that are resident
within the printer. They usually reside on the printer disk
media (diskette or hard disk). These font sets are
usually commonly used fonts. Having them resident
reduces font load time. These fonts may also be used
during offline testing of the printer.
S
scalable font. A font whose graphic characters are
represented by mathematical equations and can be
sized to different heights.
SCS. See SNA character string.
SIMM. Single inline memory module.
simplex printing. Printing on one side of a sheet of
paper. Contrast with duplex printing.
Glossary
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