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DEC LA120/210 Emulation
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Character Size
The FormsPro, FormsMaster and PrintMaster series printers are capable of supporting 10, 12, 13.3, 15,
16.7, 17.14, and 20 cpi, but most emulations support only a subset of these. LA120/210 emulation supports
10, 12, 13.3, and 16.7 cpi via software, but does not support 15, 17.14, or 20 cpi. Every emulation
supports 10 cpi, and we consider this to be the default character pitch. When you use the control panel to
change the “Characters/Inch” value in the forms menu, you are actually changing the default character pitch.
When the printer is turned on (or reset), it will use this character pitch. You can even use a pitch that is not
supported by your emulation, such as 15 cpi with LA120/210 emulation. You can override this pitch
selection via software, by sending an escape sequence. This selects a user specified non-default pitch. For
example, in LA120 emulation, sending ESC [2w will select 12 cpi. Sending ESC [w will re-select 10 cpi,
and thus re-select the default character pitch that was selected in the form setup.
Via software escape sequences, you can select any character pitch supported by the emulation you are using.
All will print as expected, unless you select 10 cpi -- because 10 cpi really selects the default character pitch
from setup. If you really want 10 cpi, then you must set “Characters/Inch” to “10” in the forms menu.
Likewise, if you want to use the default pitch from setup, you must not override it. Either send no character
pitch sequences to the printer, or make sure you re-select 10 cpi via software.
When you select different forms, the default character pitch from setup is selected along with the form. But
you will not see this default pitch if it has already been overridden via software.
Set Character Spacing ESC [ n w
Sets the character spacing as specified in the following table. Omitting n is equivalent to specifying zero.
n character pitch
0 10 cpi
1 10 cpi
2 12 cpi
3 13.3 cpi
4 16.74 cpi
5 5 cpi
6 6 cpi
7 6.67 cpi
8 8.37 cpi
Overrides the “Characters/Inch” value in the forms menu.
Example: The following escape sequence will select 10 cpi character spacing. If “Characters/Inch” was not
set to “10” in the forms menu, the specified default character pitch will be selected instead of 10 cpi.
Escape Sequence: ESC [ w
Hexadecimal: 1B 5B 77
Example: The following escape sequence will select 12 cpi character spacing.
Escape Sequence: ESC [ 2 w
Hexadecimal: 1B 5B 32 77