Star Micronics 150 Printer User Manual


 
Printing Graphics PcOS Series 150 Programmer's Guide
Page 130 Rev G 12/14/99
When printing line graphics, the data path to the printer must be eight bits. Seven-bit serial protocols
will not access the extended characters. The extended characters require that the form be reverse fed.
This means that printing line graphics on the receipt may be less than acceptable.
APA Graphics
The printer is capable of all-points-addressable (APA) graphics. Generating a graphic image by hand
is time consuming and tedious. It is possible to use a graphic package to create a graphic image. The
following procedure will help with the setup.
1. Generate the graphic image in the program of your choice.
2. Make sure the paper size you choose will fit the printer station. If the paper size cannot be set,
print a portion of the page.
3. Print the graphic to a file using a generic, IBM, graphic, 9-pin driver. The standard IBM
resolutions are: 240 x 216 dpi, 120 x 72 dpi, and 60 x 72 dpi. The Series 150 Printer supports all
three resolutions. For good resolution with reasonable speed, use 120 x 72 dpi.
4. Print the graphic image to a file.
5. Edit the resulting file to remove any unwanted form control, and insert the Series 150 form
control.
6. Make the resulting file available to your application, so it will be sent to the printer when
required.
Figure 26 Receipt with APA graphics
As with all graphics, the data path to the printer must be eight bits; 7-bit protocols will not work.
The quad-density graphic resolution will give the best rendition of your graphic image; however, this
mode is slow and prints dark. The printer is setup to provide the best performance in normal
operation. For this reason, quad-density graphics should be limited.
The APA graphic example above was done with double-density graphics. The graphic driver used
made an approximation of the graphic image.
The first part of the graphic file is listed here in hex. This is a hex dump of the first 512 bytes of the
graphic file printed on the above receipt.