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Printer drivers
Mostsoftwarepackagesalreadyincludethe printercommandsthey need.
Theprogramsthatsendcommandstotheprinterso youdon’thavetoenter
themyourselfare calledprinterdrivers.
Manyprogramsask youto installor configureyourprinter,whichusually
meanskeyingintoamenutheparticularsetupinformationdescribingyour
StarLaserPrinter8. Youentersuchthingsas how youwant to underline,
alterline spacing,or moveto a new printposition.
Someprograms,suchas WordPetiect andthesystemsfromLotusDevel-
opmentCorporation,let youput printerEscapesequencesbeforeor right
insidethedocumentyouwanttoprint.Toturnonboldface,forexarnple,you
mightholddownspecialkeysonyourkeyboard,oftenlabellcdCONTROL
or ALT,as youpressanotherkey.Oryoumightusea specialFunctionkey,
suchas F6.
In fact,to takerealadvantageof yourStarLascrPnnter8’sspecialabilities,
youmightoptforawordprocessorthatletsyouspecifyfontchangeseasily.
WordPerfectandMicrosoftWord arestrongatthis,butarebynomeansthe
onlygoodfontmanipulators.
If youhavetroubleusinga particularprogramwith yourStarLaserPrinter
8, you’ll probably get answers most quickly by asking your software
supplierhowtheprograminteractswithyourprinter.
Inthismanualwerefertoprograms,fontsandotherproductssoldbyseveral
companies.PleaserealizethatmentioningtheseproductsdoesnotmeanStar
Micronicsendorsesthemin any way.
Sending your own printer commands
Withouta printerdriver,sendingcontrolcodesand Escapesequencesto
yourprinterproperlyrequiressomeknowledgeofa programminglanguage
likeBASICor Pascal,or at leastofhowto putsuchcodesintoa program.
Withprogramminglanguages,thecomputerdoesn’tacton thecommands
youput intoa programuntilyoutell it to runthatprogram.
Whenyou give a commandto the printerfroma computerprogram,you
normallyentereachpartofthecommandas a separatecharacter.Thisway
youdon’taffectanythingelsehappeningon thecomputer.Youoftensend
eachcodeor characterin thecommandby givingits positionin theASCII
table,as a decimalor hex number.
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