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Mostprogramminglanguages,and someversionsof BASIC,let youtreat
theprinterasa fileto whichyoucan senddata.Whenyou writeaprogram
withoneoftheselanguagesyou“open”theprinterfile,printintoit,andthen
“close”thefilewhenyou’redone.Thisprogrammingjargonsoundsfunny
if you‘renot usedto it—butit works.
Afewprogramminglanguagesletyousendcommandsto theprinterathird
way. Applesoft BASICis one. Withit, you can switchbetweenprinter
outputand screenoutput.
Printer emulations
You noticedthat we said “in EX-800mode”up there?Your Star Laser-
Printer8respondstothesameescapesequencecommandsthatseveralother
printersuse.BeingabletoemulateprintersliketheDiabloorEpsonEX-800
letsyouuseyourStarLaserPrinter8witholderprogramsthathaven’tbeen
updatedto takeadvantageoflaserprinters.In fact,becauseitemulatesfour
of themostpopularprinters,youcan use the Star LaserPrinter8 withjust
aboutanymicrocomputerprogramaround.
Unfortunatelythose printers often use different escape sequences for
exactlythe same function.Thoseprinters,moreover,provideescape se-
quencesfor functionsthe Star LaserPrinter8 doesn’tneed, such as the
Diablo’sChangePrintwheelcommand.(Printwheels— sometimescalled
“daisywheels”- areflatmetalorplasticprintelementsthatholdcharacters
outfroma hubon “petals”.)Whenyourprintergetsa commandit doesn’t
support,itjust ignoresthe command.
Macrosaresinglecontrolcodesyoucandefineyourself,whichdothework
ofawholelongseriesofprintercommands.Ifyouareaprogrammeryouwill
be happyto heartheStarLaserPrinter8 supportsup to 99 macrosatonce.
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