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HOW THE STAR
LASEI?PRINTER8
Bit-mappedfonts
STORES FONTS
StarMicmnicshasearnedareputationforattractive,well-designedfontson
itsprinters,andthislaserprintercontinuesthetradition.
TheStarLaserPrinter8 usesbit-mappedfonts.Eachcharacteris madeup
of a patternor “map”of dots,just likecharacterson a dot-matrixprinteror
on yourcomputerscreen.Resolutionmakesthe difference:to makeeach
characterthe StarLaserPrinter8 usestenor twentytimesas manydotsas
a dot-matrixprinteror computerscreendoes.
Everysizeofprintyouwant,pluseveryitalicorboldfaceversion,hasitsown
bitmap andis normallyconsidereda separatefont.It takesa gooddealof
printermemoryto holdallthe fontsyoumightwantat anygivenmoment.
Star LaserPrinter8 fonts can be groupedinto three categories:internal,
cartridge,anddowrdoadablefonts.
Internalfonts
The StarLaserPrinter8 has fourbuilt-ininternalfontsthat resideperma-
nentlyin its read-onlymemory(ROM).That’swhy theseare sometimes
called“residentfonts”:
Courier
Prestige Elite
Tms Romn
Line Printer
Courieristhefaceusedon themostcommonelectrictypewriters.Neither
CouriernorPrestigeElite,anothertypewriterface,areprintedwithpropor-
tionalspacing.TmsRomnhowever,is alwaysspacedproportionally.Tms
Romnis probablythemostreadableandmostpopularcommercialtypeset-
tingface.TheLinePrinterfont,desi~ed originallyformainframecomput-
ers,is smallanddesignedtopackalotofcharactersintoeveryinchofprint
(greatfor spreadsheets).
Withthesemost frequentlyused fontsin ROM,a pagecan be assembled
muchfasterthanifthefontshadtobeloadedintotheprinterforeachprinting
job.
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