Orientation
The direction of print on a page. Printing across the narrow width of a page
is called portrait orientating printing. Printing across the length of a page is
called landscape orientation printing. Both words are derived from art
terminology — a portrait is usually vertical in format while a landscape is
usually horizontal.
Page Description Language (PDL)
A programming language, such as PostScript, that is used to describe
output to a printer or a computer monitor.
Paper Jam
See
jam.
Paper Path
The route that paper and other print media follows in its journey through
the printer. It begins at the paper cassette pick-up point and ends where
media drops into the output bin.
Parallel Interface
A data transmission technique that sends each bit simultaneously over
separate lines. (For this reason, it is generally faster than a serial interface.)
It is normally used to send 1 byte (8 bits) at a time between computers and
printers.
Parity, Parity Check
The addition of overhead bits to ensure that the total number of 1s in a
grouping of bits is either always even (for even parity) or always odd (for
odd parity). This permits detection of single errors. It may be applied to
characters, transmission blocks, or any convenient bit grouping.
Pitch
The number of characters printed per horizontal inch. For example, 12 pitch
means that 12 characters are printed per horizontal inch. Pitch is applied
only to fonts with fixed spacing.
Point Size
The height of a character or symbol in a font. There are 72 points per inch.
This text is printed using a 10 point font.