Oki Microline 3390 User Manual page 336

Glossary
Most terms are also explained in the context of the different sections. You will find these
explanations via the index.
ASCII Character Set (American Standard
Code for Information Interchange)
A standardized code for the character repre-
sentation in computers which comprises as a
7-bit character set including 128 letters, fig-
ures, special characters and control charac-
ters.
Backspace (BS)
The print head is moved one character posi-
tion to the left.
Bar Code
A small area with bars of different widths
containing coded information. A bar code is
grasped with optical readers. Depending on
the printer type a bar code is part of the in-
cluded fonts or can be printed as graphics.
Baud Rate
The speed of serial interfaces is given in steps
per seconds, the unit is one baud. Common
interfaces transmit exactly one bit per step.
In this case the step speed corresponds to the
data transmission rate (having the unit »bits
per second«, bps).
Bidirectional Print
In the first line the print head moves from the
left to the right, in the second line the direc-
tion is vice versa. This increases the print
speed.
Appendix F: Index / Glossary
Bit
The smallest information unit in data
processing. It can have the value 0 or 1. Eight
bits are combined to one byte. One byte can
represent 256 different values.
Bit Map
A bit map is made up of single dots which
can be black or white. Bit maps are transmit-
ted line-by-line (9 or 24 dot lines each) to the
printer. Its resolution is decisive for the
smallest dot size.
Boldface
Characters are printed twice to emphasize
them. The second printed dot is slightly
shifted to the right.
BS
See »Backspace«.
Buffer
A buffer is a memory area which is reserved
(mostly temporarily). Apart from resident
buffers there are variable (dynamic) buffers.
Their size is automatically adapted to the re-
quirements.
Byte
A group of 8 bits combines to one byte from
which can represent a character or graphic
data. A byte can have a value between 0 and
255.
F-5