Oki MICROLINE 385/6 Handbook page 85

Custom Characters
Your printer's custom (downloadable) character feature enables you to desigr
characters and symbols, even entire charactersets if you choose, and download
your computer to the printer. You can design and store up to 96 characters. Yc
characters are assigned to keys of your choice on your keyboard. Then, whe
need a particular character, all you have to do is invoke the custom character set
the key assigned to your character. The actual designing of these character
some work on your part and can become tedious. Once again, we strongly re
using a commercial software package to help you create new characters and
them to your printer. There are also packages that provide character sets that ha
been designed for you.
Epson Custom Characters
The technique of designing your own custom characters is much like that of d
graphic image, but on a much smaller scale. You can design characters in eithi
LQ mode. Simply activate the desired mode before you download the charact
Begin by designing your character on a grid or matrix. The height of the grid is 24
corresponding to a pin on the printer's printhead. The width of the grid, as well a:
of the character itself, depends on the print mode.
Custom Character Widths
Print mode
Matrix width in dots
Character width
10 CPI utility
12
9
12 CPI utility
10
9
10 CPI LQ
36
29
12 CPI LQ 30
29
Proportional
42 (maximum)
37 (maximui
Keep the intended use of your character in mind. If it is to be included with text
top row and bottom two rows of the matrix blank, in keeping with general fc
standards. The character's baseline occurs at the sixth dot from the bottom. Th
of the matrix to the left and right of your character affect where it will appear in
the characters on either side of it. If you do not leave blank columns, adjacent с
may appear to run right into your character.
Your arrangement of dots is translated into code that tells your printer the exa
of each dot within each column. The following example illustrates how this wo