Epson MX-80 User Manual page 48

Chapter 9
The letter "g" has what is called a "descender". The bottom of the letter must
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descend below the usual "bottom line", the 7th line, in order to fit. A " g " or a
" y " looks pretty funny if it can't descend below the "line". Descenders usually
drop 2 dots below the line, requiring the firing of wires 8 and 9. See Appendix G.
Careful examination of our print-out verifies that each print position is 12 dots
high by 6 dots wide. Each graphics character occupies the entire space, whether it
prints a dot in every space or not. Alpha/Numeric characters use only the top 7,
unless there is a descender, in which case they can use the top 9, and all are the
equivalent of 5 blocks wide. The 6th column is blank, used for spacing between
Alpha/Numeric characters. Verify these facts in your own mind before continuing
on.
One last idea. There are ordinarily 5 dot spaces between lines. If a character needs
a descender, however, only 3 dot spaces are left between the bottom of that
character and the top of the line below it.
This all really makes sense if we think it through, doesn't it? You don't have to be
a genius to understand it. Just willing to think it through.
The Line Spacing Is Variable
— Now that we understand the dot matrix concept and the standard 1 2 dot "top-to-
top" vertical spacing, we'll learn how to modify it.
First off, we have a choice of 3 "easy to use" line spacings:
HEIGHT
VERT
SOFTWARE
(INCHES)
DOTS
CODES
1/6
12
Esc " 2 "
1/8
9
Esc " 0 "
7/72
7
Esc " 1 "
Let's try a simple test program and vary the spacing.
Type in:
10 L P R I N T " L I N E ONE"
2 0 L P R I N T " L I N E TWO
3 0 L P R I N T " L I N E THREE"
and RUN.
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