Controllingtheprinter - Star Micronics 8 Series Applications Manual

and scrollthrougha lowermenu level.And you also press
ENTER
when
youwantto savea particularmenuitcmas thevaluefor a currentparameter
setting.
Thethreelastmenuheadingslet youloadoneversionof theparametersinto
another version. Two move the current parametervalues into either the
initialor power-upparameters.The finalmenu optiongoesthe other way,
lettingyou load the factoryparametersettingsas your currentsettings.
CONTROLLING THE PRINTER
In this sectionyou'llmeet two separatecontrolsover how the Star Laser-
Printer 8 itself works.The INTERFACEparametercontrolscommunica-
tionsbetweentheprinterandyourcomputer.AndtheCOMMANDparame-
ter determines,amongotherthings,whichsetof commandsthe printerwill
use. You can set these INTERFACEand COMMANDparameterson the
front panel.
The INTERFACE parameter
The INTERFACEparameter,the most basic of the Star LaserPrinter8's
configurationsettings,defineshow yourcomputerconnectsto the printer.
You can set the INTERFACEto either Serial or Parallel (in IBM or
Ccntronicsmode).In mostsingle-computer e nvironments you'llopt forthe
fasterParallelinterface;in a multi-usernetworkyoumaybe betteroff with
Serial. ~
The particular printer interface settings don't matter as much as making
sure
theymatchthoseon yourcomputer.If youuse anMS-DOScomputer,you
can set your computer'sparameterswith the MODEcommand.See your
MS-DOSmanual.
MostMS-DOSand AT-compatible computerssupportup to threeparallel
and two serial ports, whichcome on expansionboardsyou plug into your
computer.When you installsuch boardsyou must set switchesto indicate
thenumberandaddressesof theseports.If youspecifythewrongaddresses,
you won'tbe ableto print.
Serial interface: rate
If youask for the Serialinterfaceyou'llhaveto tell yourprintermoreabout
howthe datawill be comingin—in particularits rate and unit size and the
meaningsof any specialbits.
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