The Starlaserprinter8 Superset - Star Micronics 8 Series Applications Manual

THE STAR LASERPRINTER 8 SUPERSET
Do you need to send commands?
Here's an important fact: you can set nearly every one of the above
pararnctcrs by sending your printer a correspondingEscape sequence
command. T hoseEscapesequencecommandswilloverrideanysettingyou
make from the front panel.
The mainthingto realizeaboutmostprintercommands,though,is thatyou
probablydon't need to use them. Nearly all popular software packages
includeprinterdrivers,which send commandsto the printer so you don't
haveto typethemyourself.Someof thoseprogramsask you to key in set-
up paramctcn about your printer. Other programs let you put printer
commandsbeforeor insidethe documentyou want to print.
Butmaybethesoftwareyouusedoesn'thaveprinterdriversfor anyprinter
yourStar LaserPnntcr8 emulates:Youstillmightnothaveto writepnntcr
commandsyourself.
Severalcompaniessell programsthat look after laser-printingcommands
for such software. Ask your dealer about
LaserControl, Printworks for
Lasers, PCLPak
and
RAM Resident Printmerge.
There'snotmuchpointin
reinventingthe wheel.
The Star LaserPrinter8 superset
Besides the commands that emulate other printers, your laser printer
understandsfour other commandscalledthe Star LaserPrinter8
superset.
The Star LaserPrintcr
always
understandssupersetcommands;it doesn't
matterwhichemulationmodeyourprinteris usingat the momcnl.Supcrsct
Escape sequencecommandsstafl wilh <ESC> [ so you can quicklyspot
them in a list of commands.
Onesupcrsetcommandgivesyouanotherwayto switchfromoneemulation
to another:you send the ChangeEmulationsupersetcommandinsteadof
using the front panel.The second supersetcommandlets you changethe
printingorientation,so you can print sidewaysup the lengthof the page,
insteadof acrossitswidthintheusualway.Thethirdsupcrsctcommandlets
youchangethepapersize.Thefourthsupersctcommandletsyouchangethe
papercassettefor the dual-cassetteprinter.
29