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For n you enterthe numberof linesper inch you want—any of: 1,2,3,4,
6,8, 12, 16,24 or48. If youentera numberotherthanthesethe printerwill
ignorethe command.
Defining the space and
column
Beforeyou use printpositioningcommands,you first may wantto change
thedefinitionsofthelineorspace(sometimescalled"verticalandhorizontal
motionindexes,"VMIandHMI).Thesedefinitionsdon'tactuallymovethe
print position.Instead, they define two basic units you can use in print
positioncommands.
What'simportantaboutthespaceis thatitdefineshowfartheprintposition
travelsforeverycharacteryouprint(exceptforproportionally spacedtext).
Thespacecan alsobethoughtof asthewidthof a verticalprintcolumn.One
columnwidthisthewidthofthespacecharacterin thecurrentfont,nomatter
whetherit is monospacedor proportionallyspaced.
Occasionallyyou may want to changespace widthto overridethe current
pitchsetting. Let'slook at an example. The spacewidthcomesin unitsof
l/120thof aninch,andtheCourierfontcanprintIOcharacters pcrinch.Each
charactercovers a tenth— 12/120the of an inch, so that font's default
space width is 12 units. If we changeits space width to 6, each character
wouldhalf-overlapthe one beforeit.
If you are using<S1>and <SO>to shiftbetweena primaryand secondary
font,it's a good idea to changethe spacewidth after every shift.
To changethe spacewidthyou send this command:
<ESC>&k n H
in whichforn youcanentera numberfromO(zero)to 840.A widthof Owill
print characterson top of each other;a widthof 840 will print them seven
inchesaprt.
Defining line depth
Thelinedepth(sometimescalledthe"verticalmotionindex")specifieshow
fardownapagetheprintpositionwillmoveforeachlinefeed.Youprobably
won'tuse the linedepthas muchas lines-per-inch. L inedepthcan be more
precisebut it isn'tas easy to calculate.Thelinedepthcomesin multiplesof
l/48th of an inch.
The importantfact aboutthe line depthis that when you changeit you are
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