Creating Your Own Characters; Dot Matrix Printing - Star Micronics SG-10 User Manual

CHAPTER 9
CREATING YOUR
OWN CHARACTERS
In this chapter we'll cover:
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Designing and printing your own characters
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Designing proportional characters
In the previous four chapters of this manual you've learned
how to control the SG-lo/15 printer to give you dozens of dif-
ferent typefaces. By using various combinations of pitches,
character weights, and font selections, you can create nearly any
effect you want to in text. And with international character sets
and the special text and graphics characters described in Chapter
8, you can print almost any character you can think of.
But if "almost any character" isn't good enough for you, then
it's a good thing you have an SG-lo/15 printer! With it you can
actually create your own characters. As you'll see in this chapter,
download characters
can be used to print a logo, special characters
for foreign languages, scientific and professional applications,
or any other specific printing task.
DOT MATRIX PRINTING
In order to create download characters, you'll need some un-
derstanding of how dot matrix printers work. They're called "dot
matrix" because each character is made up of a group of dots.
Look closely at some printed characters produced by your
SG-lo/15 and you will see the dots. Figure 9-1 shows how the
letter "C" is formed by printing 15 dots.
The printhead in SG-lo/15 consists of nine thin wires stacked
one atop the other. Figure 9-2 shows an enlarged schematic view
of the front of the printhead, showing the ends of the wires and
their relationship to the printed characters. As you can see, the
capital letters use the top seven wires of the printhead, and the
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