I
includeprinterdrivers,whichsendcommandsto the printerso you don’t
haveto typethemyourself.Someof thoseprogramsask youto key in set-
up paramettm about your printer. Other programs let you put printer
commandsbeforeor insidethedocumentyou wantto print.
Butmaybethesoftwareyouusedoesn’thaveprinterdriversforanyprinter
yourStarLaserPrinter4 emulates:Youstillmightnothaveto writeprinter
cdmmandsyourself.
Severalcompaniessellprogramsthatlookafter laser-printingcommands
for such software.Ask your dealer aboutf.userControl,Printworksfor
Lusers,PCLPakandRAMResidentPrintmerge.There’snotmuchpointin
reinventingthe wheel.
2.5.2 The StarLaserPrinter4 superset
Besides the commands that emulate other printers, your laser printer
understandsfourothercommandscalledthe StarLaserPrinter4 superset.
The Star LaserPrinterahvaysunderstandssupersetcommands;it doesn’t
matterwhichemulationmodeyourprinterisusingatthemoment.Superset
Escape sequencecommandsstart with ~Sb [ so you can quicklyspot
themin a listof commands.
Onesupersetcommandgivesyouanotherwaytoswitchfromoneemulation
to another:you sendthe ChangeEmulationsupersetcommandinsteadof
usingthecontrolpanel.The secondsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe
printingorientation,so youcan print sidewaysup the lengthof the page,
insteadofacrossitswidthintheusualway.Thethirdsupersetcommandlets
yotichangethepapersize.Thefourthsupersetcommandletsyouchangethe
papercassette.
2.5.3 TheChangeEmulationcommand
YoucanthinkofthesupersetChangeEmulationcommandasthekeytoyour
Star LaserPrinter4. The ChangeEmulationsupersetcommandlets you
switchfmm one set of printercommandsto another“on the fly,”through
software.
ThisisthecommandthatdefineswhatothercommandstheStarLaserPrinter
4 will accept.WithChangeEmulationyouindicatewhichprinteremulation
programyouwantthe printerto use.
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