The Basics of Printers

Everything You Wanted to Know About Printers

To the Reader
In the past few years, the number of printer users has climbed rapidly as a result of the spread of the personal computer. Printers come in all sorts of types and models from simple family printers to the high resolution printers used by designers or editors. Internally, they are all different and so are their printing capabilities. This book attempts to explain the basics of printers and their relationship with computers in a way that should make it easy for beginners to understand. Of course, not everything to do with printers is covered herein, but knowing the basics of how printers work and printing in general should help towards solving new questions and problems.

How This Book is Organized

This book is divided into Basics and Technical Information. As the title suggests, Basics provides general information about printers. On the other hand, Technical Information explains in greater detail the technical matters and terminology presented in the first part of the book. The book has been organized this way so that reading through it all will help the printer student to progressively build up his understanding of printers. Technical matters have also been addressed individually to enable quick reference on anything the reader wants to know or is having trouble understanding.

Copyrights
Microsoft, MS, MS-DOS and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US. Macintosh, KanjiTalk, AppleTalk, LaserWriter, LocalTalk, QuickDraw and TrueType are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. in the US. IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the US. PC-98 is a trademark of NEC Corporation. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the US. Other names of companies, hardware and software used in this publication are the trademarks, registered trademarks or registered product names of their respective companies. Standard symbols and are not used in this book.

Table of Contents
Basics
Chapter 1 What is a Printer? ......................................... 3 Chapter 2 Types of Printers .......................................... 7 Printers by Their Mechanical Features .................... 7 Printers by Printed Color ....................................... 15 Printers by Printer Language ................................ 16 Printers by How They Are Used ............................ 20 Chapter 3 Printer Construction .................................. 25 Ink Jet Printer ........................................................ 25 Laser Printer .......................................................... 28 Chapter 4 Printing Process ......................................... 31 Data Processing .................................................... 32 Processing on Computer ....................................... 33 Sending Print Data ................................................ 39

Technical Information
1. PDL and GDI ................................................................. 51 PDL ....................................................................... 51 GDI ........................................................................ 58 2. Text and Fonts .............................................................. 61 Character Set ........................................................ 61 Typeface ................................................................ 62 Typestyle ............................................................... 62 Size ....................................................................... 63 Orientation ............................................................. 64 3. Graphics ....................................................................... 65 Bitmapped Graphics .............................................. 65 Vector Graphics ..................................................... 65

ii

Gradation Processing ............................................ 66 4. Printer Controller ......................................................... 73 Spooling ................................................................ 74 Buffering ................................................................ 75 Rasterizing ............................................................ 75 5. Printer Interface ........................................................... 77 Parallel Interface ................................................... 77 Serial Interface ...................................................... 81

Appendix
Glossary ........................................................................... 87 Index ................................................................................. 93

iii

What is a printer?

Basics

Chapter 1

What is a printer?

Chapter 1

What is a Printer?
A printer is a machine that prints out data processed on a computer. When the graphics and text processed on the computer are sent to the printer, the printer translates the data and prints it out.

Language Commands Images

Post cards Name Cards In-house/Neighborhood flyers Transparency film Printed matter

DTP  See p. 88.

Most of the time, data is printed on plain paper, but printing can be done on labels, transparency film and other media, too. Printouts can of cause be in black-and-white though a recent popular trend is the full color printer which renders a near-photographic picture quality. Also, with all the computer networking going on these days, it is no longer rare to see an office setup with multiple computers connected to a single printer. Printers today are being widely used for everything from printing postcards and personal documents to commercial uses such as DTP (desk top publishing).

Chapter 1

Printer Environment
Printers are used in all sorts of environments such as the home and office. Depending on the objective at hand, one computer can be connected to one printer or multiple computers can share a single printer. Printers are selected and used according to the specific environment and objectives. When used by just one person In this configuration, one computer is connected to one printer. Generally, the connection is made with a Centronics cable between the printer port on the computer and the interface port on the printer. However, the type of cable and the configuration of the connectors will differ according to the computer and printer. (Centronics  See p. 78.)

Centronics (parallel interface)* cable, etc.

When connected to the printer port of the computer in the above configuration, the printer is referred to as a local printer. * The interface generally complies with IEEE 1284 and, when not, IEEE 1394 or some other standard. (IEEE 1284  See p. 79. IEEE 1394  See p. 82.) When used by many persons in a network In this configuration, a single printer is used with multiple computers which themselves are connected to a network. Generally, this is the kind of configuration used in offices and schools. Using one printer for multiple computers is called sharing (the printer). And, a printer which is used via a network is called a network printer. Printers can be shared in one of two basic ways: one is to use the local printer of a computer connected to a network as a network printer, while the other is to directly connect the printer to the network.

What is a printer?

When a local printer is used as a network printer In general, a Centronics cable is used to connect a computer to the printer. The computer connected to the printer must also be connected to the network. The computer is set up for sharing the printer. In this way, a local printer can be used as a network printer. When a printer is connected directly to a network A network cable* is used to connect the printer to the network. The printer must be network compatible, that is to say, equipped with a network port such as a 10BASE-2 or 10BASE-T port. (10BASE-2 and 10BASE-T  See p. 87.) * In an Ethernet LAN, a 10BASE coaxial cable is generally used for the network connection. This 10BASE coaxial cable is of simple construction and is tough against noise. It is used in LANs where the transmission speed is between 10 kbps and several Mbps. However, the cables must be kept short because signals weaken considerably over long distances.

Hub (Central connecting device) 10BASE-T Cable*, etc.

<Printer B> Centronics (parallel interface) cable, etc.

<Printer A>

It is also possible to connect multiple printers to multiple computers and, from within this configuration, select a printer according to a specific purpose. * There are also 10BASE-5, 10BASE-2 and other standards. (10BASE-5  See p. 87.)

Chapter 1

Data Sent from the Computer to the Printer

Data processed on the computer is sent to the printer and printed out there. This data will differ according to the type of printer. To keep the explanation simple for now, see the outline. For more information, see Chapter 4 Printing Process. Sending an image to the printer The selected image is prepared as bitmap data on the computer and sent to the printer. This image is sent as binary data which describes the image to be printed. (Binary data  See p. 90.) The printer can understand this data, but people cannot read it. This approach generally brings down the cost of the printer, but it also increases the burden placed on the computer. However, the printing speed can be made faster by increasing the computer processing capacity. Two typical graphic printing systems are GDI and QuickDraw. (GDI  See p. 17 and 58. QuickDraw  See p. 17.)

Images Commands Language

Commands Other than text and graphics, the computer sends commands which instruct the printer tofor exampleposition text or graphics. Because printer control depends on commands, when intricately laid out document data is sent, the image on the screen and that of the printout may differ. Two typical printer control command systems are ESC/P and PCL. (ESC/P  See p. 17. PCL  See p. 16 and 51.) Language The data to be printed is sent to the printer in language format. The program which controls the printer is sent to the printer in a readable format (text file). This data can be saved as a file and manipulated by the user. In general, printing is done via a dialog between the computer and the printer. The typical printer control language is PostScript. (PostScript  See p. 16 and 54.)

Types of printers

Chapter 2

Types of Printers
The printer is constantly being improved in terms of performance, price, printing quality and other aspects which users demand. As a result, many types have been developed with diverse mechanisms, printing techniques, data processing techniques and other features. Many printers are in use today, but they can be categorized by their mechanical features, printed colors, printer language, etc.

Printers by Their Mechanical Features

When categorized by mechanical features, printers are roughly divided into impact printers and nonimpact printers. Then, these two types are further divided into other types.
Printers by mechanical features Impact printer Character printer Dot matrix printer Thermal transfer printer Thermal printer Electrostatic printer Electrophotographic printer Ink jet printer Laser printer LED printer, LCS printer Thermal jet printer Piezoelectric printer Daisy wheel printer Drum line printer

Nonimpact printer

Thermal wax transfer printer Thermal dye transfer printer

Impact printers
Printers which hit the print medium are called impact printers. Working on the same principle as the typewriter, they have existed for a long time. A typewriter has keys that look a lot like those of a computer keyboard. Pressing a key hammers the character for that key onto the paper. Because an ink ribbon (thin strip of cloth impregnated with ink) is stretched between the paper and the character, the ink is transferred to the paper and printed there. Impact printers use either one of two basic printing techniques: character printing with which the characters themselves are printed or dot matrix printing with which dots are printed until eventually forming a character. With both techniques, printing is loud and the printout is not so clear. Nevertheless, because continuous form paper can be used, this technique is still used today to print out program source codes and data lists.
7

Chapter 2

s Character printing This printing technique is based on the principle of the typewriter. In fact, the print mechanism is exactly the same as that of the typewriter. When a key is pressed, the character of that key is hammered onto the paper. An ink ribbon (thin strip of cloth impregnated with ink) is stretched between the paper and the character, so the ink is transferred and printed on the paper as hammering goes on. With character printers, a daisy wheel on which the characters have been arrayed in a radial pattern rotates as characters are selected. The characters are then hammered onto the paper with a hammer. This type of printer is called a daisy wheel printer, while there are also other types such as drum line printers which have sped up the printing process.

Paper Drum Character

Hammers Ribbon

[Advantages] Continuous form and heat-sensitive multipart form can be used. [Disadvantages] Only the loaded font can be used. Printing is slow. Printing is loud. s Dot matrix printing In this technique, characters are printed as a matrix of dots, thus the name. However, the print head is not shaped like a matrix. The print head is a row of needle pins called wires. The wires are moved and hammered to print the dots on the paper. The dots eventually build up the character. The wires are selected using
8

Types of printers

electric signals from the computer. This technique offers more freedom compared to character printing because the latter is only capable of printing the provided characters. Hence, more characters and fonts can be printed with a dot matrix printer. Moreover, if a lot of wires are arrayed into a line, the whole line can be printed at the same time. Also, the clarity of the character can be enhanced by increasing the number (density) of wires per character.

Movable block Spring Electromagnet

Needle pin Ink ribbon Paper

Needle pin

Example character printout

[Advantages] Continuous form and heat-sensitive multipart form can be used. [Disadvantages] There is a limit to the number of usable fonts. Printing is slow. Printing is loud. Because the character is composed of dots, printed characters have rough contours.

Chapter 2

Color Printing on Impact Printers

Some impact printers can print in color. The print head is the same as that used for monochrome printing, but color is achieved by working with the ink ribbon. In this case, the ink ribbon has a wide band and is impregnated with cyan, magenta, yellow and black. By changing the angle of the ribbon cassette, the printed color is changed.

abcdeABCDE12345 abcdeABCDE12345 abcdeABCDE12345 abcdeABCDE12345

abcdeABCDE12345 abcdeABCDE12345 abcdeABCDE12345

Printers by Print Unit

Printers can also be categorized by the amount of data printed at a time or print unit. In this case, they are serial printers, line printers and page printers. Serial printer The data received from the computer is printed out sequentially one character at a time. One character is printed each time the print head passes from left to right or vice-versa. Because the mechanism is simple, the printer is compact and lowpriced. On the other hand, printing speed is proportional to the speed at which the print head travels, so this kind of printer is not apt for high speed. Line printer The data received from the computer is printed out sequentially one line at a time. Because each pass of the print head prints a full line, it is faster than a serial printer. However, as in the case of a drum line printer, the print head must be large enough to contain a full line, therefore it does not lend itself to downsizing very well. But, with an ink jet printer, the print head for a full line is not necessary, so you do see smaller printers. Page printer The data received from the computer is printed out in a batch one page at a time. Generally, the same electrophotographic technique applied with copiers is used. Printing is very fast.
10

Types of printers

Nonimpact printers
Nonimpact printers use heat or other scientific means to print text and graphics, so there is no direct contact between the print head and print medium. Some nonimpact techniques are thermal printing, electrophotography, ink jet, thermal transfer and electrostatic printing. All of these are quiet and render sharp clarity, thus nonimpact printing is the mainstream in printers today. s Thermal printing Similar to thermal facsimiles, printing is done by heating the print head (thermal head) and transferring this heat to a heat-sensitive paper. The principle is basically the same as thermal transfer. More information can be found in Everything You Wanted to Know About Facsimiles. [Advantages] The print mechanism is simple in construction, so printers are low-priced and highly reliable. [Disadvantages] Paper yellows when exposed to sunlight. Plain bond paper cannot be used. s Electrophotographic printing This technique uses a photoconductor similar to that employed in copiers. It prints one full page at a time in contrast to the one character or one line of impact dot matrix printers and other types of nonimpact printers. Compared to other techniques, the mechanism of optical section and data processing circuitry are more complex and sophisticated, but printing is high speed and high quality. Laser, LED and LCS printers are all electrophotographic LED and LCS printers, but they differ in the way the light is projected on the drum. printing Otherwise, they are similar in construction and principle, so they  See p. 12 and 89. cannot really be differentiated from their outward appearance. Laser printer  See p. 28. Laser printing In this technique, a laser draws the image on a photosensitive drum. Toner is then applied to the drum and subsequently transferred to the paper. Heat is required to fix the image on the paper, so power consumption is high. Before, this type of printer was expensive, so it was not used by the average family. However, recently, new models consume less power and cost less money, so the number of personal laser printer users has started to grow.

Thermal transfer printing  See p. 13.

11

Chapter 2

LCS  See p. 89.

LED and LCS printing With LED (Light Emitting Diode) printing, thousands of tiny LEDs are arrayed side-by-side into a row. When lit, the light is projected through a lens and directly onto a photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image. With an LCS (Liquid Crystal Shutter) printer, a matrix of liquid crystal dots which act as tiny shutters is used instead of a laser beam. The electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum by turning the shutters ON/OFF. Both of these techniques are without the moving parts needed for scanning, so their construction is simpler than that of a laser printer. [Advantages] Printing is high speed and high quality. [Disadvantages] Power consumption is high. It is more expensive than other popular types of printers.

Ink jet printer  See p. 25.

s Ink jet printing Printing is done by spraying ink droplets onto the paper. The principle is very simple. Because of this and a comparatively simple mechanism, printing costs are low and high quality color printouts are quick and easy. It is also quiet and fast, thus it is the most popular type of printer with personal users today. In addition to the ink spraying technique, there are also thermal jet and piezoelectric techniques. Thermal jet printing In this technique, the ink chamber is heated to form bubbles in the ink. The ensuing pressure is what sprays the ink. The ink and heater are housed in a small box (ink chamber) with a small hole in it. As electric current is applied to the heater, the temperature rises. The ink thus boils which makes the bubbles. As a result, pressure inside the ink chamber rises and forces the ink out through the hole. Piezoelectric printing A piezoelectric device changes shape (elongates) when an electric voltage is applied to it. This technique uses such a device to spray ink. The ink is in a small box with a hole in it. The piezoelectric device is mounted near the box. A voltage is applied to the device and it elongates whereby pressing the wall of the box inward. This drives up the pressure inside the box and squirts the ink out through the hole.

12

Types of printers

[Advantages] Printing is quiet. Printouts are high quality. Printing is fast, though not as fast as a laser printer. Printers are inexpensive. [Disadvantages] Ink runs when printed on plain bond paper. The nozzle through which the ink is sprayed can clog. s Thermal transfer printing This technique applies a heated print head to an ink coated ribbon. The ink melts and is transferred to the paper. A special type of paper is needed to ensure quality printouts, but it is also possible to print on plain bond paper because a ribbon is used. Heat-sensitive paper can be used as well, in which case an ink ribbon is not needed. For color printing, ribbons are coated with cyan, yellow, magenta and black ink. From a mechanical perspective, the process is very similar to thermal printing. Nowadays, because of the popularity of ink jet printers, thermal transfer printing is not seen much except perhaps with portable word processors. In any case, it is the choice of many design studios because it does offer high density color printing and the printer itself costs less than electrophotographic printers.
Paper

Ther

print Therm rine a l h eat p t r

Print Thermal head

mal

heat

Thermal head

Ribbon

Ribbon cartridge

13

Chapter 2

[Advantages] Printing is quiet. Photographic-grade printouts can be obtained with special paper. Printing can be done on plain bond paper. [Disadvantages] Blurring occurs with plain bond paper. Printing costs are high, especially with color printing, because disposable ribbon cartridges are used. s Electrostatic printing In this technique, the image is formed by impressing a special type of paper with an electrical charge and then applying toner to it. The toner is then transferred to the paper. The technique is often used with plotters and not so often with general printers.

14

Types of printers

Printers by Printed Color

In terms of printed colors, printers are divided into monochrome and color printers. The former prints only in black, while the latter can print anywhere from 2 to 4 or more colors. The colors are provided as ink, toner or ink ribbons.
Printers by printed color Monochrome printers

Color printers

2-color printers

Limited-color printers Full-color printers

Monochrome printer
This kind of printer prints only one color using ink, toner or an ink ribbon. Shades are expressed by changing the size of the printed dot so as to form a gradation. For this reason, photographs come out like a black-and-white photograph.

Color printer
Color printers print anywhere from 2 to 4 or more colors using ink, toner or an ink ribbon. There are two basic ways to represent colors: one is to change the color itself according to the location on the paper while the other is to mix colors into a new color. s 2-color and limited-color printer These printers change the color according to the print location. Gradation is possible with all colors, but since colors are not mixed, Gradation printouts are limited to those colors in the printers ink, toner or ink  See p. 66 and 70. ribbon. s Full color printer Full color printers both apply gradation and mix primary colors cyan, yellow and magenta plus black. As a result, many colors can be expressed and color photographs are printed out in full color. For more information on color expression in printing, see Everything You Wanted to Know About Color Copiers.
15

Chapter 2

Printers by Printer Language

To print something out, the printer translates the commands and programs sent from the computer, feeds the paper, and moves the print head, drum and other parts. These commands and programs from the computer are referred to collectively as the printer language. Language which describes one full page of information is called page description language (PDL). There are many forms of printer language from those specified as de facto standards to those developed by individual manufacturers.

Printers by printer language

HP PCL Adobe PostScript GDI QwickDraw Manufacturer-specific printer languages ESC/P ESC/Page PC-PR NPDL LIPS Epson FX Xerox Diablo 630 IBM ProPrinter HPGL

Other

PCL  See p. 51.

PCL
PCL is short for Printer Control Language. It was developed by Hewlett-Packard. Though originally intended as printer language for controlling dot matrix and ink jet printers, it has since been modified for use with laser printers. Several variations are out today such as PCL3, PCL4 and PCL5e.

PostScript  See p. 54.

PostScript
PostScript is a printer language for laser printers developed by Adobe Systems. It was first developed for Apples LaserWriter, but it is so widely diffused that now printers which use it to translate commands into printer machine language are called PostScript printers. PostScript comes in Level 1 and Level 2, and the release of a PostScript 3 has been announced.

16

Types of printers

GDI  See p. 58.

GDI
GDI stands for Graphics Device Interface and is the graphics display system in Microsoft Windows. What it does is to output the data on the display to the printer. A printer which prints out the data created by GDI is called a GDI printer. Hereafter in this book, GDI is used to indicate the system which controls display graphics and image output in a Windows environment, while GDI language indicates the printer language of the GDI feature.

QuickDraw
QuickDraw is the graphics display system built into the MacOS of Apples Macintosh computer. Like GDI, QuickDraw outputs the data which MacOS has on the display to the printer. Printers which print out data created by QuickDraw are called QuickDraw printers.

Manufacturer-specific printer languages

Epson, Canon, NEC and other printer manufacturers have each developed their own printer languages. A few of them are introduced herein. s ESC/P This printer language is from Epson. Because Epsons dot matrix printers are used all over the world, ESC/P is also in that particular field. s ESC/Page This is a printer language which Epson developed for page printers. s PC-PR This printer language was developed by NEC for PC-PR dot matrix printers including thermal transfer types. This printer language spread across Japan with the PC-98 series, but not overseas. s NPDL This is a printer language for page printers developed by NEC. s LIPS This is Canons printer language for page printers. It is the most widely diffused printer language in Japan because of the popularity of the LaserShot printer.

17

Chapter 2

Other
s FX FX is a printer language that controls dot matrix printers of Epsons FX series. Since these dot matrix printers have been around for a long time and are used all over the world, most software supports these printers. There is a version for laser printers which emulates the old Epson FX-80 and another which is compatible with the FX80. Still yet, another type emulates the high speed and multifunctional FX-800. s Diablo 630 Diablo 630 was developed by Xerox to control their Diablo 630 daisy wheel printer. Diablo 630 was a de facto standard for business documentation for a long time and was widely used by printer manufacturers everywhere. Being a daisy wheel printer, the Diablo 630 cannot print out graphics. Also, because of the limited number of fonts, today it is used only on old word processors. s ProPrinter ProPrinter is the printer language which IBM developed for their dot matrix printers of the ProPrinter series. This series offers the same performance as Epsons FX series, but it uses all character sets (including special characters for drawing lines and boxes) displayable on IBM compatible computers. ProPrinter is used in unison with graphics display functions of IBM compatibles, which improves printing with graphics. s HPGL HPGL is short for Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language. It is widely used with pen-plotters to produce industrial drawings. It is a de facto standard language today because many plotter manufacturers have emulated it. Also, many laser printers which offer HPGL emulation are available today because most pen-plotters are slow which means more time is needed with intricate drawingsnoisy and difficult to set up. These printers emulate the HP7475A desktop plotter and are used to draft-print drawings. Most laser printers do not print in color and cannot take the large size paper that plotters normally do. Resultingly, they are used only for printing drafts. For design of PCB, etc., laser printers are given preference over plotters. HPGL2 incorporates Hewlett-Packards PCL5 printer language and offers PCL with capability of handling vector graphics.

Draft-print  See p. 88.

Vector graphics  See p. 65.

18

Types of printers

Printer Languages and Types of Printers

Back before computers really became popular, it was often a case of one printer per computer like a Printer for PC9801 or a QuickDraw Printer for Macintosh. Consequently, it basically was not possible to connect to a computer of other manufacturers and print something out. Nevertheless, the spread of the computer has brought with it many new printers which can connect to practically any type of computer regardless of the OS it runs on, and print out data accordingly. As a result, even the same kind of printer uses a different name when connected to some other type of computer or OS. For example, a printer might be called a GDI printer when connected to a computer which runs Windows, but then it would be called a QuickDraw printer when connected to a Mac. A PostScript printer as well can operate as a GDI printer or a QuickDraw printer depending on the computer setting. So, unlike categorizing printers by mechanical features or printed colors, you cannot really categorize them by printer language.

19

Chapter 2

Printers by How They Are Used

The growing popularity of the computer has changed the system environment. Printers are now being used in many different ways such as one printer connected to one computer or multiple computers connected to one printer. Then, there are design studios and publishing companies which use them in still other ways. Basically, a printer capable of certain things is now being used in different ways depending on what the users purpose is.
Printers by how they are used Printers by environment Local printers Network printers

Printers by user objective

Proof printers As a plotter

Printers by environment
s Local printer This configuration connects one printer to one computer. The connection on the computer side is made through the printer port. It often is the case today that a Centronics cable is used for the connection. Using a switch, the printer can be connected and used with multiple computers, but it cannot simultaneously print out data from more than one computer.

Centronics (parallel interface)* cable, etc.

* The interface generally complies with IEEE 1284 and, when not, IEEE 1394 or some other standard.

20

Types of printers

Centronics cable, etc.

Switch

Centronics cable, etc.

s Network printer A network printer prints out data sent via a network. The printer can be either connected directly to the network or to a computer which is on the network. In the latter case, the printer appears from the configuration as if it is a local printer, but it can print out data sent from other computers in the network by sharing.

Hub (Central connecting device) 10BASE-T cable, etc.

<Printer B> Centronics (parallel interface) cable, etc.

<Printer A>

* There are also 10BASE-5, 10BASE-2 and other connection standards.

21

Chapter 2

Printers by user objective

s Proof printer Computers are everywhere in the publishing and printing industries. Its easy to understand how computers are used to do the image setting and blocking, but what is interesting is that they are used to make plates, a job which requires skill. Another recent advent is the CTP (Computer To Plate) system which directly outputs data prepared on computer to the printing plate. Simpler printers are being used to print out draft copies for proofing. Hence, printers used in this manner are called proof printers. What is featured most about proof printers is that they support the larger paper sizes like A2 and even bigger. Typical printers take up to A3 at best, but in CTP, printouts are often on A2 or larger size paper.
A2A0 plain bond paper

Centronics, SCSI  See p. 78, 80.

Centronics or SCSI cable

Proof printer

Hub (Central connecting device)

Imagesetter

s As a plotter A plotter is a machine for printing out drawings. It uses a completely different kind of control system than a printer. Nonetheless, because of the high price and slow printing speed, it is being superseded by the printer to some extent. Though a printer cannot express line thickness in units of less than one point, it is inexpensive and fast, thus it is used for printing out drawings that do not require a high degree of accuracy. The data processed by a plotter is represented in a totally different way than that processed by a printer, so usually a technique known as emulation is used to enable printouts from a printer. Emulation is a technique by which the software and

22

Types of printers

hardware functions are mimicked by the controlling system. In this case, the printer emulates the plotters capabilities.

Computer

To printer

Printer driver Converts commands and program into printer language.

Page image described in HPGL

23

Chapter 2

24

Printer Construction

Chapter 3

Printer Construction
Printers are constructed in many different ways, so for simplicitys sake, only the ink jet printer and laser printer will be discussed herein.

Ink Jet Printer

The ink jet printer prints by spraying ink onto the paper. The ink is sprayed as droplets from many small nozzles on the print head and forms a dot when it hits the paper. The image is thus composed by drawing with these dots. The printer is simple in construction and, because it offers good quality, fast printing at a comparatively low price, demand is growing especially on a backbone of individual users. It is highly capable of reproducing color photographs and the most recent models even come with neutral tint ink in addition to the primary colors cyan, yellow and magenta, and black. Also, several different techniques for spraying the ink are available amongst todays ink jet printers, of which piezoelectric printing and thermal jet printing are two examples.

A
B
CENTRONICS

E C F D G

A: Paper feed tray When printing starts, the paper which is set here is drawn into the printer. Gears and other parts drive the rollers which move the paper through the printer. The feeling process is precisioncontrolled to prevent skewing and mispositioning at the print head. The printer in the above illustration has a paper feed tray, but there are types that use a paper cassette.
25

Chapter 3

IEEE 1284  See p. 79.

B: To computer cable ports The cable which connects the printer to the computer is connected to this port. There are many kinds of cable connectors, but recently many types have a built-in bidirectional parallel interface that conforms to IEEE 1284. C: Ink cartridge This cartridge contains the ink used for printing. D: Paper eject section Printouts are ejected from here. E: Print head The print head sprays the ink onto the paper. It moves to the left and right as printing proceeds. Usually, a belt is used to move the print head. In color printing, many colors are produced by overlapping several of the cartridge colors, therefore many shortstep passes are needed. For this reason, the print head is controlled to a very high degree of precision. F: Cleaner To keep the print head from clogging or dripping ink on the paper, the print head is cleaned here prior to printing. G: Cap When no printing is going on, the print head hides in this area underneath a cap. This prevents clogging in the print head by keeping the ink from drying.

26

Printer Construction

Piezoelectric printing
A piezoelectric device changes its volume when impressed with an electric voltage. This property is used to spray ink. First, a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric device. In response, it expands and presses against the wall of the ink chamber. Inside the chamber, pressure rises hence forcing the ink out through a nozzle.
Print head Piezoelectric device Ink chamber Ink is sprayed onto the paper using the way a piezoelectric device changes shape when impressed with voltage.

Paper

Nozzle Ink supply

Thermal jet printing

A thermal jet printer has a small heater in the ink chamber. It warms the ink to a boil. This boiling produces bubbles which drive up pressure in the ink chamber, and subsequently, shoots the ink out through a nozzle.
Ink chamber Air bubble produced under heat Heater

Ink chamber Heater

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Chapter 3

Laser Printer
The laser printer is one type of page printer. Data is sent over from the computer in lots of one page. Using a laser beam, the printer forms an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor. Then, applying toner to this image and transferring it to the paper produces the printout. The mainstream in laser printers today is to print in black-and- white, but demand is continually growing for color laser printers, too. For more information on printing with digital laser printers and how parts work, see Everything You Wanted to Know About Facsimiles, or for details on color, see Everything You Wanted to Know About Color Copiers.

Mitas DP-560 on the outside

B

A: To computer cable port The cable which connects the printer to the computer is connected to this port. It is basically the same situation as with ink jet printers, but with high-speed printers, a SCSI interface is sometimes built-in. B: Paper feed section When printing starts, the paper which is set here is drawn into the printer. There are both hand-fed types and cartridge types. Basically, laser printers are the same as ink jet printers in this aspect, but the former is a page printer which prints out data in units of one page, while the latter advances the paper only one line at a time. This feature keeps the paper flowing continuously from when the paper is first fed into the printer until the printout is ejected. C: Paper eject section Printouts are ejected from here.
28

Printer Construction

Mitas DP-560 on the inside

A

D E

A: Paper feed section B: Laser unit This unit controls and emits the laser beam which forms the electrostatic latent image on the surface of a photoconductive drum. It consists of a semiconductor laser, collimator lens, polygonal mirror, F lens, cylindrical lens, BD sensor, reflecting mirrors and other parts. C: Imaging unit This unit prepares the toner that is applied to the drum and applies it. This toner forms the physical image which is later transferred to the paper. The unit consists of a developing unit, drum and main charger. D: Transfer charger, charge erasing section This unit electrically transfers the toner image on the drum to the paper and, after transfer, neutralizes the charge on the drum surface, referred to as cleaning. E: Fixing unit Using heat and pressure rollers, this unit fixes the transferred image on the paper. Later on in this book are provided explanations as to the basic functions and construction of laser printers.

29

Chapter 3

30

Printing Process

Chapter 4

Printing Process
Data that has been created with application software (word processing, graphics, etc.) on a computer is converted for printing in the following order.

1. The user creates the data on computer. Application-specific data

For example, with MS Word, this data has a *.doc format or, with Illustrator, it is *.ai. Usually, the image displayed on the screen is printed out. Printing is executedwith Windows for exampleby selecting the Print command in the File menu.

2. The user executes the print command. Data for the connected printer
When the print command is executed, the OS checks which printer has been selected and converts the data for use on that printer. This data varies according to the type of printer used, but in general, it is one of the following three types. Bitmapped data (The format depends on the printer.) Data displayed on the screen (The format depends on the OS.) Printer language (PCL, PostScript, etc.)

3. The printer creates a page image. Bitmapped data

A printer represents text and graphics as a matrix of dots. Consequently, no matter kind of data is to be printed out, the last step in the printing process is to convert the data into dot data of the printer's resolution. This dot data is referred to as a bitmap.

Rasterizing  See p. 75.

In the above process, the conversion from step 1 to 2 is done through the computer. However, processes between steps 2 and 3 can be either done from the computer or by the printer itself, depending on the type of printer. This conversion from step 2 to step 3 is called rasterizing. This chapter explains the technology that has been introduced to print data which has been processed on computer.

31

Chapter 4

Data Processing
The printer prints out the data from the computer, so certain data is sent from the computer to the printer. However, the way in which this data is processed for printing differs according to the type of printer. In any case, this data, in the instant that it is handed over from the computer to the printer, can be roughly categorized into the following three formats. s When the computer sends bitmap data This is a technique adopted with some GDI and QuickDraw printers which are incapable of converting data from the computer into bitmap data. Most of the data processing is handled by the computer, so the electric mechanisms of the printer can be simplified. This kind of printer is called a sleek printer. Printer driver  See p. 35.
Application OS display system Printer driver Printer controller Printer engine

Printer controller  See p. 73.

Display system function

Bitmap image

Computer

Printer

s When the computer sends on-screen data This technique is adopted with GDI and QuickDraw printers which are capable of rasterizing the data from the computer. Because rasterizing is done by the printer, it is possible to boost computer performance and thus increase printing speed. This kind of printer is said to be an intelligent printer.
Application OS display system Printer driver Printer controller Printer engine

Display system function

Bitmap image

Computer

Printer

32

Printing Process

s When the computer sends printer language In this case, the computer sends data that can control the printer. It is sent as language. The printer translates this language and rasterizes it into a bitmap. This technique is adopted by PostScript printers, for example. Printers which are controlled by printer language are called PDL printers.
Application OS display system Printer driver Printer controller Printer engine

Display system function

Printer language

Bitmap image

Computer

Printer

Processing on Computer
When the print command is executed, the computer starts the process of sending the data in the application software to the printer. The processing which the computer does will vary according to the type of printer connected to it.

For PDL printers

The print data is converted into printer language by the computer and then sent to the printer. The printer translates the language, rasterizes it as a bitmap and then prints it out. Two well-known printer languages are PCL and PostScript.
Computer Printer

Frame buffer  See p. 89.

Page image described by OS display system

Printer driver Converts data from the application into PDL.

PDL execution system Rasterizing

Frame buffer

Printing

33

Chapter 4

Advantages and Disadvantages of PDL Printers

[Advantages] The printer language created by the computer has nothing to do with the type of OS. No matter what OS is used, the printer language is created in the format specified for printing. Thus, a PDL printer does not depend on the system and, consequently, can be connected to various types of computers. Also, since the print data is sent to the printer in command format, the printer only needs to handle a small amount of data, which means high-speed printing is possible. [Disadvantages] With PDL printers, TrueType fonts are processed as graphics, so there are no built-in fonts. What this means is that the PDL printers ability to simply describe the fonts and font data stored on the printers hard disk cannot be used in printing. Moreover, it is necessary that both the computer and printer support the same fonts; if one doesnt, the clarity of the printout is not guaranteed. (TrueType  See p. 42.)

For GDI/QuickDraw printers

GDI is the graphic display system used by Windows, while QuickDraw is that for the Macintosh. GDI printers receive and print out the data displayed on the computers screen. The same processing is done with a QuickDraw printer. There are two printing processes with GDI printers. One is to send the prepared data directly to the printer in GDI format and have the printer bitmap it. The other is to have the computer rasterize the GDI data into a bitmap before sending it to the printer. In both cases, the printer is still called a GDI printer, but generally it is this latter when people make reference to a GDI printer. This book also bases GDI printer explanations on the latter.
Computer Printer

Printer driver

Frame buffer

Printing

Page image described by GDI

Rasterizing

34

Printing Process

Advantages and Disadvantages of GDI/QuickDraw Printers

[Advantages] With printers that have the computer handle everything up through rasterizing, the printing mechanism can be made simple and inexpensive. Besides, computers which run on Windows or MacOS can be connected to any type of printer regardless of who made it. [Disadvantages] When the computer does the rasterizing, its CPU becomes slow and, if it has insufficient RAM, there is always the possibility of overrun or overflow errors being generated. Also, printing speed depends entirely on the computers data processing speed, so printers today are generally low speed. (RAM  See p. 91. Overrun error and overload error  See p. 90.)

What the printer driver does

It is not possible to print out data from a computer by simply connecting the printer and computer with a cable. The printer cannot be used unless the computers OS has a program for controlling the printer and sending data to it. This program is known as a printer driver and it must be registered with the OS.
Application

Interface OS Printer driver

35

Chapter 4

The function of the printer driver varies according to the OS and printer. Nevertheless, the basic responsibilities are to teach the computer the functions (supported PDL, fonts and hardware features) of the connected printer and to convert the print data into a format compatible with the connected printer. The printer drivers for the three most popular OSs on the market tokay are described below. s With MS-DOS Until Windows became the norm, MS-DOS was the most widely used OS in the world. Because the major applications running on MS-DOS directly control the printer, the OS does not need a printer driver. Accordingly, the printer has to be set up from within the application. The same must be done with the rasterizer and fonts, because they too are managed by the application. Nonetheless, MS-DOS has its own printer driver, but because it cannot control printer functions for printing bold typeface characters, outline fonts or drawing lines, printer control is handled by the application.
Application A
Font data Rasterizing Font data

Application B
Rasterizing

A A A

A: Both of the applications have a rasterizer of its own and output text and graphics to both the printer and display. B: Fonts are also controlled by each of the applications and output via the rasterizer to both the printer and display.

36

Printing Process

s With Windows With Windows, the printer driver was moved to the OS. It is set up from the Windows platform; setup need not be done through the application as was the case with MS-DOS. By setting up the printer with Windows, the printer can be used with any application. The rasterizer and fonts which were functions of the application in the MS-DOS environment are now a part of Windows and can be easily accessed from the application. Windows uses its GDI to display text and graphics on the screen as well as to send that data to the printer. At the start of the printing process, GDI creates the raster data and transfers it directly to the printer. This has made high quality printing possible without depending on the printer. Also, regarding fonts, Windows supports TrueType, as part of the standard software. Collectively, Windows calls their printing system the Windows Printing System or WPS for short.
Application platform

Application A B OS (Windows) Rasterizing A Font data B

Application B B

System platform Driver B

A: Font management and rasterizing are handled by Windows. B: The application only commands Windows to draw something on the screen or print it out on the printer.

37

Chapter 4

About WPS
When the Windows printing system first came out, it was met with complaints that printing was too slow, it wasnt truly WYSIWYG* and printer setup was too complicated. To solve these problems, Microsoft announced their Microsoft Windows Printing System in 1992. Later on, the system was incorporated into At Work, another Microsoft concept to link computers and office equipment, and debuted as the At Work Printing Software (AWPS). AWPS was composed of a printer driver, printer interface and page description language, and it drew the attention of many users for the way it improved the Windows printing environment through faster printing and an easier user interface. However, AWPS never became popular, so the name was reverted back to WPS and so it is used today. * WYSIWYG is short for What You See Is What You Get, meaning the image on the screen should be the same as the image on the printout.

s With MacOS MacOS is the operating system which Apple uses in their personal computer, the Macintosh. Much before other companies, Apple incorporated a graphical user interface (GUI) into their system. Because this greatly enhanced operability and the users power of expression, it is widely used in the design, music and DTP fields. They named the Japanese version of the system KanjiTalk. In any case, it is nowadays referred to as simply MacOS regardless of the applied language. The printer driver explanation that follows will be based on KanjiTalk 7.5.1. The Macintosh always goes through its built-in graphic display system QuickDraw to display text or graphics on the screen or to print something out. Internally, the printer driver is divided into a printing manager and low-level driver. The former controls printing, while the latter sends requests from the printing manager to the printer. When the printing process starts, the printing manager creates the raster data which is then sent to the printer via the lowlevel driver. This makes high quality printing possible without depending on the printer. Regarding fonts, the Macintosh generally uses PostScript fonts. The use of TrueType fonts has increased recently, but because generally Postscript printers are used for DTP, PostScript fonts are used more often.

38

Printing Process

Application

QuickDraw Printer driver Printing manager Low-level driver Print dialog box Paper Setup dialog box

Sending Print Data

The data processed on computer is sent via the printer port and cable to the printer. Documents usually consist of text and illustrations, but the way in which they are reproduced differs: in the case of text, by the type of character used, while in the case of graphics, by the type of application which created the graphics. They also differ according to the type of printer. This part of the book explains from where and how the text and graphic data is sent to the printer. For more information on the interface functions and standards used in the data transfer described herein, see 5. Printer Interface in Technical Information.

Test transfer and reproduction

A set of characters is called a font. Fonts are usually stored in either the computer or printer. Every time they need to be displayed on the screen or printed out on paper, they are called up from memory. Fonts are basically divided into the following two types. Bitmapped fonts (Dot fonts) Outline fonts

39

Chapter 4

s Bitmapped fonts Bitmapped characters are represented in dots. The size of a character is specified in units of dots such as 16 x 16 or 24 x 24 dots. Consequently, a different font is required for each size. For example, data for a single font consists of three files, one each for 10 point, 12 point and 24 point characters. Other sizes (14 or 20 point) specified by an application are displayed and printed by enlarging or shrinking the font data of the nearest size. The processing done within the application enlarges and shrinks each specific dot, so the displayed or printed characters come out with a rough contour. Bitmapped fonts were used in printing when impact dot printers were in vogue, but they are used less these days now that ink jet printers and laser printers are more widely diffused and outline fonts are supported by the OS.

Usually, the font data for a bitmapped font is stored in the computer. In the printing process, it is sent to the printer as a bitmapped image and so printed out.
Character printed in bitmapped font

Bitmapped font

1. Print command is executed. 2. Print data is created with bitmapped font. 3. Image data is sent to the printer.

4. Image data is converted by the frame buffer. 5. Printing starts.

40

Printing Process

Logic address  See p. 89. Resolution  See p. 91.

s Outline fonts This kind of font is used by specifying the logic address assigned to the outline of the font. Because it is represented as a logic address, it is completely independent of the printers resolution. Also, because the font is treated as logic, enlargement, reduction, styling and rotation can be done freely. Two well-known examples of outlined fonts are TrueType fonts and PostScript fonts.

TrueType and PostScript differ in terms of file makeup and data flow in the printing process.

41

Chapter 4

Printing with TrueType fonts Both the font data displayed on the computer screen and that used in printing are stored in a single file. For this reason, a single file can be, in the case of a Japanese font, several MB or, in the case of a European font, several tens of KB. TrueType fonts are rasterized at the display or print resolution and sent to the screen or printer as graphic data. This makes the characters appearing on the screen or in the printout sharp and clear.
Character printed in outline font Character displayed in outline font TrueType font

1. Print command is executed. 2. TrueType font is treated as graphic data. 3. Image data is sent to the printer.

4. Image data is converted by the frame buffer. 5. Printing starts.

Printing with PostScript fonts The font data displayed on the computer screen is stored in the computer, whereas that used for printing is in the printer. Dot fonts are used for displaying characters on the screen, while outline fonts are used in printing. In the printing process, the name of the font used is described in the print data (PostScript data) and sent to the printer. Reading this name, the printer loads the corresponding font data to its memory and uses it in printing.

About PostScript Fonts

PostScript is a page description language developed by Adobe Systems. Though it describes the image of an entire page, it is referred to herein as one type of printer outline font. Moreover, PostScript is actually composed of bitmapped fonts for displaying characters on the screen and outlined fonts for printing. Because it has these printer outline fonts, it is treated as an outline font in this book.

42

Printing Process

Character printed in outline font Character displayed PostScript in bitmapped font screen font

1. Print command is executed. 2. PostScript file is created. 3. PostScript file is sent to the printer.

4. PostScript file is translated. 5. Data is converted by the frame buffer. 6. Printing starts.

Another point is that PostScript fonts use a utility known as Adobe Type Manager (ATM) which sharply displays characters on screen and, in the event the printer does not have the necessary font data, prints characters out clearly. ATM is composed of an ATM program and ATM compatible fonts.When used, font data is stored in the computer and sent in the print data to the printer in the printing process. Fonts are produced sharp and clear both on the screen and in printouts. However, only ATM compatible fonts are outlined with ATM.
Character printed in outline font Character displayed in outline font ATM font

1. Print command is executed. 2. Outline data of ATM compatible font is created. 3. PostScript data is created, 4. PostScript data is sent to the printer.

5. PostScript file is translated. 6. Data is converted by the frame buffer. 7. Printing starts.

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Chapter 4

Smoothing
Smoothing is a technique that focuses on the relationship of adjoining dots. It corrects this relationship by changing the position and size of the dots. To understand how it works and why it is used, first realize that a printer converts the print data into a digital space known as a memory address. Even data expressing freely drawn curves and lines is eventually converted into dots at the rasterizing process. In other words, even with outlined fonts, additional dots cannot be printed between two other dots if the printers resolution is too low for that, and so the character will come out with a jagged contour. This is where smoothing comes into play. It smoothes the jaggedness by changing the position and size of the dots, so the final resolution as printed is higher than the actual resolution of the printer. In the below illustration, only the position of the dots has been corrected, but the size is changed as well when working with curves. In this way, resolution of a 300 dpi printer can be boosted to the equivalent of 600 dpi.

Data as created on screen

Enlargement of arrow

Smoothed data

Smoothing differs according to the printer. But, all techniques are based on the relationship of adjoining dots. For example, illustrations and characters have dots in some sort of continuous series, so smoothing is easy. However, with photographs, dots are completely random which makes it difficult to correct the data. In this case, a high resolution printer is needed. More information on smoothing can be found in Everything You Wanted to Know About Facsimiles.

Illustration transfer and reproduction

Illustration data handled by computers is called graphic data. As with text, the graphic data from an application is converted into printer applicable data, bitmapped and printed. Graphic data is composed of that intended for screen display and that for printing, and it is stored in a single file. In this respect, it is something similar to a TrueType font. When the print command is executed, print data which corresponds to the data displayed on the screen is sent to the printer.
44

Printing Process

Graphic data can be either a bitmapped graphic or a vector graphic. The printing process differs depending on which type it is. In this section, it is explained how both types of data are processed and printed. For more information on bitmap graphics or vector graphics, see 3. Graphic Data in Technical Information. Bitmapped graphics  See p. 65. s Bitmapped graphics Like with bitmapped fonts, bitmapped graphics are represented with dots. When the print command is executed, the data corresponding to the data displayed on the screen is sent directly to the printer. It is then converted to the resolution of the printer and printed out. Image data read from a scanner and screen shots (data created with Windows by pressing PrintScreen, or the Shift + Command + 3 keys with MacOS) are all bitmapped graphics. Bitmapped graphics can be BMP, TIFF, Windows Metafile, PICT, EPS or other type. s Vector graphics Vector graphics are like print data for outlined PostScript fonts in that coordinates for the start and end points of a line and the thickness of the line are represented as a numerical formula. When the print command is executed, the data corresponding to the data displayed on the screen is transferred directly to the printer. There, the numerical formulas are translated and converted into bitmapped data of the printers resolution, and then printed out. Vector graphics can express smooth flowing lines as well as the thickness of free-drawn lines. That is why application software that creates vector graphics is absolutely essential for many designers and illustrators. Vector graphics include, amongst others, PostScript and HPGL.

Vector graphics  See p. 65.

Color representation
With the spread of the Macintosh and Windows, color printers have been faced with newer and more sophisticated demands. Recently, even the most basic type of printer renders pictures and color photographs of rather good quality. Though the printer can print out what is displayed on the computer screen, colors come out different. You have probably heard tell of the three primary colors of light and the three primary colors of color. Here, the situation will be looked at from the computers side. The principles of color are also discussed in Everything You Wanted to Know About Color Copiers, so you can also look there for more information.

45

Chapter 4

s How colors are represented on screen The three primary colors of light are as follows. R (Red) G (Green) B (Blue) :Complement of cyan (C) :Complement of magenta (M) :Complement of yellow (Y)

The process of changing the intensity of these three colors and mixing them to express another color is called additive mixing. TVs and monitors project color pictures by this technique. By changing the gradation of the three primary colors, full color display is possible. In general, full color means it is possible to express approximately 16 million colors. With full color, 8 bits are assigned to each R, G and B, so colors are represented with 24 bits. s How colors are represented in printing The three primary colors of color are as follows. C (Cyan) M (Magenta) Y (Yellow) :Complement of red (R) :Complement of green (G) :Complement of blue (B)

The process of changing the intensity of these three colors and mixing them to express another color is called subtractive mixing. Printers produce images in full color by this technique. Black can be expressed by mixing C, M and Y, but development is not so good by using just these three colors. The outcome is not black. Therefore, black is provided separately as toner or ink. The color system is generally called CMYK with K standing for black. Though black begins with a B and it seems logical to say CYMB, it might be confused with the B of blue, so K is used instead. Most computers represent colors in 24 bits. The most recent CPUs use 32 bits. Why 32 bits? Well, there are systems which represent colors in 30 and 36 bits, but because the following hardware and software restrictions, 24 bits is the mainstream. Anything over 32 bits places a burden on the software. When an 8-bit color is represented as 24 bits, the size allotted per color comes to 1 byte, which is easy to process.

46

Printing Process

The hardware cannot follow anything over 24 bits. For example, the monitor cannot reproduce colors represented with more than 24 bits. Anything over 24 bits exceeds the human ability to perceive colors. What this implies is that using numerous gradations, even at the expense of burdening the software and hardware, is useless because the differences in color cannot be picked up by the human eye.

47

Chapter 4

48

PDL and GDI

Technical Information

49

50

PDL and GDI

PDL and GDI

There are two basic ways to process print data. One is to convert the data in the application software to page description language (PDL) and then create the bitmap inside the printer and print it out. The other uses the graphics device interface (GDI) of the OS to create print data and then have the printer bitmap it and print it out.

PDL
Two typical page description languages (PDL) are HewlettPackards PCL and Adobe Systems PostScript. What PDL is all about is that the computer must create printer language in the print data format specified by the printer manufacturer. If the printer is capable of translating this language, then printing can be done without depending on the application or OS.

PCL
PCL is Hewlett-Packards page description language. Its short for Printer Control Language. It was originally conceived for dot matrix printers and ink jet printers. It comes in various versions for use with different types of printers. s PCL3 PCL3 was Hewlett-Packards PDL for their first desktop laser printer. It was very limited in terms of capabilities, enabling only a few bitmapped fonts and small bitmapped graphics to be printed. When Hewlett-Packard replaced their LaserJet with the LaserJet Plus, it used the same PCL3, but made it possible to process more fonts and larger graphics. Other printer manufacturers emulated it, but their products lacked the precision of PCL3. Because it had the commands and features needed to print out documents with simple layouts and because PCL3 printers were fast and quiet, it helped the laser printer supersede the daisy wheel printer.

51

s PCL4 The LaserJet Plus was replaced by the LaserJet II series and 8 ppm* printers. The LaserJet II series included the LaserJet IIP and 4 ppm personal printers, LaserJet IID and a LaserJet II with doublesided printing capabilities. PCL4 was used with the LaserJet II. It was based on PCL3 but packed more bitmapped fonts and greater capabilities for handling large bitmapped graphics. The standard LaserJet II could not process bitmapped graphics that were larger than half a page, though full page processing was possible with increased memory. PCL4 was downward compatible with PCL3, meaning PCL3 jobs could be printed out with PCL4. But, more importantly, it went beyond the word processing barrier with added functions for printing out charts and graphics, hence making simple DTP possible. This marked the end of PCL4s use as an office printer control language. In personal printers, it requires less processing capacity than later PCL versions, so it is still being used today. The PCL4 version used with the LaserJet IIP is slightly expanded from the version used with the standard LaserJet; it offers data compression capabilities to reduce the data size of bitmapped graphics sent to the printer from the computer. * ppm stands for pages per minute and is used as a unit for measuring printing speed. s PCL5 The LaserJet II was replaced by a LaserJet III using PCL5 command language. The LaserJet III was an 8 ppm office printer. Other Hewlett-Packard PCL5 printers were the IIID (8 ppm double-sided printing), IIIP (4 ppm) and IIISi (17 ppm double-sided printing). From its earlier versions, PCL5 has made big progress. Though it is an escape code language, it offers many of the features of a page description language. Perhaps, the most important new additions to the PCL5s capabilities are outline fonts and vector graphics. With these two features, it is possible to define practically all of the features needed to print. Vector graphics commands were made possible by adding language used by HPs pen-plottersa version of HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphic Language)to the PCL command set. Most of PCL5 is downward compatible with PCL4, but because fonts were changed from bitmapped to outline, there are some incompatibilities. PCL5 is suited for complex document layouts, thus it is used for DTP, graphic design and making presentations. Outfitted with PCL5, the LaserJet III series also introduced a smoothing technique known as Resolution Enhancement in which a tiny dot was automatically placed on the edge of lines and characters so as to reduce the jagged contours seen sometimes with 300 dpi printing.

Escape code  See p. 88.

52

PDL and GDI

s PCL5e The LaserJet III series gave way to the LaserJet 4. To make the switch, Hewlett-Packard enabled a 600 dpi print resolution, added a high speed bidirectional parallel port (Bi-Tronics) so as to send more printer status information to the computer, and introduced a selection of fonts for use with applications for Microsofts Windows. PCL5 was then expanded slightly and named PCL5e, e meaning the expanded version. The main upgrade made it possible to convey status messages, errors and other printer information to the computer. The LaserJet 4 series included the LaserJet 4 (600 dpi, 8 ppm), LaserJet 4L (300 dpi, 4 ppm), LaserJet 4P (600 dpi, 4 ppm) and LaserJet 4Si (600 dpi, 16 ppm). In addition to the basic series, a second series offered PostScript Level 2 built-in on all models as a plus to PCL5e. Model codes of this second series were differentiated by the addition of the letter M to the end of the code (4M, 4ML, 4MP and 4MSi). s PCL5c PCL5c is one version of PCL5 and is used on HPs color ink jet printers and color desktop laser printers. It is compatible with PCL5, but adds commands necessary for supporting color printing.

About PCL Emulation

PCL was developed by Hewlett-Packard, but it was widely copied by other manufacturers with HP printer emulator packages labeled as LaserJet IIP compatible or PCL5 compatible. Many of these emulators were very good and offered added capabilities that raised them to the same functional level as the original HP printer. They came as HP emulators and clones. Nevertheless, pages were created in a different fashion and, consequently, visible differences could be detected when compared against printouts from an original HP printer. A large number of todays application developers use an HP printer to test performance of PCL software packages. Emulators are tested with the latest major application software, but if clone manufacturers do not adequately test their products, printouts may not come out as expected.

53

PostScript
PostScript is a page description language (PDL) developed by Adobe Systems. Adobe does not make printers. They lease their PostScript language to other companies and help them design printer controllers for PostScript printers. Already, PostScript comes in Levels 1 and 2, and plans are to release a PostScript 3. s PostScript Level 1 PostScript Level 1 was adopted by Apple Computers for their first LaserWriter (6 ppm desktop office printer) in combination with their Apple Lisa and Macintosh computers. It offered new and impossibly radical functions (including outline fonts and vector graphics) with laser printers of the times. The PostScript language system resembles the program language of traditional computers. The advanced capabilities meant users could be extremely diverse and creative in making complex images and designs. Apples LaserWriter was a big success amongst DTP users and graphic designers. PostScript became a de facto standard in commercial typesetting and printing houses. Apple immediately boosted memory and outline fonts with their LaserWriter Plus. Many printer manufacturers recognized the value of PostScript and tied up with Adobe to make their own PostScript printer, but the standard had already been set by Apple which intelligently introduced new features and refinement into the PostScript language. The LaserWriter II, LaserWriter IINT and LaserWriter IINTX (all 8 ppm, 300 dpi printers) followed the LaserWriter Plus, each model offering greater processing capacity than that before it. Other manufacturers produced similar printers as well, of which some were equipped with more features than Apples. Because professional DTP and graphic artists quickly introduced PostScript, imagesetters using PostScript language were developed. The significance of this was that PostScript jobs could be created on computer, printed for proofing from a desktop PostScript printer and the final printout done at high resolution on a PostScript imagesetter. This development strengthened PostScripts position in the printing industry. This technology is used today to produce all sorts of printed matter.

54

PDL and GDI

s PostScript Level 2 With PostScript Level 1, a tremendously high processing capacity was needed and printing was often slow. Moreover, because the market continually saw new PostScript printers with more colors and patterns, multiple paper trays, double-sided printing and other functions, the language spread and things became chaotic. To dissipate the confusion, Adobe announced their first major expansion. It was PostScript Level 2. PostScript Level 2 packed all the expansions made to PostScript Level 1 into a new package, thereby establishing a new base in PostScript language. Level 2 was loaded with major design changes and several new features such as less restrictions on control points and memory management. It made printing more efficient and faster. PostScript Level 2 is completely downward compatible with Level 1, so the same images as a PostScript Level 1 printer can be created with it.
1. Printing starts. Memory used
Level 1 memory management

2. Printing starts.

3. With further printing ...

Memory used Available memory Available memory Memory is consumed before 1 full page of data is processed.

Used memory

When available memory runs out, an error is generated and printing is suspended.
3. Available memory is secured. Memory used

1. Printing in progress

2. With further memory usage

Level 2 memory management

Memory used

Memory used Available memory

Available memory As with Level 1, memory is gradually consumed.

Available memory Data not used much is erased from memory. Because sufficient memory is available, printing can continue uninterrupted.

55

s PostScript 3 PostScript 3 is a page description language announced in 1996. It improved graphic drawing speed and added new capabilities such as compatibility with CID (Character Identifier) fonts. But, the biggest feature by far is the language expansion for Internet since the Internet is rapidly spreading all over. The new version has been upgraded from earlier PostScript languages with the following capabilities. When the application delivers the URL* to a printer with PostScript 3, the printer itself downloads and prints the contents. It can also directly translate and print HTML (HyperText Makeup Language) and PDF (Portable Document Format) files, the latter a file format of Adobes Acrobat document exchange software. Furthermore, paper trays can be selected from a WWW browser and resolution can be changed. * URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which is an Internet addressing scheme that defines the route to a file or a program.

About CID Fonts

CID fonts simplify the structure of old PostScript OCF (Original Composite Format) fonts. They minimize memory consumption in the printer during printing and speed up rasterizing.

Other PostScript Devices

PostScript is not used just with printers; it can be used with any type of device that creates images by arranging dots. In fact, it has been used with many computer monitors and imagesetters. It makes a computer monitor work at typically maximum resolution of 100 dpi and an imagesetter at a minimum 1200 dpi. PostScript is also used in communications between documents and computers. With PostScript, Adobe Systems also defined the standard for page transmission between facsimiles.

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PDL and GDI

About PostScript Clones

Adobe Systems does not sell printers. Their revenue comes from leasing the rights to use their PostScript language to printer manufacturers. The printer manufacturer pays a licensing fee for their PostScript printer. Because Adobe's license is expensive, some manufacturers are trying to compete with PostScript. These competitive products and clones differ greatly in terms of quality and effectiveness. There are just as many bad products as there are good products. In any case, all clones present some kind of trouble because PostScript is extremely complicated and hard to emulate. There are no competitive products which guarantee the exact same printout as an original Adobe PostScript printer. If Adobe would lower their licensing fee, most clone manufacturers wouldn't try competing with them.

About PrintGear
PrintGear is a printing system for low-priced printers, which Adobe has developed. It is composed of a printer driver and a special LSI which is installed in the printer as a processor. It also packs two printer drivers, one for each GDI of Windows and QuickDraw of MacOS, and there is even an MS-DOS mode. The driver converts the data created on the corresponding system, then rasterizes it and prints it out.

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GDI
Microsofts Windows, the OS used widely by IBM-AT compatibles and PC98 series computers, has software for displaying text and pictures on the computer screen. It can display many different types of fonts oriented in various ways as well as bitmapped and vector graphics. Because this Windows feature satisfies the requirements of many computer users, software developers need not develop the same routine for every application as long as they develop a program which fits Windows specifications. A computer which runs Windows requires a high speed CPU, a lot of memory and a large hard disk. Nonetheless, these elements are vital to any high performance printer controller. With Windows, print data is created on the computer and sent to the printer, so the printer controller in the printer does not require high performance computer functions. Most applications describe documents in a data format specifically for that application. They then convert the data into bitmapped data applicable with the connected devicemonitor or printerbefore the data is actually sent. With Windows, bitmapped data is the same for all applications. The system that creates it is called a Graphics Device Interface, or GDI for short. GDI creates bitmapped data that matches the resolution of the device (monitor, printer, facsimile, etc.). The GDI function that was introduced with Windows 1.0 has not been changed even with Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 except for the way data is bitmapped. With Windows 2.X and earlier versions, color bitmapping depended entirely on the hardware for the number of colors, data saving and other matters. However, since Windows 3.0, Microsoft has adopted a device independent bitmap (DIB) and included even a color pallet to absorb the color differences of the hardware. With Windows 95, GDI is applicable with 32-bit systems (GDI32) and has newly added functions to draw Bezier curves and a high speed bitmap engine. The GDI in Windows NT has a 32-bit coordinate system and can rotate the axes of the system. The basic elements of GDI were perfected with the release of Windows 95. Further drawing capability expansion centered on multimedia was later offered under the name DirectX.

DirectX  See p. 88.

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PDL and GDI

Computer Application GDI Draw command Printer driver, display driver, etc. Data bitmapped at the resolution of the output device

Printer

Display Output device

Facsimile

The big feature of printing with GDI is that the number of printing processes can be reduced. The usual procedure using PDL is to have the computer convert the application data into PDL and then have the printer convert this PDL into a bitmap. But, with GDI, the GDI format is sent directly or it is first converted into a bitmap by the computer and then sent to the printer. This eliminates one step of the usual procedure and another merit is that the load placed on the computer can be lessened by having the printer convert PDL into the bitmap. Moreover, in this case, the printer controller can be greatly simplified, which helps to bring down the printer price. For information on the printing process using GDI, see Chapter 4 Printing Process in Basics.

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60

Text and Fonts

Text and Fonts

Text is the set of readable characters and symbols on a page. Everything other than the figures and illustrations on the printout are text. Text is made up of the characters and symbols which the printer stores as fonts. Fonts are of a more complex makeup having a character set, typeface, typestyle, size, orientation and several other attributes.

Character Set
A character set is a group of symbols. It contains many of the characters used in languages around the world, so a lot of memory is needed to store them all. To better the situation, characters and symbols often used in specific languages or groups of languages are categorized into easy-to-use sets. There are character sets for specific languages like French, German and Swedish, and character sets for characters not used often such as mathematical symbols and modifiers.
Example: English character set ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Example: Russian character set

In this way, the numerous number of characters used around the world are sorted into large sets that make it possible to quickly and easily access the desired characters. They also have a set logic so that it is not necessary to swap between character sets all the time. Hence, the term character set is used to mean the individual fonts that contain only the required subset of characters.

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Typeface
Typeface is the visual design of a character. There are many kinds of typeface available for use in a number of different ways. They range from those extremely easy to read to others that are highly decorative. Some typefaces are designed to fill a page with as much information as possible, while still others were created to enable machines to read in the same way that humans do. Two well-known typefaces are Times and Courier.

Example: Times typeface ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Example: Courier typeface ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Typestyle
A typeface comes in diverse variations such as bold and italic. Collectively, these variations are known as a typestyle. A fine character typestyle is called light, while a thicker style is called heavy or bold. When a character stands straight up, it is called Roman, but when slanted, its italic. There are many combinations of italic and weighted styles, but generally, laser printers use Roman, Italic, Bold and Bold-Italic.

62

Text and Fonts

Example: Times Roman typestyle ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Example: Times italic typestyle ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Example: Times Bold typestyle ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Example: Times Bold Italic typestyle ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Size
Characters are printed in a specific size. This size is generally determined by the height of the character, which determines the space between lines. Character height is represented in units of point. Point is abbreviated as pt. One point is 1/72 of an inch, that is to say, one inch is 72 points. The size of a typeface is measured as the distance from the peak of the tallest character to the bottommost point of the character which drops farthest below the baseline.

Character height

Character height

Size

With some printers, fonts are stored in a specific size (10 pt, 12 pt, etc.). With others, fonts are stored in a general format and enlarged/ reduced as necessary.

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Orientation
Printing is done at a specific angle. A line of text is usually printed parallel to the short side of the paper, which is referred to as a portrait. If parallel to the longer side, its called a landscape. Most printers can automatically rotate text into either the portrait or landscape orientation, but some older models cant. These latter printers have to have two different fonts, one for each orientation. In any case, more recent printers enable orientation at various angles; text can be printed at an angle or along curves.
Portrait Landscape

What is a Font?
In the typesetting business, font originally meant a specific typeface of a specific size (point or class) and style (bold, italic, etc.). However, with the computer, it has come to mean a single typeface of all sizes and styles. For example, a typeface with 10 sizes and 16 styles would have meant 160 fonts according to the former way of thinking. But, in the computer world, it means just one font. Then, with scalable fonts like TrueType, where the font can be enlarged/reduced to any size, a font like Times would include all the Times sizes and typefaces. So, font means two different things when taken traditionally or when used on a computer. This book uses the definition adopted by the computer.

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Graphics

Graphics
In the computer world, anything on the page other than text is taken as graphics. The lines and planes seen in computer graphics are represented as either a matrix of dots (bitmapped graphics) or a set of lines (vector graphics).

Bitmapped Graphics
A bitmapped graphic is the matrix of dots that is sent to the printer as the representation of a graphic image (illustration, photograph, etc.). A dot is either black or white usually, and the pattern of dots form a visual image. The dot handled by a laser printer is extremely small (a 300 dpi printer means 90,000 dots per square inch), so a single bitmapped graphic contains a large amount of information. This information is sent from the computer to the printer and temporarily stored in the printers memory. The smaller the dot that the laser printer works with (the higher the printers resolution), the more time is needed to send the bitmapped graphic from the computer to the printer and the more memory is needed to store the image on the printer side. However, a laser printer already creates the page as a matrix of dots, so the process of handing over a bitmapped graphic from the computer to the printer is simple. Hence, bitmapped graphics can usually be handled by low-priced printers of a low processing capacity, while with high-speed printers, page information can be compiled in a short amount of time.

Vector Graphics
Many graphic images (illustrations) can be defined as a set of lines and curves. This is called a vector graphic. Each line is represented as a geometrical vector path between two points (coordinates). Vectors have nothing to do with the size of the graphic image and can be defined with comparatively little information. Most vectors are drawn using the coordinates of a start point and end point, and line thickness and color (with black-and-white laser printers, color is represented as a shade of gray). Curves are either represented with a series of vectors or a numerical formula. So, an intricate large figure can be drawn with comparatively little information. Consequently, when vector graphics are used, the data is transferred from the computer to the printer in a short amount of time. Moreover, even a printer with limited memory capacity can print out complex graphics. For a printer to recreate a page of vectors graphics, it must convert the vectors into a bit map. This operation requires
65

considerable processing capacity, so vector graphics are usually printed out on an expensive high-performance printer. It should be noted here that photographs cannot be represented as a graphic vector, so all printers are equipped to handle bitmapped graphics.

Gradation Processing
To express gradations of white, gray and black, a printer uses the following processing. Each pixel is processed on multiple levels, with a technique which is referred to as dot gradation. This enables halftones to be expressed for each pixel. But, pixels cannot be scaled when using binary processing. Therefore, multiple pixels are grouped into a cell and the ratio of black to white pixels within the cell is changed to suit the image, thus representing the area as a gradient. This kind of gradient processing is called area gradation. However, there is a limit to how well toner application can follow the logic gradation of a single pixel manipulated on multiple levels. Therefore, to get real high quality shading, the number of gradients per pixel is reduced and area gradation is used as with binary processing. 2-level dot area gradation When a single cell is made up of 4 pixels, it can be represented on 4 levels: black 1, black 2, black 3 and black 4 (all black). In this case, a 16 x 16 pixel area can be used to represent 256 levels.

2-level area gradation

B Converted to W

W W

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Graphics

4-level dot gradation Each pixel has four values: black, 2/3 black, 1/3 black and white. Furthermore, when each cell is made up of 4 pixels, 16 levels (4 values x 4 pixels) can be represented in one cell. To represent 256 levels, 4 cells x 4 cells (16 cells or 64 pixels) is used.

4-level gradation

Converted to

50% W B W W

Dithering and error diffusion differ in how image data is converted into area gradation output. Still yet, there is multi-line processing as a multilevel shading technique. s Dithering In dithering, the image data is compared against a threshold matrix and converted into a binary code0 or 1depending on whether the data is greater than or lower than the threshold. The threshold matrix is defined as a value in an area of pixels in the range of 0 255. Depending on the value of this matrix, the image comes out black or white. Dithering can be either ordered in which the matrix value and array change constantly, or random in which the matrix array is randomly changing. For high quality shading, the pixel area must be large, but this makes fine elements hard to scale in detail. Moreover, much of the data for the threshold matrix must be set in advance.
Document image Threshold matrix Output image

127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127

250 800 160 235 220 5 20 100 140 60 40 180 245 200 120 240

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

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s Error diffusion The error diffusion method does not need the large matrix used in dithering nor is a set cell used to represent gradients. What it does is, first of all, to focus on one pixel in the image data and to convert it to either 0 or 255 depending on whether that data is greater or lower than a predetermined threshold value. If the value was converted to 0, the difference is then added to the value of nearby pixels, whereas if it was converted to 255, the difference is subtracted. When the mathematics are completed, processing moves to the next pixel. The next data in the horizontal and vertical scanning directions is mathematically increased or decreased, and the mathematical result is compared against the threshold value to determine whether the pixel is to be black or white.
Main scan direction Document image Output image Threshold value 128

127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127

127 159 103 153 135 161 103 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127

Threshold value 128

Sub-scan direction

127

159

127-24 127
With a threshold value of 128, the four pixels in the top row are calculated as shown here.

159-24 159-24 127-24 127

[1] With a threshold value of 128, pixel data equal to 127 or less is converted to 0. So, the difference from the original value (127 0 = 127) is evenly distributed to the four nearby pixels. [2] The result of step [1] is determined as (127 0)/4 + 127 = 159. Since the result is higher than the 128 threshold value, the pixels are converted to 255. Here, the difference (159 255 = 96) is evenly distributed to the four nearby pixels. [3] The result of step [2] is determined as (159 255)/4 + 127 = 103. Here, the difference (103 0 = 103) is evenly distributed to the four nearby pixels. [4] The result of step [3] is determined as (103 0)/4 + 127 = 153.
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Graphics

s Multi-line processing The multi-line processing is a kind of gradation processing on multiple levels. What it does is to make a gradient cell of 2 or 3 pixels in the main scan direction. The center position of those pixels is taken as a reference, while laser emission time is changed for the left and right based on this reference so as to represent the gradient.

Main scan direction

Sub-scan direction Gradients of 2 pixels are represented by changing laser emission time for the pixels left and right of a set boundary.
Because the black and gray parts have toner in the reference position, they continue in the sub-scan direction forming a vertical line 2 to 3 pixels in width. This vertical line remains unbroken even when slight drive inconsistencies occur. So, a stable picture quality can be maintained without the effects of drive inconsistencies.

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Graphics and Gradation

Graphics are drawn by turning ON and OFF bits that have been mapped in memory. From there, color density (gradation) is represented by regulating the intensity of the ON bits. With a laser printer, bit intensity is regulated by changing the power of the laser that is projected onto the photoconductor, a technique known as pulse amplitude modulation (PAM), or by changing the laser emission time, referred to as pulse width modulation (PWM). s 2-levelgradation Gray areas are represented as either black or white. The printer driver sets the determining threshold value. Consequently, halftones found in illustrations with photographs and gradations will not be correctly represented. However, the data size of the illustration can be reduced by that portion which is lost.

s Multi-level Gradation This technique for representing black and white is the same as 2-level gradation except that gray areas (halftones) are represented as a percentage of black. Whites and blacks are weighted on a scale of 0% (white) to 100% (black) in evenly spaced levels. The more levels there are, the more realistic the gradations will seem. The number of gray scale levels that can be represented by a monitor or printer depends on the device's memory capacity, the writing unit (laser, etc.), the computer and the display capacity.

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Graphics

8 bits (1 byte)

ON bit OFF bit

s Color representation (For full color) All visible colors are turned into data. On the screen, each RGB color is represented in multiple levels. Also, the toner or ink in the printer is represented in multiple levels. Because many gray scale levels are needed for each color, a lot of data is involved. As with multi-level gradation representation, the number of levels that can be represented by a monitor or printer depends on the device's memory capacity, the writing unit (laser, etc.), the computer and the display capacity. However, with color representation, the number of levels is the number of colors which can be represented.

R G B 8 bits (1 byte)

1 pixel is made up of 8 bits of each RGB color. Light intensity is changed by changing the value assigned to each RGB byte. This enables a multitude of colors to be represented.

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72

Printer Controller

Printer Controller
The printer controller is a feature within the printer hardware that recreates the print image from commands received from the computer. The controller is mounted with a CPU, memory, hard disk and interface, and is very similar to the computer in construction. The controller handles the following operations. Communications: Communicates with the computer to which the printer is connected. Spooling: Buffering: Translation: (Interpreter) Formatting: (Formatter) Rasterizing: Transfer: Stores print data while the printer is busy processing some other data. Stores the next page of data while the previously sent data is being processed. Translates commands sent from the computer. Normally, these commands are embedded in the print data. Prepares the printer to recreate the image and sets up things like paper size, margin and font. Converts the print image into a bitmap for subsequent drawing by laser. Hands the bitmap over to the print engine.

The requests from the printer controller differ depending on the printer language. Every manufacturer takes a different approach to designing the controller. Consequently, processing is slightly different with each model of controller. Of the aforementioned operations, this book will explain spooling, buffering and rasterizing in greater detail.

Controller
Communication

Rasterizing

Translation

Formatting

Interface

Buffering

Spooling

Transfer

Interpreter or print engine

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Spooling
Interpreter  See p. 88. Usually, the data received from the computer is handed over to an interpreter. If the interpreter is busy processing other data, the newest data is temporarily savedor as it is said in computer lingo is placed in the wait state. This temporary saving operation is called spooling. Spooling is provided with printers connected to large workgroups or multiple computers. Normally, the data delivered from the computer is saved in the printers internal memory and kept there until the printer starts printing. Thanks to spooling, the computer can at any time send print data to the printer regardless of whether the printer is busy printing some other data or not. With a workgroup printer, data is sent to the spool and held there until the interpreter is ready (when the current job is completed). At that point, printing starts automatically. Spooling is most effective when more than one user is sharing the printer. Users sharing the printer can send data to the printer at the same time. The data will be spooled until the printer can print it out. Also, spooling makes it possible to make multiple printouts of the same document.

Order of print commands from computers

Processing by shared printer

Print data 1 Busy

Interpreter Processes print data 1.

Print data 2

Page buffer Stores print data 2. Print data 3 Print data 4 Print data 5

Storing not possible

Spool Stores print data 3 and subsequent data.

A single document can be printed out several times by simply sending it once to the printer and storing it in the spool. This saves the computer the expense of sending the data to the printer numerous times over, thus shortening transfer time.

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Printer Controller

Buffering
The operation that saves print data in the printer until printing starts is called buffering. The location is called a page buffer and this is where one page* of image is converted into a bitmap. The program is simple, but the operation requires a lot of memory. For an A4 size image at 300 dpi, about 1 MB ([(11.66 x 8.27) x 300 dpi]/8) is required; at 600 dpi, its 4 MB ([(11.66 x 8.27) x 600 dpi]/8). Using data compression, the required amount of memory can be greatly reduced, but a lot is still needed. Some printers have two page buffers so that they can rasterize the next page while preceding page is being printed. Some screen printers have multiple page buffers so that printing can be put in the wait state while flipping through pages. Color printers require four times the memory of blackand-white printers because one page buffer is required per color. To deal with the aforementioned memory problem, there is something called a band buffer. Similar to using multiple page buffers to efficiently print multiple pages, several band buffers are employed to print one page of data when there is a small amount of memory. One page of data is divided up between the bands and printed in an ordered sequence. * Black-and-white printer with 1 byte per dot

Rasterizing
Rasterizing is the last step to printing an image. The rasterizer converts the commands received from the formatter into a bitmap that the laser printer can use. The print pattern is formed by importing the bitmap of each text character and positioning all bitmaps in specific rows. Then, bitmapped graphics are laid over the rows. Representing the entire page in dots requires a tremendous amount of memory, so a page buffer or multiple band buffers are used to hold the matrix. Once the matrix is ready, it is handed over to the printer engine and printed out.

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To print engine Command Bitmap Rasterizing

Raster Image Processor (RIP)

A raster image processor converts the data from the computer into a bitmap. The operation of converting outline text and picture data that is represented as a function is called rasterizing. In a system that represents text or graphics as a numerical formula, such as PostScript, rasterizing is always performed before outputting the data to the screen or printer. The bitmap is created at the resolution of the output device.

For example, with a PostScript printer, PostScript data is sent from the computer to the printer. PostScript data is text data which represents characters and graphics as a numerical formula. RIP translates this data and creates the bitmaps for storing in the printers memory or hard disk. The bitmap image created here is converted into a laser beam and projected on a photoconductor. In general, RIP is in the printer and does the rasterizing. An RIP integrated in purpose-specific hardware like this is called a hardware RIP. In contrast to this, another approach is to rasterize the data using a personal computer or workstation and send the print-ready bitmaps to the printer. This is called a software RIP.

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Printer Interface

Printer Interface
There are many ways to connect a printer to a computer. This connection is called the interface. This interface is roughly divided into parallel and serial.
Interface Parallel interface Centronics IEEE1284 SCSI Serial interface RS-232C RS-442 Local Talk USB IEEE1394

Parallel Interface
A parallel interface transfers data across multiple lines in units of 1 or 2 bytes. Because either 8 or 16 bits are transferred in a single operation, data transfer is generally fast. Also, because communications are 2-way, data transmission starts/stops are synchronized between the printer and the computer using a handshaking protocol. A parallel interface is not designed for long distance data communications; most of the time, the cable is just a few meters long. In any case, because of its merits, it is not only used for connecting printers and computers but also computers and other peripherals, including hard disks, which require high-speed data communications.

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Data (example)

0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

To signal lines

s Centronics A Centronics interface is a parallel interface developed by Centronics Corporation of the US. It controls 8-bit parallel data lines between the computer and printer using three control lines. It is widely used with printers. The Centronics connector has 36 pins. Pins Nos. 1 11 are for data and control signals, while Nos. 19 29 for ground lines. These signal lines use twisted pair wire. The remaining pins are used differently by each separate company. Of all the pins, only 8Nos. 2 to 9are for data. Transmission over these lines is controlled by the STROBE line (pin No. 1), ACK line (pin No. 10) and BUSY line (pin No. 11). These control lines carry the STROBE, ACK and BUSY signals described here following. STROBE: Indicates that data has been output to the data line. This signal is output from the computer to the printer. ACK: Indicates that data has been successfully read. This signal is output from the computer to the printer. Indicates that data cannot be received either because the printer is busy with another operation or because the data buffer is full. This signal is input to the computer from the printer. To write data in the printer, the computer checks whether the BUSY signal is L level (data reception enabled) or not. If it is L level, the write pulse STROBE signal is sent followed by the data. This is called a 2-wire handshake. The Centronics interface can be either a full Centronics or a simple Centronics interface. The simple Centronics interface is only for the type of output adopted by PC9801 computers and the like.

BUSY:

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Printer Interface

1 19

18 36

9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

s IEEE 1284 The IEEE 1284 interface is an expansion of the Centronics specification. Whereas Centronics specifies unidirectional communications, IEEE 1284 specifies bidirectional communications. This interface makes it possible for the printer to send status messages (printing status and error display) to the computer, and for the computer to know the type of control commands, names of built-in fonts, paper sizes and other information on the printer side. Moreover, the computer can discern the type of printer and automatically select the proper printer driver. IEEE 1284 is compatible with most Centronics interfaces, but purpose-specific drive software is needed to receive status messages from the printer. Furthermore, IEEE 1284 has the following five modes. Compatibility mode: Nibble mode: Byte mode: ECP (Extended Capabilities Port) mode: EPP (Enhanced Parallel Port) mode: Mode equivalent to conventional Centronics interface Mode for already marketed computers Mode for already marketed PS/2 computers Mode proposed by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Mode proposed by Intel and Xircom

The nibble and byte modes are for bidirectional data communications with already marketed computers. The nibble mode uses four status signal lines of the Centronics interface and sends data from the printer to the computer in 4-bit units. The byte mode uses the data lines (8-bit) of the PS/2 parallel port which are capable of bidirectional communications and sends data from the printer to the computer in units of byte. The ECP and EPP modes offer higher data transfer rates than the conventional Centronics interface. Maximum 150 kbps is possible with the conventional Centronics interface, whereas transmission speed is 2 Mbps in the ECP mode and 8 Mbps in the EPP mode. The ECP mode has data compression capabilities, too. Compression is handled entirely by the hardware, so the user does not have to specify anything in particular. Also, while the ECP mode allows connection to only a single peripheral device, the EPP mode can connect up to a maximum 7 peripherals (computers excluded) in the daisy chain. Recently, many computers with ECP and EPP capabilities have been developed.
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s SCSI SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interface. It is a welldiffused interface for connecting peripherals (hard disk, CD-ROM drive, image scanner, etc.) to a computer. Within SCSI, there are SCSI-1, SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 which specify things like SCSI commands and transfer rate. In terms of capabilities, they progressively increase from SCSI-1 to SCSI-3. SCSI-1 exchanges data with peripherals at a speed of 5 Mbps (1 byte = 8 bits) using an 8-bit data bus. Alongside SCSI-2, which debuted in 1994, were standardized both a Fast SCSI which had a data bus of 8 bits and transfer rate of 10 Mbps, and a Fast Wide SCSI which offered a transfer rate of 20 Mbps using a 16-bit data bus. To further boost transmission speed, SCSI-3 also standardized an Ultra SCSI which offered 20 Mbps on an 8-bit data bus, and a Wide Ultra SCSI at 40 Mbps using a 16-bit data bus. Faster versions are gradually being adopted in the Ultra2 SCSI and Ultra3 SCSI. The number of devices which can connect to the SCSI depends on the data bus width. With an 8-bit data bus, up to 8 devices including the initiator can be connected, while with an 16-bit data bus, this number is 16 in a daisy chain connection. Connector pin numbers vary as well with 25 or 50 pins for an 8-bit bus, and 68 pins for a 16-bit bus. There are many kinds of connectors such as a Centronics type, half-pitch Centronics type and half-pitch 50-pin type. SCSI is not generally used to connect to the printer, but some highspeed printers do use it because of the fast transmission speed it offers. Each device connected to SCSI must be assigned a logic unit number (SCSI ID) from 0 to 7 and a terminator must be added as the end device in the SCSI bus.

25

9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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Printer Interface

Serial Interface
Basically, a serial interface uses two linesone for each transmission and receptionand transmits data in 1-bit units. Transfer rate is slower in comparison with 1 and 2-byte parallel interfaces, with the maximum speed being 19.2 kbps for a typical serial link. It is also necessary to add a bit to the beginning and end of the data being sent so as to mark the start and end of the data. Hence, 10 bits must be sent instead of just 8. Nevertheless, it can be used over longer distance than with a parallel interface.
Data (example)

To signal line
1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 10101010

s RS-232C RS-232C (Recommended Standard number 232 in Version C) is a typical serial interface that was established in 1969. It was originally developed as an interface for connecting modems to computers, so it specifies the signal transactions between the data terminal equipment (DTE) and the data circuit terminating equipment (DCE). In this case, the computer is the DTE and the modem the DCE. RS-232C is an international standard for serial computer connections and most computers support it. Transmission distance is a maximum 15 m and both full-duplex and half-duplex bidirectional communications are possible. Transfer rate is a maximum 115.2 kbps with AT compatibles or the most recent PC-9801 series. The connector has your typical 25-pin configuration, but it is possible to transfer just 9 bits of data. In fact, the first IBM PC/AT that came out in 1984 had a 9-pin port, so some AT compatibles have a similar port.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

5 9

4 8

3 7

2 6

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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s RS-422 RS-422 is an improved version of the RS-232C serial interface. It offers a longer transmission distance and minimizes noise better than RS-232C. It is mainly used in the factory automation field and, because it is comparatively fast, it is also used in low-speed LANs. s USB and IEEE 1394 USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a serial bus standard whose specifications were officially announced in 1996. A big feature is that a hub is used to connect peripherals. Daisy chaining is possible between hubs, but devices must have a controller for each of the device and hub. Up to 127 devices on 6 levels* can be connected by USB. Transfer rate is a maximum 12 Mbps in the full speed mode and 1.5 Mbps in the low speed mode. The low speed mode is used with the keyboard and mouse. The cable has a diameter of about 5 mm. A cross-section is shown below. Maximum cable length between devices is 5 m. The connectors are divided into Series A for the upstream connection to the host and Series B for the downstream connection. The two connectors are configured differently to prevent backward connections. * By 6 levels, it is meant up to 5 hubs can be connected to the host (normally a computer) in a daisy chain.
Twisted pair wire for signal line

D+ (Green) D (White) Braided shield

Vcc (red) Power line

Ground (Black)

IEEE 1394 is the standardized version of FireWire, a serial bus announced by Apple Computer in 1986 as a substitute for parallel SCSI. It is drawing interest because of the connections to home multimedia devices that it offers. Developed for family use, the standard clears the three big hurdles which the conventional IDE and SCSI could not, that being, one, high-speed data transfer, two, simple and easy connections, and three, no sacrifice to the real-time aspect of data transfer. Data transfer rate is one of three 12.5, 25 or 50 Mbps, but all three speeds can be used on the same bus. The maximum number of connectable devices is 63 in a daisy chain configuration. Maximum cable length between devices is 72 m. The standard connector has 6 pins though there is also a 4-pin type. It also uses a hot plug, so devices can be
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unplugged while power is ON. Both IEEE 1394 and USB adopt isochronous transmission and use a wide frequency band. Another big feature of IEEE 1394 is that audio and video can be transmitted unbroken in applications with multimedia devices such as digital video cameras and video decks. Looking carefully at these features, it is expected that USB will be used for peripheral device connections and IEEE 1394 for connections to multimedia devices.
1 3 5

s LocalTalk LocalTalk is the serial interface that comes standard on Apples Macintosh computers. Transfer rate is a maximum of 230.4 kbps and many network printers for Macintoshto name Apples own LaserWriterhave a LocalTalk port as part of the standard equipment. MacOS (KanjiTalk), the operating system of the Macintosh, comes with AppleTalk, the standard communication system of the Macintosh. AppleTalk runs either LocalTalk or EtherTalk, the difference being in the network cable. LocalTalk uses a GeoPort connector and LocalTalk cable. LocalTalk is the most inexpensive and simple way to build a small network using AppleTalk network transmission channels, but EtherTalk has continually become more popular in recent years.

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Glossary

Appendix

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Glossary

Glossary
10BASE-T, 10BASE-2 and 10BASE-5
Standards for LAN connections. Collectively, they are known as 10BASE standards. These standards specify the type of cable, connection method and so on. Some examples are 10BASE-T, 10BASE-2 and 10BASE-5. They all specify a different type of cable, but transfer rate is the same 10 Mbps for all. 10BASE-T This standard specifies the most widely used form of connection. It uses an unshielded wire similar to a typical telephone line. Other than cabling, connections require a hub. The number of hubs can be increased as the number of computers increase or the more space that needs to be covered. Hubs can also be connected to one another. Because 10BASE-T uses simple wiring and is more flexible towards equipment reallocation and additions, it is often the basis of LANs of 10 computers or more. 10BASE-2 This standard connects computers to network nodes using a thin coaxial cable and BNC (T) connector. Because it doesnt require special connection equipment and because connections are easily made, it is the basis of comparatively small LANs of anywhere between just a few computers to multiples of ten. However, if one computer connected to the node goes down, it can affect the others on that node. Also, flexibility is lost as the number of computers increases, so it does not lend itself to large-scale LANs. 10BASE-5 This is the original Ethernet standard that connects computers to network nodes through a transceiver and using a thick coaxial cable. It is strong against noise and cables can be longer than with 10BASE-T or 10BASE-2 connections, so this is the choice for trunks lines used in building systems. However, cable installation is too difficult for the everyday user, so computers cannot be moved about or added to the network so easily, so it is used little as an in-office network.

binary data
Data represented as either 0 or 1 using an electric signal.

bit
Smallest unit of information used with computers. The term originally comes from binary digit. It is a single digit in a binary number, this
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being either 0 or 1. Computers are capable of representing various kinds of information by grouping bits together.

byte
A group of 8 bits is generally called a byte. Some systems use 9 bits or 12 bits to form a byte. In any case, one byte made up of eight bits is called an octet. Bytes are also the unit commonly used to express the capacity of floppy disks and memory: 1024 bytes (210 bytes) are called one kilobyte (KB) and 1024 K bytes are called one megabyte (MB).

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The computing part of a computer. It decodes commands, makes calculations and controls other equipment. Some well-known CPUs are Intels Pentium, Motorolas 68000 and IBMs Power PC.

DirectX
One type of graphic interface for application programming. The graphic accelerator chip built into the computer to speed up Windows GDI differs slightly in functional capabilities depending on the hardware manufacturer. DirectX absorbs these differences and eliminates the dependency on hardware, by standardizing how the software directly controls the hardware. Using GDI and DirectX, it is possible to create Windows application programs that do not rely on the hardware. DirectX has seven components: DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound, DirectSound3d, DirectInput, DirectPlay and DirectSetup.

draft-print
Printing mode used to check data that has yet to be finalized. In general, printing is done at the lowest resolution and excluding images which contain large amounts of data. Even with text documents, resolution is lowered before making a draft-print. Draftprinting is provided in the printer driver.

DTP (Desk Top Publishing)

Using a personal computer to produce printed matter. One person can do all the work from creating the manuscript of text, illustrations and photographs, to making and editing the layout and printing. The requirement today is that DTP produce the same high quality obtained in commercial printing.

escape code
A machine command that starts with escape characters and controls the device which receives the command. The commands are
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Glossary

embedded in the text itself, so complex control operations are not possible. In any case, it can be programmed using shorter descriptions than with other codes.

frame buffer
An area of memory used to store a frame of bitmapped data. The printers RAM is usually separated into buffers using partitions.

imagesetter
A machine which outputs on photographic paper or film. Though varying according to model, output is possible at a resolution of 1200 dpi and higher. Some imagesetters enable output at 4064 dpi.

interpreter
Translating or interpreting program. It translates and executes the programs source language one line at a time. Well-known interpreters are PostScript as a printer language and BASIC as a PC programming language. In contrast to interpreters, compilers and assemblers translate the entire program before running it.

LAN (Local Area Network)

A communications network that connects computers within a relatively small geographical area, such as a building or complex, and allows them to exchange data and share software and hardware. If the network is connected to the public telephone network, it is called a wide area network (WAN).

LCS (Liquid Crystal Shutter)

A technique which some printers use instead of a laser beam to create an electrostatic image. The shutter effect is produced by applying a voltage to a matrix of liquid crystals which alters the physical property of the liquid crystals as if opening and closing shutters. This technique is slower than using LEDs, but it also consumes less power.

LED (Light Emitting Diode)

A semiconductor diode that emits a visible light when charged. It responds quickly to low voltage. Various types of LEDs have been developed for displays, lamps and the sort, but an LED printer uses a gallium aluminum arsenide, high-intensity LED.

logic address
A code number that represents a specific location in a computers memory. By indicating memory areas as a code number, it is easier
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to represent complex images than when using physical addresses. Moreover, because the address can be changed by changing the parameter of the number code, there is a higher degree of freedom with data represented by a logic address than that which uses a physical address.

OS (Operating System)
Software which controls the basic operations of a computer such as keyboard input, screen displays, data writing, etc. Windows 95 and KanjiTalk are OSs. The OS provides the most important functions a user needs from managing the CPU, memory and other hardware to mouse click and drag operations.

overrun error/overflow error

Errors which occur in printing. In both cases, the cause is in the size of the printers internal memory and the way in which the computer or printer forms the page image. An overrun error occurs when the data sent to the printer is too complicated and cannot be reproduced correctly. On the other hand, an overflow error occurs when the data sent to the printer exceeds the capacity of the printers internal memory and cannot be processed. Should either of these two errors occur, try the following remedial procedures. If an overflow error occurs Turn OFF the printers page protection and retry printing the data. Page protection can be turned ON/OFF from the driver setup of the printer driver installed in the computers OS. For example, with Windows 95, Start menu Settings Control Panel Printer Target printer driver. If an overrun error occurs (1) Reduce printer resolution. (2) Reduce the resolution of the image data on the page which generated the error. (3) If the printer supports PostScript, try printing with PostScript. (4) Update your printer driver to the latest version. If these procedures fail to correct printing, either increase the memory capacity of the printer or connect the printer to a higher performance computer.

photoconductor (photoconductive drum)

That part of a laser printer which transfers toner to the paper. The image recreated in the printer is drawn on the drum with a laser beam. Toner is then applied to the image and subsequently transferred to the paper.
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Glossary

PostScript
Page description language developed by Adobe Systems. It was developed to handle text and graphics, and describe pages. It is used mainly with laser printers and imagesetters. For more information, see page 54.

print image
A text or graphic document prepared for printing. A printer cannot directly print data from the application (word processing software, graphics software, etc.). Therefore, it is necessary to convert the data into a format for printing. This data conversion is performed by the computer.

printer language
A language which the printer translates. When the print command in an application software is executed, the computer converts the application data into printer language. The print data is then sent to the printer in this printer language and printed out there.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

The primary working memory of a computer or printer. RAM can be written or read at any time. All data in RAM can be read or deleted, and data access is faster than with a hard disk or floppy disk. One setback, however, is that all information stored in RAM is lost when power to the device is shut OFF.

resolution
The number of dots that can fit in one inch. It is usually expressed as dots per inch (dpi). Printers and monitors both represent lines and planes and form images in dots.

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Index

Index
10BASE-2 ........................................................................ 87 10BASE-5 ........................................................................ 87 10BASE-T ....................................................................... 87 2-level gradation .............................................................. 70 area gradation ................................................................. 66 ATM (Adobe Type Manager) ........................................... 43 ATM compatible font ........................................................ 43 binary data ....................................................................... 87 bit ..................................................................................... 87 bitmap data ...................................................................... 31 bitmapped font ................................................................. 40 bitmapped graphics ......................................................... 65 buffering .......................................................................... 73 buffering function ............................................................. 75 byte .................................................................................. 88 cap ................................................................................... 26 Centronics (interface) ...................................................... 78 character printing ............................................................... 8 character set .................................................................... 61 charge erasing unit .......................................................... 29 cleaner ............................................................................. 26 color representation ................................................... 15, 71 CPU (Central Processing Unit) ........................................ 88 CTP (Computer to Plate) ................................................. 22 daisy wheel ........................................................................ 8 Diablo 630 (Xerox) .......................................................... 18 DirectX ............................................................................. 88 dithering ........................................................................... 67 dot gradation ................................................................... 66 dot matrix printing .............................................................. 8 draft-print ......................................................................... 88 drum line printer ................................................................ 8 DTP (Desk Top Publishing) ............................................. 88 electrophotographic printing ............................................ 11
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electrostatic printing ........................................................ 14 error diffusion ................................................................... 68 ESC/P .............................................................................. 17 ESC/page ........................................................................ 17 escape code .................................................................... 87 Ethernet ............................................................................. 5 fixing unit ......................................................................... 29 font .................................................................................. 61 frame buffer ..................................................................... 90 FX (Epson) ...................................................................... 18 GDI (Graphics Display Interface) .............................. 32, 58 GDI printer ....................................................................... 17 gradation processing ....................................................... 66 graphics ........................................................................... 65 hardware RIP .................................................................. 76 HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) ................. 19 IEEE 1284 ....................................................................... 79 IEEE 1394 ....................................................................... 82 imagesetter ...................................................................... 89 imaging unit ..................................................................... 29 impact printer ..................................................................... 7 ink cartridge ..................................................................... 26 ink jet printing .................................................................. 12 intelligent printer .............................................................. 32 interpreter ........................................................................ 89 KanjiTalk .......................................................................... 38 LAN (Local Area Network) ............................................... 89 landscape ........................................................................ 64 laser printer ..................................................................... 28 laser printing .................................................................... 11 laser unit .......................................................................... 29 LCS (Liquid Crystal Shutter) ............................................ 89 LED (Light Emitting Diode) .............................................. 89 line printer ........................................................................ 10 LIPS ................................................................................. 17 local printer ........................................................................ 4 LocalTalk ......................................................................... 84
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Index

logic address ................................................................... 90 MacOS ............................................................................ 38 MS-DOS .......................................................................... 36 multi-level gradation ........................................................ 70 multi-line processing ........................................................ 69 network printer ................................................................... 4 nonimpact printer ............................................................. 11 NPDL ............................................................................... 17 Operating System (OS) ................................................... 90 ordered dithering ............................................................. 67 outline font ....................................................................... 41 overflow error .................................................................. 90 overrun error .................................................................... 90 page description language ........................................ 16, 54 page printer ..................................................................... 10 PAM (Pulse Amplitude Modulation) ................................. 70 paper feed section ........................................................... 28 parallel interface .............................................................. 77 PCL (Hewlett-Packard) .................................................... 51 PCL3 ............................................................................... 51 PCL4 ............................................................................... 52 PCL5 ............................................................................... 52 PCL5c .............................................................................. 53 PCL5e ............................................................................. 53 PC-PR ............................................................................. 17 PDL printer ...................................................................... 33 PDL (Page Description Language) .................................. 16 photoconductor ................................................................ 90 piezoelectric printing ........................................................ 12 plotter .............................................................................. 22 point ................................................................................. 63 portrait ............................................................................. 64 PostScript ........................................................................ 54 PostScript 3 ..................................................................... 56 PostScript font ................................................................. 42 PostScript Level 1 ........................................................... 54 PostScript Level 2 ........................................................... 55
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PostScript printer ............................................................. 16 print head ........................................................................ 26 print image ......................................................................... 6 printer controller .............................................................. 73 printer driver .................................................................... 35 printer interface ............................................................... 77 printer language .............................................................. 16 PrintGear ......................................................................... 57 proof printer ..................................................................... 22 ProPrinter (IBM) .............................................................. 18 PWM(Pulse Width Modulation) ....................................... 70 QuickDraw ....................................................................... 17 QuickDraw printer ............................................................ 17 RAM (Random Access Memory) ..................................... 91 random dithering ............................................................. 67 rasterizer ......................................................................... 75 rasterizing ........................................................................ 75 rasterizing function .......................................................... 75 resolution ......................................................................... 91 RIP (Raster Image Processor) ........................................ 76 RS-232C (Recommended Standard number 232 in Version C) .......................................................... 81 RS-442 ............................................................................ 82 screen font ....................................................................... 43 SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) ....................... 80 serial interface ................................................................. 81 serial printer ..................................................................... 10 sleek printer ..................................................................... 32 smoothing ........................................................................ 44 software RIP .................................................................... 76 spooling ........................................................................... 73 spooling function ............................................................. 74 thermal dye transfer printer ............................................... 7 thermal jet printing ........................................................... 27 thermal printing ................................................................ 11 thermal transfer printing .................................................. 13 thermal wax transfer printer ............................................... 7
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Index

transfer unit ..................................................................... 29 TrueType font .................................................................. 42 typeface ........................................................................... 62 typestyle .......................................................................... 62 USB (Universal Serial Bus) ............................................. 82 vector graphics ................................................................ 65 Windows .......................................................................... 37 WPS (Windows Printing System) .................................... 38

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Index

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1998. September