User manual

5
small margin around the perimeter of the ticket in which no printing can appear. The starting position on each
ticket is row 0, column 0 (0, 0). This is the left top-most corner of a ticket. The end of the ticket (the bottom
right-hand corner) is considered to be position row 383, column 1049 (383, 1049).
The printer can print different size character sets depending on the font size sent to it. The default font size is
called font3 and produces characters 17 dots wide by 31 dots high positioned within a box 20 dots wide
(approximately 10 character per inch) by 33 dots high. The box size can be changed by commands to the printer
in order to produce different inter-character spacing. Each character is top-left justified within the box depending
on its rotation. Each character can be rotated in any of the four directions. Non-rotated (NR) characters are
printed across the ticket from left to right. Rotated right (RR) characters are printed down the ticket from top to
bottom. Rotated upside down (RU) characters are printed across the ticket from right to left (and build up from
their starting points). Rotated left (RL) characters are printed up the ticket from bottom to the top. A character
can be positioned to start anywhere on the ticket by sending a row/column command to the printer. The next
character will start where the previous character box ended unless a new row/column command is sent. A
return command will position the next character on the start of the next line keeping the same rotation from
before (unless a new one is sent). Therefore, if a return is sent while printing in a rotated right mode the next
character is printed at the top of the ticket and one character line below (to the left of) the previous line. A
character line is equal to the box height of a character. In the default mode (font3), a character line is 33 dot
positions and a character column is 20 dot positions.
Please note that many software programs will automatically send a return characters based on some arbitrary
criteria. These automatic carriage returns should be suppressed.
The different types of command sequences that the printer will accept will be described later. The ticket data is
terminated by a FF (0CH) or <p> indicating that the full ticket has been received. At this point, the Ghostwriter
will print, cut and eject the ticket. To print a ticket without cutting, send a 1DH in place of the FF. For a
complete list of print commands see the command section. The printer will automatically clear its buffer after
printing a ticket.
AUTOMATIC TICKET LENGTH CALCULATION
On power-up, the printer will automatically determine the length (in dot positions) of the ticket being used. This
feature allows different sized tickets to be used with the same printer and software. On thermal printers, the
ticket will advance past the print head and then return to the initial print position during this measurement. On
ribbon printers, a blank ticket will be cut and ejected. This feature can be disabled as explained in the command
sequence section.
The printer will allow the user to print data across the entire length of the ticket minus .142" (29 dot columns on
a printer with a .005" dot print head). With all ticket stocks, there is a slight variation in the distance between
successive black marks that will result in a small variation in the calculated length of the ticket. It is, therefore,
recommended that the user avoid printing in the last two or three dot columns of the ticket to avoid the
possibility of truncating the last column due to a variation in calculated ticket length. (For reference, a 5.5" long
ticket will contain about 1050 dot columns.)
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Most Ghostwriters require a minimum of three characters (blanks are acceptable) to be sent in the first line
before accepting a CR character. This is to protect the printer from processing false CR's which are sent by
certain PC's. The Ghostwriter also requires a minimum of three lines of data per ticket as a further error
checking technique. This restriction does not apply if a <p> command is used as the print command instead of
the form feed character.
Certain printer commands allow the user to select rotated and/or expanded versions of a character set. All
modified characters will be top and left justified in their box according to their rotation. For example, a rotated
left character that starts at the bottom left-hand corner of the ticket will build up the ticket and to the right.
Expanded characters will build even further into rows and columns next to them. Therefore, care must be taken
not to start a character in a row or column that is occupied by another character. For instance, if you expand a
non-rotated 7x8 box size character by 2 it will occupy a space 16 dot positions down from its starting point and
14 spaces to the right. Therefore, no character should be placed less than 16 dot rows below that character or
closer than 14 positions to the right. The printer will automatically do this if no overriding positioning commands
are sent. In other words, the Ghostwriter knows if it is printing an extra sized character and it will place the next
character in the correct position so it will not be over-written. This also holds true for return commands. The
printer will automatically position itself down enough lines depending on the size of the characters printed.
However, the printer only remembers the parameters set up for the previously printed character. Therefore, if a
sentence is printed across the ticket and it starts with normal characters and ends with double-sized characters,