User manual

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A human readable interpretation line can also be selected by sending a BI (bar code interpretation) command.
Please note that the bar codes will be printed the same way as characters are. This means that non-rotated
picket fence bar codes will expand down and to the right from the initial starting position (with the interpretation
below - if selected). Rotated-upside down picket fence bar codes expand in the opposite direction. Rotated-
right ladder bar codes are printed down and to the left of the starting point (with the interpretation below - if
selected). Rotated-left ladder bar codes expand in the opposite direction. Care must be taken to start the bar
codes at a position that will allow them to be printed fully. For example, a rotated-right ladder bar code with a
size of 5 will be 40 dots wide. The interpretation, if printed, will take up another 10 dots (2 dots of space + 8
dots of character height. Therefore, the bar code will need at least 50 dot columns to be printed so it should be
started somewhere past column 50. Please read the appropriate bar code data supplement before using any of
the bar codes.
GRAPHICS
Using Graphics mode, you can individually turn on or off any dot on a ticket. In this manner, you can create
your own images, shapes or logos. A Graphic character is made up of one byte of data. Graphic characters
can be positioned like normal characters with row, column commands. The first Graphics character will be
printed at the row/column position selected. Each succeeding Graphics character will be printed in the next dot
column. Following transmission of the graphics select command <G> or <G#>, the user is to send the printer
bytes of dot data for each column of data to be printed. Each byte will represent one column of 8 dots (the MSB
being the top dot) with the leftmost column being transmitted first. A one will print as a black dot and a zero will
be a blank dot. If the command <G> is sent without a number, the bytes must be transmitted in multiples of
seven. If the <G#> command is used, then the number of bytes sent over is equal to #. In either case, the
graphics mode must be re-selected after each group of bytes is sent over. If not, the Ghostwriter will be unable
to distinguish the graphics bytes from command sequences.
NOTE: The interface must be configured for eight bit data in order to use dot addressable graphics.
Some computers cannot send the full range of 8 bit data (0-255) that is needed to fully describe all possible
graphics characters. Therefore, the printer is capable of receiving the dot data bytes not just as straight decimal
interpretations of each column but also as ASCII characters. For example, a column that has every other dot on
01010101 (55H) would have a straight decimal value of 85. Therefore, to print this column in normal graphics
mode, a byte with a value of 85 would be sent to the printer. In Basic this could be done with a print chr$(85)
statement. However, in ASCII graphics mode the byte is split into 2 ASCII bytes representing the hex value of
the data. In the above case, the 85 decimal byte is equal to 55H so it is sent as two bytes of ASCII 5's. In Basic
this could be done with a simple print "55" command. The ASCII graphics mode is distinguished from the
normal mode by using a small g instead of a capital one. There is no default byte count of 7 for ASCII graphics -
the command must contain the number of bytes to follow <g#>. See the command and logo supplement
sections for further clarification.
DOWNLOADABLE FONTS AND LOGOS
Downloaded data is saved in either flash or ram depending on the printer’s default configuration. 42/44/46
printers are factory set to default to flash, 22/24/26 to ram. See the font and logo supplements for programming
information. The process of saving the downloaded data into the flash memory may take several seconds.
While saving the data to flash memory, the printer will go busy to prevent further data processing until the
operation has finished. Data that has been saved to flash memory will not be lost when the printer is turned off.
Logos sent to the printer without id’s are stored sequentially.
Customers must keep track of the data sent to the printer in order to prevent overloading of the download space
in flash (128k in FGL42, 256k in FGL44, 512K in 46). The printer will send the amount of free bytes remaining
in the download space in response to an <S7> command. Note: to receive this status you must have a serial
printer. You can reuse the download space with the ESC c command. This command will cause the printer to
reset all of its download pointers so that all new information is stored at the beginning of the download area.
See the command and logo supplement sections for further clarification. All logos can be manipulated
(height/width, scaling, rotation) like any standard FGL font. Soft font data can be rotated and multiplied up to a
maximum of 16. Scaling is now available for soft fonts.
Logos can be sent to the printer in one of two formats - FGL image or PCX. Customers can either write their
own software to generate the FGL format or use a BOCA IMAGE program to convert uncompressed TIFF files
to FGL graphics for downloading to the printer. Contact Boca if you wish to purchase this software package.
PCX files, preceded with a few simple commands, can be sent as is to the printer. See both the applicable
supplements for further details.