Epson FX-80 Specifications download pdf (Page 61)

Change Commands

After you have sent commands to the printer, you will often want

to change them, either to turn off one or more modes, or to erase text.

To understand what happens when you use one of the several FX

methods of making changes, you need to know about two special

aspects of the printer, defaults and the printer buffer.

We often talk in these pages about resetting the printer to its

defaults. By defaults, we mean the settings that are in effect whenever

you turn the printer on. The printer has default settings for such fea-

tures as the size of a line, the size of a page, and the print mode or

mode combination that is in effect (see Appendix G or the Quick Ref-

erence Card for a list). Although all of these defaults are originally set

at the factory, you can reset some of them by hardware, by changing

the appropriate DIP switches. You can also change most features that

have defaults by software. But whenever you turn your printer off

and back on, you will have reset its default settings.

For example, you can use the software control codes to make your

pages be four inches long, but the next time you reset your printer, the

page length will return to 11 inches.

Every control code that you send to the printer is stored in the

printer’s RAM buffer right along with the text. All material goes

through this buffer to get to the printed page. This buffer is like a

holding tank in which each print line is collected.

The buffer can hold a full line of text characters (on the FX-80,

characters for normal-width print, more characters for narrower

widths; on the FX-100,136 for normal and more for narrower widths)

as well as control codes. All information resides in the buffer until the

buffer is filled or a control code that empties it is received. (One such

control code issues a carriage return; another type selects graphics, as

discussed in Chapter

11.)

Then the FX processes the line, one character

at a time. As the printer encounters characters and codes, it prints text

characters on the page and activates the print modes according to the

control codes.

If you understand the concepts of defaults and buffering, you will

rarely be surprised by what happens when you send a change code.

The next three sections concern change codes: the first two cover

changes you make to commands you have sent to the printer; the last

concerns making changes to text.

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Epson FX-80 Specifications Page 61