User-defined Characters
There is one restriction in designing characters. Dots in the same
row may not print in adjacent columns. This means that there must
be an empty dot position both to the left and right of each dot that
prints. This is true in draft, Letter Quality, and proportional mode.
Defining Your Characters
The first step in defining characters is to place the dots on a grid just
as you want them to print. The examples shown here, like the ones
in the graphics section, use an x to represent each dot.
In the illustration below, you see a draft grid with a simple user-
defined character planned on it.
Now you translate the dot pattern you’ve created on paper to a
numeric format so you can send the data to your printer. Every dot
has an assigned value. Each vertical column (which has a maximum
of 24 dots) is first divided into three groups of eight dots. Each
group of eight dots is represented by one byte, which consists of
eight bits. Hence, one bit represents one dot.
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Software and Graphics
