Epson SQ-2000, Operating Manual

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Chapter 5
User-Defined Characters
With the SQ-2000, it is possible to define and print characters
of your own design. This can be useful if you want to design an
entirely new alphabet or typeface. You can also create characters
for special applications (for example, mathematical or scientific
symbols). Or, you may want to create graphic patterns with user-
defined characters to serve as building blocks for larger designs.
How these are done is the subject of this chapter.
Dot-Matrix Printing
In order to use
user-defined characters,
you need to understand
how
dot-matrix printing
works. The process is called dot-matrix
printing because each character is composed of small dots
arranged on a matrix, or
grid.
To see how that character grid gets
printed, let’s take a look at the print head itself.
The print head
The SQ-2000 print head does not print an entire character at
one time. Instead, it prints dots one column at a time. The print
head contains 24 ink nozzles that appear to be arranged in a
vertical column. If you were to remove the print head and look at
the nozzles, you would see two staggered columns of 12 nozzles.
However, the timing is such that they print as one continuous
column of 24 nozzles.
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