User guide
Emulations
131
Emulations
General
When a printer understands the control set written for another printer
type, it is said to emulate the other printer. Your printer in its stan-
dard version emulates, i.e. “understands” the DEC-PPL2 for the se-
rial interface and Epson ESC/P2 using the parallel interface.
Escape sequences
Escape sequences or control codes tell the printer that the following
transmitted code is a printer command and not a printable character.
They allow the selection of printer functions or the changing of prin-
ter parameters from the computer. By transmitting an escape se-
quence, you are able to change the previously set configuration of
the printer (e.g. character set).
This chapter contains an introduction into the sequences and control
codes which are used by your printer.
The settings made by escape sequences have priority over the
settings made in menu mode; therefore they override these.
What are escape
sequences?
An escape sequence consists of an ESCape control character (ESC
= decimal 27 or hexadecimal 1B) followed by one or more charac-
ters, which represent commands to the printer. Please note that this
escape character has nothing to do with the ESC key on your com-
puter keyboard.
For example, the control character ESC followed by the character
“4” tells your printer to print the subsequent text in italics.
How are escape
sequences used?
Escape sequences are transmitted to the printer by your computer
software via the printer driver. Experienced users and programmers
can also control the printer directly via control sequences, however
before you start working with escape sequences and control codes,
we recommend that you study the computer software manual.
To enter control codes the Ctrl key and an ASCII character must be
pressed simultaneously. For instance, by pressing Ctrl and J a line
feed is accomplished (it is required to output the character string on
the printer). More information concerning this topic is contained in
your computer software manual and the corresponding Program-
mer’s Application Manuals (see section
Programming manuals
,
page 143).
For details on the escape sequences in the DEC, EPSON and
IBM emulation refer to the
Programmer’s Manual
on this
CD-ROM.
C
