SHORT INTRODUCTION to the
srq204m3.prn printer descriptor file

Copyright 1996 J.P.H.W. van den Eijnde

PURPOSE
This is a general printer driver for the 9-pin Star LC-10 matrix printer
MPS1500 and compatibles, operating in Epson LX-800 printer mode (dip switch
6 and 7 on). It uses internal printer fonts, if desired, and *.mft graphic
fonts in a resolution of 240x216 dpi. However, horizontally adjacent dots
cannot be printed. All *.mft fonts are assumed to be in the font\9pin\mft
directory. Please change the corresponding line in the printer driver if
the fonts are to be found elsewhere.

STYLES
QI:    Fixed width letters, in pIca pitch (10 cpi). In letter quality mode
       only graphic i*.mft fonts are used, except computer, which is mapped
       to the standard NLQ internal printer font. In draft mode internal NLQ
       printer fonts are used for standard, small, italic, bold, underlin
       and orator (note that there is a dip switch controlling the choice
       between lower case orator and small capitals), whereas computer is
       mapped to the standard draft internal printer font. International NLQ
       characters on the printer are used whenever possible (in draft mode).
       Script and gothic are proportional graphic fonts (12 cpi average!).
QE:    Fixed width letters, in Elite pitch (12 cpi). Otherwise similar to
       the QI style, only this time using e*.mft graphic fonts.
QP:    Proportional width letters, with average pitch 12 cpi. In Letter
       Quality mode using alphabetical q*.mft quality fonts, and symbolic
       e*.mft fonts. In draft mode using alphabetical p*.mft regular fonts
       and symbolic e*.mft fonts. The computer font is always mapped to
       the standard NLQ internal printer font (fixed width).
Imap:  Fixed width letters, in pIca pitch (10 cpi). Internal printer fonts
       are used whenever available, not only for standard, small, italic,
       bold, computer, underlin and orator, but also remapped symbols from
       IBM Table 2, e.g. in symbol, greek, linedraw, mathi and mathii. In
       draft mode draft printer characters are used (orator is mapped to
       double height characters), in Letter Quality mode NLQ characters.
       All non-available characters are taken from graphic i*.mft fonts,
       except gothic and script, which are proportional (p*.mft, 12 cpi).
Emap:  Similar to Imap, only this time in Elite pitch (12 cpi), and using
       e*.mft graphic fonts.
Laser: Proportional width letters, with average pitch 9.6 cpi. All letters
       are approximately 50% larger than normal letters. Line spacing is
       changed from the usual 24 lpi (in quarter lines) to 18 lpi. This is
       caused by the fact that p*.lft alphabetical and e*.lft symbolic
       laser fonts are used, originally designed for use on a 300x300 dpi
       laser printer. These fonts are assumed to be in the font\48pin\lft
       directory. Note that the outdated ChiWriter 3 font porator.lft
       uses small capitals instead of lower case characters, and does not
       support international accented characters.

Note that there is no style using internal proportional printer fonts.
Although the printer supports them, printing them from ChiWriter is very
awkward. ChiWriter sends escape characters before and after each word to
switch fonts, and this, as well as the presence of graphic blocks for the
necessary micro spacing, causes the printer to print each word separately,
the print head moving back and forth in a nervous way. This takes a lot of
time, discarding the main reason to use internal fonts.


GRAPHICS PRINTING
Graphic fonts with *.mft fonts are printed with SLOW printer head movement,
with up to SIX graphic passes per line, so printing may be slow. However,
the result is of reasonable quality (of course not like a laser printer).


