Explanation of name coding of printer drivers

The names of the printer descriptor files ("printer drivers") I designed, some of which appear on this web site, follow a convention introduced to bring some order in the chaos of printer drivers. This was necessary because I use both ChiWriter versions 3 and 4, various printers, many printing styles and effects, and numerous font types and resolutions. I offer the convention described below to those who are interested in why my printer drivers have these cryptic names, and perhaps as a memory aid to decide which printer driver serves which purpose.

All printer driver names consist of 8 characters and have a .prn extension. Each character position describes some aspect of the printer driver, represented by a code, being a letter or digit(s), each with its own meaning.
 

Position Aspect Code Meaning
       
1 Printer type / brand b Commodore MPS1500 in IBM graphics mode
    c Commodore MPS1500C color, IBM graphics mode
    g generic 9-pin matrix printer
    h HP deskjet
    l HP laserjet
    m generic 24-pin matrix printer
    p postscript printer
    q Qume 800+ postscript printer
    s Star LC-10 in standard Epson LX-800 mode
       
2 Printing possibilities a plain ascii
    d downloaded and internal fonts only
    g graphics mode only
    i internal printer fonts only
    r rerouted characters to internal printer fonts
    t text fonts only
    x support of mixed mode (graphics & internal)
       
3 Special effects a supporting ascii escape characters
    b limited number of fonts
    c color effects supported
    e extra fixed elite fonts in proportional mode
    f fast mode, using internal fonts draft or NLQ
    i italic greek, class and/or ascii font support
    q quality mode, using NLQ or all graphics
    s standard ChiWriter 14 fonts
       
4-5 Resolution in dpi 10 100 dpi av. (only internal printer fonts)
    13 hor. 120 x vert. 144 dpi (9-pin Chi standard)
    20 hor. 240 x vert. 216 dpi (hor. no adj. dots)
    23 hor. 240 x vert. 216 dpi (9-pin max. resol.)
    30 300 dpi (laser or inkjet printer)
    36 360 dpi (24-pin matrix printer, inkjet printer)
    60 600 dpi (high resolution laser printer)
       
6 ChiWriter version no. 2 ChiWriter version 2
    3 ChiWriter version 3
    4 ChiWriter version 4 (variable font size,
use of base line, international extension)
       
7 Font extension c CFT (ChiWriter 4 lo-res screen fonts)
    e EFT (ChiWriter 3 & 4 hi-res screen fonts)
    i internal printer fonts only
    j J*.MFT (MFT fonts adapted for laser printer)
    l LFT (ChiWriter or JvdE laser / deskjet printer fonts)
    m MFT (9-pin matrix printer fonts by JvdE)
    p PFT (9-pin matrix printer ChiWriter fonts)
    q QFT (9-pin quality fonts by JvdE)
    r RFT (9-pin fonts by JvdE, limited height)
    s SFT (ChiWriter 3 lo-res screen fonts)
    x XFT (24-pin ChiWriter fonts)
       
8 Number of graphic passes 0 none (only internal or downloaded fonts)
    1 one-pass band printing (ChiWriter V4)
    2 two-pass band printing (ChiWriter V4)
    3 three passes per level (ChiWriter V3), or
tripling resolution in band printing (ChiWriter V4)
    4 2 level halves, 2 passes each (doubling resolution, V3)
    6 2 level halves, 3 passes each (tripling resolution, V3)
    9 3 level parts, 3 passes each (tripling resolution, V3)

Last updated May 30th, 2006.
Back to the version 4 package.
Back to the ChiWriter home page 
Back to Joop's home page in English
Terug naar Joop's home page in het Nederlands