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.