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Calling Eurpoean Symbols 2
- Thread starter longhair
- Start date
I would look up a list of symbol sets. Most (that have
a-z,A-Z,0-9 to distinguish from linedraw and dingbat symbol sets for example) will have different symbols for characters
other than the standard letters,numbers, and punctuation characters.
I luckily have an old tech reference manual from a Toshiba
PageLaser that is excellent. I'm not even sure Toshiba still makes laser printers. Whether you can get this info from HP, I don't know. Most of the ISO symbol sets have the
pound symbol (Brittish currency) symbol as chr$(23H) instead of chr$(24H) for the dollar symbol. Whether that's available on your printer is ???
If you are using a laser printer, you could develop the
symbol using raster graphics. The reason I excluded inkjets is that it's been my experience that the inkjets will print
one raster graphic (preferably the last thing to be printed)
and ignore the rest. Of course, that just might be that I am
handling it incorrectly (that it only prints one).
a-z,A-Z,0-9 to distinguish from linedraw and dingbat symbol sets for example) will have different symbols for characters
other than the standard letters,numbers, and punctuation characters.
I luckily have an old tech reference manual from a Toshiba
PageLaser that is excellent. I'm not even sure Toshiba still makes laser printers. Whether you can get this info from HP, I don't know. Most of the ISO symbol sets have the
pound symbol (Brittish currency) symbol as chr$(23H) instead of chr$(24H) for the dollar symbol. Whether that's available on your printer is ???
If you are using a laser printer, you could develop the
symbol using raster graphics. The reason I excluded inkjets is that it's been my experience that the inkjets will print
one raster graphic (preferably the last thing to be printed)
and ignore the rest. Of course, that just might be that I am
handling it incorrectly (that it only prints one).
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1
- #4
I don't know if recent printers have the euro symbol in the internal fonts or not.
Jim Asman
Jim Asman
You must first select a symbol set that has the symbol you want. According to HP's PCL5 Comparison Guide, symbol set 13J (Venture Internatiional) has the British pound as 18710, BBhex and the Japanese yen as 18810, BChex. My copy precedes the adoption of the Euro symbol, so I don't have any referance to that. As per Buff1, the symbol set is accessed by the escape sequence esc(s, where s is the symbol set, in this case 13J.
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1
- Thread starter
- #6
afternoon all,
i decided to test this before doing it programatically.
i set the printers symbol set manually to one that should contain a euro symbol (windows cp1252 latin 1) which is listed in the pcl menu as an available symbol set.
i then created a file with a couple of spaces the word test and the euro symbol - chr(128).
when i alter the file to the printer i get the spaces and the word test but no euro symbol. if i bring the file over to windows i can see the euro symbol in it.
could the issue be that this is being printed off of an hpux box?
any suggestions?
regards,
longhair
i decided to test this before doing it programatically.
i set the printers symbol set manually to one that should contain a euro symbol (windows cp1252 latin 1) which is listed in the pcl menu as an available symbol set.
i then created a file with a couple of spaces the word test and the euro symbol - chr(128).
when i alter the file to the printer i get the spaces and the word test but no euro symbol. if i bring the file over to windows i can see the euro symbol in it.
could the issue be that this is being printed off of an hpux box?
any suggestions?
regards,
longhair
- Thread starter
- #8
webrabbit,
by setting manually i mean - i went to the printer a 5Si in this case and used the menus button to select the pcl menu. i then selected the sym set (symbology set) and changed it from pc-8 to win l-5 (i also tried many other sets that are native to the printer).
as far as alter the file to the printer - sorry unix terminology. i'm coding the program and printing from a hpux system.
could the issue be the driver that the printer is set to use on the unix system?
if i ftp the file over to windows i can see the symbols fine and they print fine, but then we loose the ability to call the form (via pcl) that is stored on the printer and has to be used for this print job.
regards,
longhair.
by setting manually i mean - i went to the printer a 5Si in this case and used the menus button to select the pcl menu. i then selected the sym set (symbology set) and changed it from pc-8 to win l-5 (i also tried many other sets that are native to the printer).
as far as alter the file to the printer - sorry unix terminology. i'm coding the program and printing from a hpux system.
could the issue be the driver that the printer is set to use on the unix system?
if i ftp the file over to windows i can see the symbols fine and they print fine, but then we loose the ability to call the form (via pcl) that is stored on the printer and has to be used for this print job.
regards,
longhair.
Maybe your "lp" is stripping the input to 7 bits.
Can you print any 8bit characters from any symbol set?
Is there a "raw" option to your lp command?
For example try...
lp -d yourprintername -o raw yourpclfilename
Jim Asman
Can you print any 8bit characters from any symbol set?
Is there a "raw" option to your lp command?
For example try...
lp -d yourprintername -o raw yourpclfilename
Jim Asman
- Thread starter
- #10
jlasman,
thanks for the suggestion.
the net_lj5x driver does have the option, however it did not produce the correct symbol.
what i have found is that if i choose a symbol set that does not include the chr$ then all data after it is moved 1 space to the left. if i choose a symbol set that does include the chr$ then then data is spaced properly. i take this to mean that the data is getting to the printer it's just not being properly interpreted.
regards,
longhair
thanks for the suggestion.
the net_lj5x driver does have the option, however it did not produce the correct symbol.
what i have found is that if i choose a symbol set that does not include the chr$ then all data after it is moved 1 space to the left. if i choose a symbol set that does include the chr$ then then data is spaced properly. i take this to mean that the data is getting to the printer it's just not being properly interpreted.
regards,
longhair
What is the DOS command you are using to print?
What is the Unix command?
I would embed the symbol set command in the pcl file and not worry about the control panel setting.
If you have some way to cat the file directly to the printer port, bypassing the spooler, try that.
Jim Asman
What is the Unix command?
I would embed the symbol set command in the pcl file and not worry about the control panel setting.
If you have some way to cat the file directly to the printer port, bypassing the spooler, try that.
Jim Asman
- Thread starter
- #12
- Thread starter
- #14
webrabbit,
thanks for the idea but i don't think that's it.
if i choose a chr$ that is one character in pc-8 and a different one in lets say iso l5 i get the character printed out when the control panel is set to pc-8. i set the control panel to iso l5 and i get a blank space.
regards,
longhair
thanks for the idea but i don't think that's it.
if i choose a chr$ that is one character in pc-8 and a different one in lets say iso l5 i get the character printed out when the control panel is set to pc-8. i set the control panel to iso l5 and i get a blank space.
regards,
longhair
- Thread starter
- #16
OK! I can only assume that the euro symbol is NOT available in the font you are using, at least with the symbol set in use.
What printer model are you using? Are you sure it doesn't predate the euro?
This begs the question then as to why it prints OK from DOS! What print command are you usung to print from DOS?
Maybe a windows driver is somehow interceding on your behalf and is using a soft font.
Jim Asman
What printer model are you using? Are you sure it doesn't predate the euro?
This begs the question then as to why it prints OK from DOS! What print command are you usung to print from DOS?
Maybe a windows driver is somehow interceding on your behalf and is using a soft font.
Jim Asman
- Thread starter
- #18
jlasman,
printer is an hp laserjet 5si.
the idea that it might prdate the euro recently came to mind. i've been trying to find a site that either lists printers that can print the euro or lists the ones that you would need a dimm or flash card for.
haven't tried to print from dos, just unix and windows.
since it's a network printer and not set up on lpt1 i'll have to find the commands to send the print job to it.
regards,
longhair
printer is an hp laserjet 5si.
the idea that it might prdate the euro recently came to mind. i've been trying to find a site that either lists printers that can print the euro or lists the ones that you would need a dimm or flash card for.
haven't tried to print from dos, just unix and windows.
since it's a network printer and not set up on lpt1 i'll have to find the commands to send the print job to it.
regards,
longhair
Looking on HP's website, I can find NO evidence that the euro symbol is contained in any builtin font on any HP printer. Apparently the euro was placed at chr(128) on ALL the windows soft TTF fonts that correlate to the internal printer fonts.
Jim Asman
Jim Asman
The 5si was well before the euro. If you are printing from a windows application, then the windows driver must be having a hand in this.
You will have to download a soft font to RAM, get a font DIMM, or download to FLASH memory. HP has some freebie soft fonts with the euro.
And so it goes...
Jim Asman
You will have to download a soft font to RAM, get a font DIMM, or download to FLASH memory. HP has some freebie soft fonts with the euro.
And so it goes...
Jim Asman
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