The Loaded Font command set contains the IPDS commands to load font information. Fonts and code pages can be:
Downloaded
Downloaded with the application and deleted after use.
Captured
Downloaded once with the application and stored on the hard disk of the print server for future use.
Resident, user installed
Installed by the user or service technician on the hard disk of the print server.
Resident, factory installed
Installed together with the printer microcode. The factory installed fonts are permanent and cannot be deleted.
|
Type |
Technology |
Host download |
Captured font |
Installed font |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LF1 |
Single byte raster fonts |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Double byte raster fonts |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
|
LF3 |
PostScript PFB (Type1) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
PostScript CID |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
TrueType (single byte) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
TrueType (double byte) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
|
OC |
OC Data Object Font – TrueType |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Data Object Font – Open Type |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Both fixed and relative metrics bounded box raster fonts are supported. 240, 300 and 600 dpi raster fonts are supported and an auto-resolution printer will automatically scale all 240 and 300 dpi raster fonts to 600 dpi. Since this scaling procedure also includes edge-smoothing, a 240 or 300 dpi raster font will usually look nicer on a 600 dpi printer than on a printer with lower resolution. Fonts of other resolutions, such as 480 dpi, cannot be used.
Bar code or MICR raster fonts are usually not suitable for scaling. While the result may look very nice to the eye, the scaled characters may no longer meet the stringent dimension specifications for the bar code or MICR readers – always use bar code or MICR fonts which have been designed for the resolution of the printer.
The fonts and their associated code pages can be downloaded from the host or be installed on the printer HD and activated through the application.
The CID fonts are used for a number of languages in East Asia: China, Japan and Korea. CID fonts can be downloaded from the host and used once, or they can be captured on the hard disk of the print server for future use. CID fonts can also be installed on the hard disk of the print server.
The IBM FOCA architecture does not include the widely used TrueType outline font technology. The SRA control units support TrueType fonts which are packaged as FOCA Type1 outline fonts. The fonts must be packaged in normal, Type 1 like, FOCA Self Defining Fields in a way so that the printer drivers do not notice the difference between the TrueType font and a normal Type1 outline font.
FOCA fonts only offer a limited capability to print Unicode data. A CID or TrueType double byte font, together with a suitable code page can be used to print Unicode UTF-16BE two-byte characters. Fot example: 8A9E for 語. Characters coded with double (four byte) UTF-16 codes, or with Unicode UTF-8 or UTF-32 coding cannot be used. Proper Unicode support is only possible with the new TrueType / OpenType object resource type fonts. UTF-8 and UTF-16-BE are supported; UTF-16-LE and UTF-32 are not supported.
The normal AFP code range for double-byte fonts starts at X’4141’. The SRA controllers also accept codes below this limit; this also allows the use of JIS coding in the range X’2121’ – X’7E7E’. For example, 語 is:
47F6 in IBM Kanji Code (AFP)
2476 in JIS
386C in JIS-X
8CEA in Shift-JIS
8A9E in Unicode UTF-16
B8EC in EUC, JBIS (Unisys)
These coding systems can be used together with suitable code pages.
The printer is delivered with a set of resident fonts and code pages. This set corresponds to the so called 4028 Compatibility Resident Font Set and Code Page Set which is supplied with the IPS AFCCU printers. While the original IBM 4028 CRFS only contains raster fonts, the varioPRINT 140 Series use factory installed TrueType outline fonts. The factory installed fonts and code pages cannot be deleted or modified.
Outline fonts, raster fonts, object containers with TrueType / OpenType data object fonts and code pages can be captured on the printer hard disk the first time a job is being printed. Later, these captured resources can be activated and reused for the same, or for another job. Fonts or code pages will only be captured when the Capture function has been enabled on the printer. A second requirement is that the Public/Private flag in the resource itself has been set to Public. The user can use the Private flag to prevent sensitive or confidential resources from being captured. Resources which have already been captured on the printer hard disk will not be used if the Font/Resource capture option on the printer has been set to off. If you want to capture additional resources, or use the resources already on the printer hard disk, make sure that the capture box in the printer is checked.
The factory installed default font is a Courier Roman Medium 12 pitch (10 point) font. You can select another default font and code page among the factory or user installed single byte fonts and code pages on the hard disk. The default font can be selected through the Settings Editor.