Print Pitches; Dot-Matrix Printing; Dot-Matrix Characters - Epson FX Series User Manual

One of the big advantages an FX printer has over a daisy-wheel
printer or a typewriter is the ability it gives you to choose from a
variety of widths, or pitches, for your characters. To use this feature
well, it's important to understand just how an FX prints. The tech-
nique used by an FX printer is called dot-matrix printing.

Dot-Matrix Printing

A dot matrix is a grid or graph that someone who designs a charac-
ter set for a dot matrix printer uses. The dot-matrix designs for the
characters, which may be letters of the alphabet, numbers, or sym-
bols, are stored in the printer's read-only memory (ROM).
The FX's dot matrix is nine rows of dots high and six columns of
dots wide. Look at any letter
series of dots. And, as you can see in Appendix A, every letter fits
inside this six by nine grid.
Chapter 3

Print Pitches

on
Figure 3-1. Dot-matrix characters
your printout-it's made up of a
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