How to install, use and uninstall PCL Fonts?

Install PCL Font:

The process of transferring PCL fonts from a host computer to the printer RAM is sometimes referred as downloading. The process involves three steps: (1) assign font ID; (2) copy the font in binary form to the printer RAM; (3) Make it permanent.

Once downloaded, a PCL font occupies a portion of user memory (RAM). The number of PCL fonts that can be stored in user memory is limited only by the available user memory.

In the following illustrations we use [ESC] to represent the ESC key. This character is not printable in Windows, but can be inputted using DOS EDIT. Open the text file in EDIT, press key P while holding the CTRL key, then release both keys. The EDIT program displays the ESC character with a left arrow followed by an asterisk.

1. Font ID command

Prior to the font installation, the user must issues a Font ID command to specify an ID number for the subsequent font management tasks such as font downloads, selections and deletions.

[ESC]*c#D
# - ID number
Note -- if the new font has the same font ID as an existing font, the new font replaces the existing font.

For example, to specify a fond ID number 80, send

[ESC]*c80D

2. Copy the PCL font to the printer

In DOS, UNIX, AS/400 and other platforms, this step is performed by issuing COPY command with binary parameter.

To copy the font to a local printer, the command is:

COPY/B filename LPT1

Here LPT1 is the local printer port.

To copy the font to a network printer, replace the port with full path of the network printer, such as:

COPY/b filename \morovia-serverhp-laser

3. Make the font permanent

Once downloaded, a font is designated as temporary. A temporary PCL font is removed from the user memory during a printer reset or a self-test is performed. To prevent the printer from deleting it during a printer reset you need to make it permanent.

[ESC]*c5F

Note that the font resides in the printer's RAM; it can not survive a power outage or a printer reboot. To make sure that the font is always available, send the font before sending any print job. The font sent at the latter time overrides previous one.

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Use the Font:

After the font is successfully installed, you can use the font by issuing Font Selection command.

Selects the font we just installed. Here 80 is the font ID of the font we just installed.

To switch back to the default font, using the command:

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Remove the Font:

The command of deleting a PCL font takes the form:

[ESC]*c#d2F

# - Font ID

For example, the following command removes the font we just installed (Font ID 80)

[ESC]*c80d2F