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15JAN03 - What are Downloadable Soft Fonts?
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MS-DOS, Unix, Linux, the Apple Macintosh, IBM's AS/400, etc. - and Window's
terminal programs - do not use the Windows scalable font system for printing
and instead rely on fonts resident in the printer.

Laser printers usually have several "built-in" hardware fonts and some
printers can scale these fonts to different point sizes.

The quality of these fonts can be better than that available through the
Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI). However:-

  - not all printers provide scalable fonts,
  - sometimes only a few font faces (and/or sizes) are provided, and
  - all of the fixed pitch "terminal" fonts provided are thin,
    "spidery" and hard to read - particularly at small point sizes.

Fortunately most Laser printers provide inbuilt support for Hewlett
Packard's Printer Control Language (PCL). PCL allows you to supplement
inbuilt hardware fonts with "downloaded" PCL bitmap soft fonts. This is
particularly useful if your printer does not provide scalable fonts.


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What are PCL Soft Fonts?
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PCL bitmap soft fonts are provided in a special file format - one file for
each point size of each font - for either a 300 or 600 dots per inch (DPI)
printer. (300DPI fonts can also be used on a 600DPI printers.)

Typically the files have an extension like SFP - meaning "Soft Font
Portrait" or SFL - "Soft Font Landscape". (Most modern printers can rotate
Portrait fonts to use them in Landscape mode when required, so it is not
necessary to provide SFP and SFL versions of the same font.)


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How do I download fonts to a printer?
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Under MS-DOS or the Windows Command Line
  Create a BATCH file to download the fonts.
  (See LOADFNTS.BAT for an example.)

Windows 95/98/Me/NT4
  Open the Windows Control Panel
  Open the Printers Folder
  Select a Laserjet compatible printer
  Right click and choose Properties
  Click the Fonts tab
  Choose Install Printer Fonts
    Select the PCL soft font files to add.

Windows 2000/XP
  Open the Windows Control Panel
  Open the Printers Folder
  Select a Laserjet compatible printer
  Right click and choose Properties
  Choose Device Settings, External Fonts, Properties
  From the Raster Printer Font Installer
    Select the PCL soft font files to add.

Downloaded soft fonts remain in the printer's RAM only until it is "reset" or
switched off. They must be reloaded each time the printer is switched on.


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How do I select a downloaded font from software?
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This depends upon the software application. PCL allows fonts to be selected
directly by specifying their Font ID (assigned when they were downloaded) or
indirectly by allowing PCL to pick a "best match" for a set of user specified
font criteria. See the BATCH file TESTFNTS.BAT for examples of PCL commands
sent to the printer to select fonts by Symbol Set ID and Pitch (CPI).

The "PCL Select Font Commands" included in the list of HVLJFonts provide 
further examples. For example, a PCL compatible printer will interpret the 
escape sequence:-

  <Esc>(10U<Esc>(s0p20h7.2v0s0b0T

as a request to select a font with
  a Symbol Set of 10U (PC 8 Code page 437), (<Esc>(10U)
  a fixed pitch of 20 CPI, (<Esc>(s0p20)
  and a vertical height of 7.2 points. (h7.2)

Note: <Esc> is the Escape Character - ASCII 27.

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References:

1. Your own Laser Printer Manual.

2. Hewlett Packard PCL 5 Printer Language Technical Reference Manual.

3. PC Support Basics - Fonts
   http://tutorials.findtutorials.com/read/id/327

4. HP LaserJet Printers
   PCL Commands, Basic Page Formatting, and Font Selection
   http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpl02705.html

5. Windows 2000 Documentation
   http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/professional/help/default.asp?url=/windows2000/en/professional/help/print_soft_fonts_install_remove.htm

6. For Programmers Only - The Windows 98/Me: Windows DDK
   Specifying Downloadable-Font Commands and Data
   http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wmeother/hh/wmeother/fontinfo_3u5d.asp

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