Epson LX-90 User Manual - Parallel 8620 PIC for LX-90 - Page 44

Your user-defined characters can be utilitarian or imaginative, anything from a scientific symbol to script letters for your initials. Just follow the simple steps below. The only restriction on your creativity is that the characters you define must follow the same rules that govern the rest of the characters printed by the LX-90. In Figure 7-l are four pica letters with a grid of lines behind them so that you can see how they are designed. As you look at these characters, notice the three rules that govern their design: the column on the right side is always left blank so that there will be spaces between the characters on a line; a character can use the top row or the bottom row, but no character uses both the top and the bottom row; and a dot can be placed on a vertical line only when the columns next to that line are not used. Figure 7-l. LX-90 dot-matrix characters Designing Process Suppose that you want to print the scientific symbol for the planet Mercury. Although the LX-90 has a number of special symbols, Mercury's symbol is not one of them. You can, however, create and print such a symbol with ease. First, use a grid like the one in Figure 7-2 to plan where to place the dots. 42