Custom fonts

Common questions about fonts and our products.

Q. How do I select a font?
Q. I am using Microsoft Windows NT4.0 and there is no support for Font Cartridges, SIMMs or DIMMS other than the standard product from Hewlett Packard. Why does NT not support Font installation as Windows 3.1 or 95 does?
Q. I have purchased a Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5 Font SIMM and have a Windows Printer Driver with the product. I follow the supplied instructions but cannot find the Install Printer Fonts option in the printer driver set-up, what am I doing wrong?
Q. I'm interest in purchasing a Font SIMM module, what benefits doe's it provide?
Q. Can you supply scaleable logo's as PCL5 on Cards, Cartridges, SIMM's.
Q. When I download a soft font to my printer, I print PCL type list and the font is there, but when I print the font disappears, why?

Q. How do I select a font?
A. For PCL fonts an escape sequence is used. The ESC is (27 Dec) or (IB hex), this is used to invoke all PCL codes. A typical escape sequence is as follows.

Esc (8U Esc (s0p12h10v0s0b3T

(8U = Symbol Set Roman 8
s0p = Fixed Pitch
12h = 12 Point
10v = 10 Pitch
0s = Normal Stroke
0b = Medium Weight
3T = Typeface Number

More information on PCL Escape sequences can be found in your Printer Manual.

Other Font formats such as Prescribe, CAPSL, IBM can be supplied but use different methods of selecting fonts. If you wish further information on these type of fonts please Email support for help.

Q. I am using Microsoft Windows NT4.0 and there is no support for Font Cartridges, SIMMs or DIMMS other than the standard product from Hewlett Packard. Why does NT not support Font installation as Windows 3.1 or 95 does?
**NEW IMPORTANT NEWS ON NT4.0 DRIVERS, SEE BELOW**
A. This is an operation printer driver support which has been omitted from all Hewlett Packard printer drivers. Even the standard PCL font installer falls well below the functionality of the font installer for Windows 3.1 and 95. We have been calibrating with Hewlett Packard and can support custom font cartridges, SIMMs, DIMMs for NT. If you would like further information on NT3.51 and NT4.0 Cartridge, DIMM and SIMM support please fill in our enquiry form on our Contact page to receive further details.

A follow on from the previous question, Hewlett Packard have just released the HP 4050 and this printer ships with drivers which support font DIMMs. We are not sure if new printers will support this function but we know that Windows 2000 supports this feature for all printers.

November 1999.
Just released from Hewlett Packard is NEW Printer drivers for the LaserJet 4 and 5 Series printers with full font Cartridge and SIMM support, visit our support download pages for details.

April 2000.
NEW Hewlett Packard printer drivers are in BETA testing which allow installation of custom font products such as cartridge, SIMM and DIMM. Visit our support download pages or click here to visit their site.

Q. I have purchased a Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5 Font SIMM and have a Windows Printer Driver with the product. I follow the supplied instructions but cannot find the Install Printer Fonts option in the printer driver set-up, what am I doing wrong?

A. This is not our fault, when some Hewlett Packard LaserJet's were shipped, the drivers supplied with the printer did not contain support for Font SIMMs. With LaserJet 4 printer series SIMM support is catered by the Font Cartridge support, this problem is solved by simply downloading the latest drivers from the HP Site. We have links to these drivers in the Support Download section, click here to open the driver download page.

Q. I'm interest in purchasing a Font SIMM module, what benefits doe's it provide?

A. Font SIMM modules, like cartridges and Font Cards other many benefits. First the SIMM doe's not use valuable printer memory, but fonts act just like internal fonts. Fonts can be accessed instantly, much quicker than using TrueType fonts. You can introduce corporate type by restricting users to use standard font sizes so all documentation is presented in a common format.

Q. Can you supply scaleable logo's as PCL5 on Cards, Cartridges, SIMM's.

A. Yes we can, we also supply them as PCL4 Bitmaps.

Addendum: We are now able supply TrueType Logos on Font SIMMs and DIMM for Hewlett Packard printers.

Q. When I download a soft font to my printer, I print PCL type list and the font is there, but when I print the font disappears, why?

A. This is because the font is downloaded temporarily, so when any print job with a reset command is sent the font is deleted from memory. The solution is to embed make font permanent commands within the font, please consult your printer manual for these codes or email our support department who will be happy to help.

If you have a question which you would like answering, please email support for help on our barcodes whether it be pre-sales or support on a product you already have purchased.