We have a wrapper that we use to set up custom printing and it builds the necessary PCL strings. It relies on the internal fonts provided on the cartridges that ship with the printers.

There is one combination that we use all the time, and the base font is the "Line Printer" font from the "International 1" cartridge. Basically, this font is 8.5 point, 16.67 pitch, sans-serif, mono-spaced.

If we capture the output to a text file, we cannot completely duplicate the layout in Word as we don't seem to have a mono-spaced font that fits these characteristics. The closest we can come is Courier, but it appears to be around 12 - 14 pitch, which gives us line-wraps we don't need.

Does anyone know of a free-ware font file for Windows that mimics the Line Printer font characteristics?

TIA,

msorrel@greyhound.com

Greyhound Lines, Inc.

I'm not sure I completely understand what you are attempting to do, but if you are opening the text document with Word, you can highlight the text you want to change the font on, and it should show the font size in the size box next to the font name. On mine, the font selection sizes in the drop down list go as low as 8. If that is not the size you need, you can always highlight the number in the font size box and type in the size you want. Word will then change the selected text to that font and size. I've even typed in numbers as low as 4. It takes it, but may be too small to read.

I do this when exporting Rev data to create a Word document for users.

David Kralman

David,

The issue is that the "Line Printer" font integral to the cartridge in the printer is a condensed font, with a much narrower pitch, or spacing between the letters.

So, on a landscape orientation, the fixed-width fonts in Word still make the output too wide.

I did find a free condensed font that is not exact but is close enough.

Thanks!!

msorrel@greyhound.com

Greyhound Lines, Inc.

Yes, I see what you mean. I use condensed line printer for many reports printing direct to the printer. I think the closest font included with Word is Courier New, but compared to condensed line printer 16.66, font size 7 is a little tighter, 7.5 is a little looser, and there is nothing in between those two.

Most of the time when exporting reports, they prefer I put them in Excel, so I don't use Word a lot for that, but when I do, I usually just set the font in Word to something that will work for that specific report.

I'm glad you found something that works.

David Kralman

Matt,

If I open Microsoft Word and use the Font selection menu that appears in the toolbar, Lineprinter is not listed. However, if I go to Format, and then Font, I get a dialogue that has more options. It seems like this ought to list the same fonts. Anyway, now I can select Lineprinter from this menu. Now that I've selected it, I can select it from the previous menu where it wasn't listed before.

The toolbar font dropdown listbox takes a while to populate the first time it's selected. I suspect this is because it's scanning the OS for available truetype fonts.

OK. Wait a minute. Now the other menu doesn't show Lineprinter either. So let me try the other thing I did, which was to check my printer settings and select HP Laserjet 4 printer. When I select this printer, Lineprinter becomes available in Word.

You didn't state what printer you're using, but if you're using PCL, it must be laserjet compatible. I think Lineprinter is built into all laserjets, but I could be wrong.

Victor,

It is an HP Laser Jet (4000 series, I believe). Even if I use Format -] Font, Line Printer does not show up in the list.

Thanks for the info, though!!

msorrel@greyhound.com

Greyhound Lines, Inc.

But, I did just notice that Word will let me adjust the character spacing, so I think what I can do is use is continue to use Courier, like I normally do, but adjust the character spacing down from 100%.

That would basically let me adjust it to a condensed font.

Amazing what you find when you poke around a little bit :)

msorrel@greyhound.com

Greyhound Lines, Inc.

I forgot to mention one other thing I did. In the printer driver, click on the advanced tab and select Substitute with Device Font in the Graphic section.

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