This document applies to all levels of AIX.
Some math symbols like 1/2, 1/4, +, -, * and / are part of standard symbol sets. However, symbols like the DEL symbol, or the integration symbol, square root symbol and the general SET operation symbols are not universally available. The list of the characters in a symbol set can usually be found in the printer technical reference manual.
To illustrate the problem, you can generate a sample test PCL file using a text editor like vi. To generate the Esc character from the vi insert mode, press Ctrl-v followed by the Esc key. You can generate a particular character in insert mode with the HFT, (X-terminal), by holding the ALT key down, and entering the 3 digit ASCII code in the right-hand keypad. These characters appear in this document as [###]. The PCL command to enter this symbol set is ESC(5M. Other math symbol sets and the PCL commands to enter these modes follow:
Individual laser printers will support some or all of the preceding symbol sets.
The Esc character shows as ^[ in the vi editor and in this document.
To create an Esc in vi, while in insert mode, press Ctrl-V followed
by Ctrl-M. The carriage return is ^M and is used because some passthrough printers
do not instruct the the printer to add carriage returns. For laser printers,
change the ct attribute with lsviprt to show ct=\33&k2G, instead of adding
carriage returns to the file. The ^[(8M instructs the printer to return to a text symbol set (Roman 8).
The following example uses the PS MATH Symbol Set.
Omega: ^[(5M[087]^[(8U ^M
Phi: ^[(5M[089]^[(8U ^M
Del ^[(5M[209]^[(8U ^M
Approx: ^[(5M[064]^[(8U ^M
Set Symbols: ^[(5M[199][200][201][202][203][204][205][206][207]^[(8U ^M
Square root: ^[(5M[214]9 [222] 3 ^[(8U ^M
Integral: ^[(5M[242]^[(8Uf(x) ^M
Equivalencies: ^[(5M[185][186][187][163]=[216]^[(8U ^M
Steps to test the results:
[ Doc Ref: 9174714418464 Publish Date: Feb. 22, 2001 4FAX Ref: 6487 ]