Chapter 3 Specifying Master Units and Minidriver Data

Most printers support commands with a variety of resolutions. For example, the Immediate Line Feed command on the Kodak Diconix printer operates with a vertical resolution of 1/288th of an inch while the same printer operates with a vertical-graphics resolutions of 1/96th of an inch. To simplify the problem of handling various resolutions, the Microsoft Windows Universal Printer Driver uses a single, common coordinate system. The units in this coordinate system are called master units. Master units are the least-common multiple of the various horizontal and vertical resolutions supported by the printer. The MiniDriver Data dialog box contains controls that you use to specify the vertical and horizontal master units for a printer. From the Printer Data menu, choose the MiniDriverData command. The following illustration shows the MiniDriver Data dialog box:

In addition to specifying master units, this dialog box contains controls to specify a Generic Printer Characterization (GPC) Specification version number, a minidriver version number, the printer's technology, and the absence or presence of a private help file. The GPC Specification refers to the format of data resources contained in the minidriver.