The DOWNLOADINFO dialog box contains controls which support the commands and data required to download soft fonts for Hewlett Packard printers which operate using HP's Printer Control Language (PCL). Downloading fonts to other types of printer models is not supported by the Universal Printer Driver version 1.0. A soft font is a special font that is stored on a disk and copied or downloaded to the printer's RAM prior to use. A soft font has two components: the font-descriptor component and the character-descriptor component. The font-descriptor component specifies the font's metrics (measurements such as the character-cell dimensions, pitch, x-height, stroke weight, and so on). The character-component contains bitmaps for individual characters in a soft font. Soft fonts are temporary as opposed to permanent cartridge- or ROM-resident fonts. When a printer is reset, soft fonts are deleted. This information is needed to download TrueType fonts to the HP LaserJet Series II, and later HP LaserJet printers. The Universal Printer Driver supports downloading TrueType fonts as bitmapped fonts, but not as downloaded scalable fonts.
The following illustration shows a DOWNLOADINFO dialog box: