Electrophotographic Printer Control as Embodied in the IBM 3800 Printing Subsystem Models 3 and 8

Control of the IBM 3800 Models 3 and 8 electrophotographic printers is achieved by use of a fundamentally different control system than was used in their predecessors, the Models 1 and 2. As a result, printing of composed pages or electronic overlays can include text of many different font sizes and styles printed in multiple orientations, as well as raster images up to a full page in size. The printers manage stored resources, including fonts, segments of pages, and electronic overlays. Pages are composed inside the printers in a logical sequence, instead of by the more traditional line-by-line sequence. This, as well as the capability to position text and images at any addressable point, enhances usability. A high-speed, table-driven character generator, a new command set, and a microcoded control unit make all of this possible.