Technical note - Internal Use Only

9018/9028

Fonts & Messages

9018/9028 Fonts & Messages

Standard fonts and Custom fonts

A font is a set of characters, symbols or logos.

The printers 9018 and 9028 have by default a set of standard fonts for different
countries (Latin, Arabic, Hebrew…).
These fonts are made in a matrix limited to 24 dots high maxi.
All of them are similar to the 9020 fonts, except the Latin 7 dots font which has been
modified to include some extra dots in the characters.
All these default fonts are embedded in the printer firmware and can not be modified.

When the customer wants a font different from the standard’s one, it will be a custom
font, to be added to the standard list with a USB key.
This custom font must have the extension .s7s

Limitation: up to 10 custom fonts can be added to the standard list

7 dots fonts in 9018/28 vs 9020

The default Latin 7 dots font in 9018/28 contains 220 characters and some of them
include extra dots, giving a slight different shape.

For example below characters 0 and R have more dots and a different shape

9018/28 19 dots 20 dots

9020 14 dots 18 dots

17/03/2016 – Fonts & Messages – V0 TDS

2/6
9018/9028 Fonts & Messages

Creating a custom font for 9018/28

To be transferred to 9018/28, the new font must have the format s7s (extension .s7s,
compatible with 9020 and S7).
So there are several possible cases :
- the new font must be modified and prepared with CoLOS Graphics
- the font must be uploaded from a 9020 printer

1. Building the new custom font in CoLOS Graphics

- In CoLOS Graphics create the new font or modify an existing one.

- Save the font with the extension .s7s, for example as below
NEWFONT1.S7S

- On your USB key, create a folder named FONTS and a sub folder of your
choice (e.g. 9028)
- Copy your font file in this folder

- On the printer download the new font using the transfer menu
Font USB Printer

17/03/2016 – Fonts & Messages – V0 TDS

3/6
9018/9028 Fonts & Messages

NOTE: when creating or modifying a font with CoLOS Graphic respect the following
rules:
- Matrix size: up to 24 dots
- Key board mapping
- Symbol ASCII value
- Printable characters from 20h to FFh (32 to 255 decimal)
- Font number: from 201 to 255
- Save as .s7s

2. Import a customer font from a printer 9020

- In this case you will have first to extract with a SD card the customer fonts
from the 9020 printer

- The 9020 printer saves the fonts in a Hemis file (.hem).

- In CoLOS Graphics import the .hem file and convert it to .s7s format. You
can save it directly in the SD card.

17/03/2016 – Fonts & Messages – V0 TDS

4/6
9018/9028 Fonts & Messages

- Copy the folder FONTS and its sub folder from the SD card to the USB
key
- Transfer the fonts to the printer

NOTE: compare to 9020, the algorithms are specific for 9018 an 9028

17/03/2016 – Fonts & Messages – V0 TDS

5/6
9018/9028 Fonts & Messages

Importing customer messages from 9020 to 9028

This operation does not require CoLOS Graphics.

The message format is the same (extension .msg) with some restrictions:
- 2 counters only per message (counter 1 & counter 2, for messages coming from
9030)
- No barcode*
- 4 lines maximum
*: Barcode compatibility with messages from 9020 must be confirmed for 9028 after the
software release 1.3.

- From 9020, save the message library to the SD card

- Copy the folder MESSAGE from the SD card to the USB key

Like for the fonts, the message files are inside a sub folder (e.g. DEMO)
- Load the messages to the 9028 printer

17/03/2016 – Fonts & Messages – V0 TDS

6/6