PRINTER SYSTEM WITH COMPRESSED PRINT CAPABILITY

A dot matrix printer having a reciprocating hammer bank prints characters in either a standard or a compressed size using one of two different sets of modulation bits stored in a character generator for each character. A control code byte preceding each line of characters to be printed selects the sets of modulation bits in the character generator to be used and in addition selects the repetitive counts to be made by two different decoders in response to timing pulses designating the different dot column positions during each sweep of the hammer bank to control the application of the modulation bits from the character generator to actuating mechanisms for the hammers within the hammer bank. The compressed characters are the same height as but of reduced width compared to the standard characters, with the result that each hammer in the hammer bank prints a greater number of compressed characters than standard characters while bidirectionally reciprocating through a fixed distance relative to a paper or other printable medium.