This document information applies at AIX Versions 3.2.5 and 4.x.
Horizontal Motion Index (HMI) is a PCL command to set the horizontal column width in increments of 1/120th of an inch. The command is ESC&k10H. One small problem is that this value is reset each time the font is changed. In the AIX virtual printer subsystem, the 'symbol set' or 'codepage' is sent at the beginning of the data and each time a new codepage is addressed. The command to switch codepages is stored in the attributes that begin with a small 'c', such as 'c1', 'c2', and 'c2', depending on which translation tables are being used.
You must also change the _w parameter to give more width to the page.
lsvirprt This starts the virtual printer. Choose queue Choose the appropriate virtual printer. c1~v Go into a 'vi' like session to modify c1.The page will look like this:
Select the Roman-8 symbol set c1 = \33(8U '\33(8U' ~Go to the closing single quote and insert the following: \33&k6.4H
Select the Roman-8 symbol set c1 = \33(8U '\33(8U\33&k6.4H' ~Save the changes with ':wq', and then repeat for c2 and c3 or any other values of c# you may have.
c2=\33(10U\33&k6.4H c3=\33(0N\33&k6.4HPress Enter to exit the lsvirprt command and your printer will now print at the new horizontal spacing.