Recording apparatus with magnetic linear encoder

A recording apparatus provided with a magnetic linear encoder, comprising:

• a carriage supporting a recording head and adapted to effect a reciprocating motion for scanning recording operation;
• a scale of the magnetic linear encoder, positioned along the moving direction of said carriage, said scale including, in the longitudinal direction thereof, a first area in which position information relating to the recording operation is magnetized, and a second area in which specified information other than the position information is magnetized;
• a magnetic head mounted on said carriage and adapted to read the magnetized information of said scale, in the movement of said carriage, said magnetic head constituting a magnetic linear encoder in cooperation with said scale;
• signal generating means for generating a pulse signal in correspondence with magnetization of said scale;
• and
• discriminating means for discriminating the first area and the second area from a duration of the pulse signal from said signal generating means and generating a drive signal for driving said recording head by the pulse signal from said signal generating means when the first area is discriminated.