NEC Silentwriter 1765 User Guide

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NEC

SILENTWRIT

User’s Guide

1760 and 1765

1700

series

September 1996

808-875035-001A

PROPRIETARY NOTICE AND LIABILITY DISCLAIMER

The information disclosed in this document, including all designs and related materials, is the valuable property of NEC Corporation (NEC) and/or its licensors. NEC and/or its licensors, as appropriate, reserve all patent, copyright and other proprietary, rights to this document, including all design, manufacturing, reproduction, use, and sales rights thereto, except to the extent said rights are expressly granted to others.

The NEC product(s) discussed in this document are warranted in accordance with the terms of the Wa rranty Statement accompanying each product. However , actual performance of each such product is dependent upon factors such as system configuration, customer data, and operator control. Since implementation by customers of each product may vary, the suitability of specific product configurations and applications must be determined by the customer and is not warranted by NEC.

To allow for design and specification improvements, the information in this document is subject to change at any time, without notice. Reproduction of this document or portions thereof without prior written approval of NEC is prohibited.

Silentwriter and Print Navigator are registered trademarks, and SEE, HEAR AND FEEL THE DIFFERENCE is a trademark of NEC Technologies, Inc.

Microsoft, Windows, Wi ndows-NT, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other product, service, brand, or trade names used in this publication are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. NEC disclaims any responsibility for specifying which marks are owned by which companies or organizations.

First Printing—September 1996 Document Number: 808-875035-001A

ii User’s Guide

USING T HIS G UIDE

This user’s guide includes the information you need to operate and maintain your NEC 1765 printer. The chapters in this guide are described below.

Chapter 1, “Silentwriter Features”

Describes all the Silentwriter printing capabilities you can take advantage of, including base model and network configurations, printer options, and standard settings.

Chapter 2, “Using Silentwriter Software”

Describes how to use Silentwriter software on your computer to select printer settings and monitor printer status.

Chapter 3, “Using the Operator Panel”

Describes how to use the operator panel to change printer settings and perform other tasks.

Chapter 4, “Printing Tasks”

Tells how to perform printer tasks, including loading paper, changing toner cartridges, and using printer options.

Chapter 5, “Working with Fonts”

Explains basic concepts and tells how to use Silentwriter tools to manage fonts on your printer and computer system.

Chapter 6, “Printer Memory”

Describes how to get the best performance from your printer by managing printer memory.

Silentwriter® 1760 or

Chapter 7, “Maintaining Your Printer”

Gives instructions for performing routine maintenance tasks that will keep your printer operating efficiently.

Chapter 8, “Troubleshooting”

Shows how to diagnose and respond to operating difficulties.

Chapter 9, “Technical Support”

Tells how to contact NEC for service, support, supplies, and documentation for your printer.

Appendices A through E

Include detailed information about printer and media specifications, safety precautions, and the Silentwriter limited warranty.

Glossary

Defines printer-related terms.

If you have not yet set up your printer, begin with the Easy Printer Setup Guide. It covers assembly, installing printer options, and installing printer software.

If you have the 1765 network printer, you also need the 1765 Network Printer Configuration Guide, which provides supplemental information for network users.

iii

iv User’s Guide

TABLE OF C ONTENTS

USING THIS GUIDE III CHAPTER 1SILENTWRITER FEATURES

Overview 1-1

How Your Printer Works 1-2

Computer Software 1-2 Printer Memory and Fonts 1-2 Energy and Cost Saving Features 1-2

The 1700 Series 1-3

Silentwriter 1760 1-3 Silentwriter 1765 1-3 Printer Options 1-4

500-Sheet Feeder (Model 1703) 1-4 Envelope Feeder (Model 1706) 1-4 Duplex Unit (Model 1701) 1-4 Offset Tray (Model 1702) 1-4 Extra RAM 1-4 Hard Disk Drive Kit (Model 1725) 1-4 1765 Network Upgrade Kit (Model 1707) 1-4

Changing Printer Settings 1-5

Using the Print Dialog Box of Your Software

Application. 1-5 Using Silentwriter Printer Software 1-5 Using the Printer Operator Panel 1-5

Standard Printer Settings 1-5

Paper Handling 1-6

Media Sizes 1-6 Paper Size Detection 1-6 Number of Copies 1-6 Paper Sources 1-7 Orientation 1-7 Paper Destination 1-7 Job Separation 1-7 Duplex Printing 1-8

Print Quality 1-9

Toner Density 1-9 Toner Saving 1-9 Resolution 1-9 Sharp Edge Technology (SET) 1-9

Printer Operations 1-10

Emulation 1-10 Interface 1-10 Power Saving 1-10 Jam Recovery 1-11 Auto Continue 1-11

Printer Memory 1-11

Page Protection 1-12 Set Wait Time 1-12 Resource Saving 1-13

PCL Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1-14

Graphics 1-14

Graphics Quality 1-14 Graphics Mode 1-14 Gray Scale 1-14

Fonts 1-15

TrueType Downloading Options 1-15 Font Installer 1-15

Print Monitor 1-16

PostScript Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1-16

Fonts 1-16

Send TrueType Fonts As 1-16 Use Printer Fonts for all TrueType Fonts 1-16 Use Substitution Table 1-17 Default Substitution 1-17

Options 1-17

PostScript Options 1-17 Components 1-17 Print Monitor Settings 1-18

Output 1-18

File Destination 1-18 PostScript Headers 1-18 Creating and Using a PostScript

Header File 1-19 Compression 1-20 Format 1-20

Multiple Images 1-20

Multiple Images 1-20 Application Paper Size 1-21 Layout 1-21

Page Image 1-21

Image Rotation 1-21 Use Bitmap Smoothing 1-21 Variations 1-21

Settings in the Print Navigator and the Operator Panel 1-22

Font Source 1-22 Font ID Number 1-22 Typeface 1-22 Lines Per Page 1-22 Point Size 1-22 Pitch 1-22 Symbol Set 1-22

CHAPTER 2USING SILENTWRITER SOFTWARE

Overview 2-1 Printer Drivers for Windows 3.1x 2-2

When to Use the PCL or PostScript Driver 2-2 Accessing the Printer Driver 2-2 Changing Settings in the Printer Driver 2-3 Restoring Default Settings 2-3 Using Online Help 2-3 Setting Another Printer Driver as Default 2-3

Printer Drivers for Windows 95 2-4

When to Use the PCL or PostScript Driver 2-4 Accessing the Printer Driver 2-4 Changing Settings in the Printer Driver 2-5 Restoring Default Settings 2-5 Using the Printer Driver Online Help 2-5 Setting Another Printer Driver as Default 2-5

vi User’s Guide

The Silentwriter Print Monitor for Windows 2-6

Activating the Print Monitor 2-6 Using the Print Monitor 2-6 Deactivating the Print Monitor 2-7 Changing Print Monitor Settings 2-7

The Silentwriter Uninstaller 2-7 Software for MS-DOS 2-8

Commands for Running Silentwriter

DOS Software 2-8

The Print Navigator 2-8

Using Print Navigator Online Help 2-9 Changing Settings 2-9 Restoring Default Settings 2-9 Resetting the Printer 2-9 Working with Printer Profiles 2-9 Viewing the Current Printer Settings 2-10 Using the Form Feed 2-10 Printing Test Pages 2-10 Connecting to a New Output Port 2-10

The DOS Print Monitor 2-11

Loading and Unloading the

DOS Print Monitor 2-11 Using the Non-Active File List 2-11 DOS Print Monitor Message Screen 2-11 DOS Print Monitor Main Menu Screen 2-11

CHAPTER 3USING THE OPERATOR PANEL

Overview 3-1 Operator Panel Features 3-2

Indicator Lights 3-2 The Status Display 3-2 Operator Panel Buttons 3-2

Operator Panel Tasks 3-4

Putting the Printer Online or Offline 3-4 Stopping a Job 3-4 Clearing the Print Buffer 3-4 Resetting the Printer 3-4 Restoring Settings to Factory Defaults 3-4 Printing a Demo Page 3-4 Printing Information Pages 3-5

Auto Start Page 3-5 Define Start Page 3-5 Font List 3-5 Menu Tree 3-5 Test Page 3-5

Using Hardware Settings 3-5

Format Hard Disk 3-5 Fuser Alarm 3-5

Changing Printer Settings Using the Operator Panel 3-6

Entering Menu Mode 3-6 Navigating Through the Operator Panel

Menu Tree 3-6

An Example of Changing a Printer Setting 3-7

vii

CHAPTER 4PRINTING TASKS

Overview 4-1 Selecting Media 4-2

Paper Properties 4-2 What to Avoid 4-2 Purchasing Paper 4-2

Choosing a Feeder 4-3

The 250-Sheet and 500-Sheet Paper Cassettes 4-3 The Multipurpose Feeder 4-3 The Envelope Feeder 4-3

Sending a Print Job 4-4

Printing from Windows 4-4 Printing from DOS 4-4

Printing from a DOS Application 4-4 Printing an ASCII Text File from

the DOS Command Line 4-4

Stopping a Print Job 4-5

From the Operator Panel 4-5 From Windows 3.1x 4-5 From Windows 95 4-5 From the Print Navigator in MS-DOS 4-5

Using Paper Cassettes 4-6

Loading a 250-Sheet Paper Cassette 4-6 Adjusting the 250-Sheet Paper Cassette 4-7

Lengthening the Paper Cassette 4-7 Shortening the Paper Cassette 4-7

Loading the 500-Sheet Paper Cassette 4-8 Adjusting the 500-Sheet Paper Cassette 4-9

Using the Multipurpose Feeder 4-10

Loading Paper in the

Multipurpose Feeder 4-10

Loading Envelopes into the

Multipurpose Feeder 4-12

Loading Transparencies and

Adhesive Labels 4-14 Loading Postcards 4-15 Loading Special Media 4-16 Closing the Multipurpose Feeder 4-16

Printing Double-Sided Using the Duplex Unit 4-17 Using the Envelope Feeder 4-18 Sorting Jobs Using the Offset Tray 4-20 Special Printouts 4-21

Printing a Demo Page 4-21 Printing a Test Page 4-21 Printing a Font List 4-21 Printing the Operator Panel Menu Tree 4-21

CHAPTER 5WORKING WITH FONTS

Overview 5-1 Using Fonts to Format Your Document 5-2

Basic Concepts 5-2

Typeface 5-2 Font 5-2 Symbol Set 5-2 Spacing 5-2 Pitch 5-2 Point Size 5-2 Style 5-2

viii User’s Guide

Font Types 5-3

Bitmapped Fonts 5-3 Outline Fonts 5-3 TrueType Screen Fonts 5-3

Formatting Your Document 5-4

Software Application Commands 5-4 Printer Driver Settings from

Your Computer 5-4 Operator Panel Menu Selections 5-4 Programming Printer Commands 5-4

Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer 5-5

Font Locations 5-5

Printer Resident Fonts 5-5 System Fonts 5-5 Soft Fonts in Printer RAM 5-5 Hard Disk Drive Fonts 5-5 Fonts on Diskette 5-5

Silentwriter Software for Font Management 5-6 Printing and Using Font Lists 5-6

The PCL Font List 5-6 The PostScript Font List 5-6 Printing a Font List 5- 7

Installing TrueType Screen Fonts Using

the Silentwriter Installer 5-7

Installing Additional Fonts Using the

NEC Font Manager 5-8

Installing the NEC Font Manager

and Fonts 5-8 Learning to Use the NEC Font Manager 5-8

Setting TrueType Processing Options Using the

PCL Printer Driver 5-9

Download as TrueType 5-9 Download as Bit Image 5-9 Print as Graphics 5-9 Use Printer TrueType Fonts 5-9

Setting TrueType Processing Options Using the

PostScript Printer Driver 5-10

Send to Printer as Adobe Type 1 5-10 Send to Printer as Bitmap Type 3 5-10 Use Printer Fonts for all TrueType Fonts 5-10 Use Substitution Table 5-10

Using the Font Installer in the PCL

Printer Driver 5-11

Accessing the Font Installer 5-11 Installing Fonts 5-11 Setting Downloading Options 5-12 Downloading Fonts as Permanent 5-12 Copying or Moving Fonts to a New

Printer Port 5-13 Deleting Fonts 5-13 Editing Font Names and Attributes 5-13

Setting Default Font Attributes in MS-DOS 5-14

Font Source 5-14 Font ID Number 5-14 Typeface 5-14 Lines Per Page 5-14 Point Size 5-14 Pitch 5-14 Symbol Set 5-14

Storing Fonts on the Optional Hard

Disk Drive 5-15

Downloading Fonts to the Hard

Disk Drive 5-15

CHAPTER 6PRINTER MEMORY

Overview 6-1 Print Buffer 6-2

Page Protection 6- 2 Set Wait Time 6-2 Print Overrun Error 6-2 Memory Overflow Error 6-2

RAM 6-3

Adding RAM 6-3 Downloading Soft Fonts to Printer RAM 6-3 Resource Saving 6-3

ROM 6-4 Optional Hard Disk Drive 6-4

Downloading Fonts to the

Hard Disk Drive 6-4

CHAPTER 7MAINTAINING YOUR PRINTER

Overview 7-1

Precautions 7-1

The Toner Cartridge 7-2

Handling the Toner Cartridge 7-2 Storing the Toner Cartridge 7-2 Recycling the Toner Cartridge 7-2

Toner Cartridge Maintenance Tasks 7-3

Removing the Toner Cartridge 7-3 Redistributing the Toner 7-4

Cleaning the Fuser Unit Area 7-5 Installing a New Toner Cartridge 7-6

Replacing the Fuser Cartridge and Transfer Roller 7-8

Replacing the Fuser Cartridge 7-8 Resetting the Fuser Alarm 7-8 Replacing the Transfer Roller 7-10

Cleaning the Printer Exterior 7-11 Moving the Printer 7-11

CHAPTER 8TROUBLESHOOTING

Overview 8-1

Print Quality Maintenance 8-1 Simple Troubleshooting 8-1

Clearing Paper Jams 8-2

Locating and Clearing a General Paper Jam 8-2

Check and Clear the Multipurpose

Feeder 8-3 Check and Clear the Paper Exits 8-3 Check and Clear Inside the Front Cover 8-4 Check and Clear Inside the Back Cover 8-5 Check and Clear the Paper Cassettes 8-6 Check and Clear the Fuser Unit 8-7

Clearing a Jam at the Duplex Unit 8-8

Printer Messages 8-9

Status Messages 8-9 Alert Messages 8-9

Print Quality 8-13

Print Is Too Light 8-13 Print Is Too Dark 8-13 Page Is Blank 8-13 Page Is Black 8-13

x User’ s Guide

Vertical Streaks 8-14 Repetitive Marks 8-14 Solid White Vertical Lines 8-14 Blank Spots 8-14 Toner Spots 8-15 Toner Smears 8-15 Paper Is Damaged 8-15 Print Is Blurred 8-15

Frequently Asked Questions 8-16

CHAPTER 9TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Overview 9-1

Assistance Nearby 9-1

Help From Within Your Company 9-1 Help From Your Dealer 9-1

NEC Technical Support 9-2

How to Contact NEC 9-2

Contacting NEC Technical Support

by Telephone 9-2

Contacting NEC Customer Service

by Telephone 9-2 Sending Internet Electronic Mail 9-2 Sending a Fax 9-2 Using FastFacts—NEC’s

Information Retrieval System 9-2 Reaching the NEC Bulletin Board System 9-2 Reaching NEC on CompuServe 9-3 Reaching NEC on America Online 9-3 Reaching NEC on the World Wide Web 9-3 Writing NEC 9-3

NEC Warranty and Service 9-3

NEC Service Contracts 9-3

Ordering Supplies, Printer Options, and Spare Parts 9-4

Third-Party Network Adaptors 9-4

Documentation 9-5

Silentwriter 1760/65 9-5 Related Publications 9-5

Support from Your Software Vendor 9-6

APPENDIX APRINTER SPECIFICATIONS APPENDIX BMEDIA SPECIFICATIONS APPENDIX CSAFETY INFORMATION APPENDIX DWARRANTY INFORMATION APPENDIX EFCC STATEMENT GLOSSARY INDEX

xii User’s Guide

SILENTWRITER FEATURES 1

Overview

Welcome to NEC’s Silentwriter 1700 Series. You’ll quickly discover that the Silentwriter 1700 Series printer is your smartest office equipment investment ever. It is ideal for desktop publishing and general business printing and can be upgraded with hardware and software enhancements to meet your business needs.

The first part of this chapter describes the different features available within the 1700 Series, including

• How your printer works

• Energy and cost saving features

• Silentwriter 1700 Series standard features

• Model 1760 configuration

• Model 1765 configuration

• Printer options

The second part of this chapter describes printer settings that expand the capabilities of your printer. These settings can be changed using the printer operator panel and/or the printer drivers on your computer. They include

• Standard printer settings

• Windows

• Windows PostScript

• Print Navigator This chapter defines what each setting does and tells

where it can be set—in the operator panel, in a printer driver, or in both.

Chapter 2, “Using Silentwriter Software,” explains how to use printer driver software to change printer settings.

Chapter 3, “Using the Operator Panel,” explains how to use the operator panel to change printer settings.

PCL® printer driver settings

printer driver settings

settings for MS-DOS®

1–1

How Your Printer W orks

Whenever you send a job to the printer, an image of the page to be printed is temporarily written to the rotating surface of an electrophotographic (EP) drum. This image acts like a magnet that attracts toner to the drum. (The toner and the drum are both located inside the toner cartridge.) At the same time, the paper (or transparency film or envelope) passes through the printer and is electrostatically charged as it reaches the drum. The toner that was previously attracted to the drum as an image is transferred to the charged paper.

The paper then goes to the fuser unit. There, it passes between two rollers where a combination of heat (up to 392° F) and pressure bonds the toner to the paper. The paper is then delivered to the output tray.

Computer Software

Your Silentwriter 1760/65 printer comes with software that allows you to control your printer from your computer. This software is described in Chapter 2. It includes

• The PCL printer driver NEC Silentwriter 1700 for

Windows

• The PostScript printer driver NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 for Windows 3.1x and Windows 95

• Print Navigator for MS-DOS

If you have the Silentwriter 1765, you also received administrator and client software for configuring and monitoring the printer on NetWare AppleTalk Microsoft Warp Server 1765 Network Printer Configuration Guide.

3.1x and Windows® 95

networks. Network utilities also support

LAN Manager®, LAN Server®, and OS/2®

. The network software is described in the

, TCP/IP, and

Printer Memory and Fonts

Two other important factors in the way a printer operates are memory and fonts. The different types of printer memory are described in Chapter 6. Fonts and font management are described in Chapter 5.

Energy and Cost Saving Features

Y our Silentwriter 1700 Series printer has several features designed to protect the environment and save you money. These include

Power Saving: This feature enables the printer to

reduce its power consumption from 575 to 45 watts when not in use (see page 1-10).

T o ner Saving: This feature allows you to reduce the

amount of toner used when printing draft versions of documents (see page 1-9).

T o ner Cartrid ge Recycling: NEC’s toner cartridge

recycling program makes it easy for you to return empty toner cartridges for recycling (see page 7-2).

The Silentwriter 1760 and 1765 printers meet the requirements of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Computers program for

printers. The purpose of this program is to promote the manufacturing and marketing of energy-efficient office automation equipment, thereby potentially reducing combustionrelated pollution. (The Energy Star emblem does not represent EPA endorsement of any product or service.)

1–2 User’s Guide

The 1700 Series

The Silentwriter 1700 Series includes the 1760 and 1765 printers. These outstanding printers share the following features

• Print speed of up to 17 pages per minute

• 600 dot-per-inch (dpi) resolution for text and images

• Emulation of two popular printer languages: Adobe’s PostScript Level 2 (PS2) page description language (PDL) and Hewlett-Packard’s PCL 5e printer control language (PCL)

• Automatic Emulation Switching (AES), which assesses incoming jobs and switches to the appropriate printer language

• A memory booster chip with Memory Enhancement Technology for efficient use of printer memory and improved printing of complex images

• 70 resident outline fonts (35 Intellifont emulation and 35 Type 1 for PostScript emu lation), and 10 TrueType

typefaces for PCL and PostScript

emulations

• Screen fonts that match the printer’s resident fonts for WYSIWYG formatting in Wi ndows

• NEC Font Manager software and 96 downloadable fonts on diskette

• Printer operator panel that displays printer status and offers menu selections at the touch of a button

• 250-sheet feeder with 250-sheet paper cassette

• 250-sheet output tray with full stack sensor

• Multipurpose feeder that holds 100 sheets of paper, 30 transparencies or labels, or 10 envelopes

• NEC printer software for Windows 3.1x, Windows 95, and MS-DOS that includes printer drivers, Silentwriter Print Monitor, scre en fonts, and Online Hel p

for PCL

• Clean and efficient printer operation centered around one easily replaceable part—the toner cartridge

The differences between the 1760 and the 1765 are described below.

Silentwriter 1760

This versatile printer includes the following standard features

• Standard 4 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM) (expandable to 52 MB)

• Connects to one computer for local printing through the bidirectional parallel port

• Job overlap allows a job in one emulation to process while a job in the other emulation prints out

• Can be upgraded to the 1765 network printer

Silentwriter 1765

In addition to the standard features of the 1760, the 1765 includes the following features for business and network optimization

• Standard 6 MB of RAM (expandable to 54 MB)

• A local area network (LAN) card that supports three industry-standard network interfaces—Ethernet 10Base2, Ethernet 10BaseT, and LocalTalk

Mini-DIN-8

• The Automatic Interface Monitor (AIM). This technology allows the printer to continuously monitor and switch between interface ports for incoming print jobs and other operational information

• A 500-sheet feeder and cassette to accommodate heavy work loads

• Silentwriter software for NetWare, TCP/IP, AppleTalk, and other networks

1 Silentwriter Features

The 1700 Series 1–3

Printer Options

You can add the following printer options to both the 1760 and the 1765 to customize your printer for your business.

500-Sheet Feeder (Model 1703)

You can add up to two 500-sheet feeders to the Silentwriter to handle heavy work loads. Each feeder includes the 500-sheet paper cassette.

Envelope Feeder (Model 1706)

Automatically feeds up to 75 envelopes.

Duplex Unit (Model 1701)

You install this unit in the printer to enable doublesided printing.

Offset Tray (Model 1702)

This tray can hold up to 500 sheets of output paper, and enables job separation. The full stack sensor alerts you when the tray is full.

Extra RAM

The Silentwriter 1760/65 has two industry-standard, 72-pin SIMM slots. You can add up to 48 additional MB of RAM to your printer. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 MB SIMMs are available.

Hard Disk Drive Kit (Model 1725)

A hard disk drive provides extra storage memory for downloading PostScript fonts. The NEC hard disk drive (HDD) kit allows you to install a compatible hard disk drive to your Silentwriter 1760/65. A one-gigabyte, 2.5” hard disk drive is included in the kit.

1765 Network Upgrade Kit (Model 1707)

With this kit, you can upgrade your 1760 for use as a network printer. It includes

• The LAN card with three industry-standard network interfaces

– Ethernet 10Base2 – Ethernet 10BaseT – LocalTalk Mini-DIN-8

• Automatic Interface Monitor (AIM), that continuously monitors all interface ports for incoming print jobs to allow automatic processing and printing.

•The 1765 Network Printer Configuration Guide

• Silentwriter network software for NetWa re, TCP/IP, AppleTalk, and other networks

note: To use the 1765 Network Upgrade Kit, you

must also purchase and install at least 2MB of additional RAM.

note: Upgrading a 1760 to a 1765 printer requires

adding 2 MB of RAM for a minimum of 6 MB of RAM. Also, for PostScript printing, a minimum of 6 MB of RAM is recommended.

1–4 User’s Guide

Chapter 2 in the Easy Printer Setup Guide provides instructions for installing and removing all printer options except the network upgrade kit, which is described in the 1765 Network Printer Configuration Guide.

See Chapter 9, “Technical Support,” for information on ordering printer options.

Changing Printer Settings

Silentwriter printer settings give you even more ways to customize your printer. There is often more than one place to change the same printer setting. These include

• The Print dialog box in your software application

• The Silentwriter printer software

• The operator panel on your printer

Using the Print Dialog Box of Your Software Application.

Settings made in your software application usually override settings that are made elsewhere. In fact, we recommend that settings for individual print jobs be changed within the software application, if possible.

Using Silentwriter Printer Software

Your Silentwriter printer software includes the PCL printer driver NEC Silentwriter 170 0 (for Windows 3.1x and Windows 95), the PostScript printer driver NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 (for Windows 3.1x and Windows

95), and the Print Navigator for MS-DOS. You use this software to change settings that are not

available within your software application, settings that effect the operation of the printer , or global settings that apply to most print jobs you will send to the printer. You can often use the printer drivers in place of the printer operator panel to control printer settings.

Using the Printer Operator Panel

You can use the printer operator panel to change settings that are not available elsewhere. This includes emulation and interface settings, Resource Saving, Jam Recovery, and PCL job setup options. In addition, the printer operator panel allows you to print out font lists and test pages.

Chapter 3 provides instructions for controlling printer settings using the printer operator panel.

Standard Printer Settings

This section describes the main printer settings that are available in Silentwriter printer software and the operator panel. The settings fall into the following categories

• Page handling

• Print quality

• Printer operations

• Printer memory In addition to the settings described in this section, each

printer driver and the operator panel have special settings that are unique to it. These settings are described later in this chapter.

1 Silentwriter Features

Chapter 2 provides instructions for controlling printer settings using your printer driver software.

note: The 1765 printer also comes with a Mac

PostScript printer description (PPD) file for Macintosh Network Printer Configuration Guide.

users. This is described in the 1765

™

Changing Printer Settings 1–5

Paper Handling

Paper handling settings allow you to set the source and destination of printed paper, specify paper size, and select duplex printing and other options.

Media Sizes

Standard sizes for your Silentwriter 1700 Series printer are shown below along with their print areas (the region that can actually be printed on each size). You select a paper size in conjunction with a paper source (described on page 1-7). Only Letter, Legal, and A4 paper sizes can be used for duplex printing or in the 500-sheet cassette.

Table 1-1: Paper Sizes and Print Areas

Paper Size Detection

In Cassettes 1, 2, and 3, the printer can detect which paper size you are using based on how the cassette is adjusted. Therefore, it is important to adjust the cassette properly for the paper size you are using.

Number of Copies

You can set the number of copies to be printed from 1 up to 999. The default setting is 1 copy.

note: The number of copies you specify in your

software application may override the number of copies you specify in your printer driver or the operator panel.

Paper Dimension PCL Print Area PostScript Print Area

Inches Millimeters Inches Millimeters Inches Millimeters

Paper Letter 8.5 x 11 216 x 279 8.17 x 10.67 207.4 x 270.9 8.16 x 10.67 207.26 x 271.02

Legal 8.5 x 14 216 x 356 8.17 x 13.67 207.4 x 347.1 8.16 x 13.67 207.26 x 347.22

A4 8.3 x 11.7 210 x 297 7.9 x 11.4 201.51 x 288.46 7.89 x 11.36 200.41 x 288.54

B5 (JIS) 7.3 x 10.3 182 x 257 7 x 10 173.5 x 248.5 6.88 x 10.44 174.75 x 265.18

Executive 7.25 x 10.5 184 x 2 67 6.92 x 10.17 175.7 x 258.2 6.88 x 10.17 174.75 x 258.32

Envelopes

Monarch 3.87 x 7.5 98.5 x 191 3.54 x 7.17 89.9 x 182 3.52 x 7.17 89.41 x 182.12

Com 10 4.1 x 9.5 105 x 241 3.79 x 9.17 96.3 x 232.8 3.79 x 9.17 96.27 x 232.92

DL 4.33 x 8.66 110 x 220 4 x 8.3 101.52 x 211.5 3.95 x 8.33 100.33 x 211.58

C5 6.38 x 9.01 162 x 229 6.04 x 8.7 153.5 x 220.47 6.03 x 8.68 153.16 x 220.47

B5 Env (ISO) 6.9 x 9.9 176 x 250 6.6 x 9.6 167.5 x 241.5 6.88 x 10.44 174.75 x 265.18

1–6 User’s Guide

Paper Sources

You can select from the paper sources listed below. Cassette 1 is the default source when it is the only cassette. Autoswitching is the default when an optional cassette/feeder is installed. Optional feeders (Cassette 2, Cassette 3, and the Envelope Feeder) are not available for selection if they are not installed on your printer.

Autoswitching: The printer automatically detects

and uses the paper cassette that has the appropriate size paper for the print job. Then, if the first cassette runs out of paper, the printer uses the next cassette that has the same size paper if one is available. (The printer will not switch to the multipurpose feeder as a paper source.)

Multipurpose Feeder: All standar d-size media ca n be

automatically or manually fed from this feeder. However, the multipurpose feeder cannot be the paper source when using the duplex unit to print double-sided.

Cassette 1: This is the standard 250-sheet feeder

with cassette. It is adjustable for A4, Letter, Legal, Executive, and B5 (JIS) sizes.

Cassette 2: This optional 500-sheet feeder/cassette

is adjustable for A4, Letter, and Legal sizes.

Cassette 3: This optional 500-sheet feeder/cassette

is adjustable for A4, Letter, and Legal sizes.

Envelope Feeder: This optional feeder holds up to

75 envelopes. It is adjustable for Monarch, Com 10, DL, and C5 sizes.

Caution! Do not remove Cassette 1 when paper is

feeding from Cassettes 2 or 3—this will cause a paper jam.

Orientation

Orientation describes the position of images on a page with respect to the long and short edges of the paper. The default setting is Portrait.

Portrait: The page is taller than wide as you view

the text upright.

Landscape: The page is wider than tall as you view

the text upright.

Orientation Options

Portrait

Paper Destination

Each paper destination has a full stack sensor and the printer will send a message when the tray is full. You can select from the following options.

Output Tray: Print job is delivered face down to the

standard output tray, which holds up to 250 sheets of paper. This is the default setting.

Offset Tray: Print job is delivered face down to the

optional offset tray, which holds up to 500 sheets of paper. In addition, when you select the offset tray, the job separation feature is automatically activated.

Job Separation

Job Separation is activated when the offset tray is installed and selected for output. When Job Separation is active, print jobs are shifted (offset) by 2.8 cm for easier sorting.

Landscape

1 Silentwriter Features

Standard Printer Settings 1–7

Duplex Printing

You must have the optional duplex unit installed to use this feature.

note: Only cassettes 1, 2, or 3 can be used for

duplex printing (not the multipurpose feeder). Paper size should be Letter, Legal, or A4. Paper weight should be between 20 and 24 lbs.

Duplex options are Off, Long-Edge, and Short-Edge. Long edge and short edge describe the binding of the

document. Be sure to select the correct binding option in conjunction with the Orientation setting, as illustrated below.

Long-edge binding, portrait orientation: This is for

conventional book layout. Every page is oriented right side up so pages are turned from right to left.

Short-edge binding, landscape orientation: This setup

is a variation of conventional book layout. It is wider and every page is oriented right side up so pages are turned from right to left.

Long-edge binding, landscape orientation: This is

often used for calendars, presentations, or accounting ledgers. Every other page is printed upside down so that pages can be flipped through bottom over top.

Short-edge binding, portrait orientation: This layout is

like a clipboard or steno pad. Every other page is printed upside down so that pages can be flipped through bottom over top.

Duplex Binding Options

Long-Edge Binding Portrait Orientation

Long-Edge Binding Landscape Orientation

Short-Edge Binding Landscape Orientation

Short-Edge Binding Portrait Orientation

1–8 User’s Guide

Print Quality

You can use print quality settings to improve the appearance of your printed document or control toner consumption.

Resolution

Print resolution is measured by the number of dots per inch (dpi) in an image. The higher the number is, the finer the resolution.

1 Silentwriter Features

Toner Density

This setting allows you to adjust the density of toner printed on the page to make it lighter or darker (darker pages consume more toner). You may need to adjust toner density to account for variation when you install a new toner cartridge.

Settings are Low, Medium (the default), and High. Toner density adjustments affect the amount of toner

placed at points along the edge of images or lines. When the Sharp Edge Technology is On, adjusting the toner density may place too much or too little toner at the transition points along gradually sloping lines. You should test the Sharp Edge Technology setting every time you change the toner density setting.

Toner Saving

This feature can be set to On or Off (the default). When Toner Saving is On, the printer uses less toner to print the page image, which extends the life of the toner cartridge. Toner Saving On is appropriate for printing draft versions.

Resolution on your Silentwriter 1700 Series printer can be set to 600 dpi (the default) or 300 dpi.

For the best resolution, use graphics and fonts designed for 600 dpi printers and set Resolution to 600 dpi. 600 dpi is also the better choice if your document contains images or very small fonts. This setting, however, requires more printer RAM and may take longer to print.

Use the 300 dpi setting for backward compatibility with older documents. 300 dpi can also be used for faster printing if your document contains only text (especially ASCII text).

Fonts designed for 300 dpi printers can be printed at 600 dpi or 300 dpi. However , you can incr ease the quality of 300 dpi text and graphics by setting Resolution to 300 dpi and setting Sharp Edge Technology to On.

Caution! When you change the printer resolution,

typefaces, macros, and other data that has been downloaded to the printer RAM are lost.

Sharp Edge Technology (SET)

This feature can be set to On (the default) or Off. SET refines the print quality of characters and line art by smoothing the fine gradations along the edge of the printed image. Experimenting with SET and the different Toner Density settings may produce better results on your printer.

Standard Printer Settings 1–9

Printer Operations

These settings allow you to control the way the printer operates.

Emulation

Emulation settings allow you to specify the printer language the Silentwriter uses. Emulation can on ly be set using the operator panel menu tree. Options are

Automatic Emulation Switching (AES): AES allows

the Silentwriter to assess incoming print jobs and automatically switch to the appropriate printing language—either PostScript Level 2 emulation or PCL 5e emulation. AES is the default.

PostScript 2: When this is set, the printer can only

receive and interpret print jobs using PostScript Level 2 and earlier versions of the page description language.

PCL 5e: When this is set, the printer can only

receive and interpret print jobs using PCL 5e and earlier versions of the printer command language.

Hex Dump: You use this setting to check the

integrity of the parallel port connection and verify that only intended commands are sent. It prints out an ASCII text file that can be used for debugging. Hex Dump supports PCL, Printer Job Language (PJL) , and PostScript characters. All characters received will be printed. Hex Dump does not work with Ethernet, LocalTalk, or the Silentwriter network software.

note: When emulation is not set to AES, the printer

will switch emulation only when it encounters specific PJL commands embedded in incoming print jobs.

Interface

Interface settings allow you to select the interface port for the printer. Interface options can only be set using the operator panel menu tree. They include

Parallel: For receiving local print jobs at the parallel

port. This is the default setting for the 1760 printer.

Network: For receiving network print jobs at the

LocalTalk or Ethernet network ports.

Automatic Interface Monitoring (AIM): This setting

allows the printer to monitor all ports for incoming print jobs. This is the default setting for the 1765 network printer. (This option is not available in the operator panel if the LAN card is not installed in the printer .)

Power Saving

Power Saving allows you to adjust energy savings according to your pattern of use. W ith Power Saving On, if the printer is idle for a specified time, the fuser unit pauses and power consumption is decreased from 575 watts to 45 watts (the next job requires a brief warmup time).

The default setting is Off, which means that the printer never reduces power consumption.

Idle Time: You turn Power Saving to On by

selecting an Idle Time. Idle Time can be set to Always On (i.e., printer begins Power Saving immediately after each print job), or to begin Power Saving after 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

Power Saving can be set using the printer operator panel menu tree or the Print Navigator in MS-DOS.

1–10 Use r’s Guide

Jam Recovery

Jam Recovery is a feature that allows the printer to continue printing a job after it has jammed. Jam Recovery can be set to On (the default) or Off. When the setting is On, the printer will automatically attempt to reprint lost pages after a jam is cleared.

Caution! Do not turn off the printer power before

clearing a paper jam, because this will disable Jam Recovery.

Jam Recovery can only be set in the operator panel menu tree.

Auto Continue

This setting determines how the printer responds if it senses a paper size discrepancy, a print overrun, or a memory overflow error. Options are

On: No printer message appears on the operator

panel, and printing continues from the first available paper source containing paper of any size. This is the default setting on the 1765 printer.

Off: A printer message appears on the operator

panel status display and printing stops until you correct the problem. This is the default setting on the 1760 printer.

note: When a Silentwriter 1765 is connected to a

network, Auto Continue should be set to On to avoid backups in the print queue.

Printer Memory

The memory settings described in this section allow you to control how printer memory is used. You can also use these settings to avoid or resolve the following memory errors

Print Overrun Error: This is a print error that occurs

when a page is so complex that the printer cannot process the image data fast enough to keep up with the print engine as it moves the paper. You can resolve print overruns by reducing the complexity of the page or setting Page Protection to On and resending the page or the entire print job. If you frequently encounter print overruns even when Page Protection is On, you may want to add more RAM to your printer.

Memory Overflow Error: This is a print error that

occurs when a page is too large to be processed by available printer memory. You can resolve memory overflows by removing macros, soft fonts, or complex graphics from the print job, or by adding more RAM.

When these errors occur, an alert message is displayed on the printer operator panel and on your computer Print Monitor, if it is enabled. If Auto Continue is set to On, the computer will then continue printing. If Auto Continue is Off, the printer will stop printing until you resolve the problem.

1 Silentwriter Features

Standard Printer Settings 1–11

Page Protection

You use Page Protection to avoid print overruns that occur with very complicated pages. This feature determines how much memory the printer dedicates to the print buffer. Options are

On: The printer reserves enough memory so it can

process an entire page before it prints it out. This setting slows down the printer but reduces the chance of a printer overrun error. The printer does not begin to process the next page until the current one is completed.

Auto: The printer analyzes each page to determine

whether it should activate Page Protection. This mode usually speeds printing but increases the chance of a printer overrun error. This is the default setting.

Set Wait Time

This setting defines the time that the printer waits between blocks of data coming from the computer before it processes what is in the print buffer. Options are

15 seconds, 30 seconds, 90 seconds, 120 seconds, 300 seconds, and Indefinite.

The Wait Time default is 30 seconds in the printer operator panel menu tree and 120 seconds in the PCL and PostScript printer drivers. For most text applications this is adequate. If you plan on generating very complex pages, you may want to select a longer wait time.

An example of this is when the wait time is set to 120 seconds and the computer starts sending data to the printer, but must stop to compile more data. If the computer takes more than 120 seconds to compile the data, the printer assumes that there is no more data for the job and processes what is in its memory. In such a case, a longer wait time would allow for completion of the job. The Indefinite setting is available for the rare cases when 300 seconds is not long enough for your needs.

PostScript jobs take longer to send to the printer. In rare cases, you may want to set the wait time to Indefinite, but be sure to change the wait time back before sending the next print job.

You can also use this setting to avoid errors on the 1765 network printer, which can receive data from multiple ports. If information from other print jobs appears in the middle of your print job, it may be coming from other ports, and you should increase the wait time value.

note: Caution must be exercised when selecting an

Indefinite wait time. If the job is not term inated with the proper end of job command, the last page of data may not be printed and will remain in the printer’s memory. Then you must print the page out by pressing the Feed button on the printer operator panel.

1–12 Use r’s Guide

Resource Saving

Resource Saving allocates RAM memory to the PCL 5e and PostScript Level 2 emulations to save downloaded resources, such as fonts or logos, when you switch from one emulation to another. All permanent soft fonts, macros, and user-defined patterns are then stored for a printer emulation until it is enabled. Without Resource Saving, downloaded resources are lost when the printer switches emulations.

Resource Saving is only available when 7 MB or more of RAM are installed. Then, the printer allocates a default amount of memory to both PCL and PostScript. The default amount allocated depends on how much RAM is installed. You can print a Test page to see how much RAM is installed and how much memory is allocated to each emulation.

Resource Saving settings can only be adjusted in the operator panel menu tree. Resource Saving options are

Auto: This is the default setting. The printer

automatically allocates a certain portion of memory to each printer emulation when 7 MB of RAM are installed. How much memory is reserved for each emulation depends on how much RAM is installed.

For PCL, if you have the minimum 7 MB of RAM, 400 KB of memory is allocated to Resource Saving. For each additional MB of RAM you add, an additional 100 KB of memory is allocated to Resource Saving. This memory is reserved and cannot be used for other processing requirements.

For PostScript, if you have the minimum 7 MB of RAM, 400 KB of memory is allocated to Resource Saving. For each additional MB of RAM you add, an additional 400 KB of memory is allocated to Resource Saving. This memory can be used by the printer for other processing requirements until it is needed for storage.

On: If you set Resource Saving to On, the following

menu items become available in the operator panel menu tree. You use them to specify the amount of memory dedicated to PCL and PostScript emulation.

For PCL, if Resource Saving is set to On, this setting becomes available. You use it to specify the amount of RAM memory allocated to PCL5e to save downloaded resources in that emulation. Memory can be set in increments of 100 KB. The minimum and default is 400 KB.

For PostScript, if Resource Saving is set to On, this setting becomes available. You use it to specify the amount of RAM memory allocated to PostScript to save downloaded resources. Memory can be set in increments of 100 KB. The minimum and default is 400 KB.

Off: No memory is allocated and downloaded

resources are lost when emulations change.

Caution! Regardless of Resource Saving settings,

all downloaded resources are lost when you change the Printer Resolution setting.

1 Silentwriter Features

Standard Printer Settings 1–13

PCL Printer Driver Settings in Windows

In addition to the standard printer settings described in the previous section, the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver for Windows provides additional settings for customizing graphics, downloading TrueType fonts, and the Silentwriter Print Monitor. See Chapter 2 for instructions on how to access and use this driver in Windows.

Graphics

Graphics Quality

You use this setting to specify the resolution for graphic images in your document. This setting is based on the current Resolution setting and is for graphic images only (text is not affected by this setting).

High: All graphics print at the same value as the

current printer Resolution setting (either 300 dpi or 600 dpi). This is the default.

Medium: All graphics print at one half the current

printer Resolution setting.

Low: All graphics print at one fourth the current

printer Resolution setting.

For example, if you set Resolution to 600 dpi, and Graphics Quality to Medium, the text in your document will print at 600 dpi, while the graphic images print at 300 dpi. If you set Resolution to 300 dpi, and Graphics Quality to Low, the text in your document will print at 300 dpi, while the graphic images print at 75 dpi.

The High setting takes longer to process. You can choose Low for draft versions and switch to High for the final output.

Graphics Mode

This setting determines how graphic images are sent to the printer. All graphics can print as raster images and most can print as HP-GL/2 images.

Your choice depends on how the graphics in your document are composed. If they are vector graphics, your document may print faster if you choose HP-GL/2. If they are already bitmapped, choose Raster.

HP-GL/2: Images are sent as a com bination of

HP-GL/2 and raster images. This is the default setting.

Raster: All images are sent as raster images.

note: If you print your document with the

HP-GL/2 setting and your images do not print correctly, try again with the Raster setting.

Gray Scale

You use this setting to select the best dot pattern for the graphics in your document. The default Gray Scale setting is Photo Images.

Photo Images: The printer uses a clustered dot

pattern designed to give images a smooth, photographic appearance. It is also a good choice for images that were originally in color. This provides 60 levels of Gray at 300 dpi and 128 levels of gray at 600 dpi.

Line Art Images: This setting produces gray tones

using 32 different 8 pixel-by-8 pixel dispersed dot patterns. Use this setting for images with fine lines and detail. It delivers sharp lines and more contrast between shaded areas.

Scanned Images: Graphics are printed with a dot

pattern that will enhance the quality of images produced with a scanner. This provides 60 levels of Gray at 300 dpi and 128 levels of gray at 600 dpi.

1–14 Use r’s Guide

Fonts

TrueType Downloading Options

These settings determine how and where TrueType text within your document is processed. In Window 3.1x, these are located on the Graphics property sheet of the printer driver. In Windows 95 they are on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver.

Download as TrueType: Text is downloaded to the

printer as outline fonts and it is processed in the printer. This is the default setting. It is a good choice if graphic images in the job contain a large quantity or variety of TrueType fonts. With this setting, text is placed on top of graphic images when they appear in the same area.

Download as Bit Image: Text is scaled on the host

computer and then downloaded to the printer as bitmaps. This can speed printing of multiple copies, since the printer only processes the first copy and then reissues it. This setting is also a good choice if your images contain fonts that are not resident in the Silentwriter. With this setting, text is placed on top of graphic images when they appear in the same area. This setting is only available when Graphics Quality is set to High.

Print as Graphics: When this is selected, the print job

is processed on the host computer and then downloaded to the printer. Choose this setting to send the text as graphics. This speeds up printing if your document contains many graphics but not a lot of TrueType text within them. This setting has the effect of printing the graphic image over the text image, showing only the exposed portion of characters. This setting is only available when Graphics Quality is set to High, and Graphics Mode is set to Raster.

Use Printer TrueType Fonts: If this box is checked (the

default), the printer uses its own resident TrueType fonts when they match the fonts in the document. This method takes less time to process, and if you formatted your document using the Silentwriter TrueType fonts, you will have WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) output. Fonts used in the document that are not resident in the printer are downloaded as TrueType, bit image, or graphic, depending on the selection above.

Font Installer

You use the Font Installer in the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver to install and download soft fonts to your printer RAM. In Windows 3.1x, the Font Installer is located on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver. In Windows 95, display the Font Installer by pressing the Font Installer button on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver. For instructions on using the Font Installer , see Chapter 5.

1 Silentwriter Features

PCL Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1–15

Print Monitor

You can use these settings in combination to set preferences for the Silentwriter Print Monitor.

Monitor On: If you check this, the Print Monitor

appears when an error occurs and then remains on the desktop until you close it.

Monitor Off: If you check this, the Print Monitor

does not appear.

note: To disable the Print Monitor program

(WSWPD.EXE) entirely you must remove the Print Monitor from the Run command in the WIN.INI file.

Monitor Always on Top: If you check this, the Print

Monitor appears when an error occurs and then remains as the top (active) window or icon until you close it.

Beep On Printer Error: The Print Monitor beeps

when an error occurs that requires operator attention.

note: Changes to Print Monitor settings take effect

the next time you open the Print Monitor.

PostScript Printer Driver Settin gs in Windows

In addition to the standard printer settings, the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 printer driver for Windows

provides additional settings described below. See Chapter 2 for instructions on how to access and use this driver in Windows 3.1x and Windows 95.

Fonts

You use the Fonts property sheet in the Windows PostScript printer driver to specify how TrueType fonts in your document will be processed by the printer.

Send TrueType Fonts As

Adobe

document are downloaded to the printer as Type 1 outline fonts.

Bitmap (T y pe 3): Bitmapped characters are

downloaded to the printer and processed there.

Type 42 (TrueType): TrueType fonts used in your

document are downloaded to the printer as Type 42 TrueT ype fonts for WYSIWYG (What-You-See-IsWhat-You-Get) formatting. This provides better formatting, but may take longer to print.

(Type 1): TrueType fonts used in your

1–16 Use r’s Guide

Use Printer Fonts for all TrueType Fonts

Instead of downloading fonts with the print job, the printer substitutes its closest matching ROM-resident fonts. Fonts downloaded to RAM or the optional hard disk drive are not used. This speeds printing, but the document may not print out exactly as it appears on the screen.

Use Substitution Table

The Fonts property sheet provides a substitution utility that allows you to specify which fonts in the printer should be substituted for the TrueType fonts in your document. Using resident printer fonts speeds printing. Select the Use Substitution Table checkbox and edit the substitution table this way.

For each font in the System Font list on the left, select a printer font in the Use Device Font list on the right.

note: Substituted printer fonts use the character

spacing of the original system font. If the character spacing of the substituted font is very different from that of the original, printed letters may overlap or be too widely spaced. Be sure to pick a font that has spacing similar to the original font.

To download a system font with a job, select it in the System Font list and select <Download as Soft Font> at the top of the Use Device Font list.

Default Substitution

Click this button to return to the recommended defaults when using the font substitution table.

For a complete discussion of working with fonts, see Chapter 5.

Options

The settings in this section are located on the Options property sheet of the PostScript printer driver.

PostScript Options

Print PostScript Error Information: If you select this,

the printer driver creates a summary of any PostScript errors that it detected in your document and prints it out after the print job.

Enable PostScript Passthrough: Some applications

generate their own PostScript for formatting a document. If you select this, the printer driver does not perform any PostScript operations, and instead, passes the application-generated PostScript code through to the printer.

Components

Use this area to specify which options are installed on the printer. The printer driver uses this information to enable those features and adjust available paper sizes. Select the items that are installed from this list.

2nd Cassette 3rd Cassette Offset Tray Envelope Feeder Duplex Unit

1 Silentwriter Features

PostScript Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1–17

Print Monitor Settings

You can use these settings in combination to set preferences for the Print Monitor.

Monitor On: If you check this, the Print Monitor

appears when an error occurs and then remains on the desktop until you close it.

Monitor Off: If you check this, the Print Monitor

does not appear.

note: To disable the Print Monitor program

(WSWPD.EXE) entirely you must remove the Print Monitor from the Run command in the WIN.INI file.

Monitor Always on Top: If you check this, the Print

Monitor appears when an error occurs and then remains as the top (active) window or icon until you close it.

Beep On Printer Error: The Print Monitor beeps

when an error occurs that requires operator attention.

note: Changes to Print Monitor settings take effect

the next time you open the Print Monitor.

Output

The settings in this section are located on the Output property sheet of the PostScript printer driver.

File Destination

To Printer: The print job is sent to the printer to be

printed out on paper.

Encapsulated PostScript: The printer driver saves the

print job to a file where it is encapsulated as PostScript code. You can then give this file to a service bureau for typesetting. If you select this option, enter a file name in the text field provided.

PostScript Headers

The Windows printer driver must send PostScript instructions to the printer to prepare it to print PostScript jobs. These settings allow you to specify when and where to send the PostScript header that contains that information.

Send to Printer: This is the default. The PostScript

header is sent to the printer at the specified times.

Send to File: Select this to send the PostScript

header to a file that you name in the field provided. Then press the Send Header Now button.

Send Header With Each Job: Select this to send the

PostScript header each time a document is printed. This may increase printing time, but is recommended when printing to a shared network, or when printing to an encapsulated PostScript file on disk that will be printed out later at a different location.

Send Header Now: Press this to send the PostScript

header immediately. If the Send to Printer button is selected, the

PostScript instructions are downloaded to the printer, which then issues a page with the message, “Windows PostScript Header Downloaded.”

note: If you are working on a local printer, you can

save printing time if you send the header once each time you turn on the printer, and then deselect the Send Header With Each Job button in the printer driver.

If the Send to File button is selected, the PostScript header is saved to a file. You must enter the file name in the field provided before pressing the Send Header Now button.

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Creating and Using a PostScript Header File

You can create a PostScript Header file and then use it to send PostScript instructions to the printer each time you turn the computer on. Or you can include it in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (if you do this, you must turn on the printer before you turn on your computer.)

Creating a PostScript Header file

1. Select the appropriate settings in each property sheet of the PostScript printer driver.

2. In the Output tab, select Send to File and type a file name and location in the field provided.

3. Press the Send Header Now button.

Sending a PostScript Header File to the Printer

Once you have created a PostScript Heade r file, you can send it to the printer once when the printer is turned on, instead of each time a job is printed. Follow these steps to send the header to the printer.

1. In the Main program group in Windows, doubleclick the MS-DOS icon to launch it.

2. Copy the header file to the port. For example, type

copy c:\windows\psprint.txt lpt1

(where psprint is the name of the header file).

3. When the header is sent, the printer issues a page with the message, “Windows PostScript Header Downloaded.”

4. On the Output tab of the printer driver, deselect the Send Header with Each Job button and click Apply or OK. This saves printing time.

Adding a PostScript Header File to the AUTOEXEC.BAT File

If your printer is local, you can add an MS-DOS copy command to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of your system that will automatically send the PostScript header when you start your computer. For example, type

copy \b <filename> lpt:

(where filename is the name of your PostScript header file).

To work, the printer must be turned on and initialized before you turn on your computer. Otherwise you must send a PostScript header using one of the methods discussed above.

1 Silentwriter Features

PostScript Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1–19

Compression

Use LZW Compression: Select this to compress the

data in your print job. This can increase print speed—especially on networks.

Compress Bitmaps: Select this to compress the

graphic images in your print job before they are sent to the printer. This decreases the amount of time it takes for the computer to process the job and become available for use; however , the job may take longer to print.

Format

ASCII: The print job is output as PostScript

commands in editable ASCII text format. This is the default.

Binary: The print job is output as PostScript binary

code.

Multiple Images

Use the settings in this property sheet to reduce the page size and print as many as 8 pages of your document on one sheet of paper . This is often used to conserve paper when printing drafts, or to storyboard presentations. When you select a multiple image setting (greater than 1-up), the other settings on the property sheet become available for further customizing your printouts.

note: When you select multiple-images

(2- to 8-up), the Portrait and Landscape orientations on the Paper property sheet change to match the logical orientation of the reduced pages. The corrected orientation and page subdivisions are shown in the paper image on the Paper property sheet.

Multiple Images

Select one of these options to specify the number of page images on one sheet of paper.

1-Up (the default), 2-Up, 4-Up, 6-Up, 8-Up

note: If you wish to print several copies of a

multiple-image document, you will get better results if you send the job repeatedly, instead of entering a value greater than 1 in the Copies setting in the printer driver or application. Otherwise, if you specify more than one copy , and if the number of page image s in the document is not evenly divisible by the number of page images assigned to each sheet of paper (i.e., 2, 4, 6, or 8), then subsequent copies will begin printing on the remaining portion of paper that the p revious copy finished prin ting on.

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Application Paper Size

When you print multiple images, the printer driver must provide information about the logical page area in combination with the size of the paper being printed.

Physical Paper Size: Select this to specify a logical

page area with the same dimensions as the paper being printed. This is the default.

Choose this setting in combination with the Scale Images setting to print multiple-image printouts, where each page image is reduced, but contains the full content of the original (so that more fit on a sheet of paper). This is often used for printing drafts.

Paper Subdivision: Select this to specify that the

logical page area is the size of the paper being printed, divided by the number of multiple images selected. For example, if you select Legal paper size (14” x 8.5”), 2-Up, and Paper Subdivision, the logical page area is 8.5” x 7.”

You can use this setting to print brochures. Using the example above, you can print two pages of a 7” x 8.5” brochure on one sheet of Le gal paper. (Be sure to choose the appropriate orientation on the Paper property sheet to obtain the desired layout.)

Layout

Scale Images: If you select this, the full page image

appears in the reduced area.

Clip Images: If you select this, the page image is

cropped to fit in the r educed ar ea, and some content is lost.

Separator Lines: If you select this, separator lines are

drawn between the multiple page images.

Page Image

Use the settings on this property sheet to manipulate the appearance of the page image without changing the document within the application. The changes you apply are reflected in the page image at the top left of the property sheet.

Image Rotation

Choose one of these settings to rotate the page image by 90, 180, or 270 degrees. 0° is the default.

Use Bitmap Smoothing

Bitmap smoothing evens out the transitions between different gray levels in bitmapped images only. Select this setting when bitmaps in your print job have a lower resolution than the printer. The overall appearance will be better, but it may take longer to print.

Variations

Use this setting to produce different effects on the printed page.

Negative Image: Select this to reverse the gray scale

for the document. Then, white prints as black, black prints as white, dark gray prints as light gray, and light gray prints as dark gray.

Mirror Image: Select this to print an image that is

reflected, or flipped, on the vertical axis.

Scaling: Use this option to reduce or enlarge the

page image of your document. Enter a percentage value from 0-999. A value greater than 100 enlarges the page image, a value smaller than 100 reduces it.

note: This scaling setting may combine with scaling

options in your application or in the Multi Image property sheet and produce unexpected results.

1 Silentwriter Features

PostScript Printer Driver Settings in Windows 1–21

Settings in the Print Navigator and the Operator Panel

In addition to the standard printer settings, the formatting settings described on this page are available in the Print Navigator in MS-DOS and in the printer operator panel.

See Chapter 2, “Using Silentwriter Software,” for instructions on how to access and use the Print Navigator.

See Chapter 3, “Using the Operator Panel,” for instructions on how to use the printer operator panel.

Point Size

This setting is available if a scalable typeface with proportional spacing is selected. Then, you can select the following point sizes: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 36, 42, 48, 56, and 72. 12 is the default.

Pitch

This setting is available if a scalable typeface with fixed spacing is selected. Then, you can select the following pitches: 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12,

12.5, 13, 13.5, 1 4, 14.5 , 15, 15.5 , 16, 1 6.66, 1 7, 17.5 , 18, 18.5 , 19, 19.5, and 20. 10 is the default.

Font Source

This setting is available in the operator panel menu tree when soft fonts are available in printer RAM or on the optional hard disk drive. You can select Resident Font (the default), or Soft Font.

Font ID Number

You can cycle through the list of available font numbers in the operator panel menu tree by pressing the Next button on the operator panel. Internal fonts are numbered 000 through 052; 000 is the defa ult. Soft fonts are numbered 000 through xxx.

note: You can print out a list of available fonts. See

“Printing a Font List” on page 4-21.

Typeface

In the Print Navigator, you select a resident printer font by selecting its name in the Typeface list.

Lines Per Page

Options are 5 through 128. The default is 60.

Symbol Set

There are 31 available symbol sets resident in the printer. ROMAN-8 is the default. The other available symbol sets include

ISO L1, ISO L2, ISO L5, PC-8, PC-8 DN, PC-850, PC 852, PC-8 TK, WIN L1, WIN L2, WIN L5, DESKTOP, PS TEXT, VN INTL, VN US, MS PUBL, MATH-8, PS MATH, VN MATH, PI FONT, LEGAL, IS O-4, IS 0-6 , ISO11, ISO-15, ISO-17, ISO-21, ISO-60, ISO-69, WIN 3.0

note: Printouts of these symbol sets are available

from NEC’s FastFacts information retrieval service. For more information on FastFacts, see Chapter 9, “Technical Support.”

1–22 Use r’s Guide

USING S ILENTWRITER S OFTWARE 2

Overview

Your Silentwriter 1700 Series printer comes with software that allows you to access printer features directly from your computer. This chapter describes the software components that you installed, including

Printer drivers: This is software that translates your

computer data into a format your printer can read. You can access the printer driver software from your operating system or application to change printer settings and manage fonts.

Your Silentwriter printer works with both PCL 5e and PostScript Level 2 drivers.

Print Monitor: This software allows you to monitor

the current status of the printer and your print job, as well as diagnose printer problems, in Windows and MS-DOS.

Standard software provided with the Silentwriter1760 works with the following operating systems.

• Window 3.1x

• Windows 95

• MS-DOS In addition to this, the Silentwriter 1765 comes with

administrator and client software for configuring and monitoring the printer on NetWare, TCP/IP, and AppleTalk networks. Network utilities also support Microsoft LAN Manager, LAN Server, and OS/2 Warp Server.

You may have already installed the appropriate software during printer setup. If not, see Chapter 3 in the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

In this chapter, you learn how to access and use the following Silentwriter software for the Silentwriter 1760 printer.

• PCL and PostScript printer drivers for Windows 3.1x

• PCL and PostScript printer drivers for Windows 95

• Silentwriter Print Monitor for Windows

• Silentwriter Uninstaller for Windows

• Print Navigator for MS-DOS

• DOS Print Monitor

For information about Silentwriter 1765 network software, see the 1765 Network Printer Configuration Guide.

For information about working with fonts, see Chapter 5.

Windows 3.1x users, begin on the next page.

Windows 95 users, begin on page 2-4.

MS-DOS users, begin on page 2-8.

2–1

Printer Drivers for Windows 3.1x

This section describes the printer driver software for Windows 3.1x. The printer drivers are named

• NEC Silentwriter 1700 (this is the PCL driver)

• NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 (this is the PostScript driver

You use a printer driver when you need to change printer settings. The printer driver is a convenient user interface for controlling many of the Silentwriter 1700 Series features. It consists of several “property sheets” that you select by clicking on their name tabs near the top of the window. Each sheet contains settings that you can change by pointing and clicking.

When to Use the PCL or PostScript Driver

Under most circumstances, you will get the same printing results using either printer driver. There are some cases, however, where one driver may perform better than the other.

NEC Silentwriter 1700 Printer Driver (Windows 3.1x)

Selected paper sources and destinations are highlighted in the Printer Image area.

Use the PCL driver NEC Silentwriter 1700 for documents that contain mostly text and limited formatting. The PCL driver handles this type of document well and delivers faster printing than the PostScript driver.

Use the PostScript driver NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 for documents that contain many complex graphic images or extensive page layout formatting. The PostScript driver handles this type of document well and delivers better graphic processing.

2–2 User’s Guide

Accessing the Printer Driver

You can access the printer driver from your application, the Windows Control Panel, and the Windows Print Manager.

From your application: Different applications have different methods for accessing a printer driver. Below is one common example. If it does not work with your application, consult your software manual.

1. Select Print from the File menu of your application.

2. In the Print dialog box that appears, click the Setup

button.

3. In the Print Setup dialog box that appears, select the appropriate Silentwriter printer driver in the Printers list and then click the Setup button.

NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 Printer Driver (Windows 3.1x)

Click on paper sources and destinations in the Printer Image area to highlight and select them.

From the Windows Control Panel:

1. In the Windows Control Panel double-click the

Printers icon.

2. In the Printers dialog box that appears, select the driver you wish to view from the Installed Printers list. Then click the Setup button.

From the Windows Print Manager:

1. Double click the Windows Print Manager icon to open it.

2. Select the printer driver you wish to view from the Printers list.

3. Select Printer Setup from the Options menu.

4. In the Printers dialog box that appears, select the same driver again in the Installed Printers list and then click the Setup button.

Changing Settings in the Printer Driver

In the printer driver, you simply point and click to change printer settings.

1. Select a category of settings that you want to change by clicking its name tab.

2. Click to select new settings in the property sheet.

3. Click OK to save the changes you made in all property sheets and close the printer driver.

Click Apply (PostScript driver only) to save the changes you made in a property sheet. The printer driver remains open.

Click Cancel to close the printer driver. Your changes will not be implemented.

Restoring Default Settings

Click the Default button to return printer settings to the defaults for the driver.

Using Online Help

Press the Help button in the printer driver folder to access definitions and instructions for using the printer driver settings.

Setting Another Printer Driver as Default

You can change printer drivers using the Windows Control Panel.

1. In the Windows Control Panel double-click the Printers icon.

2. In the Printers dialog box that appears, select the driver you wish to use in the Installed Printers list.

3. Click the Set As Default Printer button.

4. Click on the Close button to close the Printers dialog box.

2 Using Silentwriter Softwa re

Printer Drivers for Windows 3.1x 2–3

Printer Drivers for Windows 95

This section describes the printer driver software for Windows 95. The printer drivers are named

• NEC Silentwriter 1700 (this is the PCL driver)

• NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 (this is the PostScript driver

You use a printer driver when you need to change printer settings. The printer driver is a convenient user interface for controlling many of the Silentwriter 1700 Series features. It consists of several “property sheets” that you select by clicking on their names near the top of the window. Each sheet contains settings that you can change by pointing and clicking.

The first two property sheets, General and Detail, contain generic Windows 95 printer settings. Y ou can use Windows online help to find their definitions. The remaining sheets are for changing Silentwriter settings, which are defined in Chapter 1.

When to Use the PCL or PostScript Driver

Under most circumstances, you will get the same printing results using either printer driver. There are some cases, however, where one driver may perform better than the other.

NEC Silentwriter 1700 Printer Driver (Windows 95)

Selected paper sources and destinations are highlighted in the Printer Image area.

Accessing the Printer Driver

You can access the printer driver from your application, or the Windows Printer folder.

From your application: Different applications have different methods for accessing the Printer Setup. Below is one common example. If it does not work with your application, consult your software manual.

1. Select Print from the File menu of your application.

2. In the Print dialog box that appears, click the Name

pull-down menu and select a printer from the list.

3. Then click the Properties button in the Print dialog

box to display the printer driver.

2–4 User’s Guide

NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 Printer Driver (Windows 95)

Click on paper sources in the Printer Image area to highlight and select them.

From the Printers folder:

1. Press the Start button and point to Settings in the

Start pop-up menu. In the menu that appears, click Printers.

2. In the Printers folder, select the printer driver you wish to view.

3. From the File menu, select Properties.

Changing Settings in the Printer Driver

In the Properties folder, you simply point and click to change printer settings.

1. Select a category of settings that you want to change by clicking its name tab.

2. Click to select new settings in the property sheet.

3. Click OK to save the changes you made in all property sheets and close the printer driver.

Click Apply to save the changes you made in a property sheet. The printer driver remains open.

Click Cancel to close the printer driver. Your changes will not be implemented.

Restoring Default Settings

Click the Default button to return printer settings to the defaults for the driver.

Using the Printer Driver Online Help

To display context-sensitive information about settings in the printer drivers, use your right mouse button to click an item on the screen. Then click the What’s This? button that appears. Or, click the ? button in the upper right corner of the printer driver folder, and then click an item on the screen.

In the PostScript driver, press the Help button to access the complete Online Help.

You can also select Silentwriter Online Help files from the Silentwriter Printing System menu .

1. In Windows 95, press the Start button and point to Programs in the Start pop-up menu.

2. In the menu that appears, click Silentwriter Printing System.

3. In that menu select either NEC Silentwriter 1700

Driver Help, NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 Driver Help, or Print Monitor Help.

Setting Another Printer Driver as Default

You can change printer drivers using the Printers folder.

1. Press the Start button and point to Settings in the Start pop-up menu. In the menu that appears, click Printers.

2. In the Printers folder, double-click a new printer driver.

3. In the folder that appears, select Set As Default from the Printer menu.

2 Using Silentwriter Softwa re

Printer Drivers for Windows 95 2–5

The Silentwriter Print Monitor for Windows

The Print Monitor reports the status of your print job and alerts you to printer errors.

Activating the Print Monitor

There are several ways to activate the Print Monitor

• It is automatically activated by a print error if you

have selected Monitor On in the printer driver Options property sheet.

• In Windows 3.1x, double-click the Silentwriter Print Monitor icon in the Silentwriter Printing System program group.

• In Windows 95, press the Start button and point to Programs in the Start pop-up menu. In the menu that appears, click Silentwriter Printing System. In that menu select NEC Silentwriter Print Monitor.

• Double-click the Silentwriter Print Monitor icon on your display screen if it has been minimized.

Silentwriter Print Monitor for Windows

Using the Print Monitor

The Print Monitor provides the following information for diagnosing printer problems

The Printer Status area reports the following conditions: and

Error.

The Operator Panel area displays the same printer messages and indicator lights that currently appear on the printer operator panel.

The Operator Instructions area gives solutions to printer problems.

The Printer Animation area describes and demonstrates the Operator Instructions for resolving problems—just press the Demonstrate button, which becomes available for selection when there is an error.

Press the Help button to display the Online Help for the Print Monitor.

Ready, Not Ready, Requires Attention,

note: If you are using the 1765 printer on a network,

do not install the Print Monitor.

Printer Status

Operator Panel Printer Messages

Operator Panel Indicator Lights

2–6 User’s Guide

Printer Animation

Operator Instructions

Deactivating the Print Monitor

If you do not want the Print Monitor to appear when printer errors occur, turn it off using Print Monitor settings in the Options property sheet of the printer driver.

note: To disable the Print Monitor program

(WSWPD.EXE) entirely you must remove the Print Monitor from the Run command in the WIN.INI file.

Changing Print Monitor Settings

You can control the way the Print Monitor performs using settings in the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL and PS2 printer drivers. Print Monitor settings are located on the Options property sheet of each driver. Use them to

• Turn the Print Monitor On or Off

• Make the Print Monitor always the active window when an error occurs

• Make the Print Monitor beep when an error occurs

The Uninstaller does not remove TrueType fonts or any DOS printer software.

note: Use the Uninstaller first if you are going to

reinstall Silentwriter software—especially in Windows

95.

To remove the Windows Silentwriter printer software in Windows 3.1x, double-click the NEC Silentwriter Uninstaller in the Silentwriter Printing System program group.

In Windows 95, press the Start button and point to Programs in the Start pop-up menu. In the menu that appears, click Silentwriter Printing System. In that menu select NEC Silentwriter Uninstaller.

For information on how to install Silentwriter Windows software, see Chapter 3 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

2 Using Silentwriter Softwa re

The Silentwriter Uninstaller

The Silentwriter Uninstaller removes Silentwriter software from Windows. This includes

• PCL 5e printer driver

• PostScript Level 2 printer driver

• Print Monitor

• Silentwriter program group

• Printer settings in Windows

• References in the WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI files

The Silentwriter Uninstaller

The Silentwriter Uninstaller 2–7

Software for MS-DOS

This section describes the Silentwriter software for MS-DOS. If you used the express installation method for DOS, the following software was loaded onto your system

• Print Navigator software

• DOS Print Monitor software During express installation, the Silentwriter is set as the

default printer on LPT1. The printer must be connected directly to the computer to run the Print Navigator software. Complete software installation instructions are provided in Chapter 3 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

Commands for Running Silentwriter DOS Software

To launch the Print Navigator application, type PANEL at the DOS prompt. This displays the Print Navigator screen shown below.

To load DOS Print Monitor software, type MONITOR at the DOS prompt.

To unload DOS Print Monitor software, type NOMONITR at the DOS prompt.

The Print Navigator

You can use the Print Navigator in place of the printer’s operator panel to change printer settings. It consists of five screens that allow you to update your printer settings, also called printer profiles, from your computer . You can also view your printer’s current profile on your monitor. And you can save current profile settings for use at a later time.

In addition to the standard printer settings, the Print Navigator provides the following PCL Job settings: Lines per page, Typeface, Points and Pitch, and Symbol Sets. These are defined in Chapter 1.

To launch the Print Navigator application, type PANEL at the DOS prompt. This displays the Print Navigator screen shown below.

Page Screen in the Print Navigator

To display the DOS Print Monitor, press the Hot Key combination (the default is Ctrl+Alt+S).

2–8 User’s Guide

Using Print Navigator Online Help

Select Help Index from the Help menu to display a list of topics. Click on a topic to display detailed information. Click on the Index button to return to the topic list. Click on the Exit button to leave the Help screen.

Resetting the Printer

Resetting the printer stops the current job, clears all buffers, and reverts back to the last saved printer profile. To reset the printer, press the Printer Reset button on the Options screen. Or, select Reset Printer from the Utility menu.

Changing Settings

You use the Print Navigator to manage five categories of printer settings: Page, Font, Quality, Memory, and Options. Follow these steps to change printer settings.

1. Select the category that you want to change by clicking its button on the left side of the Print Navigator. This displays a screen with settings for that category.

2. Y ou can point and click to select menu items. Or, use the tab key to move through the areas on the scr een. Use the up and down arrows to move through items in a group and then press enter to make a selection.

3. Click another category button and continue to make selections.

When you are finished, click OK to save the changes you made, send the current printer profile to the printer, and close the Print Navigator.

Or, click Cancel. Your changes will not be implemented.

Restoring Default Settings

To restore factory default settings, click the Default button on the Page screen. These take effect for the next print job after you click OK. Factory default settings are listed in Appendix A.

Working with Printer Profiles

You use File menu selections to work with printer profiles or to exit the Print Navigator. Printer profiles are files in which you save combinations of printer settings that you wish to use again. For example, you can save settings for use with a particular application or type of document. The File menu has the following selections

Open Profile: Select this to open a printer profile that

was previously saved as a file on your disk drive. Print Navigator settings are then updated based on the contents of the profile. However , the profile is not sent to the printer until you select Export Profile to Printer in the File menu.

Save Profile: Select this to save all current Print

Navigator settings in a profile on your disk drive. If you open a profile and then make changes to the settings, selecting Save Profile updates the file with the new settings. If you do not have a profile open already when you select Save Profile, the Print Navigator prompts you for a file name and directory and then saves the current settings in a profile on the disk drive.

Save As: Select this to save the current profile to a

new file on the disk drive. Print Navigator then prompts you to enter a file name before saving your profile to disk.

2 Using Silentwriter Softwa re

Software for MS-DOS 2–9

Import Profile from Printer: Select this to create a

printer profile using the current settings from the printer . You can then modify the new profile and/or save the profile to disk.

Export Profile to Printer: Select this to update the

printer with the current Profile settings.

Exit: Select this to exit the Print Navigator program.

Print Navigator then gives you the option to save any changes in a profile or export them to the printer.

Viewing the Current Printer Settings

Select the View menu to import the current printer profile and display it on screen. The printer profile shows the current printer settings.

The View screen also displays the amount of memory available in the printer to process a print job. This is shown in the Printer Memory area.

Settings can be viewed but not changed from this screen.

View Printer Settings Screen in the Print Navigator

Using the Form Feed

Press the Form Feed button on the Options screen to print a page with whatever printable data is in the buffer. If no printable data is in the buffer, a blank page is printed.

Printing Test Pages

Y ou can print test pages by selecting these options in the Utilities menu.

Print SelfTest Page: If you select this, the printer

performs a self-test and then prints a test page. The test page contains information about the printer's current profile and page count.

Print Status Page: If you select this, the Print

Navigator imports the current printer profile and issues a page showing the current settings.

Print Demo Page: If you select this, the printer issues

a page that demonstrates the effect of the current settings.

Connecting to a New Output Port

Select Connect in the Utility menu to set the printer port for the Print Navigator software. (This does not direct printing to another port or change the port assignment in DOS.)

2–10 Use r’s Guide

The DOS Print Monitor

The DOS Print Monitor is a utility that alerts you to printer errors. It has two parts

• The Message screen

• The Main Menu screen

note: The DOS Print Monitor is not supported for

Windows 95 , and you should no t install it on comp uters running that system.

Loading and Unloading the DOS Print Monitor

The DOS Print Monitor cannot load when you are emulating DOS from Windows 3.1x. You must first exit Windows and return to the DOS prompt.

To load the Print Monitor, type MONITOR at the DOS prompt.

If the Print Monitor is interfering with another program, or if you wish to free more memory, deactivate it by typing NOMONITR at the DOS prompt.

Using the Non-Active File List

When working in some software programs, such as communications utilities, you may not want to be interrupted by the DOS Print Monitor. To avoid interruptions while in those specific programs, add them to the list at the bottom of the REPLIST.MSG file. For more information about this, open the REPLIST.MSG file in the SILENT directory.

DOS Print Monitor Message Screen

The Print Monitor Message screen appears automatically when a print error occurs.

Click Continue to close the Message screen. Click Main Menu to display the Print Monitor Main

Menu screen (described below).

DOS Print Monitor Main Menu Screen

There are two ways to access the Main menu of the Print Monitor

• Click on the Main Menu button in the Message screen

• Press the Hot Key combination (the default is Ctrl+Alt+S).

Use the tab key or mouse in the Main Menu screen to move through menu items and then press Enter to make a selection.

Display Last Message: Select this to display the last

message sent by the DOS Print Monitor.

Deactivate DOS Print Monitor: When this is selected,

the Print Monitor stops checking the printer’s status and does not display messages.

Activate DOS Print Monitor: When this is selected,

the Print Monitor resumes checking the printer’s status and displays messages.

Change Hot Key: Select this to enter a different hot

key combination. (The Hot Key lets you run the Print Monitor from DOS or a DOS program.)

Change Colors: This allows you to select

replacement colors for your Print Monitor message and menu displays.

Help: Select this to display the Print Monitor Help

screen.

Exit: Exit returns you to DOS. The Print Monitor

remains in memory, able to monitor the printer, until you type REP /d or type NOMONITR at the DOS prompt.

2 Using Silentwriter Softwa re

Software for MS-DOS 2–11

2–12 Use r’s Guide

USING THE O PERATOR PANEL 3

Overview

The printer operator panel allows you to read printer messages and change printer settings directly at the printer. The diagram below identifies the differ ent ar eas of the operator panel.

READY

Power

Warning

Select

This chapter describes

• Operator panel features, including indicator lights, the status display, and buttons

• Operator panel tasks

• Changing settings using the operator panel menu tree

Printer messages are discussed in Chapter 8, “Troubleshooting.”

Operator Panel Features

Status Display

Online

Data

Indicator Lights

Feed

Test

Online

Reset

Operator Panel Buttons (Menu Selection Buttons)

3–1

Operator Panel Features

Indicator Lights

The indicator lights on the operator panel communicate the operating status of the printer.

Table 3-1: Indicator Lights

Light Mode Status

The Status Display

The operator panel status display is an LCD panel that shows status messages, alert messages, and menu selections. When the printer is performing a job, the display indicates a printer status message, such as

PROCESSING, PRINTING, etc. The standard display is READY, meaning the printer is ready for use.

For a complete listing of statu s and alert message definitions, see Chapter 8, “Troubleshooting.”

Power On Printer power is on

Off Printer power is of f

Warning On An error has occurred

Off No alarm active Blinking An alarm remains active; or, signals

that printer is ready to quit job, press the Select button to quit the job

Data On Print buffer contains data

Off Print job has ended or print buffer has

been cleared by pressing the Reset button

Blinking Data is being sent to the printer

Online On Printer is online and ready to print

Off Printer is offline or in menu mode Blinking Warming up

Operator Panel Buttons

Feed

Test

Online

Reset

Select

Operator panel buttons perform different functions depending on whether the printer is online, offline, or in menu mode. These functions are summarized in Table 3-2 on page 3-3. Instructions for performing basic operator panel tasks are provided on page 3-4

Menu selection buttons, located on the left side of the operator panel, are used primarily in menu mode for changing printer settings. The operator panel menu tree and procedures for changing printer settings are discussed beginning on page 3-6.

3–2 User’s Guide

Table 3-2: Operator Panel Buttons

Button Mode Function

Online Offline Press to bring printer online.

Online Press to take printer offline. Menu Press to exit menu mode.

Reset Online If status display reads PROCESSING or WAITING, press Reset to display QUITTING THE JOB OK? Then press

Select to quit the job, otherwise the job will be completed. Press Online to cancel the reset task.

Offline T o clear the printer bu ffer of data (inclu ding temporarily downlo aded fonts), press and hold the Reset butto n for 4 s eco nds

until RESETTING appears on the status display. Printer performs an internal diagnostic and then returns to online state.

Feed Offline In PCL emulation or Auto m at ic Emulatio n Switchi ng (AES) mode, pressing this button wit h the D ATA indicator light on

allows data stored in the print buffer to be printed out. If there is p aper in th e optional duplex unit, that paper is u nloaded. This button is not active in PostScript emulation mode.

Online Button not active.

T est Offline Press to print a test page. A Demo or Test Page will print depending on how Define StartPage is set in the Miscellaneous

menu. If printer is in duplex mode, both sides of the page are printed.

Online Button not active.

Menu Offline Press to enter the menu mode. The menu item, PAPER HANDLING, appears on the status display .

Online Button not active. Menu Press to move back to previous menu level, or if at top level, press to exit menu mode.

Select Menu Press to move to a lower menu level or press to select the current menu item if it is already at the lowest menu level in a

category. Then SELECTED or IS SELECTED appears on the status display for one second. SELECTED means that the current value or item will be the new printer default. IS SELECTED means that the current setting is alread y the default.

Online Press to respond “Yes” to QUITTING THE JOB OK?

Next Menu Press to display the next item in a menu. Prev Menu Press to display the previous item in a menu.

3 Using the Operator Panel

Operator Panel Features 3–3

Operator Panel Tasks

This section describes some of the basic tasks you perform using the operator panel.

Putting the Printer Online or Offline

Press the Online button to switch between the online and offline states.

note: The printer must be offline before you can

change any printer settings. It must be online (indicator light on) to print.

Stopping a Job

If you wish to stop a print job before it is complete

1. Press the Reset button for less than 4 seconds. The

status display message appears. The job will continue to print until you…

2. Press the Select button to quit the job, or… press the Online button to return to normal printing.

Clearing the Print Buffer

The print buffer is an electronic memory in the printer where data is kept before processing. To print out any data that is in the print buffer, press the Feed button.

Resetting the Printer

To clear the printer buffer of data (including temporarily downloaded fonts), press and hold the Reset button for 4 seconds until display. Printer performs an internal diagnostic and then returns to online state.

RESETTING appears on the status

QUITTING THE JOB OK?

Restoring Settings to Factory Defaults

To restore printer to the factory default settings, follow these steps

1. Turn off the printer.

2. While pressing the Feed and Online buttons, turn

on the printer. When the display changes to

FACT ORY SETTINGS, release the buttons.

All downloaded fonts are lost and the printer’s name is reset to its factory default

note: For the 1765, the IP address is reset to

11.22.33.44 and the AppleTalk zone is reset to *.

Printing a Demo Page

You can print a demo page that displays text and graphic samples for verifying print quality.

1. On the operator panel, press the Online button to turn the indicator light off and take the printer offline. The display changes from

NOT READY.

2. Press Test to print the demo page.

PROCESSING DEMO appears on the operator panel

display, and then it changes to printer begins to print the demo page. Upon completing the print job, the printer returns to the offline state.

3. Press Online to put the printer back online.

READY to

PRINTING DEMO. The

note: See page 4-21 for instructions on printing a

test page and font lists. Pages 3-8 to 3-10 show a flow diagram of the operator panel menu tree.

3–4 User’s Guide

Printing Information Pages

You can use the operator panel menu tree to specify start pages or print out information pages. These settings are described below. To change them using the operator panel menu tree, follow the instructions that begin on page 3-7. Detailed instructions are also given on page 4-21.

Auto Start Page

You use this setting to specify whether a start page is printed when you turn on the printer. Options are On (the default) or Off. The start page can be either a demo or a test page (see Define Start Page below).

Define Start Page

You use this setting to specify what type of start page is printed when you turn on the printer. Options are

Demo: This page displays text and graphic samples

for verifying print quality. This is the default.

Test: This page contains information about printer

specifications and settings. See Auto Start Page above.

Font List

If you select this item in the operator panel menu tree, you can choose to print two different font lists.

Font List PostScript 2: If you select this, the printer

will print a list of resident fonts available for PostScript emulation, as well as any downloaded soft fonts, or fonts on the optional hard disk drive.

Font List PCL 5e: If you select this, the printer will

print a list of resident fonts available for PCL 5e emulation, as well as any downloaded soft fonts.

Menu Tree

If you select this item in the operator panel menu tree, the printer will print a diagram of the menu options available from the printer operator panel.

Test Page

If you select this item in the operator panel menu tree, the printer will print information about printer specifications and settings.

Using Hardware Settings

You can use the operator panel menu tree to change hardware settings. These settings are described below. To change them using the operator panel menu tree, follow the instructions that begin on page 3-7.

Format Hard Disk

This setting becomes available in the operator panel menu after you install an optional hard disk drive to the printer. You use this setting to begin the procedure for formatting the drive. Instructions for installing and formatting the optional hard disk drive are in Chapter 2 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

Fuser Alarm

This setting becomes available in the operator panel menu when the printer displays a message. Message will continue to blink until you replace the fuser unit and reset the fuser alarm. The options are

Reset? No: This is the default. Reset? Yes: Select this after replacing fuser unit.

Instructions for replacing the fuser unit are in Chapter 7, “Maintaining Your Printer.”

REPLACE FUSER

3 Using the Operator Panel

Operator Panel Tasks 3–5

Changing Printer Settings Using the Operator Panel

In most cases, you will use your computer software to change printer settings. When your software does not support a feature, you can use the printer operator panel to control the settings for that feature.

To change printer settings

1. Use the operator panel buttons to enter menu mode.

2. Then navigate through the menu tree selections. These procedures are explained below. An example of

changing a printer setting is illustrated on the next page. The complete operator panel menu tree is detailed on the pages that follow.

Entering Menu Mode

Follow these three basic steps to enter menu mode

1. Turn on the printer, if necessary.

2. Press Online to turn the indicator light off and take

the printer offline. The display changes from to

NOT READY.

3. Press Menu. The display changes to

HANDLING

categories.

, the first of the top-level menu

PAPER

READY

Navigating Through the Operator Panel Menu Tree

You navigate through the menu tree by pressing the menu selection buttons on the left side of the operator panel.

• Press Next to go to the next item in a menu.

• Press Prev to go to the previous item in a menu.

• Press Select to go to the next menu level or to choose the displayed setting if you are at the lowest menu level.

• Press Menu to move back to the previous menu level or to exit menu mode if you are already at the highest menu level.

Select

note: You can press Online at any time to exit the

menu tree, save your cho ice s, and put the printer online.

3–6 User’s Guide

An Example of Changing a Printer Setting

The operator panel menu tree has six top-level menu categories. Each category contains items you can select, and some of these items contain even more options. These form a menu tree, but as you navigate through the menu tree, only the currently selected item is shown on the status display.

This example shows the steps you take to change the printer emulation setting from default) to

EMULA TION PCL 5E. You might do this if you

did not intend to use a PostScript printer driver. The path through the tree is shown below. Follow these steps

1. Press Online.

2. Press Menu.

NOT READY appears on the display.

PAPER HANDLING appears on the

display.

3. Press Next.

INTERFACE appears on the display.

EMULA TI ON AES (the

4. Press Next.

5. Press Select.

EMULATION appears on the display.

EMULATION AES appears on the

display.

6. Press Next.

EMULATION POSTSCRIPT 2 appears on

the display.

7. Press Next.

EMULATION PCL 5E appears on the

display.

8. Press Select. Because you have reached the lowest

branch in the menu,

SELECTED appears on the

display, and the setting is updated.

9. Press Online. This saves your changes.

READY

appears on the display and the printer is put online. The printer uses the newly selected default until you change it.

The complete menu tree is shown on the next three pages.

3 Using the Operator Panel

Begin By Taking Printer Offline

(by pressing the Online button)

READY NOT READY

Press Menu to enter menu mode

Press Next to display the next item in a menu

PAPER HANDLING

INTERFACE

EMULATION

MISCELLANEOUS

PCL SETUP

TEST PRINT

Press Select to move to a lower menu or to select a setting when you are at the lowest level in

Operator Panel Key

Online

Offline

a menu

N P

= Menu

= Select

= Next = Previous

EMULATION AES

EMULATION POSTCRIPT 2

EMULATION PCL 5E

EMULATION HEX DUMP

Press Prev to display the previous item in a menu

Press Menu to move back to the previous menu level

Changing Printer Settings Using the Operator Panel 3–7

Operator Panel Menu Tree (I)

Default settings are shown in bold type

Ready

Not Ready

Paper Handling

Interface

Emulation

Miscellaneous

PCL Setup

Test Print

See Paper Handling Menu

AIM Parallel

Network

AES

PostScript 2 PCL 5e Hex Dump

See Miscellaneous Menu

Test Page Font List Menu Tree

PostScript 2 PCL 5e

Number of Copies

Font Source*

Font ID Number

Lines Per Page

Symbol Set

Point Size*

Pitch*

Orientation

Resident Font

Soft Font

000

052

128

Roman-8

Windows 3.0

Portrait

Landscape

(60)

(12)

(10)

3–8 User’s Guide

*Not always present in menu tree

Operator Panel Menu Tree (II)

Default settings are shown in bold type

Paper Handling Menu

Source

Destination*

Duplex Printing*

Cassette 1

Cassette 2* Cassette 3* Auto Switching** Multi Feeder Envelope Feeder*

Output Tray

Offset Tray *

Off

Short Edge Long Edge

Letter

Legal A4 B5 (JIS)

Executive Monarch

COM10 DL C5 B5 Env (ISO)

Monarch

COM10 DL C5

3 Using the Operator Panel

*Does not appear in the Paper Handling menu unless the associated option is installed on the printer.

**Autoswitching is the default when an optional 500-sheet paper feeder (cassette 2 or 3) is installed.

Changing Printer Settings Using the Operator Panel 3–9

Operator Panel Menu Tree (III)

Toner Density

Default settings are shown in bold type

Miscellaneous Menu

Set Wait Time

Auto Continue

Toner Saving

Jam Recovery

Resource Saving*

PCL Memory*

PS Memory*

SET (Sharp Edge T echnology)

Power Saving

Format Hard Disk*

High

Medium

Low

Off

0 KB

Format? No

Format? Yes

Off

Step by 100KB Increments

Off

Begin HD Format Steps

Off

15 Seconds

30 Seconds

90 Seconds 120 Seconds 300 Seconds Indefinite

Auto

On Off

0 KB

Off

Always On 15 Minutes 30 Minutes 60 Minutes

Step by 100KB Increments

3–10 Use r’s Guide

Resolution

Replace Fuser* Auto Start Page

Page Protection

Define Start Page

600 dpi

300 dpi

Auto

Demo

T est

Reset? No

Reset? Yes

Off

*Not always present in menu tree

PRINTING TASKS 4

Overview

This chapter provides instructions for performing a wide variety of tasks with your printer, including

• Selecting paper and other media

• Choosing a feeder

• Sending a job to the printer

• Stopping a print job

• Using paper cassettes

• Using the multipurpose feeder

• Using the envelope feeder

• Printing double-sided pages using the duplex unit

• Sorting jobs using the offset tray

• Printing a demo page

• Printing a test page

• Printing a font list

• Printing the operator panel menu tree

The instructions in this chapter assume that you have completed installation of the standard configuration, any printer options, and your computer software. These topics are covered in the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

4–1

Selecting Media

Choosing quality paper is your best bet for avoiding many of the output problems common to heat-intensive printing. It is the most effective preventative measure you can take to achieve consistently good results from your printer. This section provides basic information about selecting the right paper for your task.

Paper Properties

Paper manufactured from 100% chemical wood pulp or containing no more than 25% cotton fiber is recommended. Paper should be dust-free and have cleanly cut edges.

Most writing paper has two sides: top, often called the “felt” side, and bottom, or “wire” side. The package label generally has an indicator arrow showing you how to load paper so that output goes to the wire side.

Appendix B lists paper and media types that have been tested and are recommended for use with your printer. Generally, most papers manufactured for photocopying have good print quality and paper handling characteristics.

No matter which manufacturer you select, note the following considerations.

• Smoother surface paper generates sharper output resolution and detail.

• Coated paper can melt, discolor, or release hazardous emissions at temperatures greater than 392°F (200°C).

• The acceptable range of media weight for use in the Silentwriter 1760/65 is 16 to 28 pounds (60to105g/m2).

What to Avoid

Do not attempt to print on any of the following types of paper.

• Slippery or shiny paper

• Very rough, textured, or embossed paper

• Multi-part forms or carbonless forms

• Carbon paper

• Paper coating, dyes, or inks not compatible with the fusing temperature of 392°F (200°C)

• Paper that produces hazardous emissions when exposed to 392°F (200°C) temperatures for 0.1 seconds

• Paper that offsets or discolors

• Damaged, wrinkled, or irregularly shaped paper

• Paper containing large amounts of clay or talc

• Paper that does not lie flat

• Preprinted forms with inks containing metallic substances

• Paper or envelopes with staples, clips, or clasps

Purchasing Paper

If you are purchasing paper, look for products designated for use in laser printers. Always test a representative sample before making a lar ge purchase of any media. Order a small quantity to test with your printer and your work environment. Some paper vendors offer print quality guarantees to ensure that the output meets a predetermined standard when used with laser printers. If you don’t like the paper, you may be able to return it for another type—but test that one too.

Tell both the supplies purchaser and the prospective seller that you are using this media in a laser printer.

4–2 User’s Guide

Appendix B provides additional guidelines for using and storing different media, including envelopes, transparencies, adhesive labels, and heavy stock.

note: Media purchasing specifications are also

available from NEC’s FastFacts information retrieval service. For more information on FastFacts, see Chapter 9, “T ech nical Support.”

Choosing a Feeder

This section tells you how to choose the right feeder for different media and printing tasks. Use the Source settings in your printer driver or the operator panel to select a feeder or cassette. More information on using each type of feeder is given later in this chapter. Paper dimensions are listed in Table 1-1 on page 1-6.

The Multipurpose Feeder

Use the multipurpose feeder to print transparencies, adhesive labels, envelopes, postcards, perforated paper, preprinted forms, and heavy print stock, in addition to printing small quantities of paper types and sizes that are not currently loaded in a paper cassette.

The multipurpose feeder accepts the following paper sizes

Letter, Legal, A4, B5 (JIS), and Executive

The multipurpose feeder accepts the following envelope sizes

Monarch, Commercial 10, DL, C5, and B5 Env (ISO)

Instructions for using the multipurpose feeder begin on page 4-10.

The 250-Sheet and 500-Sheet Paper Cassettes

Use your paper cassettes for continuous feeding of standard paper only. Do not mix paper types within a cassette and do not overload the cassette. The paper cassettes can accept paper weighing between 16 lbs. and 28 lbs. (60 g/m

The standard 250-sheet feeder cassette accepts the following paper sizes

Letter, Legal, A4, B5 (JIS), and Executive

The 500-sheet feeder cassette (optional) accepts the following paper sizes

Letter, Legal, and A4.

Instructions for loading the paper cassettes begin on page 4-6.

to 105 g/m2).

note: The actual number of sheets any cassette will

hold may be less for thicker paper, loosely stacked paper, or under high humidity conditions.

note: You cannot use the multipurpose feeder as a

source for duplex printing.

The Envelope Feeder

The optional envelope feeder allows you to automatically feed up to 75 envelopes. The following envelope sizes can be used in this feeder

Monarch, Commercial 10, DL, and C5

Envelope weight should not exceed 24 lbs. Nonstandard envelopes should be fed manually from the multipurpose feeder .

Instructions for using the envelope feeder begin on page 4-18.

Choosing a Feeder 4–3

4Printing Tasks

Sending a Print Job

Normally you send a job to the printer using your computer software. Some instructions for printing from Windows and MS-DOS are provided below.

See page 4-21 for instructions on using the operator panel to issue the following special printouts

• Demo page

• Test page

• List of resident PCL 5e fonts

• List of resident PostScript Level 2 fonts

• Flow diagram of operator panel menu tree

Printing from Windows

You can print using the print commands of the Windows application used to create your document. Follow these steps

1. Open a document you wish to print.

2. Select Print from the File menu. The Print dialog

box appears.

3. Select the options you want in the Print dialog box, including the number of copies and page range.

4. When the options are selected, click OK to print the document.

Printing from DOS

The instructions below assume that you are printing to the parallel port LPT1 (if you have configured the Silentwriter to print to a different port, specify that one instead).

Printing from a DOS Application

Start your DOS application and set up your application to print to the parallel port LPT1. Print using the normal procedures for that application. Generally, print commands are located under the File menu.

Printing an ASCII Text File from the DOS Command Line

If you have a file in ASCII format, you can print it from the MS-DOS command line. Follow these steps

1. At the command line prompt type

COPY <FILENAME.EXT> lpt1:

where <FILENAME.EXT> is the name of your text file.

2. Press Enter. The computer displays the following

message

1 file(s) copied

to show that your file is printing.

4–4 User’s Guide

Stopping a Print Job

You can stop a print job from your computer or the printer operator panel.

note: Simply turning off the printer during a print

job may cause a paper jam.

From the Operator Panel

You can use the printer operator panel to stop a print job before it is complete.

1. If the operator panel display says

WAITING, press the Reset button for less than 4

seconds. The status display message

JOB OK?

2. Press the Select button to quit the job, or press the Online button to return to normal printing.

If the printer is already issuing pages

1. Press the Online button (this takes the printer offline).

2. Press the Reset button for more than 4 seconds until the operator panel displays resetting, the printer will come back online and display

appears.

READY.

PROCESSING, or

QUITTING THE

RESETTING. After

From Windows 3.1x

1. Double click the Windows Print Manager icon to

open it.

2. Select the document you wish to cancel.

3. Click the Delete button in the Printer Manager

window.

4. A dialog box appears, asking for confirmation. Click

OK.

From Windows 95

1. Press the Start button and point to Settings in the

Start pop-up menu. In the menu that appears, click Printers.

2. In the Printers folder, double-click the printer to which you sent the job, for example, NEC Silentwriter 1700. This opens the folder for that printer.

3. Select the document that you wish to cancel. From the Document menu, select Cancel Printing.

From the Print Navigator in MS-DOS

You can use the Print Navigator to stop a print job before it is complete.

1. To launch the Print Navigator, type PANEL at the DOS prompt.

2. Select Reset Printer from the Utility menu of the Print Navigator.

4Printing Tasks

Resetting the printer stops the current job in the printer, clears all buffers, and reverts back to the last saved printer profile.

note: If you send the reset command to a network

printer, it will clear whichever job is currently printing—not necessarily your own.

Stopping a Print Job 4–5

Using Paper Cassettes

The standard paper cassette holds up to 250 sheets. The optional cassette holds 500 sheets.

Loading a 250-Sheet Paper Cassette

Loading instructions for the 250-sheet cassette are shown below. If necessary, you can lengthen or shorten the cassette to properly hold your paper, as shown on the next page.

1. Remove the paper cassette from the printer.

12 3

2. Press down on the bottom plate until it snaps into position.

3. Insert the stack of paper along the left side of the cassette. Ensure the paper goes underneath the retaining

clips and plastic tab on the end guide.

4. If necessary, slide the side guide in to the left so that it lightly touches the edges of the paper stack.

5. Reinstall the paper cassette into the printer.

note: Paper fed from cassettes is printed first on the

side facing down. The top of the page image is printed on the edge of the paper closest to the front of the printer.

4–6 User’s Guide

Caution! Adjust the

side guide so that it does not bow the paper. Do not leave space between the side guide and the paper stack.

Adjusting the 250-Sheet Paper Cassette

Lengthening the Paper Cassette

1. Squeeze the side guide release and slide the side guide in to reveal the size lock button on the inside of the cassette.

2. While pushing the size lock button, slide out the end guide until it latches at the desired paper size marked on the cassette (Letter, Legal, or A4).

3. Pull out the small end guide and align it with end guide.

4. Return the side guide to the appropriate position.

Lengthen

Size Lock Button Small End Guide

Shortening the Paper Cassette

1. Push in the small end guide in until it latches at the desired paper size marked on the cassette (Executive or B5 (JIS)).

2. Push in the end guide to the 8.5”x11” position.

3. Move the side guide to the appropriate position.

End Guide

Shorten

Small End Guide

End Guide

Side Guide

4Printing Tasks

Side Guide

Using Paper Cassettes 4–7

Loading the 500-Sheet Paper Cassette

You can select the 500-sheet feeder as the paper source using the operator panel menu tree or the print driver software on your computer. The 500-sheet feeder will not be available for selection unless it is properly installed on the printer.

Instructions for installing and removing the 500-sheet feeder are provided in Chapter 2 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

Caution! Only use the 500-sheet cassette in the

500-sheet feeder.

12 3

Follow these steps to load paper in the 500-sheet cassette.

1. Remove the 500-sheet paper cassette from the printer.

2. Press down on the bottom plate until it snaps into position.

3. Insert the stack of paper along the left side of the cassette. Ensure the paper goes underneath the retaining

clips and plastic tab on the end guide.

4. If necessary, slide the side guide in to the left so that it lightly touches the edges of the paper stack.

5. Reinstall the paper cassette into the printer.

4–8 User’s Guide

Adjusting the 500-Sheet Paper Cassette

You can lengthen or shorten the cassette to properly hold your paper, as shown on the next page. Follow these steps

1. Press down on the bottom plate until it snaps into

position (A).

2. Hold the left side of the cassette and pull up on the

left end guide until it releases (B).

3. Hold the right side of the cassette and pull up on the right end guide until it releases.

4. Adjust the end guide to the desired paper size (C).

5. Push down on the end guide to lock it into place on the right and left sides.

4Printing Tasks

Using Paper Cassettes 4–9

Using the Multipurpose Feeder

This section shows different ways to use the multipurpose feeder. The multipurpose feeder can automatically feed the following quantities of standardsized media.

• 100 sheets of paper

• 10 envelopes

• 30 transparencies

• 30 sheets of adhesive labels

• 30 postcards You should feed irregular sizes manually.

Caution! Do not load the multipurpose feeder

before you turn on the printer. Wait until the printer has warmed up and is ready to print before loading.

Loading Paper in the Multipurpose Feeder

Follow these steps to load paper into the multipurpose feeder, as illustrated on the next page.

1. Press the top of multipurpose feeder to open it.

2. Pull out the tray extension to accommodate the size of the paper you are using.

3. Flip open the extension bar if you are using long paper.

4. Slide the side guide to the far right.

5. Insert the paper against the left side of the tray and under the plastic tab.

6. Adjust the side guide to the new paper size.

note: Using the multipurpose feeder , the page image

is printed first on the paper side facing up. The top of the page prints on the edge of the paper inserted into the feeder (in portrait orientation).

4–10 Use r’s Guide

Loading Paper Into the Multipurpose Feeder

4Printing Tasks

Using the Multipurpose Feeder 4–11

Loading Envelopes into the Multipurpose Feeder

You can feed up to 10 envelopes at a time from the multipurpose feeder.

Follow these steps, as illustrated on the next page.

1. Push the top of the multipurpose feeder to open it

(A).

2. Pull out the stopper (B).

3. Pull out the extension tray (C).

4. Slide the guide to the far right (D).

5. Make sure the envelopes are not stuck together and all the flaps are closed.

6. Insert the short side of the envelopes with the flaps down along the left side of the tray and under the plastic tab (E). The side to be printed should be face up. If the envelope flap is on the short side, place the envelopes so that the closed flap is fed first.

7. Adjust the side guide to the size of the loaded envelopes. (F)

8. Adjust the tray extension so that the stopper lightly touches the envelope stack.

The leading edge of the envelope that feeds into the printer must be straight. The folded edge should be no thicker than two paper thicknesses and no glue should be exposed. It is highly recommended that double-side seamed envelopes, rather than diagonal seams be used. For further envelope specifications, see Appendix B.

note: Using the multipurpose feeder, the image is

printed on the envelope side facing up.

4–12 Use r’s Guide

Loading Envelopes Into the Multipurpose Feeder

4Printing Tasks

Using the Multipurpose Feeder 4–13

Loading Transparencies and Adhesive Labels

The multipurpose feeder holds up to 30 transparencies or adhesive labels.

Transparencies: When you are printing on

transparency film, always remove the first printed transparency from the output tray before feeding a second one through. This prevents scratching the film surface of the first transparency. Only use transparencies that are designated for laser printers.

Adhesive Labels: Adhesive labels should be fed

manually through the multipurpose feeder. Adhesive labels consist of a top (print surface) sheet, an adhesive layer, and a liner (peel-away backing). Use labels that cover the entire surface of the liner sheet. Labels placed on a liner sheet with interrupting spaces make it difficult for consistent feeding. See Appendix B for further specifications before printing on adhesive labels.

note: Using the multipurpose feeder, the image is

printed on the side facing up—so load adhesive labels with the label side up, liner side down.

You load transparencies an d labels into the multipurpose feeder just as you would load paper. You should fan the sheets before loading.

4–14 Use r’s Guide

Loading Postcards

You can feed up to 30 postcards at a time from the multipurpose feeder. Insert the postcards with the print surface up. Follow these steps

1. Push the top of the multipurpose feeder to open it

(A).

2. Pull out the stopper (B).

3. Slide the side guide to the far right.

4. Insert the postcards along the left side of the tray

and under the plastic tab (C).

5. Adjust the side guide to size of the postcards.

6. Adjust the stopper so that it lightly touches the

postcard stack and the postcards lie flat (D).

note: Using the multipurpose feeder, the text is

printed on the side facing up—so load postcards with the picture side down.

4Printing Tasks

Using the Multipurpose Feeder 4–15

Loading Special Media

You can print on a wide variety of media with the Silentwriter 1760/65. However, you should take certain precautions when loading non-standard media. Examples are given below.

Pre-printed forms: Preprinted forms can be fed

through the multipurpose feeder. However, during the print operation, heat applied to preprinted forms can remove ink from the form and leave residue (called offset) inside the printer. In addition to offset residue problems, ink residues may generate harmful gases and emissions. See Appendix B for further specifications before using preprinted forms.

Heavy print stock: If paper is heavier than 24 pounds

(90 g/m2), use the multipurpose feeder. Do not use paper heavier than 28 pounds (105 g/m2). Heavy (thick) printed stock can generate misfeeds and paper jams, in addition to causing excessive wear to the print mechanism.

Perforated paper: Perforated paper is not

recommended. This paper, along with cutout paper such as die-cut or windowed stock, stands a greater chance of generating a paper jam. If you choose to use perforated feed paper, select paper that matches specifications of standard white xerographic paper. See Appendix B for further specifications before using perforated paper.

Closing the Multipurpose Feeder

Follow these steps to close the multipurpose feeder

1. Remove any paper from the multipurpose feeder

2. If extended, fold the extension bar back into position.

3. If extended, press the stopper back into position

4. Close the extension tray.

5. Lift and push the multipurpose feeder until it latches.

4–16 Use r’s Guide

Printing Double-Sided Using the Duplex Unit

You must have the optional duplex unit installed to print double-sided pages. Instructions for installing and removing the duplex unit are provided Chapter 2 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

note: Only cassettes 1, 2, or 3 can be used for

duplex printing (not the multipurpose feeder). Paper size should be Letter, Legal, or A4. Paper weight should be between 20 and 24 lbs.

You select Duplex settings (Off, Long-Edge, or ShortEdge) using the printer driver on your computer or the

operator panel on the printer. Be sure to select the correct binding option in conjunction with the Orientation setting, as illustrated below.

Duplex Binding Options

Short-Edge Binding

Long-Edge Binding Portrait Orientation

Landscape Orientation

Long-edge binding, portrait orientation: This is for

conventional book layout. Every page is oriented right side up so pages are turned from right to left.

Short-edge binding, landscape orientation: This setup

is a variation of conventional book layout. It is wider and every page is oriented right side up so pages are turned from right to left.

Long-edge binding, landscape orientation: This is

often used for calendars, presentations, or accounting ledgers. Every other page is printed upside down so that pages can be flipped through bottom over top.

Short-edge binding, portrait orientation: This layout is

like a clipboard or steno pad. Every other page is printed upside down so that pages can be flipped through bottom over top.

4Printing Tasks

Long-Edge Binding Landscape Orientation

Short-Edge Binding Portrait Orientation

Printing Double-Sided Using the Duplex Unit 4–17

Using the Envelope Feeder

You can select the envelope feeder as the paper source using the operator panel menu tree or the print driver software on your computer. The envelope feeder will not be available for selection unless it is properly installed on the printer. Envelope weight should not exceed 24 lbs.

Instructions for installing and removing the envelope feeder are provided Chapter 2 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

Follow these steps to load envelopes in the printer.

1. Pull out the tray extension. Then squeeze the right guide and slide it to the right.

2. Lift envelope weight out of the way.

3. Insert a stack of envelopes with so that the stamp corner is facing up and to the left.

a. Make sure the envelopes are closed. b. Fan the envelope stack before loading them into

the feeder.

c. If the stack has excessive curl, bend the stack in

the opposite direction of the curl to flatten it.

d. Load the envelopes flap side down and short

edge toward the rear of the feeder.

4. Adjust the side guide to the size of the envelopes in the feeder . Then lower the envelope weight onto the envelope stack.

note: Format the envelope in Landscape

Orientation. Using the envelope feeder, the text is printed on the envelope side facing up. Envelopes feed from the bottom of the stack.

4–18 Use r’s Guide

Loading the Envelope Feeder

4Printing Tasks

Using the Envelope Feeder 4–19

Sorting Jobs Using the Offset Tray

You can select the offset tray as the paper destination using the operator panel menu tree or the print driver software on your computer. All jobs sent to the offset tray are shifted (offset) by 2.8 cm for easier sorting.

The offset tray will not be available for selection unless it is properly installed on the printer. Instructions for installing and removing the offset tray are provided Chapter 2 of the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

Follow these steps to prepare the offset tray for printing.

1. Lift the weight (A) out of the way, open the offset tray (B)

2. Return the weight to the original position on the tray. If you are printing long paper, pull out the extension tab.

Weight

4–20 Use r’s Guide

Tray

Extension T ab

Specia l Printouts

Printing a Demo Page

You can print a demo page that displays text and graphic samples for verifying print quality.

1. On the operator panel, press the Online button to

turn the indicator light off and take the printer offline. The display changes from

READY

2. Press Test to print the demo page.

appears on the operator panel display, and

DEMO

then it changes to

PRINTING DEMO. The printer

begins to print the demo page. Upon completing the print job, the printer returns to the offline state.

3. Press Online to put the printer back online.

Printing a Test Page

You can print a test page that provides configuration information about your printer.

Follow these steps

1. Press Online.

2. Press Menu.

display.

3. Press Next five times until

the display.

4. Press Select.

display.

5. Press Select to print the test page.

6. Press Online to put the printer back online.

NOT READY appears on the display.

PAPER HANDLING appears on the

TEST PRINT appears on

TEST PRINT TEST PAGE appears on the

READY to NOT

PROCESSING

Printing a Font List

You can print a list of the resident PCL or PostScript fonts that are resident in the Silentwriter 1760/65.

1. Press Online.

2. Press Menu.

NOT READY appears on the display.

PAPER HANDLING appears on the

display.

3. Press Next five times until

TEST PRINT appears on

the display.

4. Press Select.

TEST PRINT TEST P AGE appears on the

display.

5. Press Next.

TEST PRINT FONT LIST appears on the

display.

6. Press Select.

FONT LIST POSTSCRIPT 2 appears on

the display. To Print the PostScript Level 2 font list, press Select. Or,

7. Press Next.

FONT LIST PCL 5E appears on the

display. Press Select to print the PCL 5e font list.

8. Press Online to put the printer back online.

Printing the Operator Panel Menu Tree

You can print a flow diagram of all the settings in the operator panel menu tree. (You can also find a different version of the menu tree on pages 3-8 to 3-10.)

1. Press Online.

2. Press Menu.

display.

3. Press Next five times until

the display.

4. Press Select.

display.

5. Press Next twice.

on the display.

6. Press Select to print the menu tree.

7. Press Online to put the printer back online.

NOT READY appears on the display.

PAPER HANDLING appears on the

TEST PRINT appears on

TEST PRINT TEST P AGE appears on the

TEST PRINT MENU TREE appears

4Printing Tasks

Special Printouts 4–21

4–22 Use r’s Guide

05-fonts Page 1 Thursday, April 1, 1999 11:08 AM

WORKING WITH F ONTS 5

Overview

This chapter discusses the way you work with fonts, including

• Using fonts to format your document

• Managing fonts in your computer system and printer

5–1

05-fonts Page 2 Thursday, April 1, 1999 11:08 AM

Using Fonts to Format Your Document

Basic Concepts

A font is a collection of characters and symbols that possess similar basic characteristics, called attributes. Different fonts have different attributes, so you can usually see the differences between fonts quickly. Some of these attributes are described below.

Typeface

A typeface is a family of fonts that share a distinct design. Within that family, there can be variations such as

• Character width (e.g., condensed or extended)

• Character weight (e.g., light or demi)

• Style (e.g., bold, italic, or Roman/upright). As illustrated below, the Times typeface is quite distinct

from the Helvetica typeface.

Times

Helvetica

Examples of variations within a typeface are illustrated below using the Times family. Variations can include

Times Roman

Times Bold

Times Italic

Times Bold-Italic

Font

A font is a single character set (such as Times Italic) within a typeface. A typeface, in contrast, may include many fonts.

Symbol Set

A symbol set is the specific set of characters and symbols that are in the font. A symbol set is designed for use in a particular application or to meet a special need. For example, some are for word processing, while others are exclusively for mathematical, technical, or foreign language applications. The 31 symbol sets resident in the Silentwriter 1760/65 are listed on page 5-14.

Spacing

Fonts have either fixed or proportional spacing. Fixed spacing provides each character the same amount of space. Proportional spacing provides each character a space relative to its size and shape, which improves the appearance or legibility of the text.

Pitch

Pitch is the number of printed characters per inch (cpi). Each character occupies the same amount of space, which is determined by the character width used in the font. Pitch applies only to fonts using fixed spacing.

Point Size

Point size is the unit of measure that describes character height. There are 72 points in an inch and 12 points in a pica. Characters are measured from the top of the uppercase to the bottom of the lowercase letters.

5–2 User’s Guide

Style

Style describes the angle of the character , such as Roman (upright) or italic (slanted) type.

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Font Types

The following types of fonts are available for formatting your document.

Bitmapped Fonts

Bitmapped fonts use a pattern of black and white squares (bits) to describe a character. The printer can print a bitmapped character directly without any processing, and thus can often print more quickly than outline fonts.

A bitmap character can be rotated 90 degrees, but cannot be scaled up without serious distortion. Bitmapped fonts are also called fixed-size fonts. They demand a large amount of memory on a printer, because different sizes of each font must be stored in printer memory. These limitations led to the development of outline fonts.

Outline Fonts

Outline fonts use mathematical descriptions of characters instead of bitmaps. For example, the letter “b” is stored as a computer program describing straight lines and arcs, rather than as a series of bits. Outline fonts are also known as a scalable fonts, since just one representation of a font can be stored in the printer and used to create many sizes.

Outline fonts can be scaled, distorted, rotated, and filled with a wide range of tones, patterns, and colors. The font is then rasterized, i.e., translated to bitmap, before it is output on a display or printed.

TrueType Screen Fonts

A screen font is a set of characters designed for your computer screen. Using screen fonts that match your printer fonts enables what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) formatting. Your onscreen document is then an accurate display of the page you will print.

5 Working with Fonts

Using Fonts to Format Your Document 5–3

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Formatting Your Document

There are several ways to provide font and formatting instructions for your document. Which method you use depends on your computer system and your own prefer ences.

Software Application Commands

Most often, you select fonts and format characters using the menus and commands of your software application. The page and character formats that you select within the software application may be all that is necessary to print your document. Y our software application manual can provide more information about how to format your document.

Printer Driver Settings from Your Computer

You may wish to use the Silentwriter printer drivers to provide page formatting and printing instructions, particularly for accessing printer features not available from your software application. Chapter 2 provides instructions for using the Silentwriter printer drivers in Windows, or the Print Navigator in MS-DOS, to select formatting options.

Operator Panel Menu Selections

You can also use the operator panel on your printer to specify default font attributes. This is most often used in the MS-DOS environment, or with applications that do not provide formatting commands. Chapter 3 provides instructions for making operator panel menu selections.

Programming Printer Commands

Most software applications allow you to select fonts and formatting options using menu commands and then automatically send printer commands to the printer for you. However, if your software application does not automatically send printer commands, you can insert them within a document to provide formatting information.

Printer commands are codes (also known as escape sequences or setup strings) that you insert into the text of your document to tell the printer which tasks to perform or which fonts to use.

The Silentwriter 1760/65 supports commands in PCL 5e, PostScript Level 2, and HP-GL/2. See “Related Publications” on page 9-5 for a list of reference books that provide information about PCL and PostScript programming.

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Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer

Managing fonts covers a variety of tasks, including

• Installing fonts on your computer or printer

• Specifying how fonts are processed during printing

• Using software to download fonts from one location to another.

Font Locations

Fonts can be stored and used in the following locations

• Resident in your printer

• On your computer system

• As permanent or temporary soft fonts in your printer RAM

• In your optional printer hard disk drive (PostScript only)

• On diskette or CD

These locations are described below. The next sections describe how to work with these options to optimize speed and quality when working with fonts.

Printer Resident Fonts

These are fonts that are permanently stored in printer read-only memory (ROM). The advantage of using resident fonts to print out a document is that they are processed more quickly and reliably. Your Silentwriter 1760/65 has the following resident fonts

• 35 Intellifont outline fonts for PCL

• 35 Type 1 outline fon ts for PostScript

• 10 TrueType typefaces for PCL and PostScript

System Fonts

These are fonts located on your computer system that you use to format your document. They can be bitmapped, outline, or TrueType fonts. How they are processed by the computer and printer depends on the type of font and options you select in your printer driver.

Soft Fonts in Printer RAM

These are fonts that your computer system downloads to your printer’s random-access memory (RAM) for use in a document. Using soft fonts allows you to print with a wide variety of fonts that are not resident on your printer. The disadvantage is that it may take longer to process the print job.

Some soft fonts are “temporary,” i.e., they do not remain in the printer RAM after the document is printed. Some soft fonts, however, may remain “permanently” in the printer RAM for repeated use until you turn off your printer. This enables faster processing of subsequent jobs that use those fonts.

Hard Disk Drive Fonts

If you purchased an optional hard disk drive, you can download and store PostScript fonts to that location and use them just like resident fonts.

Fonts on Diskette

Fonts are often distributed on diskette or CD. The Silentwriter comes with two different sources of fonts on diskette.

• TrueType screen fonts that match the printer’s resident typefaces for WYSIWYG formatting in Windows. You install these using the Silentwriter Installer.

• 96 downloadable fonts on diskette with the NEC Font Manager

5 Working with Fonts

Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer 5–5

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Silentwriter Software for Font Management

You have several tools for managing fonts using Silentwriter software and other utilities.

• Use the operator panel to print lists of the PCL and PostScript fonts that are resident on your printer or downloaded to printer memory.

• Use the Silentwriter Windows Installer to install TrueType screen fonts on your computer system to match your printer’s resident fonts.

• Use the NEC Font Manager to install and manage fonts.

• Set TrueType processing options in the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver.

• Set TrueType processing and substitution options in the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 printer driver.

• Use the Font Installer in your NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver to install fonts and configure special downloading options for soft fonts and printer ports.

• Use the Print Navigator or the operator panel to specify default font attributes for DOS

• Use font downloading utilities to download soft fonts permanently to the optional hard disk drive.

Printing and Using Font Lists

You can use the printer operator panel to print PCL and PostScript font lists. These printouts list the resident fonts in each emulation and show a sample of each font.

The PCL Font List

This lists the 45 resident fonts available in the PCL emulation and shows a sample of each. Also listed are any PCL soft fonts downloaded to printer RAM. This list provides information about font attributes. The font ID number and source are also identified.

The PostScript Font List

This lists the 45 resident fonts available in the PostScript emulation and shows a sample of each. Also listed are any PostScript fonts downloaded to the printer RAM and optional hard disk drive.

These topics are covered in the sections that follow.

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Printing a Font List

Follow these steps.

1. Press Online.

2. Press Menu.

NOT READY appears on the display.

PAPER HANDLING appears on the

display.

3. Press Next five times until

TEST PRINT appears on

the display.

4. Press Select.

TEST PRINT TEST PAGE appears on the

display.

5. Press Next.

TEST PRINT FONT LIST appears on the

display.

6. Press Select.

FONT LIST POSTSCRIPT 2 appears on

the display. To Print the PostScript Level 2 font list, press Select. Or,

7. Press Next.

FONT LIST PCL 5E appears on the

display. Press Select to print the PCL 5e font list.

8. Press Online to put the printer back online.

Installing TrueType Screen Fonts Using the Silentwriter Installer

Use the Silentwriter Installer to automatically install TrueType screen fonts on your computer system to match the resident typefaces on your printer. Then, if you use those fonts to format documents, your printed output will match the formatting on your screen. This is known as what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) formatting.

If you use express installation, the TrueT ype scr een fonts are installed automatically with the printer drivers. Use custom installation to install some or all of the TrueType fonts at any time.

To run the Installer

1. Insert the Silentwriter Printing System for Windows Disket te #1 into the appropriate drive (in this example we use drive A:).

2. Type A:\SETUP in the Command Line field of the Run dialog box.

3. Click the OK button. This launches the Installer.

4. Respond to the selections displayed in the installation dialog boxes. Select the custom version and you will be prompted to select the TrueType screen fonts you want to install.

5 Working with Fonts

Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer 5–7

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Installing Additional Fonts Using the NEC Font Manager

You can install up to 96 fonts on your Windows system using the two NEC Fonts and NEC Font Manager diskettes that come with your Silentwriter printer.

You can also install the NEC Font Manager, which allows you to perform font management tasks.

Installing the NEC Font Manager and Fonts

To install the NEC Font Manager and fonts

1. Insert the Silentwriter NEC Fonts and NEC Font Manager Diskette #1 (of 2) into the appropriate drive (in this example we use drive A:).

2. Type A:\INSTALL in the Command Line field of the Run dialog box, and click OK.

3. After copying files to your hard drive, the installation dialog box appears. Use it to specify a destination directory. You can choose to Install Fonts, Install NEC Font Manager, or both. Then click Continue.

4. When the Selected Fonts dialog box appears, use it to select some or all of the fonts to install.

Hold down the Ctrl or Shift keys to select multiple fonts.

Or, press the Select All button to highlight all 96 fonts for installation.

5. Press Install to continue.

note: Installing all 96 fonts may require a

significant amount of time and computer memory. Initially, you may want to install a smaller number of fonts.

Learning to Use the NEC Font Manager

Once the NEC Font Manager is installed, it appears as an item in its own program group. Double-click the NEC Font Manager icon to launch the program.

The NEC Font Manager allows you to perform the following tasks.

• Install and uninstall fonts

• Search, sort, and preview fonts

• Create font groups

• Print font samples The NEC Font Manager comes with complete, easy-to-

use, Online Help. You can use the Online Help to learn about font management techniques.

Follow these steps

1. From the Help menu of the NEC Font Manager,

select Contents.

2. Click on any underlined topic information and instructions.

3. To navigate through the Online Help Press the Contents button to return to the Contents

window. Press the Back button to display the last topic you

viewed. Press the << button to display the previous topic in

the Help file. Press the >> button to display the next topic in the

Help file.

4. T o print out a Help topic, select Print Topic from the File menu.

to display

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Setting TrueType Processing Options Using the PCL Printer Driver

The following settings in the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver allow you to specify how TrueType fonts are processed during a print job.

In Window 3.1x, these are located on the Graphics property sheet of the printer driver . In Windows 95 they are on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver. See Chapter 2 for instructions on using that printer driver.

Download as TrueType

Text is downloaded to the printer as outline fonts and it is processed in the printer. This is the default setting. It is a good choice if graphic images in the job contain a large quantity or variety of TrueType fonts. With this setting, text is placed on top of graphic images when they appear in the same area.

Download as Bit Image

Text is scaled on the host computer and then downloaded to the printer as bitmaps. This can speed printing of multiple copies, since the printer only processes the first copy and then reissues it. This setting is also a good choice if your images contain fonts that are not resident in the Silentwriter. With this setting, text is placed on top of graphic images when they appear in the same area. This setting is only available when Graphics Quality is set to High.

Print as Graphics

When this is selected, the print job is processed on the host computer and then downloaded to the printer. Choose this setting to send the text as graphics. This speeds up printing if your document contains many graphics but not a lot of TrueType text within them. This setting has the effect of printing the graphic image over the text image, showing only the exposed portion of characters. This setting is only available when Graphics Quality is set to High, and Graphics Mode is set to Raster.

Use Printer TrueType Fonts

If this box is checked, the printer uses its own resident TrueType fonts when they match the fonts in the document. This method takes less time to process, and if you formatted your document using the Silentwriter TrueType fonts, you will have WYSIWYG output. Fonts used in the document that are not resident in the printer are downloaded as TrueType, bit image, or graphics depending on the selection above.

5 Working with Fonts

Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer 5–9

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Setting TrueType Processing Options Using the PostScript Printer Driver

The following settings are on the Fonts property sheet of the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PS2 printer driver. They allow you to specify how TrueType fonts are processed during a print job. See Chapter 2 for instructions on using that printer driver.

Send to Printer as Adobe Type 1

If you select this, Tr ueType fonts used in your document are downloaded to the printer as outline fonts. This provides better formatting, but may take longer to print.

Send to Printer as Bitmap Type 3

Bitmapped characters are downloaded to the printer and processed there. This can speed printing of multiple copies, since the printer only processes the first copy and then reissues it. However, resolution may be affected

Use Printer Fonts for all TrueType Fonts

Select the Use Substitution Table checkbox and edit the substitution table this way.

For each font in the System Font list on the left, select a printer font in the Use Device Font list on the right.

note: Substituted printer fonts use the character

To download a system font with a job, select it in the System Font list and select <Download as Soft Font> at the top of the Use Device Font list.

Click the Default Substitution button to return to the recommended defaults when using the font substitution table.

The Fonts Property Sheet in the PostScript Printer Driv

Use Substitution Table

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Using the Font Installer in the PCL Printer Driver

You use the Font Installer of the NEC Silentwriter 1700 PCL printer driver to install and download soft fonts to your Silentwriter 1700 Series printer. Soft fonts are bitmapped fonts or scalable fonts that you download to your printer random access memory (RAM). Downloading fonts to the RAM allows faster printing or printing with fonts that are not resident in the printer’s read only memory (ROM). You can download compatible fonts from a floppy disk or computer drive.

Fonts you use with the Font Installer must be in one of the following formats

• Bitmapped fonts in PCL format.

• Scalable font products in Agfa Compugraphic’s FAIS format.

The Font Installer in the PCL Printer Driver

Accessing the Font Installer

In Windows 3.1x, the Font Installer is located on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver. In Windows 95, display the Font Installer by pressing the Font Installer button on the Fonts property sheet of the printer driver.

Installing Fonts

Before you install soft fonts using the Font Installer, be sure to set the Silentwriter printer port using the Windows Print Manager or Control Panel.

Bitmapped fonts can be installed from a floppy disk or from any computer drive. For scalable fonts, first install the AutoFont Support files to your computer hard drive and make scalable printer fonts according to the instructions that are provided by your font vendor. Then follow these steps:

1. In the Font Installer, click the Add Fonts button.

2. In the Add Fonts dialog box, type the drive and directory where your fonts are located and click OK. The printer driver reads the directory and displays available fonts in the list on the right.

3. In the list on the right, select the font(s) you want to install and then click the Add button between the two lists.

4. In the Copy Fonts to Directory dialog box, type the destination drive and directory where you want to place your printer fonts (the default is C:\PCLFONTS) and then click OK. Once installed, the selected font(s) appear in the list on the left.

5 Working with Fonts

note: If the Font Name is not recognized by the

printer driver, the Edit dialog box appears. Enter a name in the Name text entry field and click OK.

Managing Fonts on Your Computer and Printer 5–11

05-fonts Page 12 Thursday, April 1, 1999 11:08 AM

5. When you are finished installing fonts from the

source drive, click the Close Drive button. The fonts you installed will appear in your Windows applications.

You can now proceed to set downloading options for the fonts you installed.

Setting Downloading Options

You can use the Font Installer to set downloading options for individual fonts. Downloading is the process of transferring soft fonts from the computer to the printer RAM. There are two downloading options: temporary and permanent.

Temporary Fonts: When you install a font from a

disk, Temporary is the default setting. This means that the font is only sent to the printer RAM when it is needed to print, and it is not stored in the RAM after printing. This is a good choice when you rarely use a font, when you need to reserve printer memory for printing graphics, when you are using a variety of fonts in one document, or when you are printing to a shared printer.

Permanent Fonts: When you download a font as

Permanent, it stays in the printer RAM until you turn the printer off. Y ou can even configure the Font Installer to download Permanent fonts each time you start the computer. This is a good choice for fonts you use frequently. Downloading fonts permanently can speed printing, but limits the amount of printer RAM available for printing graphics and complex pages. Permanent fonts are marked in the Font Installer list with an asterisk (*).

Downloading Fonts as Permanent

1. In the Font Installer list box, select a font. (You can select more than one font in the list box, but you can only set downloading options for one font at a time. If you select more than one font, the Permanent and Temporary buttons are dimmed when you try to select them.)

2. Click the Permanent button to select it.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each font that you want to download as Permanent.

4. When you have finished, click OK.

5. Because you designated fonts as Permanent, the Download Options dialog box appears for further specifying downloading options.

Check Download Now to send your permanent fonts to the printer immediately.

Check Download at Startup to download the fonts to your printer immediately and again each time you start your computer.

6. Click OK to complete downloading selection and close the Printer Setup.

If you select Download at Startup, you must turn on your printer before you turn on your computer. This is because the printer driver inserts a line into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that automatically downloads the selected fonts to your printer every time you start or reset your computer.

note: If you have less than 6 MB of RAM and send

PostScript jobs to the printer, any downloaded PCL fonts (even permanent ones) will be lost. Therefore, if you wish to consistently use permanently downloaded PCL fonts, set the printer emulation to PCL instead of AES, turn off the Auto Start page (because it is a PostScript document), do not send PostScript jobs to the printer, and always use the PCL printer driver.

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Copying or Moving Fonts to a New Printer Port

You can use the Font Installer to move or copy fonts you installed on one port to different ports. This is useful if you are using more than one PCL printer or if you connect your printer to another port.

Follow these instructions to move or copy fonts to a new port:

1. In the Font Installer, click the Copy Fonts to New Port button.

2. In the Copy Fonts to New Port dialog box, select the new port and click OK.

The fonts currently installed on the selected port are listed on the right side of the Font Installer. You can copy or move fonts from either port to the other.

3. Select one or more fonts in a list. When you select a font, an arrow appears between the two list boxes indicating the direction of the move or copy.

4. Click on the Move or Copy button. The selected fonts are moved to the port shown in the other box.

5. Once you have moved or copied a font to a new port, you can specify permanent or temporary downloading options for that font on the new port.

6. When you are finished, click the End Copy Fonts to New Port button.

Deleting Fonts

If you no longer use a font, you can delete it from your Printer Setup and/or from your hard disk, as well. This can free additional space on your printer RAM or hard drive.

Follow these instructions to delete a font:

3. In the Remove Fonts dialog box that appears, select from the following options.

Click No to remove the font(s) from the printer memory but not remove them from your hard disk. When you choose No, the font name no longer appears anywhere in Windows, but the font file remains on your hard disk for future use.

Click Yes to delete the font(s) from both the Printer Setup and your hard drive. Unless you plan to use them later, you should remove unused font files and free the space on your hard drive.

Editing Font Names and Attributes

After you install a font, make sure it does not have the same name and point size as another font you are using. Even if the names and sizes are the same, the font metrics for two fonts can differ and may print differently. You can edit the name or other attributes of a soft font that you installed using the Font Installer. Follow these steps to edit a font name or attribute.

1. In the Font Installer, select the font you want to edit in the list of installed fonts.

2. Click Edit to display the Edit dialog box.

3. In the Edit dialog box, type a new name for the selected font in the Name box, or select other attributes by clicking the associated buttons. The list below describes the options in the Edit dialog box.

4. When you are finished, click OK to return to the Font Installer.

Caution! Unless you are experienced at working

with fonts, do not change any Font ID or Family settings that the printer driver automatically enters.

5 Working with Fonts

1. In the Font Installer, select the font(s) you want to delete from the list box on the left.

2. Click Delete.

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Setting Default Font Attributes in MS-DOS

You can use PCL job settings to specify default font attributes. This is most often used in the MS-DOS environment, or with applications that do not provide formatting commands. PCL Job settings are available in the Print Navigator software and in the printer operator panel.

See Chapter 2 for instructions on using the Print Navigator.

See Chapter 3 for instructions on using the printer operator panel.

Font Source

This setting is available in the operator panel menu tree when soft fonts are available in printer RAM or on the optional hard disk drive. You can select Resident Font (the default), or Soft Font.

Font ID Number

Point Size

Pitch

This setting is available if a scalable typeface with fixed spacing is selected. Then, you can select the following pitches: 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12,

12.5, 13, 13.5, 1 4, 14.5 , 15, 15.5 , 16, 1 6.66, 1 7, 17.5 , 18, 18.5 , 19, 19.5, and 20. 10 is the default.

Symbol Set

There are 31 available symbol sets resident in the printer. ROMAN-8 is the default. The other available symbol sets include

note: You can print out a list of available fonts. See

“Printing a Font List” on page 4-21.

Typeface

In the Print Navigator, you select a resident printer font by selecting its name in the Typeface list.

Lines Per Page

Options are 5 through 128. The default is 60.

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Storing Fonts on the Optional Hard Disk Drive

The NEC Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Kit allows you to install a compatible hard disk drive to your Silentwriter 1760/65 printer. A one-gigabyte, 2.5” hard disk drive is included in the kit. The first time the hard disk is installed on the printer, it must be formatted using the printer operator panel. Chapter 2, “Install Printer Options,” in the Easy Printer Setup Guide provides instructions for installing and formatting the optional hard disk drive.

Downloading Fonts to the Hard Disk Drive

The optional hard disk drive allows you to store extra PostScript fonts so that you can access them as easily as printer resident fonts. When you purchase fonts, font vendors most often provide a font downloading utility along with the fonts. Follow the instructions specific to that utility for downloading fonts to your printer hard disk drive.

note: MacOS users should use the Apple

Utility provided with the LaserWriter to download fonts to the printer hard disk drive.

Printer

8 printer driver

5 Working with Fonts

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5–16 Use r’s Guide

PRINTER MEMORY 6

Overview

Understanding and managing the different types of memory in your printer will help you optimize its performance. Your Silentwriter 1760/65 has many features that enhance and automate the way your printer uses its available memory. In addition to this, you can expand the memory on your printer if you regularly send very complex or large print jobs, or use special fonts. This chapter discusses

• The types and amounts of memory that are standard in the Silentwriter 1760 and 1765 printers

• The way your printer uses memory

• Special features and settings that help you get the most out of available memory

• Ways to expand the memory on your printer, if necessary, to enhance your printer’s performance

6–1

Print Buffer

The print buffer is the part of your printer’s memory that is dedicated to receiving and processing data sent from the computer. Under most conditions, the print buffer performs its work unnoticed. One reason for this is the Silentwriter’s special feature, Memory Enhancement Technology. This technology automatically compresses incoming page images to make the best use of available memory.

There are also printer settings you can adjust to manage how the print buffer handles your print jobs. These are described briefly here. For detailed information on these settings, see their definitions on page 1-12.

There are two printer errors that occasionally occur with very complex or large print jobs.

Print Overrun Error

This is a print error that occurs when a page is so complex that the printer cannot process the image data fast enough to keep up with the print engine as it moves the paper.

You can resolve print overruns by reducing the complexity of the page or setting Page Protection to On and resending the page or the entire print job. If you frequently encounter print overruns even when Page Protection is On, you may want to add more RAM to your printer.

Page Protection

You use Page Protection to avoid print overruns that occur with very complicated pages. This feature determines how much memory the printer dedicates to the print buffer. In most cases, printing is slower when Page Protection is on.

Set Wait Time

This setting defines the time that the printer waits between blocks of data coming from the computer before it processes what is in the print buffer . Sometimes if the computer takes too long to compile and send data for a job it is sending, the printer assumes that there is no more data for the job and processes what is in its memory. In such a case, you would want to increase the Wait Time.

Memory Overflow Error

This is a print error that occurs when a page is too large to be processed by available printer memory. Y ou can resolve memory overflows by removing macros, soft fonts, or complex graphics from the print job, or by adding more RAM to the printer.

6–2 User’s Guide

RAM

RAM stands for random access memory. This memory can be written to and read from, and information stored in RAM can be accessed in an arbitrary manner.

This part of the printer memory is used to store fonts and resources that are used by the printer’s two emulations: PCL and PostScript.

Adding RAM

The Silentwriter 1760 comes with 4 MB of RAM , and the 1765 comes with 6 MB of RAM. Expanding your printer’s RAM has the following advantages.

• Speeds up the printing process by making more memory available for processing large jobs

• Allows you to store more soft fonts for printing

• Allows you to use the Resource Saving feature

note: If you frequently send PostScript print jobs,

we recommend that your printer have at least 6 MB of RAM.

The Silentwriter 1760/65 has two slots where you can install industry-standard, 72-pin, 70-nanosecond SIMM. You can add up to 48 additional MB of RAM to your printer. 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 MB SIMMs are available.

Downloading Soft Fonts to Printer RAM

You can download fonts from your computer to the printer RAM and store them there for future use. This will speed printing of jobs that use those fonts.

See “Downloading Fonts as Permanent” on page 5-12 for instructions for downloading PCL soft fonts to the printer RAM.

Resource Saving

Resource Saving allocates RAM memory to the PCL and PostScript emulations to save downloaded fonts when you switch from one emulation to another. All permanent soft fonts are then stored for a printer language until it is enabled. Without Resource Saving, downloaded resources are lost when the printer switches emulations.

Resource Saving is only available when 7 MB or more of RAM are installed. Then, the printer allocates a default amount of memory to both PCL and PostScript. The default amount allocated depends on how much RAM is installed. For detailed information on this feature, see the definition on page 1-13.

6 Printer Memory

Instructions for adding RAM to your printer are provided in Chapter 2, “Install Printer Options,” in the Easy Printer Setup Guide.

RAM 6–3

ROM

ROM stands for read-only memory. The information stored in ROM can be read but not changed. This part of the printer memory is used to store the printer’s firmware and its resident fonts. Firmware includes software that controls the printer’s operations and settings.

Optional Hard Disk Drive

The NEC Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Kit allows you to install a compatible hard disk drive to your Silentwriter 1760/65 printer. A one-gigabyte, 2.5” hard disk drive is included in the kit. The optional hard disk drive allows you to store extra PostScript fonts so that you can access them as easily as printer resident fonts.

The first time the hard disk is installed on the printer, it must be formatted using the printer operator panel. Chapter 2, “Install Printer Options,” in the Easy Printer Setup Guide provides instructions for installing and formatting the optional hard disk drive.

Downloading Fonts to the Hard Disk Drive

When you purchase fonts, font vendors most often provide a font downloading utility along with the fonts. Follow the instructions specific to that utility for downloading fonts to your printer hard disk drive.

note: MacOS users should use the Apple Printer

Utility provided with the LaserWriter 8 printer driver to download fonts to the printer hard disk drive.

6–4 User’s Guide

MAINTAINING YOUR P RINTER 7

Overview

This chapter explains the basic maintenance and cleaning procedures you must follow to maintain the high print quality and efficient operation of your NEC Silentwriter 1700 Series printer. Included are instructions for the following maintenance tasks

• Handling and storing the toner cartridge

• Removing the toner cartridge

• Redistributing toner in the cartridge

• Cleaning the fuser unit area

• Installing a new toner cartridge (NEC part # 20-110)

• Cleaning the printer exterior

• Relocating the printer

• Replacing the fuser cartridge and transfer roller (NEC part # 20-11 9)

note: See page 9-4, for information about ordering

printer supplies.

Precautions

Please take the following precautions when performing maintenance tasks

• Do not use ammonia-based cleaners. They may react with the toner in the cartridge.

• Do not use alcohol-based cleaners on the printer exterior. They may damage the plastic case.

• Do not expose the toner cartridge or drum to direct sunlight or bright room light.

Do not open the

drum shutter

• Do not spill any liquid inside the printer or in the power cord receptacle.

7–1

The Toner Cartridge

Most of your printer maintenance is centered around one easily replaceable part—the toner cartridge (NEC part # 20-110). Your toner cartridge can print about 10,000 pages of text. When the cartridge runs low on toner, the printer operator panel displays the message redistribute the toner or replace the cartridge. Each time you replace the toner cartridge, you should also clean the fuser unit area. Maintenance tasks are described beginning on the next page. First, review this information about handling and storing toner cartridges.

Handling the Toner Cartridge

Follow these guidelines for handling the toner cartridge

• Do not stand the toner cartridge on end or with the

• Do not expose the toner cartridge to any light for

• If you move the cartridge from a cold location to a

• Do not open the drum shutter or touch the drum

• Dispose of used cartridges as nonflammable.

• If you get toner on your hands, wash your hands

LOW ON TONER to indicate that it is time to

label facing down.

longer than 5 minutes. To protect it from light exposure, cover the cartridge with an aluminum bag or a thick cloth.

warm location, wait at least one hour before installing it in the printer.

surface.

Recycle the toner cartridge according to the instructions on the new toner cartridge box.

with cold water to remove it. Do not use hot water, because it sets the toner.

Storing the Toner Cartridge

A properly stored and unopened toner cartridge has a life of two years. Follow these guidelines for storing the toner cartridge.

• Do not store the toner cartridge on end or upside down.

• Do not store the toner cartridge in strong light.

• Do not store the toner cartridge near a computer display or floppy disk drive. The toner cartridge has magnetic properties.

• Do not store the toner cartridge within reach of children.

• Do not unpack the toner cartridge until you are ready to use it.

• Do not expose the toner cartridges to extremes in temperature or humidity. The acceptable temperature range is 41°F to 95°F (10°C to 35°C). The acceptable humidity range is 15% to 85%.

Recycling the Toner Cartridge

We encourage you to participate in NEC’s toner cartridge recycling program. It’s easy, it’s free, and it’s a good way to keep the environment clean.

In each new toner cartridge box, you will find a prepaid shipping label and a recycling brochure with instructions on how to pack and return the used toner cartridge. We appreciate your help in this environmental program.

note: This recycling program is not intended for

warranty replacements. Return defective toner cartridges to your place of purchase.

Caution! Do not burn toner cartridges.

7–2 User’s Guide

NEC Silentwriter 1765 User Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

USING T HIS G UIDE

TABLE OF C ONTENTS