NEC SuperScript 610plus User Guide

Silentwriter
SuperScript 610plus
User's Guide

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 licensers. NEC and/
or its licensers, 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 Warranty Statement accompanying each product. However, actual
perfomance 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 is a U.S. registered trademark of NEC Corporation. SuperScript is a trademark of NEC
Corporation. All other product, brand, or trade names used in this publication are the trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.

© NEC Technologies, Inc., 1994.
© Copyright, WinStyler™/Phase II, 1992-1994, Destiny Technology Corp. Ver. 2.0
© Copyright, WinRefs™/Phase II, 1994, Destiny Technology Corp. Ver. 2.0
© Copyright, DTIR™, 1992-1994, Destiny Technology Corp. Ver. 1.0
© Copyright, LaserAct®/Phase II, 1990-1994, Destiny Technology Corp, Ver. 4.5
© Copyright, PageStyler®/Phase II, 1989-1994, Destiny Technology Corp. Ver. 1.0
© Copyright, 1992, Microsoft Corporation

First Printing — December 1994

Copyright 1994

NEC Technologies, Inc.

1414 Massachusetts Avenue

Boxborough, MA 01719

All Rights Reserved

Copyright 1994

NEC Corporation

7-1 Shiba 5-Chome, Minato-ku

Tokyo 108-01, Japan

All Rights Reserved

Contents i

Contents

Using this Guide vii
1 Introduction 1-1

How the Printing Process Works 1-3
Standard Features 1-3
Options 1-7
Ordering Supplies and Accessories 1-8

2 Setting Up 2-1

Unpacking 2-2

Unpacking 2-2
Locating the Printer Items 2-3

Operating Requirements 2-4

Printer Dimensions 2-5

Printer Dimensions with 200-sheet Hopper 2-7
System Requirements 2-8
External Printer Parts 2-9
Internal Printer Parts 2-12
Installing the Hopper 2-14

Installing the Standard Hopper 2-14

Installing the 200-sheet Hopper 2-15
Toner Cartridge 2-16

Setting Up the Toner Cartridge 2-16

Installing the Toner Cartridge 2-20
Installing Paper 2-23
Interface Cable 2-26
Power Cord 2-28
Installing SuperScript Printing Software 2-30

ii Contents

3 Printing with Your SuperScript 610plus 3-1

SuperScript 610plus Print Modes 3-2
GDI Mode 3-2

GDI Setup Screen 3-3
2Up/4Up Screen 3-7
GDI Options Screen 3-8

Advanced Options 3-8

Manual Duplex Printing 3-9
Scaling 3-12
Print to File 3-12
Density Button 3-13
Forms Window 3-14

PCL Print Mode 3-23

PCL Control Panel 3-24
Saving Downloaded Fonts and Macros ( PCL Mode) 3-26

Page Ejects - Form Feeds ( PCL Mode) 3-28
Printing from a Windows Application 3-29
Printing from DOS 3-29
Printing PCL Files from DOS Command Line 3-30

4 NEC SuperScript Print Manager 4-1
5 Print Status Window 5-1
6 Selecting Paper and Media 6-1

Paper Properties 6-3

Print Areas 6-4

Paper and Media Use 6-5

Preprinted Forms 6-6

Heavy Print Stock 6-7

Envelopes 6-7

Adhesive Labels 6-9

Transparency Film 6-10

Contents iii

Media Purchasing Specifications 6-10

Sheet Paper 6-11
Envelopes 6-13
Adhesive Labels 6-14
Transparency Film 6-15

Storage Guidelines 6-16

7 Using Fonts 7-1

Fonts in GDI mode 7-2
Fonts in PCL Mode 7-3
Installing SuperScript TrueType Fonts 7-4

8 Choosing Print Options 8-1

How to Print Using Various Media 8-2
The Standard Hopper 8-4

Multi-sheet Feed and Single-sheet Feed 8-4
Installing Paper 8-4

The 200-sheet Paper Hopper (Optional) 8-5

Removing the Standard Hopper 8-6
Installing the 200-sheet Paper Hopper 8-7
Installing and Removing the Legal Guide 8-8
Hopper Feed 8-9
Manual Feed 8-12
Removing the 200-sheet Hopper 8-14

Output Paths 8-15

Face-up Tray 8-16
Face-down Door 8-16

9 Maintaining Your Printer 9-1

Redistributing the Toner 9-3
Cleaning the Printer 9-8
Replacing the Toner Cartridge 9-9

Cleaning the Printer Mechanism 9-9
Installing the Toner Cartridge 9-17

iv Contents

Transporting the Printer 9-22

Removing the Toner Cartridge 9-22

Removing the Paper Hopper 9-24

Removing the Interface Cable 9-24

Removing the Power Cord 9-25

Check List Before Transporting the Printer 9-26

10 Troubleshooting 10-1

Print Quality Maintenance 10-3
Paper Jam 10-3

Locations of Potential Paper Jams 10-4

Removing the Jammed Paper 10-4

Paper Jams in the Hopper 10-5

Paper Jams in the Fuser Unit 10-6

Points to Check to Avoid Paper Jams 10-8
Testing the Printer 10-9
Status Messages 10-11

Installation Problems 10-11
Status Messages 10-14

Operating Problems 10-14
Output Quality 10-25

Light Page 10-25

Blank Page 10-26

Black Page 10-27

Streaked Page 10-28

Spots on Back of Paper 10-29

Blank Spots 10-30

Solid White Vertical Lines 10-31

Incomplete Page 10-31

Graphics Appear Coarse in GDI Mode 10-32

Text Appears Jagged or Low Resolution in GDI Mode 10-32

Unexpected Font in Either GDI or PCL Mode 10-33

Unexpected Font in PCL Mode 10-34

Shifted or Broken Image 10-34

Contents v

Unexpected Font in PCL Mode 10-34
Allocating Virtual Memory 10-35
Commonly Asked Questions 10-37

11 Getting Service and Support (For U.S. Only) 11-1

Assistance 11-2

Getting Help from Your Company 11-2

Getting Help from NEC 11-3
Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus Printer Limited Warranty 11-4

Warranty 11-5

Warranty Length 11-5

Warranty Coverage 11-5

Warranty Support 11-7

Getting Warranty Service 11-7

Limitation of Damages and Implied Warranties 11-8

A Character Sets and Code/Sequence/Commands for

HP LaserJet IIP A-1

Character Sets A-2

PCL Character Set Charts A-2

ISO Substitution Table A-8
Code/Sequence/Commands A-16

Control Codes and Escape Sequences A-16

B Optimizing Printer Performance B-1

What to do B-2

C Specifications C-1
D Interface Cable Specifications D-1

Cable configurations D-4
Pin Assignment of the printer side connector D-5

E Removing SuperScript Files from Your System E-1
F Installing the Memory Expansion Module F-1
Glossary
Index

vi Contents

Using this Guide

This guide provides an introduction to the NEC
SuperScript 610 plus printer and includes information
about set up, features, operation, and maintenance.

If you are a new user, you may want to read this
entire user’s guide to familiarize yourself with the
printer. If you have been using the printer for some
time, you can scan the Contents for specific informa­tion that you need.

vii

viii

1 Introduction

1

Introduction 1–1

1–2 Introduction

This guide provides complete instructions for operat­ing your new NEC Silentwriter® SuperScript
610plus printer. All printer features are explained
and illustrated in detail.

Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus is a new laser
printer developed specifically for users of
WindowsTM Version 3.1. This printer is provided
with the SuperScript software kit and requires no
special add-in cards or cartridges. We do require a
good quality parallel interface cable. Silentwriter
SuperScript 610plus differs from other printers in
that it is directly driven by the CPU of your compu­ter; hence, it has faster response and better status
information. In addition, by expanding the memory
of your computer or upgrading to a more powerful
PC, the performance of your SuperScript 610plus can
also be improved.

NEC SuperScript software supports two printing
modes, namely, GDI mode and PCL emulation
mode. GDI mode offers the full performance of the
total printing system while the PCL emulation mode
offers compatibility with existing PCL print files.

Your computer and Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus
communicate bi-directionally to exchange operating
status information (i.e., warm-up, paper out, paper
jam, etc.) and display messages requiring your
attention, if necessary. Hence, you can focus on your
work without referring to the printer operator panel
periodically, a benefit brought by the SuperScript
software.

The SuperScript 610plus is designed as a personal
laser printer to conserve desk space and it features
low power consumption.

Introduction 1–3

HOW THE
PRINTING
PROCESS
WORKS

STANDARD
FEATURES

Whenever you send a job to the printer, an “image”
of that page 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 grouped in one
self-contained cartridge.)

At the same time, paper (or transparency film or an
envelope) passes through the printer and near the
drum. The paper is electrostatically charged as it
reaches the drum.

Toner, previously attracted to the drum as image
areas, is transferred to the charged paper. The paper
then passes between two rollers where a combination
of heat and pressure bonds the toner to the paper.
The paper is then moved to the output tray.

The following list highlights Silentwriter SuperScript
610plus features.

Host-based Processing
SuperScript uses your PC power to process print

jobs.
Two Printing Modes

The Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus software
allows you to select from two different modes of
printing:

• GDI mode provides fast, WYSIWYP (What
You See Is What You Print) output.

• Both Windows and DOS applications running
under Windows can use PCL emulation mode
for printing, which provides compatibility
with the popular printer language used in the
LaserJet® IIP.

1–4 Introduction

Print speed: up to 6 pages per minute.
Print resolution: 300×300 dots per inch.
Sharp Edge Technology

Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus features the
patented Sharp Edge Technology (SET). This
feature detects and smoothes the jagged edges of
raster images by dividing one full dot into
several subdots to be set in the same area. The
print quality of both text and line graphics is thus
improved.

Photorealistic printout
(Grayscale technology with photo enhancement)

You can get better quality gray scale printout
using this mode to print photographic data in
GDI mode. Refer to Chapter 3 for setting of this
mode.

Introduction 1–5

Paper input: from a 50-sheet hopper supporting:
Paper:

1 Letter
2 A4
3 Executive
4 B5 (GDI Only)
5 Legal

Envelope:

1 Monarch
2 Commercial 10
3 DL
4 C5

Paper output: face-up tray with a maximum
capacity of 50 sheets (at 17 lb), or face-down
door.

Toner cartridge: clean, efficient printer operation
centered around one easily replaceable cartridge.
The Starter Toner Cartridge which is shipped
with your printer will print 2,000 pages (at 5%
coverage). Replacement toner cartridges will
print up to 4,000 pages (at 5% coverage).

Power Saving Mode
This printer has Power Saving Mode. In this

mode, if the printer is idle for a specified time,
the fuser unit pauses and power consumption will
be decreased. However the next job requires a
warm up time. (See Chapter 5, Print Status
Window).

1–6 Introduction

Toner Saving Mode
This feature allows you to save toner by control-

ling print density. You can turn this mode on or
off in Print Status Window (See Chapter 5, Print
Status Window).

Print Darkness
This feature allows you to adjust the print dark-

ness of whole page as required. (See Chapter 5,
Print Status Window).

Density Adjustment
This feature allows you to adjust the contrast and

brightness of the output. This feature is useful for
making adjustments to embedded images to
produce the best quality when printing.

Manual Duplex Printing
When selected you can print on both sides of a

page in either of two binding styles (Book style ­binding in the middle or Report style - binding at
the top and bottom).

Cover Page
When selected you can print a customized page

of either text, graphics, or a combination at the
beginning of a print job.

Introduction 1–7

Trailer Page
When selected you can print a customized page

of either text, graphics, or a combination at the
end of a print job.

Print Overlay (B/W)
When selected you can print a customized

overlay of either text, graphics, or combination
on either the first page or all pages of a print job.
Now you can print your logo and text together
without having to import your logo into every
print job.

Print Overlay (Color)
When selected you can print a customized

overlay of either text, graphics, or combination
in one of three colors. For example, you could
print your company logo in red and your corre­spondence in black. This feature requires an
optional color toner cartridge.

OPTIONS

The options available for the Silentwriter
SuperScript 610plus include the following.

Optional 200-sheet Paper Hopper supporting:
Paper:

1 Letter
2 A4
3 Executive
4 B5 (GDI Only)
5 Legal

1–8 Introduction

Envelope:

1 Monarch
2 Commercial 10
3 DL
4 C5

ORDERING
SUPPLIES AND
ACCESSORIES

SuperScript PS Upgrade Kit
This option upgrades your SuperScript 610plus

to include support for PostScript printing, in
addition to the standard GDI and PCL modes.

To order any of the following printer supplies or
accessories, contact your NEC printer dealer, or call
1-800-NEC-INFO to locate a supplies dealer nearest
you.

Introduction 1–9

Table 1-1 Supplies and Accessories

PRODUCT ORDER NUMBER
Toner Cartridge 20-061

Optional 200-sheet Paper Hopper 6107

SuperScript PS Upgrade Kit 610plus PS

Blue Toner Cartridge 20-062

Red Toner Cartridge 20-063

Yellow Toner Cartridge 20-064

It is recommended to use the specified toner car­tridge in order to get better printing quality.

For a detailed description of the PCL printer lan­guage, the LaserJet IIP Printer Technical Reference
Manual is available through the Hewlett Packard
Company. Call Hewlett Packard's Direct Marketing
Division toll free at 1-800-538 · 8787 or direct at
408-720-2428. In Canada call 416-671-8383.

1–10 Introduction

2Setting Up

2

Setting Up 2–1

2–2 Setting Up

UNPACKING

Unpacking

Perform the following procedures to set up your
SuperScript 610plus printer.

1. Open the box.

2. Take out the documents (including software

diskettes), the hopper, and the power cord from
the box.

3. Lift the printer together with the packing materi-

als.

Setting Up 2–3

Locating the
Printer Items

Locate the following items:

• NEC Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus printer

• SuperScript software kit

• User’s guide

• Hopper

• Power cord

• Starter Toner Cartridge (in the printer)

• Packing material (not shown)

NOTE: Save this user’s guide and all packing
materials in case the printer needs to be repacked.

2–4 Setting Up

OPERATING
REQUIRE­MENTS

The following operating environment requirements
should be satisfied:

Place the printer on a sturdy, flat surface.
Keep the room well ventilated with a relative

humidity between 20% and 80% and temperature
between 50˚F and 90.5˚F (10˚C to 32.5˚C)

Leave adequate space around the printer for easy
access (See the following figure.)

WARNING: Do not place objects near the printer
that may cover the ventilation holes on its sides.

Setting Up 2–5

Printer
Dimensions

The following illustration shows the standard dimen­sions of a Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus printer.

2–6 Setting Up

Setting Up 2–7

Printer Dimen­sions with 200­sheet Hopper

The following illustration shows the dimensions of a
Silentwriter SuperScript 610plus printer when the
50-sheet hopper is replaced by the optional 200-sheet
hopper.

2–8 Setting Up

SYSTEM RE­QUIREMENTS

Silentwriter SuperScript works with Windows 3.1, in
Enhanced Mode, and requires MS-DOS 3.3 or later.

To run SuperScript, you will need an IBM­compatible PC with at least a 386SX 16-MHz CPU.
This includes all 486-based and most 386-based PCs.
Some older 386s cannot run in Windows Enhanced
Mode, which means that SuperScript will not work
properly on those systems. SuperScript will not run
on 286-based PCs and earlier systems. If you have
Windows installed on your PC, you can verify
whether it runs in Enhanced Mode by typing WIN/3
at the MS-DOS prompt. If your PC cannot run
Windows in Enhanced Mode, the system will tell
you.

SuperScript requires at least 4 megabytes (6 mega­bytes recommended) PC memory (RAM), which is
the amount of memory recommended by Microsoft
for use with Windows 3.1. Adding more memory to
your PC will increase the overall system and printer
performance.

The SuperScript software requires approximately 6.5
megabytes disk space on your system’s hard disk
drive. About 2 megabytes more disk space is needed
to install the SuperScript TrueType™ Fonts. In
addition, up to approximately 8.5 megabytes disk
space is required for virtual memory under Win­dows. (If you have more than 4 megabytes RAM,
you won’t need the entire 8.5 megabytes virtual
memory. The total memory – PC RAM plus virtual
memory – should add up to at least 12.5 megabytes.
See Allocating Virtual Memory, in Chapter 10,
Troubleshooting).

A standard PC parallel printer port is required to
connect with the SuperScript 610plus printer through
a high quality parallel cable. See Appendix D for
more details.

Setting Up 2–9

NOTE: Because of NEC SuperScript’s high speed
interface, it is important to use a properly manufac­tured parallel cable. Use of a poor quality parallel
cable may affect your output. See Interface Cable
specification, Appendix D.

EXTERNAL
PRINTER
PARTS

The following two illustrations show external printer
parts.

2–10 Setting Up

Upper Cover (also functions as a face-up tray)
Provides access to the inside of the printer and

stacks printed sheets with printed side facing up.
Maximum capacity: 50 sheets.

Lock Release Lever
Unlocks and opens the upper cover.

Status Panel
There are three indicator lights to show the

operating status of the printer.

- Ready indicator: the left panel light is used to
show that the printer is ready (steady green),
warming up (rapid blinking), or in power
saving mode (slow blinking).

- Paper indicator: the middle panel light is used
to show that the printer detects paper empty
(steady yellow), manual feed (blinking).

- Attention indicator: the right panel light is used
to show that the printer detects cover open, no
cartridge (steady red), or a paper jam (blinking).

All indicators light when the printer is powered
on or when a printer hardware error occurred
(steady).