Star Micronics XB24-10, XB24-15 User Manual

MULTI-FONT+SLQ

X624-10

MULTI-FONT+SLQ

X624-15

USERS MANUAL

NOT INTENDED FOR SALE

Self Declaration

Radio interference regarding this equipment has been eliminated according to Vfg 1046/1984 an­nounced by the DBP.
DBP has been informed of the introduction of this special equipment and has been granted the right to
examine the whole series.
It is the user’s responsibility to see that his own assembled system is in accordance with the technical
regulations under Vfg 1046/1984.

_ _

To conform to FIZ-regulations it is necessary to make all connections to the printer with shielded cable.
The equipllent may only be opened by qualified service representatives.
The above statement applies only IO prinrers marketed in Wesf Germany.

Trademark Acknowledgements

XB24-10, XB24-15, NB-15, NB24-10, NB-24-15: Star Micro&s Co.. Ltd.
IBM PC, PC-AT, PC-XT, Proprinter X2UXL24, Proprinter II, PC-DOS: International Business

Machines Corp.

Microsoft BASIC, MS-DOS: Microsoft Corporation
Pinwriter p6/p7: NEC Co ration

LQ-850, LQ-1000, LQ-lOKLQ-1SOO: Seiko Epson Corp.
WordStar: MicroPro International Corporation

NOTICE

l AU rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form whatsoever without

STAR’s express permissiat is forWden.

l ‘Ihe contents of this manual am subject to change without notice.

. AU efforts have been made to ensum the accurac of the contents of this manual at the time of

press. llowever, should any errors be detected, S 4 AR would greally appreciate being informed
of them.

. ‘Ihe above notwithstanding, STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors in this manrul.

0 Copyright 1989 Star Micmnics Co., Ltd.

CONGRATULATIONS

Thank you for buying this printer. This printer is provided with the follow­ing features:

9 High-quality 24-pin print head

l 3 print modes - Draft, Letter Quality and Super Letter Quality
l Many different typefaces built into the printer

. Epson, NEC or IBM Proprinter compatibility including graphics

l Comprehensive paper-handling facilities (cut-sheet or tractor as stan-

dard, with optional Automatic Sheet Feeder)

l Paper-park facility for loading cut-sheet paper without having to

unload fanfold paper

l Memory Switch facility, enabling comprehensive programming from

the front panel

l Optional color facilities
l IC card slot for extra RAM or provision of ROM fonts

ORGANIZATION OF THIS MANUAL

This manual is divided into 9 chapters. Use chapters 1 through 3 as a “User

Guide”, giving you information on how to set up and start your printer. The
remaining chapters may be treated as a reference guide for programming
operations, etc. It assumes a degree of knowledge off the operation of
computers (for instance, it assumes you know about hexadecimal numbers).

The chapters am as follows:

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Read this section first, as it explains how to unpack and install your printer.

Chapter 2 - Front panel controls

There are a number of controls on the front panel which perform various

functions related to paper handling, print modes and font selection. This
section shows you how to use the front panel controls.

Chapter 3 - Setting up the Memory Switches

Your printer has a Memory Switch function, which allows you to make
certain system settings from the front panel. This section explains the
operation of these Memory Swithes.

Chapter 4 - Emulations and escape codes

This chapter explains the different emulations provided by your printer, and
the software commands used to drive it. This section is of use if you am
writing or modifying programs to take advantage of the printer’s features.

Chapter 5 - DIP Switches

This section explains how to set the DIP switches to make system settings
on the printer.

Chapter 6 - MS-DOS and your printer

Since the PC or PC-AT family of computers running under MS-DOS is
currently the most popular configuration of microcomputer, we have in­cluded a few hints and tips to help you use your printer with such systems.
Since virtually all PCs are sold with a Microsoft BASIC interpreter, we have
also included some hints, and a sample program in this language to
demonstrate the capabilities of the printer.

Chapter 7 - Troubleshooting and maintenance

This section give a checklist of points to check if your printer is not working
in the expected way. It also includes details of some routine maintenance
operations you can carry out yourself. It is not, however, a complete service
manual. Call a qualified service engineer if you am unsure of your ability to
carry out any maintenance or servicing operations.

Chapter 8 - Specifications

This section gives the specifications of your printer.

--

Chapter 9 - Character sets

These charts give the different character sets available, and the differences

between national character sets (as set up with the DIP switches).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

.............................................................................................................

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

LOCATING THE PRINTER
UNPACKING,

Setting up
comlwtioll

LOADING PAPER

Cut-sheet paper
Fanfold paper (continuous) stationery
Once the paper has been loaded

...................................................................... 1

..........................................................

SE’ITING

............................................................................

UP AND CONNECTION

...........................................................

.........................................................................

Chapter 2 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS

CONTROLS AND INDICATORS

Controls
Indicators

PITCH SE’I-I’ING

Pitch Panel Lock

QUALITY SETTING

Mode Panel Lock

FONT SETTING

Font Panel Lock
QUIET MODE
PAPER HANDLING

Form feed
Paper parking..

Short tear-off function

Micro Feed
BUFFER CLEAR/RESET
TEST AND

.....................................................................................

...................................................................................

..........................................................................

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.......................................................................... .13

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................................................................................. 16

............................................................

MAINTENANCE

SETTINGS

....................

.........................................

................................................

............................................. 11

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1

1

z

7
7
8

10

11
11
11
12

12
12
13

13
14
14

14
14
15

16
16

Chapter 3

SETTING UP THE MEMORY
M&NJ OPTIONS

Command Menu

Font menu

Print Menu

Paper Menu

Forms Menu

Factory settings..

.........................................................................

.........................................................................

..................................................................................

.................................................................................

............................................................................... .20

.............................................................................. .21

........................................................................

SWITCHES

.................

.17

19
19
19

20

22

Chapter 4 EMULATIONS AND ESCAPE CODES u..........................

EMULATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

NUMERICAL REPRESENTATION
COMMAND CODES AND ESCAPE

Font style and character set control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Font pitch control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Special print mode control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Line space control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Form feed control codes
Margins and vertical tab setting control codes

Horizontal print position control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Downloaded character control codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 -

Miscellaneous codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

ASCII command sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SEQUENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

43
45

Chapter 5 DIP SWITCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Chapter 6 TROUBLESHOOTING AND

TROUBLESHOOTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Paper feeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

EVERYDAY
ADJUSTING THE PRINTING GAP
RIBBON REPLACEMENT

REPLACING THE PRINT HEAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

FRONT PANEL DIAGNOSTIC AND

TEST MODES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Short test mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Long test mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Text test mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 -

Hexadecimal dump mode

Bidirectional test/adjustment mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Chapter 7 MS-DOS

INSTALLING APPLICATION SOFlWARE
WITH YOUR PRINTER
GRAPHICS HARD COPY

SETTING UP THE PRINTER FROM THE DOS PROMPT . . . ...95

PROGRAMMING USING BASIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Sample program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

How the program works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Patches necessary to use the BASIC interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

MAINTENANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a2

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

AND YOUR

PRINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

MAINTENANCE . . . . . . . . . . . 75

75

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

89

93

Chapter 8 SPECIFICATIONS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 9 CHARACTER

STANDARD CHARACTER

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . ..“......................................................................

INDEX

Family 1
Family 2
Family 3
Family 4

STANDARD CHARACTER SET #2

Family 1
Family 2
Family 3
Family 4

IBM CHARACTER SET #2

Family 1
Family 2
Family 3

Family 4

IMB CHARACTE:X SET #l

ADDITIONAL CHARACTER SET

INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

SET

. . . . . . . ..n...........................................

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# 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1 lo
110
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131

chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The following section covers the unpacking and installation of your printer,
together with information on paper loading and handling (both continuous
and cut-sheet paper).

LOCATING THE PRINTER

Before you start unpacking and setting up your printer, make sure that you
have a suitable place on which to locate it. By “a suitable place”, we mean:

l A firm, level surface which is fairly vibration-free
l Away from excessive heat (ie away from direct sunlight and away from

heaters, etc)

l Away from excessive humidity
l Away from excessive dust
l A location with sufficient space to locate the printer and any paper to be

fed into it, as well as the printed paper coming out

l If you are using a parallel connection to your computer, make sure that it

is within 2m (6ft) of the printer (an RS-232 connection using the optional
RS-232 interface can be made over longer distances).

UNPACKING, SETTING UP AND CONNECTION

Now unpack the contents of the printer shipping container, and make sure
that you have the following:

l The printer itself

9 Paper guide assembly

l The platen knob
l A fabric ribbon

If any of these items are missing, contact your supplier.

1

The optional accessories which you may have ordered with your printer are:

l Serial (RS-232) interface board
l Automatic sheet feeder
l Color option kit

See the installation instructions contained with these optional items for
details of how to attach them to your printer.

2

Setting up

Place your printer in the position where it is going to be permanently sited,
and remove all packing material from inside the top cover. This packing
material is intended to prevent damage to the printer in transit. You may like
to keep this packing with the printer carton if you intend transporting the
printer for use at a different location.

laten

knob

The platen knob should be removed from the accessory box inside the

shipping carton. Mount the platen knob on the shaft on the right-hand side
of the printer. Turn the knob on the shaft before pushing the knob fully into

position.

NOTE

Before turning the platen knob, always ensure that the power to the printer

is OFF. Turning the platen knob when the power is on can damage the

printer’s gears.

3

Remove the top cover by lifting the front (using the two grips at the side),
and pulling towards you. Now install the ribbon.

1 Use the tensioning knob on the ribbon cartridge to tighten the ribbon if it

is slack (turn clockwise).

2 The ribbon should pass between the print head and the print head shield

(see illustration below).

Print head shield

Ink ribbon

3 Use the grips on the side of the ribbon cartridge to help locate the cartridge

(squeeze them inwards gently), and make sure that the spindles on the
cartridge holder fit into the sockets on the cartridge itself.

Ribbon cartridge

Ribbon tensioning knob

Ribbon holder

4

Connection

Connect the printer to your computer, using a standard parallel-type cable.

On a PC or PC/AT-type computer, this means that you use the 25-way D­type connector at the computerend, and the Amphenol-type 36-way connec­tor at the printer end. The pinouts of the printer’s connector are given in

Chapter 8 if you need a cable for connection to another computer.
Plug the printer into a suitable mains outlet. However, DO NOT turn on the
power switch at the back of the printer yet.

nterface cable

5

You may need to set some DIP switches inside the printer before you start
using it. These switches enable you to configure the printer as an Epson or
as an IBM Proprinter printer. The DIP switches also enable you to select a
character set other than the USA character set, if your supplier has not
already set these up for you. The DIP switch cover is located inside the top
cover (see below). Use the end of a paper-clip (or similar) to set the switches.
Details of these switches are given in Chapter 5. If you feel unsure as to your
ability to set these switches, contact your supplier.

DIP switch cover

6

LOADING PAPER

The following sections explain how to load paper - single-sheet (cut-sheet),
without the Automatic Sheet feeder, and also the operations necessary for

loading continuous (fanfold) stationery.
If you are using the Automatic Sheet Feeder, please refer to the instructions
supplied with the Automatic Sheet Feeder unit.

Cut-sheet paper

Place the paper guide in position, locating the lugs on the bottom of the

assembly into the slots on the printer body.

Make sure that the release lever is pushed towards the back of the printer

( h position).

Adjust the paper guides to match the size of paper you will be using (re­membering that printing will start some distance from the left-hand edge
of the carriage). There are markings molded into the back plate of the

assembly to help you if you wish to center the paper. If you are centering
the paper using the markings molded into the paper guide, remember that
printing will start from the left-hand edge, unless you reset the left and
right margins using software commands.

4

Place the paper between the guides, placing the side on which you want
to print towards the back of the printer. Gently push the paper down in the
guides until you feel it stop.

Adjustable paper guides

7

5 Turn on the power using the switch at the back of the printer. The printer

will beep, indicating that no paper is in position for printing. The orange
PAPER indicator also shows this.

6 Now press the m button. The paper bail will move clear of the paper,

and the paper will be fed and adjusted past the print head to a position
ready for printing. The paper bail will be moved back to grip the paper
against the platen, and the print head will move to the start position.

The actual vertical position of the paper after auto-loading is determined by
the Memory Switch setting (see Chapter 3).
The vertical position of the paper can be finely adjusted by means of the
micro feed function (see Chapter 2).

Fanfold paper (continuous) stationery

If you are going to use fanfold (continuous) paper, then you will need to use
the integral tractor mechanism assembly, situated under the rear cover of the
printer.

1 Remove the top and rear covers of the printer to insert the paper.

Clamp lever

/

8

2 Push the release lever towards the front of the printer (to the m position).

This has the effect of releasing the paper from the platen roller, and

engaging the tractor feed.

3 With the sprocket covers open, thread the paper over the sprockets,

aligning the sprocket holes with the pins on the sprockets.

4 Adjust the spacing of the sprockets by sliding them along the bar, using

the clamp lever at the back of each sprocket to release and lock the

sprocket in position (when the lever is up, the sprocket may be moved, and
when it is down, the sprocket is locked).

Release lever

Sprocket cover

I

5 Now close the sprocket covers, again making sure that the paper sprocket

holes are aligned with the pins on the sprockets. If they are not aligned

properly, you, will have problems with paper feeding, possibly resulting

in tearing and jamming of the paper.

6 Turn on the printer using the switch at the back of the printer. The printer

will beep (indicating that the paper is not yet fully loaded). This is also

confirmed by the orange PAPER indicator.

9

7 Now press the C

=V~?ET j button. The paper bail will move clear of the paper,
and the paper will be fed and adjusted past the print head to a position
ready for printing. The paper bail will be moved back to grip the paper
against the platen, and the print head will move to the start position. As
when loading cut-sheet paper, the Memory Switch setting will determine
the initial position of the paper after auto-feeding, and the micro feed
function may be used to adjust the paper position.

8 Remount the top cover rear cover and the transparent printer cover.

9 Remount the paper guide as shown below:

Once the paper has been loaded

The printer will now be on-line (the ON LINE indicator will be lighted). You

may now want to choose a font, a pitch and a print quality. This can be done
from the front panel, but you must put the printer off-line first by pressing
the @%G button. The indicator will go out and the printer will beep to
confirm this.

10

Chapter 2

FRONT PANEL CONTROLS

The following section describes the front panel controls and indicators on

your-printer, together with a description of the functions performed by them.

CONTROLS AND INDICATORS

The following is a brief guide to the controls and indicators on the front

panel.

The printer is equipped with six buttons: from left to right they are, ~53,

8s and 5-8

buttons).

(smaller buttons), and

~=vE& , :W.PER and C -iii;: (larger

Indicators

The first three buttons have a series of indicators next to them which show
which option has been currently selected using them (font, mode or pitch).
Some of these indicators can be either orange or green, depending upon the
options currently selected.

There is no indicator associated with the C~EKI button (as its operation is
obvious when paper has been inserted), but the C=EC and :. 0~ ~3
buttons both have indicators embedded in the buttons themselves. The
indicator embedded in the @I@! 5 button, however does not indicate paper
feed directly, but indicates (when illuminated) whether Quiet mode has been
selected (see below). The C~YYC button also has an embedded indicator.
Pushing the ,: WY-!
and illuminate or extinguish the indicator.

---\ button will alternately set the printer on- and off-line

11

In addition to these indicators, there are two others, POWER and PAPER. The

POWER indicator will illuminate when power is supplied to the printer, and

the PAPER indicator will illuminate when no paper has been inserted.

PITCH SETTING

Usethe CEC button to set the pitch that will be printed. Remember that the

printer must be off-line for you to do this. Successive presses of this button

will illuminate (and select) the following options in this order:

1 Pitch 1 Indicator(s)

10 characters per inch
12 characters per inch
15 characters per inch

17 characters per inch
20 characters per inch
Proportional
Proportional condensed

loCP1
12CPI
15cPI
loCP1, COND

12CP1, COND
PROP
PROP, COND

I

Holding down this button will cycle continuously between these options.

Pitch Panel Lock

If the EC button is pressed when the printer is turned on, the pitch will
be “locked”, and no pitch changes can be made from software. It is still
possible, however, to put the printer off-line and change the pitch using the

T PIGS button.

QUALITY SETTING

The printer is capable of 3 print quality modes: Super Letter Quality (SLQ),
Letter Quality and Draft. Successive presses of the ‘YOOE: button will
alternate between these three settings(the SLQ mode is indicated by the top
indicator showing orange). Remember that the printer must be off-line for
you to do this. Holding down this button will cycle continuously between
these three options. However, not every typeface can be printed in every
mode (see the table below for details of what fonts are available in each
mode), and so the FONT indicator may change as you change the mode.

12

Mode Panel Lock

If the :3EJ button is pressed when the printer is turned on, the mode will
be “locked”, and no mode changes can be made from software. It is still
possible, however, to put the printer off-line and change the mode using the

I’ YODE button.

FONT SETTING

Pressing the C! button will illuminate a font indicator. Remember that
the printer must be off-line for you to do this. Note that the selection of some

fonts (shown in yellow on the front panel) is shown by an orange indicator,
and the selection of others (shown in green on the front panel) is shown by

a green indicator. Note that not every font is available in every mode (see the
table below). Holding down the ~63 button will cycle continuously
between the fonts available for the mode selected.

1 Mode 1 Font

TMS ROMN
TW-LIGHT
OPTION (when font IC card is installed)
TMS ROMN
W-LIGHT
COURIER
PRESTIGE
HELVET

I

I SCRIPT I

CINEMA
OFTION (when a font IC card has been installed)
INTERNAL (when font has been downloaded)

1 DRAFT 1 NOFONTSELFCTED

1

Font Panel Lock

If the ‘---I:;
“locked”, and no font changes can be made from software. It is still possible,
however, to put the printer off-line and change the font using the ‘P+3
button.

button is pressed when the printer is turned on, the font will be

13

QUIET MODE

To select Quiet mode, the printer must be on-line. While it is on-line, press

the ~?%YC button. This will alternately illuminate and extinguish the

QUIET indicator. When in Quiet mode, the printer will print slightly slower,

but at a reduced noise level.

NOTE

If you press the ‘1-n 4

button will perform its normal function, ie it will feed paper.

button while the printer is off-line, the,?+X

PAPER HANDLING

The following sections describe the ways in which you can control paper

feeding, etc by means of the front panel controls:

Form feed

A form feed can be achieved from the front panel in the following way:
1 Put the printer off-line, by pressing the #C&%1 button, so that the

indicator is extinguished.
2 Press the >=R EE button, and keep it depressed.
3 Press the ’ 0~ ~5 button momentarily.

4 The paper will then move forward to the top of the next sheet (fanfold

paper), or eject a cut sheet.

5 Set the printer on-line again (‘- 0~ LIE :Z button) to resume printing.

Paper parking

Paper parking is useful if you am using fanfold paper, and you want to print

a document on one or two sheets of cut-sheet paper. The printer “parks” the

fanfold paper safely out of the way, so that you do not need to unload the
paper before inserting cut-sheet paper, then, when you have finished
printing on cut-sheet paper, moves the fanfold paper back to its original
position so that you can restart printing.

To use this facility, follow the instructions below:

1 Put the printer off-line (press the C~ @+1 button, so that the indicator goes

out).

14

2 Press the CG&SC button, so that the fanfold paper is moved out of the

paper path.

3 Now move the release lever to the rear of the printer ( c position) to select

cut-sheet paper (disengaging the fanfold sprockets).

NOTE

If you do not move the release lever at this stage, the printer will warn you
at the next step by emitting a continuous series of beeps.

4 Insert the cut sheet paper in the paper guides
5 Press the C~S!SF button in order to feed the cut sheet to the starting print

position. The printer will automatically go on-line.

6 Print as normal on the cut sheet(s), and when you have finished printing,

put the printer off-line (by pressing the [ w u&I: button again).

7 If the sofiwarc has not done this for you, eject the paper by pressing the

‘:w?$%:‘ button.

8 Move the release lever to the front of the paper (m position) to select

fanfold paper (engaging the fanfold sprockets).

9 Now feed the fanfold paper to the print position by pressing the ~C%ZZF

button. The paper will move to its former print position, and the printer

will automatically go on-line.

You are now ready to start printing on fanfold paper again.

Short tear-off function

The short-tear-off function is handy when using fanfold paper. It ejects the
paper so that the perforation is just above the transparent cover, allowing you

tear it off without having to open up the printer. It then reverses the paper
feed after you have tom off the paper, thereby starting printing at the top of

the next form. This feature is especially useful if you are using pre-printed

stationery (such as invoices, etc), which will not be printed all together.

To use the short tear-off function, press the %A&! button when the printer

is on-line, and hold it down for a few seconds. When you release the button,
the printer will go off-line, and the paper will move up a few inches, allowing
you to tear off the form.

15

To return the paper to its previous position, press the ~GE3 button once

again. When you release the button, the printer will return to its on-line
status, and the paper will be fed backwards, with the print head aligned with

the top of the next form.

Micro Feed

The Micro Feed facility is useful if you wish to align the paper exactly. It

feeds the paper forwards or backwards in 1/12Oth inch increments.
To use this feature, put the printer off-line (using the GYL@~ button).
Then press the (,LINE button, and either the G!!EE% button (to feed the

paper forwards), or the (353EZ button (to feed the paper backwards).
Holding down these buttons continuously will continue to feed the paper for-

wards or backwards in small increments.

BUFFER CLEAR/RESET

It is possible to clear the buffer of the printer or to return it to its power-on

status by using the front panel buttons without having to turn the power off

and on. To do this, put the printer off-line (press thee YY~ button), and then
press the “, ~+3 button again. Before releasing the Z~NE~ button, hold

down the G3 button. Releasing the
holding it down (before releasing the NC
the buffer. Releasing the button after two seconds (again, before releasing
the ” -YYE button) will reset the printer back to the settings at power-on.

54 button within two seconds of

0~ ~=1 button) will clear the data in

TESt AND MAINTENANCE SETTINGS

The printer is equipped with a number of functions to assist testing and main­tenance. Since it is anticipated that they will not be used very often, they are
not described here, but in Chapter 6.
However, briefly, they are:

l A text test print mode

l A short test print mode
l A long test print mode
l A hexadecimal dump mode
l A bidirectional print test

16

chapter 3

SETTING UP

THE MEMORY SWITCHES

In addition to the pitch, print mode and font, many other options regarding
the setup of the printer can be carried out from the front panel. To access
these options, it is necessary to turn off the printer, and then turn it on again,
while holding down the 0~ LINE .
will cause the printer to print a series of questions and options to which you
can answer using the front panel buttons. This is called the Memory Switch
mode.

, GA 4 and i~F&F~ buttons together. This

I 1oCPl

/

I 12CPI

I 15CPI

I PROP

I COND

I

PITCH

EXlT -

SET/:%T

MICRO FEED -

PAPER FEED ON LINE

QUIET

- ENTER

I POWER

I PAPER

*

The principle involved is that the printer will print a list of options on one

line. You use the :?Z%C and C+ ~~~ buttons to move the print head so that
it is below the option you want to choose.

The printer will move the paper up and down as appropriate, so that the menu

options are visible.
The ‘XEC button moves the print head one option to the left, and the

T’- + button moves one option to the right (as marked in blue on the front

panel under the buttons). Holding down one of these buttons will still move
the print head only one option forward or back.

When the print head is below the desired option, press the ,7~+3 button to
enter this into the printer’s memory. Any option chosen at this stage will now

. be stored, even when the printer is turned off.

17

When you press the i my9 button to enter an option, a “*” (asterisk) will
be printed to confinn that the option has heen chosen.
The menus are organized in a hierarchical (tree-structured) fashion. Some
menus do not choose options directly, but instead, move down to other
menus. To move up through the menu structure towards the “root” or
“trunk”, use the

‘+ button as an G?3 button (as marked in blue

underneath the button).
The structure of the menus is shown below.:

Main menu

I I

I

I I

The options within each menu are given below.

As mentioned above, when you press the (.,, button from any sub-menu
or from an option within a menu, you will return to the menu level above the
current one. If you press the (53 button from the main menu, the printer
will print

“***END***” and exit to being on-line, with the settings chosen

in Memory Switch mode being now set in the printer.

18

MENU OPTIONS

The following is a list of the options within the menus, and their meanings,
together with the prompts printed in Memory Switch mode. The prompts are
given in capital letters in square brackets, thus: [OFF]. Factory settings are

marked here with an asterisk (for example, [ON*]). A summary of factory

settings is also provided following this section.

Command Menu

This menu allows you to set up various parameters controlling the overall
setup of the printer:

RAM USAGE

QUIET MODE

GRAPHICS

DIRECTION

AUTO ON-LINE

The printer RAM may be used as a print buffer

[BUFFER*], for downloading fonts [DOWNLOAD], or

as a single-line buffer [ lLINEBUFFER] .
The printer may either print slower and quieter [ON], or

faster, malting slightly more noise [OFF*].

When printing in graphics mode, the printer may either

print bidirectionally (in alternate directions) for speed
[BI*] or in one dire&on only (unidirectional for in­creased accuracy KINI]. For practically all purposes,
however, bidirectional printing is sufficiently accurate.

If this is set [ON*], then when paper is inserted, the
printerwillautomaticallycomeon-line.Ifset [OFFl,then
you will have to press the button to bring the printer on-

line.

Font Menu

This menu allows you to set two parameters concerning fonts which will be
automatically selected whenever you turn on the printer:

) ZEROSTYLE In computer usage, a zero is often written with a slash

through it, as follows: “0”. This style is called

SLQ/LQ FONT This option allows you to choose the default font selected

when SLQ or LQ mode is selected. All available fonts are
given as options. The default is [COURIER*].

19

Print Menu

This menu allows you to set up various printing options which will be auto­matically selected whenever you turn the printer on:

PRINT QUALITY

PRINT PITCH

Paper Menu

OPTION ASF

AUTO LOADING

AUTolLOADING
@SF)

PAPER-OUT
DETECTOR

This will select either Super Letter Quality / Letter
Quality [SLQ, LQ*] or Draft [DRAFTI mode.

You may select a print pitch of either [lOCPI*], [ 12CPI]
or [ 15CPI] (,,PI” stands for “characters per inch”), or

proportional spacing [PROP].

You may select condensed print to be either [OFFS] or

[ONj at power-up.

Youmayselectitalicprintingtobeeither [OFF*]or [ONj
at power-up.

When in draft print mode, you may select either high­speed and low density IHI-SPEED*] or high-density and
low-speed printing [HI-DENSITY].

With this option, you may selector cancel the Automatic
Sheet Feeder option [OFFS] or [ONI.

When you load paper automatically, this option deter­mines the number of lines by which the paper will be fed
forward from the top of the paper. The options range from

1 to 6, and the factory setting is 6.

Thisoption,liketheoneabove,determinesthenumberof
lines by which the paper will be fed forward from the top
of the paper, but here the option is determined for the
Automatic Sheet Feeder. Again, the options range from

1 to 6, and 6 is the factory setting.

Frequently, the.printer will detect the lack of paper and

go off-line with a number of beeps if no paper is inserted
in the printer [ON*]. However, this can be disabled

IOFI.

I

20

Forms Menu

This menu allows you to set various options associated with paper handling:

SHORT TEAR OFF When using fanfold (continuous) paper, this Short Tear

Off option allows you to tear off one sheet of paper
without having to eject the whole of the following sheet.
If this option is set [ON*], when the paper reaches the top
of the form, it will automatically be advanced a little,
allowing you to tear off the paper easily. Set this option
to [OFFI if you do not want to use it.

SKIP OVER
PERFORATION

AUTO LF

AUTO CR

LINES PER INCH

PAGE LENGTH

When using fanfold (continuous) paper, you may wish
printing to stop a little before the bottom of each sheet,
and start printing a little after the beginning of the next (in
other words, skipping over the perforation). This is useful
if you want to produce program listings, etc. This can be
enabled by setting this option [ONI, or, if using software
which performs this function automatically, it can be set

10~1.

If set [ON, this will expand all received carriage return
codes to a line feed and carriage return pair. However,

this may be set [OFF*] if your software demands it.
If set [ON*], this function will expand all received line

feed codes to a carriage return and line-feed pair. How-

ever, this may be set [OFF] if you do not want to be

expanded.
This sets the number of lines per vertical inch which will

be printed to [3 LPI], [4 LPI], [6 LPI*] or [8 LPI].
The page length may be set by means of the DIP switches

[DIP-SW*] (see Chapter 5 for details) or to any of the

following lengths (in inches): [33, [3.5], [4], [5.5], [6],

[7], [8], [8.5], [11.7] or [14]. A4 paper is equivalent tc

11.7 inches, while the DIP switch settings of 11 inches

and 12 inches will normally be used for fanfold paper.

21

Factory settings

The following is a list of the settings set up at the factory, which may he re-

stored by choosing the FACTORY SET option from the main menu:

COMMANDMENU

RAM USAGE
QUIET MODE
GRAPHICS DIRECTION
AUTO ON-LINE

FONT MENU

ZERO STYLE
SLQ/LQ FONT

PRINT MENU

PRINT QUALITY
PRINT PITCH
CONDENSED PRINT
ITALIC PRINT
DRAFT-12

PAPER MENU

OPTION ASF

4AUT0 LOADING

AUTO LOADING (ASF) [6 LINES]
PAPER-OUT DETECTOR

NJ-W

WFl

PII

ml

[NORMALl

[COURIER]

[SLQ, LQI
wm

WFI
WFI

[HI-SPEED]

WFI

[6 LINES1

Kwl

FORMS MENU

SHORT TEAR OFF
SKIP OVER PERFORATION
AUTO LF
AUTO CR

LINES PER INCH [6 LPI]
PAGE LENGTH (INCH)

22

roNI
ram
ram
DJI

[DIP-SW]