Tandy DMP 135 User Manual
DMP
135 Dot-Matrix Printer User's Guide
©
1990
Tandy Corporation.
All
Rights Reserved.
Reproduction
or
useofany portion
of
this manual, without
express written permission from Tandy
Corporation.isprohib-
ited. While reasonable efforts have been made in
the
preparation
of
this manual to assure its accuracy,
Tandy
Corporation
assumes
no
liability resulting from any
errorsinor
omissions from this
manual,
or
from
the
liseofthe information contained herein.
Tandy and Radio Shack
are
registered
trademarks
of
Tandy
Corporation.
MS-DOS
is a
n=gist~red
trademark.
of
Microsoft Corporation.
IBM
is
a registered trademark
of
International
Business Machines. Corp.
EPSOll
is
a registered trademark
of
Epson America. Inc.
10
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Note:
You
must
use a shielded cable
when
connecting
this
device.
For
your
own
protection,
we
urge
youtorecord the serial
number
of
this
unit
in the
sp~ce
provided.
You
will
find
the
serial
number
on the
bottom
of
the unit.
Serial
Number
_
Contents
.....................................
........................•............•.
...................................
.........................................••
1
3
3
3
4
6
7
9
12
14
18
23
25
27
28
29
29
29
30
33
35
37
39
..........................
............................................................
.................................................
Loading Paper
..
Ill
..
Paper·Park Function
..
Adjusting
the
Print
Head
Power-Up
Sequence
Self Test
Choosing a Location
..
Connecting the Printer
..
Installing
the
Fanfold
Paper
Guide
............•
Installing
the
Paper
Rack
Installing
the
Ribbon Cassette
Selecting
the
Printer
Driver in Your
Software.
Control Panel
..
About
the
Printer
Getting
Started
Unpacking
the
Printer
Hex
Dump Function
..
Ready
to
Print
Printing Applications
Setting
the
Print
Function
(DIP)
Switches .
Setting
the
Character
Pitch
Setting
the
Margins
Setting
the
NLQ
Font
.•.....••..............•......•.•.
Care
and
Maintenance
Index
................••......................................
43
About the Printer
The
Tandy DMP
135
Dot-Matrix Printer
is
a high-density, dot-matrix
printer that can print
in
a variety of type styles.
It
prints:
• Proportionally spaced characters
• Monospaced characters (standard, condensed, and compressed)
• NLQ (near-letter-quality) correspondence characters
• Italic characters (Epson mode only)
• Superscript/Subscript
• Graphics
Control codes program the printer to print special enhancements (italic,
bold, and so on), set character type,
or
adjust line feed and spacing. You
can select either the I
BM
or Epson control code set. When you select the
IBM code set, the printer emulates the IBM Proprinter
II
(the factory de-
fault setting).
The
Epson code set emulates the Epson FX-850 printer.
By
selecting the appropriate operation mode, you can use the printer with
MS-DOS-compatible systems without code conversion and get the same
results
as
you would with an IBM ProprinterIIor
Epson FX-850. For de-
tails, see "Setting the Print Function
(DIP)
Switches."'
A character set
is
a specific grouping of letters, numbers, and special sym-
bols that you can print on your printer.
The
DMP
135
has
five
character
sets. Refer to the
OM
P /35 Dot-Matrix Printer Technical Reference
manual to
see
the character
sets
named below.
In
IBM mode:
• IBM Character Set 1
• IBM Character Set 2
• IBM All Character Set
In
Epson mode:
• Italic Character Set
• Graphic Character Set
You
can use two types of
paper
with the printer:
• Tractor-fed, 4.5- to lO-inch computer fanfold
paper
with guide holes
• Friction-fed, single-sheet typewriter paper
About
the Priuter
With the front panel controls, you can set various printer features. including character pitch, left and right margins, and font (character style). You
can also use the front panel controlstomove fanfold
paper
to the parked
position; this feature lets you use single-sheet
paper
without removing the
fanfold
paper
from your DMP 135.
You can also add color to your printing
by
using the optional Color Ribbon
Pack (Cat. No. 26-1235). This special pack contains three fabric
ribbons-
one
red,
one
blue,
and
one
green.
Other
features include:
• Underline capability
• Paper out alarm function
• Automatic
paper
loading
•
Lightweight-weighs
only 7.3 pounds
2
Getting Started
Unpacking the Printer
Carefully unpack the printer.
Be
suretolocate
the
ribbon,
the
paper
rack,
the
fanfold
paper
guide,
and
both manuals.
Keep
the
empty
box
and
pack-
ing material if
you
ever
heed
to
store or move the printer. Remove the
tape from the top cover
and
open the cover. Then, remove the twist tie
securing
the
paper
bail
to
the
platen
and
close
the
cover.
Choosing a Location
When
you
choose
a location for your printer,
be
sure
to
consider the
fOllowing:
• The work surface. Place the printer
on
a sturdy surface.
•
The
length
of
the
printer
cable. This
determines
the
distance from
the
computer
that
you can place
the
printer.
• Space for paper. Be sure
to
leave enough room for a
smooth
flow
of
fanfold
paper.
• Noise generation.
Do
not place the printer near electrical noise
generators,
such
as
refrigerators or industrial equipment.
/
3
GellingStarted
Connecting the Printer
Connecting the Printer to a Power Source
Before plugging the power cord into an
AC
outlet, be sure
to
set the
printer's power switch to the
off
position. Also, be sure that you have not
connected the printer
to
the computer.
Connect the
AC
power plugtoa 120-volt, 60Hz
AC
outletoran approved
power strip, such as Radio Shack's Plug-in Power Strip (Cat. No. 26-1396)
or
the Power Switching System (Cat. No. 26-203).Ifyou must stretch the
power cord across the backofthe printer to reach the electrical outlet, the
power cord could interfere with the flow
of
fanfold paper. To prevent this,
position the cord behind the two tabs at the bottom
of
the rear panel.
These tabs keep the cord under the printer and out
of
the way.
Powr Switch
-
Power Cord
Tab
The
power switchison the right sideofthe
printer. To turn on the printer,
set the power switch to
ON/I.
To turn off the printer, set the power switch
to OFF/D.Ifthe printerison,
the
POWER
indicator on the control panel
lights. Note that turning the printer off during operation causes the loss
of
print data.
4
Connecting the Printer
Connecting
the
Printer
to Your
Computer
Before making any connections between the OMP
135
and your compu-
ter, turn off all units.
Cable Latches
Parallel Interface Connector
Be sure that you have the correct cable for connecting the
computer
to
your printer.
The
following table lists the printer cables that Radio Shack
carries.
See
your computer manual for
connection
locations
on
the
computer.
Computer
to
Printer
Cables
Computer
Cable Cat.
No.
Tandy 1000 Series
26-289/26-1259
Tandy 1000RU1200/2500 Series/3000 Series
26-288/26-1258
Tandy 4000 Series/5000MC
26-288/26-1258
Tandy MS-DOS Laptop ComputerslWP-2
26-288/26-1258
1. Attach the molded male
endofthe cable to the connector on the back
of
the printer.
Do
not force the plug.
If
it does not fit
one
way, turn
it over and try again.
2. Lock the printercable
to
the printer by snapping the cable latches inward.
3.
Guide
the printer cable behind
oneofthe two tabsatthe bottomofthe
rear panel. This tab keeps the printer cable
under
the printer and
out
of
the way so that it does not interfere with the flowoffanfold paper.
4. Connect the
other
endofthe cable to your
computer's
printer port. See
your computer manual for specific instructions.
5
Get/ing
Slarted
Installing the Fanfold Paper Guide
To help fanfold paper easily slide over the back of the printer, install the
fanfold paper guide.
Fanfold Paper Guide
1. Face the back
of
the printer. Find the two slots
in
the back panel that
are even with
the
power cord.
2. Tilt the fanfold paper guide so that the two upper tabs hook into these
slots.
3. Lower the
paper
guide until you hear the two lower tabs snap into
place.
6
Illstallillg tile Paper
Rack
Installing the Paper Rack
The
paper rack enables fanfold and single-sheet
paper
to feed smoothly
into the printer. Before printing, be sure to install the paper rack as described for single-sheet paper
or
for fanfold paper.
For single-sheet paper: Hold the paper rack upright and insert
it
into the
slanted grooves on both sides of the printer.
The
grooves of the rack must
slide over the tabs of the printer,
as
shown below.
Then,
tilt the paper
rack so that
it
rests
ina
slanted posilion.
Paper
Rack
7
GettingStarted
For fanfold
paper:
Install the paper rack
as
described for single-sheet
paper. Then, pull the rack up along the slanted grooves and place the
paper rack
in
its horizontal position,
as
shown below.
Printer
Cover
~",,-
Paper
Rack
With the paper rack
in
a horizontal position, you can slideitforward or
backward about
1/4
inch. Slideitforward to lock the printer cover and
tear off the paper. Slide
it
backward to open the cover.
You
can adjust the paper rack's paper guides according to the paper width
you are using. Locate the small square scale on the upper left side of the
paper rack. (You might need
to
slide the left paper guide out
of
the way
to find it.) Position the left paper guide within the range
of
this scale. The
L on the scale shows the standard setting for 8 1/2-inch-wide paper. Even
when using narrow paper, be sure to position the paper so that the left
edge
is
against the left paper guide. This ensures proper operation of the
PAPER
OUT
indicator and reduces the possibility of a paper jam.
To
ad-
just the right paper guide, place a sheet
of
paper against the paper rack's
left paper guide. Then, slide the right paper guide to the left until
it
touches the right edge of the paper.
8
Installing the Ribbon Cassette
Installing the Ribbon Cassette
If
you have already installed the sample ribbon cassette included with your
printer, be sure that you correctly threaded the ribbon between the ribbon
mask and the print head.
If
you have not yet installed the ribbon cassette
or
if you need to replace
an old ribbon, follow this procedure.
1. Turn off the printer.
Note: When you turn off the printer, it loses any information
stored
in
the buffer.
2. Place the
paper
rackinits horizontal position, slide it toward the back
of
the printer, and open the printer cover.Ifyou need to remove the
cover, raise the cover to about a 45-degree angle and then lift it upward.
3. Remove the old ribbon cassette by grasping the handle on top
of
the
cassette.
Then,
gently pull it upward.
9
Gel/ing Started
4. Unwrap the new ribbon cassette (Cat. No. 26-l236A) and tighten the
ribbon
by
turning the ribbon feed knobinthe direction shown
by
the
arrow.
Ribbon Feed Knob
~~~~_rRibbon
Feed Spindle
5. Look at the bottom of the cassette. Thereisa hole on the underside
of the ribbon feed knob. Position the left end of the cassette so that the
ribbon feed spindle slides into this hole. Then, carefully thread the ribbon between the ribbon mask and the print head. Press down on the
left side
of
the cassette until you hear a click. Turn the ribbon feed
knob
in
the direction shown
by
the arrow. Pull the right sideofthe cas-
sette against the inside panel so that the cassette
is
straight. Then, press
down on the right side of the cassette until you hear a click.
If the ribbon feed knob does not match up with the ribbon feed spin-
dle, the cassette does not fit precisely.
Do
not force the cassette into
place. Instead, remove the ribbon cassette and try again.
6. Once you have installed the new cassette, tighten the ribbon
by
turning
the ribbon feed knob
in
the direction shown
by
the arrow.
10
Installing the Ribbon Cassette
7.
If
you removed the printer cover, replace it by holding itatabout
a 45-
degree
angle. Slide the groovesinthe printer cover
over
the
tabs on the
printer. Then, lower the printer cover
to
its
closed
position.
8. Slide the
paper
rack forward to lock the printer cover.
Caution: Printing without ribbon
or
paper
can damage the
print head
or
the platen.
11
GettingStarted
Selecting the Printer Driver
in
Your Software
When you install most applications software, the program prompts you to
enter the type
of
printer that you are using. Usually you select the approp-
riate file, known as a "printer driver," from a list of choices that appears
on the screen. The printer driver provides important data about your
printer so that
it
operates correctly with the software.
For best results, choose one
of
the following printer drivers,ifthey are
available
in
your software.
• Tandy
DMP
135
• IBM Proprinter II
• Epson FX-850
If
your software does not offer any of these choices, orifthe printer does
not seem to print correctly using the selected driver, try one
of
the printer
drivers listed below:
• Tandy DMP
132
(IBM mode)
• IBM Proprinter
• Tandy DMP
130
(IBM mode)
• IBM Graphics Printer
• Epson FX-800
Note: Be sure to set the DIP switches to select the appropriate mode (IBM or Epson) according to the printer driver
you select
in
your software. Refer to the following chart for
the correct settings. Turn off the printer before changing the
DIP switch settings. After you change the settings, turn the
printer back on again. (Or, if you prefer, change the
DIP
switch settings while the power switchisstill on. Then, turn
the printer off and then on again.) This cycling of the power
causes the printer to recognize the new
DIP
switch settings.
12
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