Microcom 470 - Manual (Page 23)

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470 Operators Manual 15
CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING LABELS USING LDS
Label Design Software (LDS) refers to the software resident in the printer used to decipher
label formats sent by the host computer. All fonts, character sets and bar codes symbologies
are resident in the printer.
A label format is produced by a series of 5 steps:
1: Control commands to define printer operation
2: A header to define label height, width, print speed, etc..
3: Field data to define placement of text, bar code, graphic or line
4: Actual text data to place in the above text or bar code fields
5: Control commands to initiate printing
4.1 CONTROL CHARACTERS
Throughout this manual there are references to control characters. In order to print them in this
manual, they have been written using standard characters and icons. Escape characters are
represented by <ESC> and a carriage return is represented by the 5 symbol. It is important to
note that all printer functions, unless otherwise noted, must be followed with a carriage
return5.
4.2 GETTING STARTED
There are many different machines that can send information to the 470 printer: For example -
main frames, mini-computers, special purpose computers and PC's. However, if you are using
the printer for the first time, the easiest way to start is with a PC and a terminal emulation
software program. This will allow two-way, serial communication with the printer. You will be
able to quickly upload files and access label-sizing and other features that will help
considerably in formatting your first labels.
4.2.1 PC CONNECTION (SERIAL)
Items required:
-
A computer with at least one unused serial communications port. (COM1,COM2...)
- A serial interface cable. (See section 3.2 for cable information)
- A terminal emulation program. (Procomm, Telix, Windows terminal...)
Note: This communications test assumes that you have a standard serial 470 printer.
Set the communication parameters in the PC terminal software program to 9600 baud, no
parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. Unless modified by the user, this is the printers'
communication configuration out of the box. Depress ^C (ASCII or control code) on the PC
keyboard. If the printer prints a label, proper PC to printer communications have been
confirmed. Depress ^E to verify printer to PC communication. You will receive a text response
from the printer.
If a terminal program is not available, it is possible to send files to the printer using the DOS
COPY command. To do this you must first create a text file containing the information to be
sent (i.e. ^C ). You may use any text editor that does not add its own formatting characters
(QEDIT, Wordstar non-document mode, DOS 5.0 EDIT, EDLIN...).