Serial Printer Control
This section describes how
to
send data
to
a serial
printer from a serial port. Make sure you have
selected the COMI or COM2 option for the
PRINTER parameter in the general set-up menu.
The terminal offers two methods
of
communicat-
ing with a serial device, such as a printer, con-
nected to a serial port:
• Enabling a printer port mode, which
passes
data
through
the
terminal
between the
computer or keyboard and a device (e.g., a
printer) connected to a serial port. Depend-
ing on the print mode, the data
mayor
may
not appear on the terminal screen.
• Executing a page print, which
sends
on-
screen
data
to the printer(much like the
Prt
Sc
key function of a personal computer)
Unlike the host communication modes, the temli-
nal comes from the
factory with all serial printer
port modes disabled. You (or your program) must
enable a serial printer mode
to
pass data between
the host and the serial printer.
If
you have a
problem with printing, see the troubleshooting
suggestions in Chapter 4.
Operation
with
a Serial Printer
NOTE: Ifyou don't use a serial printer, leave
the PRINTER parameter at the PARALLEL
option (default). In this case, disregard the
following procedure.
You need
to
specify the serial port connected
to
the host, and the serial port connected
to
a serial
printer
or
other serial device. Most users connect
the host
to
the first serial port.
If
they have only a
serial printer, they connectit
to to
the second serial
port. To do this, perform the following steps:
I.
In
SetUp, go to the GENERAL menu.
2. Move down to the
HOST
PORT parameter
and make sure that the
COMI
(or COM2)
option is selected.
3. Move down to the PRINTER parameter and
select the COM2 (or
COMl)
option.
4.
If
your
host is connected to the COM2 port,
select
COMI
for
your
serial printer.
Serial Printer Modes
Four serial printer modes can be enabled
by
your
program or in set up. Use the local key command
(for your keyboard)
to
toggle the copy mode.
Doing this has two effects on print modes: It first
changes the current print mode
to
copy mode, and
then toggles copy mode on and off.
Copy Sometimes called "typewriter" or "type-
through" mode. Characters from the keyboard or
host are simultaneously displayed on the screen
and sent
to
the printer.
Transparent
Characters from the host or
keY-I
board are sent
to
the serial printer port without
affecting the display. The display freezes during
transmission.
Bi-directional Data from the host or keyboard
goes
to
both the screen and peripheral, just like
copy mode.
In
addition, the device (printer or
other peripheral) connected
to
the serial port can
send data through the terminal
to
the computer.
When data flows from the peripheral
to
the com-
puter, it
is
not displayed.
Secondary receive The terminal passes data
to
the host from the device connected
to
the serial
port; data from the host or keyboard goes only
to
the screen.
Page Print
A page print sends data on the current page (from
the home position
to
the cursor position)
to
the
serial printer port. The terminal flips the next page
of
display memory onto the screen, unless page
print flip mode has been disabled.
Fora formatted page print, use the appropriate key
(for your keyboard)
to
print the screen (Print, Print
Screen, or F2). Each line sent
to
the printer ends
with a carriage return and line feed, so the printed
copy resembles the screen.
For
an
unformatted page print, press the Shift key
and the above print-screen key. Without format-
ting, the appearance
of
the printed output varies,
depending on the amount
of
space characters the
data contains.
To interrupt transmission from the terminal to the
host, use the local
key
command (for your key-
board)
to
initiate a partial reset.
USER'S GUIDE 3-13
OPERATION
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