Datacard Group SP Series - Manual (Page 7)

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Overview
User’s Guide for Express™ and Select™ Class Printers
About this manual
This manual provides detailed information about the Datacard® Express™ or
Select™ Class photo ID printer. It also explains how to install, use, and maintain the
printer and its printer driver.
Audience
To perform the procedures in this manual, you must have the following skills:
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Ability to read and understand written and graphical instructions
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Ability to operate a personal computer (PC)
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Experience with Microsoft® Windows® 98 or Windows NT®
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Ability to load supplies
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Ability to perform simple troubleshooting using written and graphical instructions
Datacard-authorized service personnel also use this manual.
About the Express or Select printer
The Express or Select photo ID printer includes the printer and a printer driver which
runs on a PC. The printer uses supplies such as print ribbon and blank cards when
printing cards.
The Express or Select printer prints full-color or monochrome images on one or both
sides of PVC cards. The images printed can include photos, text, logos, barcodes and
digitized signatures. The printer can also encode data on a card's magnetic stripe and
program a smart card chip on a card. (These steps are commonly called
“personalizing” the card.) Magnetic stripe encoding and smart card programming are
options that can be purchased as part of the printer.
The printer driver receives digital information from a card creation application and
processes the data to send to the printer. When the printer receives the data, it prints
the card. The driver keeps track of the progress of the card in the printer, and sends
data for the next card as soon as the printer is ready and the data is available.
See “PC and software specifications” on page 1-8 for more information about the
printer driver and the PC on which it runs.
Printer models
Several models of the printer are available. ImageCard printers can print full-color or
monochrome images, while UltraGrafix printers can print only monochrome images. A
printer can be ordered with the following optional modules:
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Magnetic stripe module, for either 3-track encoding or single-track NTT encoding.
The module is installed in-line with the print operation. It encodes data on the
magnetic stripe and then verifies the data.