Salter Brecknell CP80 - Manual (Page 11)

CP80 User Guide Page 11 of 11
8 GETTING STARTED
You may find that you can connect up the printer to your Personal Computer (PC), and everything
works perfectly first time. However, there are many variables, and the following information may help
if you find you need some assistance. These are only suggestions, and may not work with all PC’s.
8.1
CONNECTING TO A PC – A CHECKLIST
• First, you need to GET THE PRINTER GOING
Check that the printer wakes up when the paper feed button is pressed, and that it produces a Self
Test print.
• Next, you need to make some HARDWARE CONNECTIONS
The back panel of a PC normally includes three D-type (keystone-shaped) connectors, typically as
follows:
D-9 Plug (male):
COM1: Serial port for mouse, serial printer, etc
You can use either of the two serial ports for the CP80, whichever is free. COM1: is assumed in what
follows, as most likely to be available.
• Now you will need to SET UP YOUR COMPUTER’S SERIAL PORT to match the printer
Your proposed application program may have a way of doing this, or you can get to the DOS prompt
[eg C:\>] and type the following command line (assuming you have connected the printer to COM1:):
MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1 [RETURN]
This will set up the port (COM1:) to 9600 baud, No parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bits which is the
default setting for the CP80.
• Now,
SEND SOME DATA TO THE PRINTER from your computer
An easy way to do this from the DOS prompt is to type:
DIR >COM1: [RETURN]
This should send a directory listing to the printer. The lines will probably overflow, but it will at least
show that the communication between the computer and the printer is working.
You can also send data from QBASIC, for example:
OPEN “COM1:9600,N,8,1” FOR RANDOM AS #1
PRINT#1, “Hello”
Alternatively, in Windows, use the TERMINAL program to send some text to the printer.
8.2 YOUR
APPLICATION PROGRAM
Once communications between your computer and the printer have been established, you can try
driving the printer from your application program.