Microcom 428T, Operator'S Manual, Page: 108 / 249

Printer Commands Chapter 5
5-34 428T Operator’s Manual - 880037-0141
Entering General Purpose Status Byte Mode
Sending the “Enable General Purpose Mode” command will set the printer up
to go into General Purpose mode. The printer will NOT go into General
Purpose Mode until a power cycle occurs to cause the data to be stored in
FLASH memory. This command is nonvolatile, so once the General Purpose
Mode is entered the printer will stay in General Purpose Mode thru
subsequent power cycles.
Exiting General Purpose Status Byte Mode
A printer that is in General Purpose Mode will stay in General Purpose mode
thru power cycles until the “Disable General Purpose Mode” command
(^ABxxxxxxx0^D25) is issued. The next power-ON after a “Disable General
Purpose Mode” command will cause the printer to leave General Purpose
Mode.
Note: A default power-ON will also take the printer out of General Purpose Mode.
5.4 Specialized Print Modes
5.4.1 Synchronous Print Mode
This mode allows the printer to be synchronized to external equipment thru an external
PRINT control line. A second input control line ABORT allows a pending print job to be
terminated. Using this mode allows any label, no matter what size to begin printing
IMMEDIATELY using the print input signal. Printing begins 11 microseconds after the rising
edge of the PRINT control line.
Two control signals are required:
1) PRINT input line (connector P17, Pin #2),
2) ABORT input line (connector P17, Pin #8)
Signal logic levels:
The signals are active high and must be b15Vdc and +24Vdc to be “1”.
The signals must drop below +10Vdc to be “0”.
To use this mode, follow these steps:
a) Download a label format to the printer. This format should not
have the normal ^D3 (PRINT command) in the format. If the
^D3 is left in the format, an initial label will be printed
regardless of the special input line settings.
a) Send the printer a ^D116<CR> command. This will force the
printer to process the label to the point that the label bitmap is
ready to be sent to the print head. After this command is sent
no communications will be possible with the printer until the
next step is completed.
b) To start the print, send a high-going pulse on the PRINT input
line. To ABORT the job, whether printing or not, send a high-
going pulse on the ABORT input line.
c) After the label prints or aborts, the printer will return to its
normal non-sync mode of operation.