Ap1300 User Guide Page 15 of 16
11 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 guide may help if you
find you need some assistance. These are only suggestions, and may not work with all PC’s.
11.1 CONNECTING TO A PC – A CHECKLIST
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First, you need to
GET THE PRINTER GOING
Make sure that the battery pack is fitted and connected. Remember that operation from the charger
alone is not possible: a battery pack must always be fitted.
Also remember that battery packs are
normally supplied disconnected and discharged. They should be connected and then fully
charged before use (e.g trickle charged for at least 15 hours).
Wake the printer up by pressing the paper feed button once and releasing it. The LED indicator
should light; if it does not, the battery may be flat (or not fitted correctly): connect up the charger, and
the light will come on. Other LED colours are discussed in Section 6, for example when the printer is
out of paper.
When the printer is awake, load paper and then press the feed button to check that paper feeds.
Press the paper feed button again twice in quick succession (like double-clicking a PC mouse) and
the printer should print a self-test message. This will show that the printer is operational, and also
reports the way in which the printer’s serial data interface is configured.
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Next, you need to make some
HARDWARE CONNECTIONS
The back panel of a PC typically includes several D-type (keystone-shaped) connectors. One of
these is usually:
D-9 Plug (male):
COM1: Serial port for mouse, modem, serial printer, etc
You can use any available serial port for the Ap1300. COM1: is assumed in what follows, as most
likely to be available.
You will need a suitable cable. Use either a standard cable from Able Systems (see Section ‘9.4
Combined Data/Charger Adaptor Cable‘), or make up your own using the information in the same
section.
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Now you will need to
SET UP YOUR COMPUTER’S SERIAL PORT
to match the printer (it is also
possible to change the printer’s settings, but not until you have established communication with
the computer).
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,8,2 [RETURN]
This will set up the port (COM1:) to
9600
baud,
N
o parity,
8
data bits, and
2
stop bits which is the
default setting for the Ap1300.
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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
:
OPEN “COM1:9600,N,8,2” FOR RANDOM AS #1
PRINT#1, “Hello”
Alternatively, in Windows, use the
TERMINAL
program to send some text to the printer.
Or, you can use the special Able Systems set-up software
AP8612.EXE
which we can supply on a
floppy disc, or by e-mail on request: this will allow the printer settings to be changed and includes
some diagnostic routines.
