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LabelWriter 400 Series Technical Reference Manual 

Page 8 

Printer Commands and Control 

The printers support two types of commands through the USB interface: data commands and 
USB interface commands. As with all USB printers, data commands for imaging a page are 
provided to the printer through the Bulk OUT endpoint. For information on USB interface 
commands, refer to the 

Universal Serial Bus Device Class Definition for Printing Devices

 

document. 

Data commands for printing consist of print data and ESC commands. Print data is used to 
define the dot pattern to print for each raster line. ESC commands (commands preceded by an 
ASCII <esc> character, 0x1b) are commands that change printer parameters, such as margins 
and raster line offsets. All printer parameters are set to specific default values by a power-on 
reset or software reset command from the host computer. Parameters can be modified by the 
host computer at any time and will take effect as soon as the modifications are sent. 

Print Data  

Print data is encoded in strings of 8-bit bytes, preceded by a single synchronization character. 
Two print line commands specify whether the data format is uncompressed or compressed. 
Uncompressed data is preceded by an ASCII <syn> character (0x16), and compressed data is 
preceded by an ASCII <etb> character (0x17). Appendix A describes the compressed data 
format. 

The Bytes-per-Line variable controls the number of bytes required for each line of print data. 
The default value for all 400 series printers is 84 bytes per line (84 * 8 = 672, the number of 
dots in the print head).  The host computer can send fewer bytes than the maximum by 
preceding the print data with the Set Bytes per Line command (<esc> D n, where n is the 
number of bytes). The control electronics do not check the validity of the new value. Therefore, 
it is the responsibility of the host software to send only those values which are valid for the 
width of the print head.  

In addition to sending fewer bytes per line, the host computer also has the ability to adjust the 
starting point on a line by using the Set Dot Tab command (<esc> B n, where n is the starting 
byte number; valid values are 0-83). If the host computer modifies the starting byte, the number 
of bytes per line must be adjusted downward by a corresponding amount. The control 
electronics do not check the validity of the dot tab against the bytes per line. Therefore, it is the 
responsibility of the host software to send correct combinations of these two variables.  

Both the dot tab variable and the bytes-per-line variable are held by the control electronics until 
they are changed by a new command sequence or are reset to default values by a power-on reset 
or a software reset command.  

Data Synchronization  

After the printer receives a <syn> or <etb> character, it takes the following n value and puts it 
into the RAM buffer. The value for n is determined by the number of bytes required to specify a 
full line of data. This value is affected by the setting for Bytes per Line and, in the case of 
<etb>, the data compression of the bit pattern. It is important to note that the n values which 
follow <syn> or <etb> characters are interpreted only as graphical data. This means that 

Содержание LabelWriter 400 Duo Guide

Страница 1: ...LabelWriter 400 Series Printers Technical Reference Manual Includes LabelWriter 400 LabelWriter 400 Turbo LabelWriter Twin Turbo and LabelWriter Duo Printers ...

Страница 2: ...or complete Sanford L P hereby disclaims all liability and makes no warranties including any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose in relation to the manual or the information it contains Sanford L P provides limited or no support for the activities referenced in this manual You expressly understand and agree that Sanford L P shall not be liable for any direct i...

Страница 3: ...nector JP2 13 USB Printer Interface 14 USB Vendor ID 14 USB Product IDs 14 Printer Commands 15 Commands Sent to the Printer 15 esc B n Set Dot Tab 15 esc D n Set Bytes per Line 15 esc L nl n2 Set Label Length 16 esc E Form Feed 16 esc G Short Form Feed 16 esc q n Select Roll Twin Turbo printer Only 16 esc A Get Printer Status 17 esc Reset Printer 17 esc Restore Default Settings 17 esc f 1 n Skip n...

Страница 4: ... Set print resolution to 203x300 19 Appendix A Data Compression 21 Appendix B Printing to the LabelWriter Duo Tape Printer 23 Command Language 23 esc B Dot Tab 23 esc D Bytes per Line 23 syn Print Data 24 esc C Set Tape Type 24 esc E Cut Tape 25 esc A Get Status 25 Appendix C Debugging Printer Output 27 ...

Страница 5: ...ce to knowledgeable developers wishing to communicate directly with the LabelWriter printer without the use of printer drivers Because the printer is a raster based printer this is not a simple task and Sanford L P reserves the right to limit development support for such implementations ...

Страница 6: ...LabelWriter 400 Series Technical Reference Manual Page 6 ...

Страница 7: ... The Print Head The print head prints the image onto the label by heating a row of resistive elements this blackens the thermally sensitive label material These 672 resistive elements are 085 mm square and are spaced at 300 per inch on the print head To print a line the control electronics load the desired data into a serial shift register This shift register has one register for each print elemen...

Страница 8: ...ers is 84 bytes per line 84 8 672 the number of dots in the print head The host computer can send fewer bytes than the maximum by preceding the print data with the Set Bytes per Line command esc D n where n is the number of bytes The control electronics do not check the validity of the new value Therefore it is the responsibility of the host software to send only those values which are valid for t...

Страница 9: ...between the sensor and the cutter bar Top of form position the inter label gap under the cutter bar is reached when the logical counter decrements to zero The first motor step after top of form position reloads the down counter with a value representing the hole to hole length of the current label stock Top of Form Sync The logical position counter is not initialized at power up Label position is ...

Страница 10: ...w to optimize printing by executing the Form Feed command only at the end of a multi label print job Short Form Feed Command esc G Use this command when printing multiple labels The normal Form Feed command also works for this purpose However using the Short Form Feed command optimizes the printer and minimizes print time by eliminating the need to reverse feed after advancing the top of form mark...

Страница 11: ...e data to be transferred with only one overhead byte per dot line Command sequences such as Set Dot Tabs or Set Bytes per Line should be sent only when a change is desired The Dot Tab and Bytes per Line commands should be used to reduce the number of bytes transmitted The Form Feed command should be used after transmitting the last dot line to be printed Self Test Capability The printers include a...

Страница 12: ...mal printer usage except where specified The printer driver print commands from the host computer controls some printing parameters and will change maximum power usage AC Adapter DYMO part number 93447 60 W Input voltage 100 240 VAC 50 60 Hz 1 6 Amps Output voltage 24 VDC 2 5Amps PCB Input Power All LabelWriter 400 series printers have an input voltage of 24 VDC 5 Their power requirements are as f...

Страница 13: ... current typical 1 1 Amps text only Input current max 3 3 Amps based on printing a shipping label 30256 with a maximum size filled rectangle after print head temperature increases above ambient temperature At nominal print head temperature 3 0 A Note The input current is ramped up as the 24 V is applied to the input to limit in rush current there is a 2200µF filter capacitor at the input After pow...

Страница 14: ...nd play information when it is connected to a host computer This information includes a manufacturer specific or Vendor ID VID and a product specific ID PID These identifiers when combined with the class type provided during USB enumeration are sufficient to identify the driver to load USB Vendor ID The USB Vendor ID VID assigned to DYMO by the USB Implementers Forum is 0x0922h 2338 Decimal USB Pr...

Страница 15: ... as its hexadecimal representation 1B 42 Parameter values are specified as n for single byte values or n1 n2 for two byte values esc B n Set Dot Tab lB 42 n starting byte number per line binary where 0 n 83 default value 0 This command shifts the starting dot position on the print head towards the right effectively introducing an increased left margin Each byte represents 8 dots so a value of four...

Страница 16: ...a few lines out from the current print position An ESC E command causes the print position to feed to the tear bar and an ESC G causes it to feed far enough so that a reverse feed will not cause lines to overlap esc E Form Feed lB 45 This command advances the most recently printed label to a position where it can be torn off This positioning places the next label beyond the starting print position...

Страница 17: ...equence and so on Note that printer ready is returned as 03h Ready and Top of form esc Reset Printer lB 40 This command resets all parameters Dot Tabs Line Tabs Bytes per Line and so on to their default values and sets top of form as true Note This command is acted upon immediately any data still in the print buffer will be lost esc Restore Default Settings lB 2A This command resets all internal p...

Страница 18: ... see Print Data on page 8 etb nl nx Transfer Compressed Print Data 17 Where nl first compressed data byte nx last compressed data byte This command sends compressed raster line images This command is generally not needed due to the high bandwidth of USB communications but it might provide some nominal increase in performance esc h Text Speed Mode This command instructs the printer to print in Text...

Страница 19: ...Density Dark This command sets the strobe time of the printer to 112 5 of its standard duty cycle esc y Set print resolution to 300x300 This command sets the step resolution of the printer to match its print element resolution giving 300 x 300 dpi printing esc z Set print resolution to 203x300 This command changes the step resolution of the printer to 203 dpi giving a printing resolution of 203 x ...

Страница 20: ...LabelWriter 400 Series Technical Reference Manual Page 20 ...

Страница 21: ... 1 Value White 0 Black 1 0 127 Examples 00h 1 white pixel 80h 1 printed pixel 0Fh 16 white pixels FFh 128 printed pixels The data is handled by the printers on a line by line basis so compressed lines may be intermixed with normal lines In addition compressed mode also uses the Bytes per Line variable to determine how much data to expect from the host for each line However the sum of the pixels mu...

Страница 22: ...LabelWriter 400 Series Technical Reference Manual Page 22 ...

Страница 23: ...r a 128 dot print head the maximum value is 15 Dot tab values greater than the maximum allowed value will revert to the defined maximum For example if a value higher than 11 is specified for the Dot Tab command on a 96 dot print head the dot tab value is reduced to 11 at print time The minimum value for the Dot Tab command is 0 esc D Bytes per Line The Bytes per Line command operates the same way ...

Страница 24: ... the ETB command is not supported esc C Set Tape Type This command sets the heat sensitivity for the tape type in the printer The following are the defined tape types Selection number Tape Description 0 Black on white or clear 1 Black on blue 2 Black on red 3 Black on silver 4 Black on yellow 5 Black on gold 6 Black on green 7 Black on fluorescent green 8 Black on fluorescent red 9 White on clear ...

Страница 25: ... 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Ignore CASSETTE Ignore CJ Ignore GE Ignore GE General Error Bit This bit reports any sort of general error It usually means that the motor is stalled or a tape is jammed Printing is unable to continue without user interaction A value of 1 indicates an error a value of 0 indicates no error CJ Cutter Jammed Bit This bit indicates that either the automatic cutter or the spitter is ja...

Страница 26: ...LabelWriter 400 Series Technical Reference Manual Page 26 ...

Страница 27: ...1 Install the label printer on a Windows PC according to the instructions Use the DYMO Label Software application to verify that the printer works 2 From the Start menu choose Settings and then choose Printers 3 Right click on the LabelWriter icon and then choose Properties from the menu 4 Click on the Ports tab In the list of ports choose File 5 Click OK After performing these steps whenever you ...

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