Generic/Text printer driver

[technoid]

Hey all... 

Haven't been here in awhile. Wow has it been almost 2 years since I last wrote at these boards?

 

Anyway, does anyone know how to "fully" use the 'Generic / Text only" printer driver in Windows?;  Specifically in Win 9x (95/98), but would also like info for XP and 7.

 

I have several 9 and 24-pin impact dotmatrix printers I would like to use.  I've set up the Generic driver, but at default settings, i.e. the printer command & font selection folders in the driver are blank.  

 

Ok, so it Works nice at default, my printers print at a default with printer's native Pica font (10 cpi). And much faster than the Windows print driver because the Generic driver prints directly with the printers text commands, not graphically as with the Win driver.  However, I don't quite know how to use the font selection, etc. and how to fully enter the control codes.  I have been able to change to the Elite setting (12cpi) by entering "<ESC>M", but what if I need compressed 17cpi?  For compressed font, one of my printers has a control code sequence of hex 27 and 15.  But I tried <ESC><15> and it didn't seem to work. With Elite I was able to type in the M after ESC, but with hex 15, there is no symbol for that.  I checked the info in the balloons (help info using rightclick mouse) and it says to enter codes in decimal, but it didn't give any examples.

 

The Font selection folder under Generic's properties has lines to select 10cpi, 12cpi, etc.  How do I use this?  If I enter the control sequence for 10cpi as <ESC>P and also simultaneously enter the sequence for 12cpi as <ESC>M, how does it know which one to print with if you have both cpi's filled in?

 

Another question is, how can I add several generic drivers to my printer list for the different printers (different settings for same printer) that I have?  When I add more than one Generic driver, they all seem to copy each other's commands.  For example, I add 2 generic drivers, call them Generic 1 and Generic 2.  The first is for one model dotmatrix printer, say a Panasonic, the 2nd one is for say, my Epson.  But if I enter control codes in Generic 1 and then look in Generic 2's properties, the same control codes from 1 get copied there.  And when I erase them in 2, they also get erased in 1!   What am I doing wrong?

 

In the print command folder there is also another place to add different, I forget the name, it' a dropdown selection, but the same thing happens, it gets copied to the other generic driver. 

 

I did try this in XP, i.e. added 2 generic printers in my list, and it looks like the control codes don't get copied to each other.  So it looks like each Generic printer is unique. However, I never tested them to see if they worked with my printers.  

 

In summary...

 

1. What format do I enter in control code sequences?

2. How can I add more than one generic driver to my 95/98SE printer list with each driver unique for different model printers and doesn't copy each other's codes?

3. As in #2, how can I add generic drivers for the same model printer so that e.g. one driver is to print in Pica and another driver on the list (for same printer model) will print in Elite with Bold and Underline settings?  

 

I found more info about the generic print driver at www.frogmorecs.com/arts/using-the-generic-driver/ , but it was very scarce info at best and didn't really do anything for me at all.  I did some further Googling and surprisingly there really are no other places I can find any complete guides for this. 

 

Anyway, need help and hope I haven't confused anyone, thanks.

[jaclaz]

There is a difference between the way you insert printer commands between Windows XP and previous ones (if this is what you are asking ).

In Windows XP you enter hex codes inside "<>".

Example (XP):

http://support.myaxispoint.com/knowledgebase/articles/216549-tricking-a-generic-text-only-printer-to-be-esc-pos

AFAICR in Win9x and previous you used the actual Esc key, like (scroll down till around page 34):

http://www.ncsoftware.com/DocFiles/PrinterSetup.pdf

The given PDF covers quite well the matter around "Generic/Text" printer drivers, more generally still today "receipt" printers (dot-matrix or thermal) often use plain Epson ESC commands, so often you find documentation in the actual hardware manufacturer pages.

As a side note (and not really what you asked for, but possibly interesting):

http://mike.bitrevision.com/blog/2015-04-getting-a-usb-receipt-printer-working-on-windows

jaclaz

[technoid]

Ok thanks I checked that printersetup.pdf and it helped, only just a little. What I discovered was I was entering the decimal codes wrong.

As for example from my first post, I wanted to enter the code for "compressed printing" (i.e. 15 or 17 cpi). I mentioned it was Esc + 15 decimal. This is the usual code in practically all Epson FX emulated impact printers. So then in the generic printdriver (for W98SE), I press the escape key which enters as ESC with the angle bracket in the blank line. Then I use the Alt key to enter subsequent numbers. I enter "Alt 15". This all comes on the line as ...

<ESC><164>

Nope, this doesn't work.

I read the PDF and discovered you need 3 decimal numbers to enter, so the 15 for compressed should be keyed in as Alt 015, not Alt 15. So what it should have been was Esc + 015. This comes out on the line as

<ESC>^O

i.e. the latter part for 015 shows up as the caret symbol and the letter O. I ran it and it works!

Then I remembered that in general that's how you enter in Ascii practically anywhere else in Windows, i.e. you need 3 numbers after pressing the Alt key.

There's still some more tinkering around, but at least I was able to get other codes to work with the Alt key for those numbers that don't have symbol on the keyboard. Unfortunately in the printersetup.pdf, when it starts to talk about enter font codes, it doesn't, because it wasn't necessary for the machine it was using it for, so they kept the font commands blank.

And still need to know how to add several generic printer drivers to my printer list if possible, etc.

Edited October 2, 2015 by technoid