PCL-5 Supported Commands

A Send Diagnostic command should be issued prior to
transmitting the image to ensure the integrity of the parallel
port. An Open Drawer command is required when no more
printing is needed on the CD.

The CD printer uses PCL raster graphic commands to control
printing. The following PCL-5 commands are supported.


 Command
 Hexadecimal Value
 Description
 Esc*b#W 

 
 1B2A62#...#57

 
  TRANSFER RASTER DATA
Transfer Raster Data where # is the
number of bytes in the row (up to 192)
in ASCII decimal. Raster Data: 1 to
print, O for no printing. The image will
be byte aligned. If RLE compression is
not selected and the raster data is not
enough data to fill the rest of the print
head shift registers, the CD printer will
add the required amount (right
margin). If RLE compression is not
selected, the printer will send to the
print head the # of bytes previously
defined by the horizontal position (left
margin). The left margin must be
defined or an error will occur. When
using RLE compression, the total
uncompressed byte count must add up
to 192 bytes (a full line) or a printer
error will occur. When using RLE
compression, the left margin value is
ignored.

Example of RLE compression transfer
raster data:

 Ascii 
 HEX

Esc
 1B
 *
 2A
 b
 62
 '6 bytes'
 36
 W
 57
 '40 bytes of 00'
 27 00
 '100 bytes of 44'
 63 44
 '52 bytes of 00'
 33 00



This command will cause the CD
printer to lower the print head and print
the line. If the CD is not positioned to a
valid print area, the printer will position
the drawer to the beginning print
position (position 0). If the ribbon is
missing, the fault signal will be aserted
and paper-out will flash.
 Esc*p#Y

 
 1B2A70#...#59

 
 VERTICAL POSITION In 1/300 INCH

Vertical Position where # is the
vertical position in dots (byte
aligned) in ASCII decimal. The
printer will respond by lifting the
print head (only if this new location
is > 0.5 inches from the current
position and in the forward printing
direction) and position the new
location. Example, ff the vertical
position is 0, the CD will be
positioned to begin printing at the
top of the disc.
 Esc*p#X

 
 1B2A70#...#58

 
 LEFT MARGIN In 1/300 INCH

Left Margin where # is the
horizontal position in dots (byte
aligned) in ASCII decimal. This
command will be used to inform
the printer of the starting position
of each line (left margin). The left
margin MUST BE DEFINED if file
compression is not used or an
error will occur when a transfer
raster data command is issued.

 
 Esc*b#M

 
 1B2A62#...#4D

 
 SET RASTER GRAPHICS COMPRESSION

#	Defined as:
0  No Compression
1  Use RLE Compression
2-9  Undefined

Where # is the compression mode
in ASCII. Raster data is always
sent to the printer using the
Transfer Raster Data Command.
The printer has two ways of
interpreting the data, straight
bitmap or run length encoding
(RLE) compressed bitmap.

The selected compression mode
stays in effect until it is explicitly
changed or the printer is reset.
Using RLE encoding method, the
raster data is interpreted in byte
pairs where the first byte specifies
how many times the pattern in the
second byte is repeated. The
number in the first byte can range
from 0 to 191 where a zero value
indicated that the pattern only
occurs once (duplicated zero
times).When using RLE, the total
uncompressed byte count must
add up to 192 bytes (a full line) or
a printer error will occur.

If RLE is selected the Transfer
Raster Data Command must have
an even number data field or a
printer error will occur.

When using RLE, the left margin
value is ignored when printing.
 Esc&
(notprintable)


 
 1B266CX...X48

 
 CD SOURCE (MANUAL FEED)

This command is used to select
between manual and auto feed
operation. If X = 2, the printer will
be set to manual feed. In this
mode, the printer will assert a
paper-out error after the disc has
been printed and wait for the disc
to be removed. If X = 1, auto feed
will be selected allowing the paper
sensing to function normally.
X is an ASCII decimal value.


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