Introduction; What Is Printer Status - NEC 870 - SuperScript B/W Laser Printer Online User's Manual

Chapter 4: Windows Status Monitor

Introduction

The SuperScript 870 Status Monitor gives you
many features to monitor your printer and print
jobs, such as:
• Continually checks the status of the printer
to provide you with visual and audible
feedback on the printer and your print jobs.
• Lets you pause or resume printing, or
quickly cancel printing.
• Lets you print pages that demonstrate
printer features or show printer information.
• Gives you a quick way to change your
default Windows printer.
• Provides instant access to the SuperScript 870
Windows Printer Driver and its special
features, and to the Windows Print Manager
(in Windows 3.1x).
You determine when and how the SuperScript
870 Status Monitor informs you of specific
conditions through the Alerts tab of the
maximized status monitor. The status monitor
can appear on the screen to report such
conditions as "paper jam" or "offline." You can
also choose to have printer status reported
through various sound alerts.
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A Note About Bidirectional
Communication...
The level of features and the level of status
information available from the Status Monitor
depends on the type of connection established
with your printer. If your SuperScript 870 printer
is directly connected to your computer, you
should be able to establish bidirectional com-
munication by using a high quality bidirectional
parallel cable. (For optimum results use an IEEE
1284-compliant cable.)
Note: Bidirectional communication
works best when your printer port is set
correctly in your computer's BIOS. See
page 107 in Chapter 9 of this user's guide
for more information.
If you are sharing your SuperScript 870 printer
using a network interface card (NIC), features like
pause, resume, and reset will also be available,
although only from the printer's operator panel,
not with the Status Monitor. The section below
describes the various levels of printer status.

What is Printer Status?

Your printer receives data from your computer
over the printer cable. Your printer can also send
data back to the computer to report on a number