Star Micronics 8 Series Applications Manual page 26

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DTR (DataTerminalReady)protocoldoes the same thing slightlydiffer-
ently.The,printersendsa continuoushigh-voltagesignalover the cable as
long as it can accept data, but drops the voltage to say "whoa" to the
computer.
Conversely, i t's thecomputerthatholdsthe reinswiththeETX/ACK(End-
of-text/Acknowledge) p rotocol.The computersendsan ETX controlcode
aftereach stringof data,and whentheprinterfinallygetsthatcodeit sends
an ACK code back to the computer,askingfor more.This protocolis less
used by modem computersbecause it doesn't hold back data when the
printer'smemorygets swamped,
Look in your computer'soperationsmanual, in the section dealing with
communications protocols,to sce whichis best for your system. You can
stickto the printer'sdefaultsif yourcomputerusesneithertheDTRnor the
ETX/ACKprotocol,but doesuse XON/XOFF.
If you want to enable DTR or ETX/ACK,or disableXON/XOFF,you'll
have to set those parametervalues accordingly.Turning on onc of these
protocolsautomaticallyflips off the others.
Checking your connections
Yourcomputerandprintermayhavetroublecommunicating whenyou first
introducethcmto eachother.The quickwayto findoutif yoursettingsand
printercableare workingis to sendyourprintera printoutfromyourscreen
(CHW-P with MS-DOS).
Whenthat'sdoneyou willalsohaveto presstheprintbuttonon theprinter,
whichm'akes theprinteradvanceto a new sheet.No laserprinterprintsand
ejectsa pageuntilit'stoldto feeda form,or untilit has receivedallthelines
the page can hold.
If your Star LaserPrinter8 doesn'tprint what's on the computerscreen,
recheck your connections and interface settings. With an applications
programlikeLotus1–2–3orMicrosoftWord,youuscapnntersctup routine
to match your computerwith your printer'soperatingcharactcnstics.So
double-checkyoursoftwaresettings;yourcomputer'soutput,forcxarnple,
mightnot be goingto the properport.
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