JJ Jones wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Does anybody know how to print barcodes on an Epson impact printer
> (FX-2190 or FX-2170) using ESC/P?
>
> Using the ESC/P manual, I entered two sequences that were supposed to
> print barcodes, and neither of them printed. In fact, they froze the
> printer.
>
> I'm using the manual titled "Epson ESC/P Reference Manual, December
> 1997". In the "Recommended Operations" section, there are many
> examples of numeric sequences that are supposed to print barcodes, but
> I can't get them to work. I tried two:
>
> At the top of page R-95, I sent the following hex numbers to the
> printer: 1B,28,42,0D,00,04,02,00,7D,00,03,30,31,32,33,34,35 ,30, but it
> didn't generate the example barcode.
>
> At the bottom of page R-93, I sent the hex numbers:
> 1B,28,42,12,00,04,02,00,7D,00,00,30,31,32,33,34,35 ,36,37,38,39,30,35,
> but it also didn't print the example barcode.
>
> When doing this, I first turned the printer off & on, to initialize it,
> then I sent the hex string. My guess is that there is some magic
> number that I'm missing that will initialize the printer properly, or
> put it into graphics mode or something.
>
> Any ideas?
>
Are you sure that your particular printer can understand that escape
sequence and/or print bar codes?

Whenever I've written code to send Esc/P sequences to Epsons it has
always "just worked". Epson parallel printers are generally backward
compatible: my Epson Stylus Colour 850 produces perfectly formatted
output when driven by programs developed to drive an LQ-550 (24 pin dot
matrix) or even an MX-80 (9 pin dot matrix).

It could be worth writing a simple "echo" equivalent so you can enter
hex control sequences and ASCII text via a command line.

I have dim memories that it may help to end each string with CR/LF
because some Epsons contain a line buffer that isn't printed until the
CR/LF sequence is received.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |