User manual

HOST TO PRINTER COMMUNICATION SUPPLEMENT

BOCA printers can be used with a variety of Host systems, including IBM PC's or compatibles, Apple

computers, mainframes and mini computers like the IBM AS400. They are also used with many different types

of terminals, protocol converters, and spoolers. However, some of these devices (particularly the AS400) have

a tendency to automatically add unwanted characters to the printer's data stream.

If there is any difficulty in interfacing the BOCA to any device, we recommend immediately placing the printer

into diagnostic mode (see the diagnostic mode supplement for details) to determine whether or not data is being

received. If no data is received, there is a cabling problem between the printer and the transmitting device.

If the problem is not in the cabling, the cause is usually extra data being sent from the system hardware to the

printer. The best way to overcome this extraneous data is to put the printer into Transparent mode operation

using the control panel. Then turn the printer on. From this point on, everything sent to the printer will be

ignored until the printer sees a <n> command. The data that it ignores is echoed to the crt port. Since most

printers don't have a crt on this port, the data is essentially ignored.

Before sending real data, send a <n> to cancel transparent mode and activate normal mode. The printer will

now process the incoming data. After sending the print command to the printer, send another <t> command.

This puts the printer back in transparent mode and prevents it from getting extra data that sometimes follows the

ticket data. Bracket all valid ticket data in this manner and the BOCA printer should work with any hardware

system. It is further recommended that the <p> is used for the print command in these situations, as the FF

character is sometimes deleted from the data stream by certain computer systems.

AS400 AND TERMINAL CONFIGURATIONS:

AS400 Device description - 5256 model 2 (dumb ASCII printer).

- IBM 5575 type printer

The following terminals are known to work with the Boca printer and the AS400.

• Lynk Terminal Lyte 2 model - setup as a 5256 dumb ASCII printer and blank out all the setup codes.

• Decision Data Terminal 3596 - can be ordered with a special Boca Printer Software card option.

• IBM 3477 - setup as a 5256 dumb ASCII printer.

SOME KNOWN WORKING AS400 CONFIGURATIONS:

AS400 -------------------twinax-------------------- TERMINAL ----------------------parallel/serial-----------------------BOCA

Device description - 5256 model 2 Setup as 5256 dumb ascii printer

Then define - controller,address,port Blank out all setup codes

AS400 --------------------twinax------------------------- PC--------------------------------parallel/serial--------------------BOCA

Device description - 5256 model 2 Running Client Access Software (don't need transparent mode)

Then define - controller,address,port Use other non-laser printer option

AS400 ---------------------twinax------------------------- PC--------------------------------parallel/serial-------------------BOCA

Running Cambridge Software Running Client Access Software (don't need transparent mode)

Autoset port as 3812 page printer Host print transform - yes

Device description - 5256 Printer Model - Quickwriter 3 IBM 5204-1

Set Windows Print driver to 'Generic Text'