User`s manual

The programming commands control the printing

process by color and by ribbon material, allowing

overprinting and separate control of various multi

ple-overlay finishes.

Print Engines:

P300 and P400—P300 print engine and

P300 print engine plus duplexer, respectively

P310 and P420—P310 print engine and

P310 print engine plus duplexer, respec

tively

P500 and P600—P300 print engine plus

Laminator and dual P300 print engines, re

spectively

Max Secure—P300 print engines on all mod

els.

Significant model/configuration differences

related to programming include the follow-

ing:

P3xx Monochrome card printers have a limited

command set along with an image buffer sufficient

for a one-bit image mapping depth. Only imaging

using the thermal transfer methodology can occur.

For gray-scale images, host software must produce

multiple-dot pixel matrixes sized for the desired

gray-scale range (e.g., a four-by-four dot pixel ma-

trix can produce 16 levels of gray plus white, [(4 x

/16 + white]).

P3xx Color card printers employ dye sublimation

methodology for color imaging and thermal transfer

methodology for imaging from resin monochrome

ribbons or ribbon panels. A yellow, magenta, and

cyan imaging sequence occurs using five-bit-per-

dot data for imaging with three associated ribbon

panels.

The black panels on Eltron-supplied ribbons with

color panels have a resin coating that particularly

suits bar-code and other solid image printing (i.e.,

no gray scale). However, resin responds poorly as a

dye sublimation print medium. Therefore, the black

used for gray-scale imaging comes from formula

tions of yellow, magenta, and cyan (YMC), which

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