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Chapter 2: Hardware Setup
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After getting the flow control and port settings from your printer, you will need to
then match it with the serial port assigned to your printer. Make sure that the flow
control and the port settings on both ends match exactly. Also, the flow control
normally should be set to Software Xon/Xoff.
For example, a Star Micronics Serial printer usually will print correct if the computers
serial port flow control is set to Xon/Xoff, and its own flow control is also set to
Xon/Xoff.
When you are finished setting up your Serial printer, make sure you try to print a test
page. This will verify that you have successfully installed the serial printer, and it is
working properly. If you have any doubts about setting up the Serial printer, then we
suggest you either have an experienced computer technician who understands devices
do it for you, or simply go with the Parallel printer models instead.
Parallel POS Printers
Setting up a parallel printer is very simple. Find the parallel port on the back of the
printer and attach the parallel cable to this port. Then plug the other end of the cable
in to the parallel port on the computer itself.
After you have finished plugging in the cable then you can proceed with the steps
described above on setting up a POS printer in the Windows® printer folder.
Although parallel printers are much simpler to set up and maintain than a serial
printer, it does have a distance limitation of 25 feet. If you want to use a parallel
printer and it is going to go further than 25 feet you will need a device called a High
Speed Parallel Line Extender.
This device is made by a variety of different companies. One company to check out
is at www.aten-usa.com. Their product is called the High Speed Parallel Line
Extender. This kit includes two devices. One is the IC-164T and the other is the IC164R. Each of these devices will plug into the appropriate ports on the computer or
printer. For example, the IC-164R device will plug into your Parallel port on your
computer, while the IC-164T will plug into your Parallel printer port on the printer
itself. (Figure 1.0)