Dot Matrix Printer Troubleshooting

6 years ago
DatosSupport
3 minutes

Dot Matrix printers are still in use to create multipart delivery dockets and invoice.

There are some things to be aware of when printing to one of these printers from Season, specifically with regard to the font and alignment.

This is because the font settings can come from a variety of places. e.g.

  1. Set by dip switches on the printer
  2. Set by pressing buttons on the front panel of the printer
  3. Set by drivers in Windows.

Generally, if the printer is connected through an LPT port (and configured with an LPT port in Season) it will use the settings set physically on the printer (through the dip switches or front panel configuration)

If the printer is connected through USB and set up as COMPRINT in Season, Windows will try and do some font substitution.

It would be best if the printer was connected through an LPT port and set up at LPT in Season. This would mean the settings could be controlled in program or on the printer.

Customers should know the settings for the printer and have the written down near it in case they need reset.

Moving a Dot Matrix Printer from one computer to another

Its common to want to move a dot matrix from one computer to another e.g. because an old computer is being replaced, but the printer is still needed to print the dockets.

This can cause a variety of issues.

  1. The setting set on the front panel of the printer may be reset and will need to be set again.
  2. The new computer may not have a physical LPT port and so needs to be connected up with an LPT to USB converter.

If the second scenario is the case, the printer will need to be mapped to an LPT port in Windows and set up as an LPT printer in Season.

To do this,

  1. Share the printer in the printer set up. The share name needs to have no spaces in it e.g. OKI ML3320 won’t work, it should be OKIML3320 or OKI_ML3320
  2. Open a command prompt and enter

Net Use <LPTX> \\<COMPUTER_NAME>\<PRINTERSHARENAME> /persistent:YES’.

Where,

  • <LPTX> is a valid LPT port e.g. LPT1, LPT2 etc
  • <COMPUTER_NAME> is the name or IP address of the computer e.g localhost or 127.0.0.1
  • <PRINTERSHARENAME> is the share name of the printer e.g. OKIML3320

This is the same procedure as to map a network dot matrix printer to the computer. e.g.

net use lpt1 \\localhost\OKI_ML3320 /persistent:YES

This can then be set up as an LPT printer in Season and should use the settings set in program or set on the printer.