| Q1-1: Why should I use Star ribbons and not cheaper ribbons manufactured by another company? |
| Q1-2: What is the definition of reliability figures ¡°MCBF¡± ? |
| Q1-3: Can the Star Auto Cutter cut thicker material than specified? |
| Q1-4: Why does my Star receipt printer print question marks at the beginning of a print run? |
| Q1-5: What is ¡°Top Search¡± function? |
| Q1-6: Why is my direct thermal printer feeding paper but not showing any print? |
| Q1-7: What does ¡°MSW¡± setting mean, and how do I set it? |
| Q1-8: What is the difference between a ¡°direct¡± thermal and a thermal ¡°transfer¡± printer? |
| Q1-9: How can I drive the Cash Drawer by control code? What is the difference of <BEL> and <FS>? |
| Q1-10: What is ¡°code page¡± ? |
| Q1-11: What is the purpose to the ferrite core? |
| Q1-12: What are the benefits to using a serial cable? What are the advantages of a parallel cable? |
| Q1-13: What is the ¡°compulsion switch¡± in the cash drawer connecter? |
| Q1-14: Is Star¡¯s ESC/POS emulation fully compatible to EPSON printer? |
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Q1-1: Why should I use Star ribbons and not cheaper ribbons manufactured by another company?
There are a number of reasons why Star printers should only use Star manufactured ribbons purchased from genuine Star resellers.
A. Only Star can guarantee that a ribbon has been manufactured to the correct specifications required by each type of printer and print head.
For Example, most of 3rd party ribbon contains the pigments ink with carbon component, although Star¡¯s genuine ribbon has dye based color ink.
B. The carbon component will be caused to be worn the edge of head pin rapidly.
C. The fabric of most of 3rd party ribbon can be worn rapidly, then ribbon catching will be happened so often.
D. Most of 3rd party ribbon needs higher torque to wind the ribbon. It will be caused to shorten the mechanism life.
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Q1-2: What is the definition of reliability figures ¡°MCBF¡± ?
Star¡¯ definition of MCBF (Mean Cycle Between Failure) is, overall average cycle of failure including worn or accidental failure which happens within mechanical
life time. This figure is calculated with the result of R&D life test.
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Q1-3: Can the Star Auto Cutter cut thicker material than specified?
The Star Auto cutter is able to cut thicker material than specified. However in order to guarantee the specified life of the Auto cutter,
users should stick to the specifications.
With regard to labels, the printer should be set up to cut between labels and not through them in order to guarantee the specified life of the Auto cutter.
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Q1-4: Why does my Star receipt printer print question marks at the beginning of a print run?
Please check the serial printer¡¯s serial communication parameters and matching to host condition.
Most of all serial printers use DIP switches to configure the various serial communication parameters. The serial communication parameters set on the printer must match
those set on the computer in order for their communication to be successful.
When the serial parameters on the printer do not match those on the computer the printer will illustrate this by printing questions marks whenever a print-job is initiated.
By default all Star serial printers are configured at 9600 BAUD, 8 Data-Bits, No Parity, and 1 Stop-Bit.
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Q1-5: What is ¡°Top Search¡± function?
If the application needs to print onto pre-printed stationery, or fixed size stationery (Typically Pre-printed Tickets or Labels), one of the most reliable methods
of ensuring the correct alignment (Top of Form) is to print a ¡°Black Mark¡± on the rear of the stationery that corresponds to the Ticket (or Label) length.
In order to ¡°Read¡± the Black Mark, the selected printer must be set to ¡°Reflective¡±. TSP700, TSP700II, TSP800, TSP828L, TSP1000, SP500, SP700 have reflective sensor as standard
to apply black mark controlling.
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Q1-6: Why is my direct thermal printer feeding paper but not showing any print?
The most common cause of this problem is that the Thermal paper is ¡°wound the wrong surface¡±, it means the paper has been loaded incorrectly.
Thermal paper has a ¡°Heat Sensitive¡± coating that must come into direct contact with the Thermal Head of the printer.
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Q1-7: What does ¡°MSW¡± setting mean, and how do I set it?
The term ¡°MSW¡± relates to ¡°Memory SWitches¡± and are used to set selected function within many Star Printers.
The main difference between ¡°Memory¡± and ¡°Manual¡± Dip Switches is that Control Codes are required to change ¡°Memory¡± Switches. Memory Switch is applying the Non-volatile Memory
such as EEPROM read/write or Flash ROM read/write. And the settings are stored into the printer, whereas ¡°Manual¡± Dip Switches are physical switches that can be set by moving the
appropriate switch.
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Q1-8: What is the difference between a ¡°direct¡± thermal and a thermal ¡°transfer¡± printer?
All the Star range of Thermal printers use the ¡°Direct¡± Thermal principle, this means that special ¡°Thermally Coated¡± paper must be used, and that the
Thermal Head must come into ¡°Direct¡± contact with the paper.
With Thermal ¡°Transfer¡± printers, it is not required that Thermally Coated paper is used (but, the paper must be very smooth), however, the Thermal ¡°Transfer¡± printer requires
a separate ¡°Thermal Ribbon¡± that is located between the Thermal Head and the actual paper.
In this case, when the Thermal Head ¡°heats¡± the Thermal Ribbon, the image is ¡°Transferred¡± to the paper.
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Q1-9: How can I drive the Cash Drawer by control code? What is the difference of <BEL> and <FS>?
In case of driving peripheral port 1, there are 2 different command <BEL> and <FS> (for dot printer). Both are executing command of
driving the peripheral port 1.
In case of <BEL> , this command is stored to receiving buffer and executing in order of receiving. On the other hand, in case of <FS> , driving the peripheral will be executed
at the same time of data receiving, immediately.
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Q1-10: What is ¡°code page¡± ?
Code page is ¡°the character data which located 80h to FFh¡±. Specialized character code set such as Arabic, Thailand, Greece, Russian will be available.
But the code page character are only available for Single Byte Character Set printer. In case of Chinese or Japanese printer, 80h to FFh will be treated as ¡°first byte of 2 byte code¡±.
Default Code Page Setting can be changed by MSW, and also it can be changed by control code.
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Q1-11: What is the purpose to the ferrite core?
It filters out electronic noise.
To be following the safety standard, Star recommends to attach the ferrite core on to the cable. And sometimes, strong electronic noise from outside or other electronic products
might be caused of garbage data printing. In such an environment, Star recommends to attach the ferrite core on to the data cable.
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Q1-12: What are the benefits to using a serial cable? What are the advantages of a parallel cable?
Serial cables are less prone to outside interference. A serial cable can be used in distances of up to 15 meter. Serial cables are more flexible
as far as distance is concerned but they have a slower communication rate compared to a parallel cable.
Parallel cables are only completely effective at short distances (1.5 meter or shorter) although it is possible to use a longer parallel cable although the longer
the cable the more possibility for outside interference.
Parallel cables communicate a lot faster than serial cables. There is also no cable or software setup necessary.
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Q1-13: What is the ¡°compulsion switch¡± in the cash drawer connecter?
Generally, compulsion switch is a signal which show the status of open/close the cash drawer. This signal is input to printer logic, and application can
know the status of cash drawer open/close by status back command.
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Q1-14: Is Star¡¯s ESC/POS emulation fully compatible to EPSON printer?
Star¡¯s ESC/POS emulation is based on the EPSON¡¯s official command manual. So we can say that it is fully compatible within the general operation.
However, we cannot know the ¡°hidden command¡± or ¡°customized command¡± by EPSON. So if you find the command which is not supported by Star¡¯s ESC/POS, please check the
latest information from your distributor.
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