Epson Stylus Color 900 User manual

Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
DOS User's Guide
Installing the Printer Driver for DOS Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Changing the Print Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Using the default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Changing the default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Troubleshooting and Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Running a printer operation check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Problems and solutions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Ink cartridge problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Cleaning the print heads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Aligning the print head. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Cleaning the printer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Transporting the printer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Character Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
International character sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Characters available with ESC ( ^ command. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4009815
xxx-00

Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
Copyright © 1998 by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION,
Nagano, Japan

3
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Installing the Printer Driver for DOS Programs
Most DOS software programs include a driver for EPSON
ESC/P 2™ printers,and require you to select the printer name from
a list to install the printer driver. To take advantage of your printer's
advanced built-in scalable fonts and graphics handling, you must
select an appropriate driver.
If your printer is not included in the list, contact your software
manufacturer to obtain updated software.
If the manufacturer does not have an updated printer driver for your
printer, select an alternative printer name from those below, starting
from the top.
When printing black only:
LQ-870/1170
LQ-570 (+)/1070(+)
SQ-870/1070
LQ-850
LQ-500
When printing black and color:
EPSON Stylus PRO
EPSON Stylus COLOR 500
EPSON Stylus COLOR II
LQ-860
LQ-2550
Note:
The drivers for theprinters listed above do not provide all EPSON STYLUS
COLOR 900 features, such as 720-dpi printing, 1440-dpi printing and
MicroWeave.
DOSsoftwarevariesgreatly.Seetheprintingsectionofyoursoftware
manual for information on accessing the printer driver settings.

4
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
LProof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Changing the Print Settings
You can change many print settings such as print direction and
loadingposition.Becausethesesettingstakeeffecteachtimeyouturn
on the printer, they are also called default settings.
The factory default settings are designed to meet the needs of most
users, so you may not need to change them.The table below lists the
features you can select in the default-setting mode.
Settings Options
Font Courier, Roman, Sans Serif, Prestige, Script,
Roman T, Sans Serif H, Draft
Pitch 10 cpi, 12 cpi, 15 cpi, 17.1 cpi, 20 cpi,
Proportional
Print direction Auto, Bi-D, Uni-D
Loading position 8.5 mm, 3 mm, Others
I/F mode Auto, Parallel, Serial, USB, Optional
Auto I/F wait time 10 seconds, 30 seconds
Network I/F mode Off, On
Parallel I/F transfer rate Fast, Normal
Software ESC/P 2, IBM X24E
Auto CR (IBM mode only) Off, On
AGM (IBM mode only) Off, On
Auto line feed Off, On
0 slash 0, 0 with slash
Character table Standardmodel:Italic,PC437,PC850,PC860,
PC861, PC863, PC865, BRASCII, Abicomp,
Roman 8, ISO Latin 1, PC858, ISO 8859-15
Allother models: Italic,PC437,PC437 Greek,
PC850, PC852, PC853, PC855, PC857, PC866,
PC869, MAZOWIA, Code MJK, ISO 8859-7,
ISO Latin 1T, Bulgaria, PC774, Estonia,
ISO 8859-2,PC866 LAT,PC866 UKR,PCAPTEC,
PC708, PC720, PCAR864, PC860, PC861,
PC863, PC865, BRASCII, Abicomp, Roman 8,
ISO Latin 1, PC858, ISO 8859-15

5
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
For more details, see the next section, “Using the default settings”.
To change a setting, see “Changing the default settings” on page 8.
Note:
Most software controls the character table and auto line feed. If your
software controls these features, you may never need to set them with the
control panel.
Using the default settings
Print direction
Your printer has three direction settings: Auto, Bi-D, and Uni-D.
Auto causes the printer to switch automatically between
bidirectional (for text data) and unidirectional (for graphics data).
Bi-D causes theprint heads to print in bothdirections. This provides
the fastest printing. Uni-D causes the print heads to print in one
direction only. This provides maximum alignment for both graphics
and character printing.
Note:
Most software controls this setting. If your software does, you may never
need to set it with the control panel.
Font
Use this setting to select the default font.
Pitch
With this setting, you can specify the default character pitch (font
size).

6
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
LProof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
I/F (interface) mode
You may need to change the I/F mode so that your printer and
computer can communicate properly. If you select Auto, the printer
automaticallyselectstheinterfacethatisreceivingdata,andusesthat
interface untiltheendoftheprintjob.Thissettingallowsyoutoshare
the printer among multiple computers without changing the
interface mode.
Check your computer documentation if you are not sure of the type
of interface your computer requires.
Auto I/F (interface) wait time
If you select Auto as the I/F mode option, you can set the interface
timeout to10 secondsor 30 seconds.The printer doesnot accept data
from another interface unless it receives no data from the current
interface for the period set in Auto I/F wait time.
Software
Use this setting to specify the type of control codes you want to use
to control the printer. If you select ESC/P 2, the printer emulates an
EPSON ESC/P 2 printer.If you select IBM X24E,the printer operates
as an IBM Proprinter™ X24E. If possible, select EPSON ESC/P 2 in
your application programs. This will allow you to use the most
advanced font and graphics handling available.
Auto CR
This feature is available when you select IBM X24E emulation as the
Softwaresetting.WhenAutoCRison,theautocarriagereturnoption
performs acarriage-return line-feed (CR LF) operationwheneverthe
print position exceeds the right margin. If this is off, the printer does
not print characters beyond the right margin, and does not perform
a linewrap until it receives a CR command.
AGM (Alternate Graphics Mode)
This feature is available when you select IBM X24E emulation as the
Software setting. When AGM is on, the printer can use high-
resolution 24-pin graphics commands. The default is off.

7
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Character table
Charactertablescontainthe charactersand symbols used in different
languages. The printer prints text based on the selected character
table. For the available character tables, see “Character Tables” on
page 28.
Auto line feed
When the Auto line feed feature is on, each carriage return (CR) code
is accompanied by a line feed (LF) code. If your printed text is
unexpectedly double-spaced, set this feature to Off. If text lines print
on top of each other, set it to On.
Network I/F mode
If your printer is connected to a single computer, leave this feature
off.If you want to share the printer with another computer, turn this
feature on. When this feature is on, data may be present in the
printer’s buffereven thoughtheprinter isnot printing.Alwaysmake
sure the printer does not receive data before turning off the printer.
Loading position
If you want to print more lines on a page, set this feature to 3 mm. If
you set the top margin with your software, that setting is added to
the default-setting value.
0 slash
If you want touse the zero character which has a slash, set this feature
to 0 with slash. The slash allows you to easily distinguish between
an uppercase letter “O” and a zero.
Parallel I/F transfer rate
This setting specifies the interface transfer rate. For most printing,
leave this setting set to Fast. If you encounter problems, set it to
Normal.

8
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
LProof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Changing the default settings
Tochangetheprinter’sdefaultsettings,usethecontrolpanelbuttons;
the control panel lights show your selections.
1. Make sure the printer is turned off and A4 or Lettersize paper is
loaded in the sheet feeder.
2. Hold down the
Rcleaning button and turn on the printer to
enter the default-setting mode.
The printer loads a sheet of paper and prints a brief summary
and instructions. It instructs you to select the language that you
want messages printed in (English, French, German, Italian,
Spanish, or Portuguese).
3. Press the
Rcleaning button until the control panel lights
indicate the language of your choice, as shown below.
o= On, n= Off
4. Press the
Eload/ejectbutton to print the current default settings
and the next instructions in the language you selected. The
printed instructions include submenu tables that list all of the
settings you can change and show you how the control panel
lights appear for each selection. Use the instruction sheets to
change the settings from the control panel.
Language
S B A
English
n n o
French
n o n
German
n o o
Italian
o n n
Spanish
o n o
Portuguese
o o n

9
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
R
Proof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
5. After making your changes, exit the default-setting mode by
turning off the printer.
Note:
You may exit the default-setting mode any time by turning off the printer.
Any changes you have made remain in effect until you change them again.
If you want to check the current default settings, enter the default-
setting mode again and print the current settings. Current settings
are indicated with arrows.
Selecting fonts
Your printer has eight built-in character fonts including two EPSON
fonts:EPSONRomanTandEPSONSans SerifH.(RomanTissimilar
to the Times™ font; Sans Serif H is similar to Helvetica™.)
To select a font, enter the default-setting mode. See “Changing the
default settings” on page 8.
Note:
The font selections you make with your software override your printer’s
control panel selections. For best results, use your software to select fonts.
The following table shows the available fonts.
Fonts Sample
EPSON Courier
EPSON Roman T
EPSON Sans Serif H
EPSON Roman
EPSON Sans Serif
EPSON Prestige
EPSON Script
Draft

10
Lancaster DOS
Rev.C
A5 size DOS.FM
2/5/99 Pass 3
LProof Sign-off:
Yano _______
Nomoto _______
K.Pipa _______
Note:
❏Roman T and Sans Serif H fonts are available in proportionally spaced
fonts only.
❏Some of the character tables might not be able to print with EPSON
Roman T and EPSON Sans Serif H fonts. In these cases, selected
character tables are printed with EPSON Roman.
Scalable fonts
The size of the Roman, Sans Serif, Roman T, and Sans Serif H fonts
can be selected from 8 to 32 points in 2-point increments through
your software or by sending an ESC/P 2™ command. See the
documentation that came with your software for information on
selecting the size of scalable fonts.
EPSON
Roman
EPSON
Roman T
EPSON
Sans Serif
EPSON
Sans Serif H
scalable sample