Ithaca ITHERM 280 Manual











  

Rev E Removed reference to a non-existent Operator’s Guide June 2005
Rev F Various updates and improvements June 2005
Rev G Added Las Vegas address Nov 2005
Rev H Added Periodic status back. Sept 2007

 !
The iTherm
®
280 Printer complies with the limits for a Class A computing device in
accordance with the specifications in Part 15 of FCC rules. These regulations are
designed to minimize radio frequency interference during installation; however, there is
no guarantee that radio or television interference will not occur during any particular
installation. Interference can be determined by turning the equipment off and on while
the radio or television is on. If the printer causes interference to radio or television
reception, try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
1. Reorient the radio or television receiving antenna
2. Relocate the printer with respect to the receiver
3. Plug the printer and receiver into different circuits
If necessary, the user should consult their dealer or an experienced radio/television
technician for additional suggestions. The user may find the following booklet prepared
by the Federal Communications Commission helpful: How to Identify and Resolve
Radio/TV Interference Problems. This booklet is available from the US Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. Ask for stock number 004-000-00345-4.
"#
 !
The iTherm
®
280 Printer does not exceed Class A limits for radio noise emissions from
digital apparatus set out in the Radio Interference Regulations of the Canadian
Department of Communications.
#
FCC Class A
ULc
CE Mark
UL 1950
TUV

  
"
NOTICE TO ALL PERSONS RECEIVING THIS DOCUMENT:
The information in this document is subject to change without notice. No part of this
document may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of
TransAct Technologies, Inc. ("TransAct"). This document is the property of and contains
information that is both confidential and proprietary to TransAct. Recipient shall not
disclose any portion of this document to any third party.
TRANSACT DOES NOT ASSUME ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES INCURRED,
DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR
DISCREPANCIES IN THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT.
TransAct cannot guarantee that changes in software and equipment made by other
manufacturers, and referred to in this publication, do not affect the applicability of
information in this publication.
#
© 2004, 2005 TransAct Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revision Level G
November 2005
Printed in USA
$
Some of the product names mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only
and may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
BANKjet, 50Plus, Insta-Load, Ithaca, "Made to Order. Built to Last", Magnetec, PcOS,
POSjet, PowerPocket, iTherm and TransAct are registered trademarks and Epic 950,
Flex-Zone, imPort, ithaColor, KITCHENjet, Momentum, QDT and TicketBurst are
trademarks of TransAct Technologies, Inc.

  
%
Change History ................................................................................................................i
Federal Communications Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement ............i
Canadian Department of Communications Radio Interference Statement........................i
Regulatory Compliance....................................................................................................i
Disclaimer ....................................................................................................................... ii
Copyright......................................................................................................................... ii
Trademarks..................................................................................................................... ii
Table of Contents........................................................................................................... iii
Figures..........................................................................................................................viii
Tables...........................................................................................................................viii

! """""""""""""""""""#
About your iTherm
®
280 Printer.......................................................................................3
Who Should Read This Guide?.......................................................................................4
What Is Included in This Guide?......................................................................................4
Warranty Options ............................................................................................................4
Technical and Sales support ...........................................................................................5
On-line Technical Support .......................................................................................5
Telephone Technical Support..................................................................................5
Return Materials Authorization and Return Policies.................................................6
Service Programs....................................................................................................6
Sales Support..........................................................................................................6
Contact Information .................................................................................................7

!$%& %""""""""'
iTherm
®
280 Specifications and Requirements..............................................................11
iTherm® 280 Thermal Printer Models............................................................................11
Standard Features ........................................................................................................11
Optional Features..........................................................................................................13
General Specifications ..................................................................................................14
Printing Specifications ...........................................................................................14
Character Pitch......................................................................................................14
Character Generation............................................................................................15
Physical Characteristics ................................................................................................18
Dimensions............................................................................................................18
Weight...................................................................................................................18
Electrical Characteristics...............................................................................................19
Internal AC Powered .............................................................................................19
External Powered DC ............................................................................................19
Thermal Print Head.......................................................................................................19
Media Specifications .....................................................................................................20
Receipt Paper........................................................................................................20
Buzzer...........................................................................................................................22
Cover Interlock..............................................................................................................22
Display Pass Through ...................................................................................................22
Communications Interface.............................................................................................23
Parallel Interface....................................................................................................23
RS-232 Serial Interface .........................................................................................24

  
USB Interface........................................................................................................24
Ethernet 10-Base-T adapter ..................................................................................25
802.11b Wireless Interface....................................................................................25
Cash Drawer .........................................................................................................26
Interface Description..............................................................................................26
Cash Drawer Pin Assignments..............................................................................26
Vertical Wall Mount Kit Option.......................................................................................28
%""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'
Verifying the Configuration ............................................................................................31
Verify the Communications Interface Card.............................................................31
Changing Interface Cards......................................................................................31
Removing the Old Interface Card ..........................................................................31
Cash Drawer Configuration ...................................................................................32
Configuring the Cash Drawer Interface..................................................................32
Installing Cables............................................................................................................33
Connecting power..................................................................................................33
Connecting Communications Cables.....................................................................34
Verify the Firmware Configuration .........................................................................35
Installing Paper .............................................................................................................35
Installing Windows
®
Printer Drivers................................................................................36
Printer Driver Installation for WIN95, 98, Me..........................................................36
Printer Driver Installation for NT4.0, 2000..............................................................36
OPOS drivers Installation Instructions ...................................................................37
To Install the USB drivers......................................................................................37
()
! """"""""""""""'
How to Operate the iTherm
®
280 Printer .......................................................................41
Button .........................................................................................................................41
FEED Button.................................................................................................................41
Indicator Lights (LED)....................................................................................................42
Power Indicator (LED) ...........................................................................................42
Error Indicator (LED) .............................................................................................42
Paper Indicator (LED)............................................................................................42
Fault Indicators..............................................................................................................42
Testing the Printer Overview .........................................................................................44
Using Self-Test, Configuration, and Hex Dump Mode............................................44
Hex-dump Mode....................................................................................................46
Level 0 Diagnostics ...............................................................................................47
Boot Loader Mode.................................................................................................47
*$+
! """"""""""""""""""'
Configuration Mode Overview .......................................................................................51
Most Frequent Configuration Incompatibilities .......................................................51
How to Change Configuration Settings..........................................................................51
Entering into Configuration Mode ..........................................................................51
Using Configuration Mode.............................................................................................52
Remote Configuration ...................................................................................................55
Setting up for Color Paper.............................................................................................55
Custom Color ........................................................................................................55
 *%""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""",
Control Codes Overview ...............................................................................................59

  
Nomenclature................................................................................................................59
Standard Emulation...............................................................................................60
IPCL Codes...........................................................................................................60
EPOS Emulation....................................................................................................60
Axiohm ..................................................................................................................60
Ithaca
®
Microline Emulation...................................................................................60
Application Development...............................................................................................60
Ithaca Control Codes and Commands...........................................................................61
PcOS Printer Control Codes..................................................................................61
Quick PcOS Reference Chart................................................................................62
Quick PcOS Reference Chart (Alphabetic) ............................................................69
Low Level Paper Motion Control............................................................................74
Horizontal Motion Control ......................................................................................75
Vertical Motion Control ..........................................................................................77
Feed to Black Dot..................................................................................................83
Character Pitch......................................................................................................85
Character Font ......................................................................................................88
Print Rotation Commands....................................................................................105
Rotated Print Summary .......................................................................................108
iTherm
®
280 Page Mode .....................................................................................111
Graphic Mode......................................................................................................115
Graphics Compression ........................................................................................121
User Store (Graphic Save) ..................................................................................121
User Macros........................................................................................................129
Bar Codes ...........................................................................................................131
Electronic Journal................................................................................................142
Unicode and Downloaded Fonts..........................................................................154
Unicode Encoding ...............................................................................................154
Miscellaneous Control .........................................................................................159
Remote Power Control ........................................................................................167
Documented Extended Control commands..........................................................168
Printer Status.......................................................................................................169
Inquire Commands ..............................................................................................170
ESC/POS
TM
Codes......................................................................................................179
Differences between Epson TM T90 and iTherm
®
280 ........................................179
Supported TM-T88 Commands...................................................................................181
Undocumented TM-T88 Commands ...........................................................................184
Supported TM-T90 Commands...................................................................................185
TM-T88 / TM-T90 and ESC/POS
TM
Command Descriptions........................................190
Print and Feed Commands..........................................................................................190
Line Spacing Commands ............................................................................................192
Character Commands .................................................................................................192
Panel Button Commands ............................................................................................201
Paper Sensor Commands ...........................................................................................202
Print Position Commands............................................................................................204
Bit-Image Commands..................................................................................................208
Status Commands.......................................................................................................209
Printing Paper Command ............................................................................................215
Page Mode..................................................................................................................216
Bar Code Commands..................................................................................................219
Mechanism Control Commands ..................................................................................222

  
Miscellaneous Commands ..........................................................................................223
Macro Function Commands ........................................................................................229
User-defined Images and Graphics Commands..........................................................230
Ithaca
®
Specific iTherm
®
280 Commands....................................................................235
Panel Button Commands.....................................................................................235
Paper Out/Low Sensor Commands .....................................................................235
iTherm
®
Citizen Emulation...........................................................................................237
iTherm
®
Star Emulation...............................................................................................237
iTherm
®
Axiohm Emulation..........................................................................................237

!*-.%""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""'
Printing Graphics.........................................................................................................241
Character Graphics .............................................................................................241
APA Graphics......................................................................................................244
iTherm
®
280 Universal Color Graphics........................................................................247
Print File Graphics...............................................................................................248
Store Graphics in the printer:...............................................................................249
How universal graphics is done ...........................................................................250
How to use IPCL commands in text strings..........................................................250
Cautions..............................................................................................................251
Universal Color Command Descriptions ..............................................................252
iTherm
®
280 Coupon-Cut-Logo Feature......................................................................254
/ """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""",,
Unicode – A Software Font Solution............................................................................257
About Unicode.............................................................................................................258
Memory ...............................................................................................................258
TransAct’s implementation of Unicode in the iTherm
®
280. .........................................258

!01*-""""""""""""""""2#
* %""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""2'
Protocol and Print Buffers ...........................................................................................271
USB ............................................................................................................................274
USB Support .......................................................................................................274
TCP/IP ........................................................................................................................275
Print Server Features Standard Ethernet Connection..........................................275
Supported Protocols............................................................................................275
User Interface/Configuration................................................................................275
Other ...................................................................................................................275
Parallel Port ................................................................................................................276
Parallel Port Protocol...........................................................................................276
Printer Buffer Size ...............................................................................................277
Parallel Port Inquire and IEEE 1284 ....................................................................277
Parallel Port Plug and Play..................................................................................279
Serial Port ...................................................................................................................281
Serial Port Protocol..............................................................................................281
Print Buffer Flow..................................................................................................283
Printer Buffer Size ...............................................................................................285
Serial Mode Plug and Play ..................................................................................285
Using DSR...........................................................................................................285
Serial Device Identification ..................................................................................286
Serial Port Inquire................................................................................................287

  
Display Pass Through .................................................................................................288
Remote Power Control................................................................................................288
Remote Printer Reset..................................................................................................289
Reset in Serial Mode ...........................................................................................289
Reset in Parallel Mode.........................................................................................289
Miscellaneous Communication Features.....................................................................290
Power-cycle Recovery.........................................................................................290
Data Pass-through...............................................................................................290
Multi-drop Configuration ......................................................................................290
Off-line Active......................................................................................................291
Recovery from Mechanical Errors ...............................................................................292
Programmer’s Notes ...................................................................................................293
3134*5$6- """""""""""""',
3173**6- """""""""""""""""""""""""'
31*4)-%""""""""""""""""""""""""""''
1 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""#

  

Figure 1 Receipt Printing, Tear off Position ..................................................................21
Figure 2 Cash Drawer Pin Definitions............................................................................26
Figure 3 Cash Drawer Selection....................................................................................32
Figure 4 Power and Communications Ports ..................................................................33
Figure 5 3-pin mini DIN plug..........................................................................................34
Figure 6 Page Mode entry Orientations.......................................................................111
Figure 7 Code 39 full 128 character encoding .............................................................133
Figure 8 Expanded Function coding............................................................................135
Figure 9 Code 128 encoding values............................................................................137
Figure 10 Example of Character Graphics...................................................................241
Figure 11 Example Commands for a Sample Receipt .................................................242
Figure 12 Sample Receipt...........................................................................................243
Figure 13 Receipt with graphics ..................................................................................247
Figure 14 Typical POS System ...................................................................................271
Figure 15 Host to Printer Link......................................................................................272
Figure 16 Printer Communications Buffer Flow ...........................................................273
Figure 17 Parallel-port Data Timing.............................................................................276
Figure 18 Parallel Port ACK Timing Options................................................................277
Figure 19 Serial Port Flow Control Using DTR ............................................................281
Figure 20 XON/XOFF Serial Port Flow Control............................................................282
%
Table 1 Possible Character Pitches...............................................................................14
Table 2 Requested CPI and Resulting CPI....................................................................15
Table 3 Cell Size for Small, Medium and Large Fonts...................................................15
Table 4 Standard Power Input Requirements................................................................19
Table 5 Power Input Requirements with the 24-volt DC Power .....................................19
Table 6: Paper Grades-Monochrome ............................................................................20
Table 7 Parallel Interface Pin-outs.................................................................................23
Table 8 Serial Interface Pin-outs ...................................................................................24
Table 9 Cash Drawer Pin Assignment...........................................................................27
Table 10 Serial interface pin out....................................................................................34
Table 11 Parallel interface pin out.................................................................................34
Table 12 Error Blink Codes ...........................................................................................43
Table 13 Character Pitch...............................................................................................86
Table 14 Inter-character Spacing ..................................................................................87
Table 15 Language Table ID’s ......................................................................................91
Table 16 Code Page Definition Table............................................................................92
Table 17 Euro Character Substitution Matrix.................................................................93
Table 18 OCR MA-3......................................................................................................98
Table 19 Paper Sensor Commands ............................................................................163
Table 20 Paper Sensor Commands ............................................................................164
Table 21 Supported TM-T90 Commands ....................................................................183
Table 22 Undocumented TM-T90 Commands.............................................................184
Table 23 Supported EPOS Commands.......................................................................185