Ithaca ITHERM 280 Manual

iTherm®280
International Version
Programmer’s Guide
PN 28-07764, Rev CApril 2009

This page intentionally left blank

28-07764 Rev CPage 1
Change History
Rev A Initial Release
Rev B Sept 2007
Added Periodic status back
Added user defined code page description.
Added double byte code page support
Rev C April 2009
Revised Page mode section
Added several internal code pages
Added Multi-byte Code page support

Page 2Rev C28-07764
Federal Communications Commission Radio
Frequency Interference Statement
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.
Canadian Department of Communications Radio
Interference Statement
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.
Regulatory Compliance
FCC Class A
ULc
CE Mark
UL 1950
TUV

28-07764 Rev CPage 3
Disclaimer
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.
Copyright
© 2007-2009 TransAct Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Revision Level C
April 2009
Printed in USA
Trademarks
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.

Page 4Rev C28-07764
Table of Contents
Change History...............................................................................................................1
Federal Communications Commission Radio Frequency Interference Statement...........2
Canadian Department of Communications Radio Interference Statement.......................2
Regulatory Compliance...................................................................................................2
Disclaimer.......................................................................................................................3
Copyright ........................................................................................................................3
Trademarks.....................................................................................................................3
Table of Contents............................................................................................................4
Figures............................................................................................................................9
Tables.............................................................................................................................9
Introducing your iTherm®280 Printer ...........11
About your iTherm®280 Printer.....................................................................................13
Who Should Read This Guide?.....................................................................................14
What Is Included in This Guide? ...................................................................................14
Warranty Options..........................................................................................................14
Technical and Sales support.........................................................................................15
On-line Technical Support.....................................................................................15
Telephone Technical Support................................................................................15
Return Materials Authorization and Return Policies...............................................16
Service Programs..................................................................................................16
Sales Support........................................................................................................16
Contact Information...............................................................................................16
iTherm®280 Specifications and Requirements
......................................................................19
iTherm®280 Specifications and Requirements .............................................................21
iTherm® 280 Thermal Printer Models ...........................................................................21
Standard Features........................................................................................................21
Optional Features .........................................................................................................23
General Specifications..................................................................................................24
Printing Specifications...........................................................................................24
Physical Characteristics................................................................................................24
Dimensions ...........................................................................................................24
Weight...................................................................................................................25
Electrical Characteristics...............................................................................................26
Internal AC Powered.............................................................................................26
External Powered DC............................................................................................26
Thermal Print Head.......................................................................................................26
Media Specifications.....................................................................................................27
Receipt Paper .......................................................................................................27
Buzzer ..........................................................................................................................29
Cover Interlock..............................................................................................................29
Display Pass Through...................................................................................................29
Communications Interface.............................................................................................30
Parallel Interface...................................................................................................30
RS-232 Serial Interface.........................................................................................31
USB Interface........................................................................................................31

28-07764 Rev CPage 5
Ethernet 10-Base-T adapter..................................................................................32
802.11b Wireless Interface....................................................................................32
Cash Drawer.........................................................................................................33
Interface Description .............................................................................................33
Cash Drawer Pin Assignments..............................................................................33
Vertical Wall Mount Kit Option.......................................................................................35
Setup Procedures ..........................................37
Verifying the Configuration............................................................................................39
Verify the Communications Interface Card ............................................................39
Changing Interface Cards......................................................................................39
Removing the Old Interface Card..........................................................................39
Cash Drawer Configuration...................................................................................40
Configuring the Cash Drawer Interface..................................................................40
Installing Cables............................................................................................................41
Connecting power.................................................................................................41
Connecting Communications Cables.....................................................................42
Verify the Firmware Configuration.........................................................................43
Installing Paper.............................................................................................................43
Printer Drivers and Printer Controls...............................................................................44
Definitions for terms you will see in this guide: ......................................................44
Getting Started –Questions to Ask...............................................................................45
Do you want to use USB and simulate a communication port?..............................45
Do you want to use an Ethernet interface and simulate a communication port?....45
Are you using OPOS (UnifiedPOS/UPOS)? ..........................................................46
Do you want to print from a Windows application? ................................................46
Windows Printer Driver .................................................................................................47
PC Hardware ................................................................................................................47
GDI...............................................................................................................................47
OPOS driver .................................................................................................................48
PC Hardware ................................................................................................................48
USB driver ....................................................................................................................49
Ethernet Virtual Serial driver.........................................................................................50
POSPrinter ActiveX Control (POSPrinter OCX).............................................................51
PC Hardware ................................................................................................................51
Where to get more information..............................................................................52
How to Operate the iTherm®280 Printer.......53
How to Operate the iTherm®280 Printer.......................................................................55
*Button........................................................................................................................55
FEED Button.................................................................................................................55
Indicator Lights (LED) ...................................................................................................56
Power Indicator (LED)...........................................................................................56
Error Indicator (LED).............................................................................................56
Paper Indicator (LED)............................................................................................56
Fault Indicators .............................................................................................................56
Testing the Printer Overview.........................................................................................58
Using Self-Test, Configuration, and Hex Dump Mode ...........................................58
Hex-dump Mode....................................................................................................60
Level 0 Diagnostics...............................................................................................61
Boot Loader Mode.................................................................................................61

Page 6Rev C28-07764
Configuring Your iTherm®280 Printer ...........63
Configuration Mode Overview.......................................................................................65
Most Frequent Configuration Incompatibilities.......................................................65
How to Change Configuration Settings .........................................................................65
Entering into Configuration Mode..........................................................................65
Using Configuration Mode.............................................................................................66
Remote Configuration...................................................................................................69
Setting up for Color Paper.............................................................................................69
Custom Color........................................................................................................69
Programming Codes ......................................71
Control Codes Overview...............................................................................................73
Nomenclature................................................................................................................73
Standard Emulation...............................................................................................74
IPCL Codes...........................................................................................................74
EPOS Emulation...................................................................................................74
Axiohm..................................................................................................................74
Ithaca®Microline Emulation...................................................................................74
Application Development ..............................................................................................74
Ithaca Control Codes and Commands ..........................................................................75
PcOS Printer Control Codes..................................................................................75
Quick PcOS Reference Chart................................................................................76
Low Level Paper Motion Control............................................................................82
Horizontal Motion Control......................................................................................83
Vertical Motion Control..........................................................................................85
Feed to Black Dot..................................................................................................91
Character Pitch .....................................................................................................93
Character Font......................................................................................................96
Character Sets and Code Pages...........................................................................98
Double-Byte and Multi-Byte Code Page Description Files...................................100
Code page selection............................................................................................100
Page Mode..........................................................................................................113
Graphic Mode......................................................................................................123
Graphics Compression........................................................................................129
User Store (Graphic Save)..................................................................................129
User Macros........................................................................................................137
Bar Codes...........................................................................................................139
Electronic Journal................................................................................................149
Miscellaneous Control.........................................................................................161
Remote Power Control........................................................................................169
Documented Extended Control commands.........................................................170
Printer Status ......................................................................................................171
Inquire Commands..............................................................................................172
ESC/POSTM Codes .....................................................................................................181
Differences between Epson TM T90 and iTherm®280........................................181
Supported TM-T88 Commands...................................................................................183
Undocumented TM-T88 Commands...........................................................................186
Supported TM-T90 Commands...................................................................................187
TM-T88 / TM-T90 and ESC/POSTM Command Descriptions .......................................191
Print and Feed Commands.........................................................................................191
Line Spacing Commands............................................................................................193

28-07764 Rev CPage 7
Character Commands.................................................................................................193
Panel Button Commands ............................................................................................202
Paper Sensor Commands...........................................................................................203
Print Position Commands............................................................................................205
Bit-Image Commands .................................................................................................209
Status Commands ......................................................................................................210
Printing Paper Command............................................................................................216
Page Mode .................................................................................................................217
Bar Code Commands..................................................................................................220
Mechanism Control Commands..................................................................................223
Miscellaneous Commands..........................................................................................224
Macro Function Commands........................................................................................230
User-defined Images and Graphics Commands..........................................................231
Ithaca®Specific iTherm®280 Commands ...................................................................236
Panel Button Commands.....................................................................................236
Paper Out/Low Sensor Commands.....................................................................236
iTherm®Citizen Emulation ..........................................................................................238
iTherm®Star Emulation...............................................................................................238
iTherm®Axiohm Emulation .........................................................................................238
iTherm®280 Color Graphics.........................239
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 and Fonts .......................................255
Unicode and Fonts .......................................257
Fonts...........................................................................................................................257
Character Generation..........................................................................................257
Character Definition.............................................................................................258
Internal Fonts......................................................................................................260
Character Cache.................................................................................................260
Custom Fonts......................................................................................................261
Stacked or Linked fonts.......................................................................................261
Font Storage .......................................................................................................261
Unicode.......................................................................................................................262
Unicode Encoding...............................................................................................262
Bitmap Fonts.......................................................................................................265
File system and the POR.INI file .................................................................................268
Font Size and Spacing................................................................................................273
Font Size and Spacing command interactions.....................................................274
Legacy Printer Features that Have Changed ..............................................................280
Dynamic code page definition..............................................................................280

Page 8Rev C28-07764
File System ..................................................281
File System Interface ..................................................................................................283
File System commands.......................................................................................283
iTherm®280 Extended Printer Control.........289
Communications ..........................................297
Protocol and Print Buffers...........................................................................................299
USB............................................................................................................................302
USB Support.......................................................................................................302
TCP/IP........................................................................................................................303
Print Server Features Standard Ethernet Connection..........................................303
Supported Protocols............................................................................................303
User Interface/Configuration................................................................................303
Other...................................................................................................................303
Parallel Port................................................................................................................304
Parallel Port Protocol...........................................................................................304
Printer Buffer Size...............................................................................................305
Parallel Port Inquire and IEEE 1284....................................................................305
Parallel Port Plug and Play..................................................................................307
Serial Port...................................................................................................................309
Serial Port Protocol.............................................................................................309
Print Buffer Flow..................................................................................................311
Printer Buffer Size...............................................................................................313
Serial Mode Plug and Play..................................................................................313
Using DSR..........................................................................................................313
Serial Device Identification..................................................................................314
Serial Port Inquire................................................................................................315
Display Pass Through.................................................................................................316
Remote Power Control................................................................................................316
Remote Printer Reset..................................................................................................317
Reset in Serial Mode...........................................................................................317
Reset in Parallel Mode........................................................................................317
Miscellaneous Communication Features.....................................................................318
Power-cycle Recovery.........................................................................................318
Data Pass-through ..............................................................................................318
Multi-drop Configuration......................................................................................318
Off-line Active......................................................................................................319
Recovery from Mechanical Errors...............................................................................320
Programmer’s Notes...................................................................................................321
Appendix A: Internal Code Pages.................323
Appendix B -ASCII Code Table....................324
Appendix C: Unicode Character Addresses...325
Appendix D: WGL4.0 Character Addresses...327
Appendix E: GB18030 Character Addresses.331
Appendix F Windows 1252 Latin 1...............338
Appendix G: Ordering Supplies ....................341