Star Micronics Rainbow NX-1000C User manual

USERS MANUAL

NOTICE
THIS PRODUCT IS DESIGNED
TO OPERATE AT 120V.
ANY OTHER VOLTAGE
MAY
CAUSE DAMAGE.

1

Federal Communications Commission
Radio Frequency Interference Statement
This equipmentgenerates and uses radio frequency energy and if
not installed and used properly,
that is, in strict accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, may cause interference to radio
and television reception.
It has been type tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class
B computing device
in accordance with the specifications in Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC Rules,
which are designed to provide reasonable protection against such interference
in a residential
installation. However, there
is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular
installation.
If this equipment does cause interference to radio or television reception, which
can
be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct
the interference by one
or more of the following measures:
• Reorient the receiving antenna
• Relocate the computer
or printer with respect to the receiver
• Move the computer or printer away from the receiver
• Plug the computer
or printer into a different outlet so that it and the receiver are on
different branch circuits.
If necessary, the user should consult the dealer or an experienced redio/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 U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D.C., 20402, Stock No. 004-000-00345-4.
For compliance with the Federal Noise Interference Standard, this equipmentrequires a shielded
cable.
The above statement applies only to printers marketed in the U.S.A.
Trademark Acknowledgements
NX-IOOOC: Star Micronics Co., Ltd.
Commodore CI2S/C64: Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
NOTICE
• All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this manual in any form whatsoever
without STAR's express permission
is forbidden.
• The contents
of this manual are subject to change without notice.
• All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy
of the contents of this manual at the
time
of press. However, should any errors be detected, STAR would greatly appreciate
being informed
of them.
• The above notwithstanding, STAR can assume no responsibility for any errors
in this
manual.
©Copyright 1987 Star Micronics Co., Ltd.
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HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL
This manual is organized into four chapters and three appendixes. To
learn how to make the best use of your printer you are urged to read all
of chapters 1 through 4. The appendixes can be referred to as necessary.
Chapter 1 explains how to get the printer unpacked and set up. Read this
chapter before you do anything else.
Chapter 2 explains the control panel. After getting set up, read this chapter
and try out the procedures in it to find
out how the printer works.
Chapter 3 is an introduction to BASIC programming for the printer, with
many short demonstration programs.
Chapter 4 covers maintenance and troubleshooting. Look through this
chapter to
see what it contains, then refer to it as necessary later.
Appendix A lists the printer's technical specifications.
Appendix B details the functions of escape sequences and other printer
commands.
Appendix C presents tables of the printer's character sets.

FEATURES OF THE PRINTER
This printer is a compact, convenient, colour dot-matrix printer with
a Commodore serial interface. Fully compatible with the Commodore Cl28
and C64 computers, it supports the Commodore commands and prints the
Commodore graphics
and business character sets (both standard and DIN
versions). It also has an ASCII operatingmode inwhich it printsthe standard
ASCII character set. Some
of its main features are the following:
•
Six bright colours
Red, blue, violet, yellow, orange, and green add a colour dimension to
your printed output.
See the samples inside the back cover.
• Easy operation
Clearly understandablelamp displays and beep tones provide immediate
feedback when youpress the switches
on the controlpanel. Thefour switches
can operate in combinations to perform a surprising variety
of functions,
including
ma~gin setting and micro-alignment.
• Easy care and maintenance
The ribbon cartridge can be replaced
in seconds; the print head ina few
minutes.
• Versatile paper handling
Single sheets, fanfold forms, and multi-copy forms (up to triple-ply)
are all accepted, and you can use either tractor or friction
feed. A special
feature enables you to keep fanfold forms parked
in readiness while printing
on other paper.
• Fast draft-quality printing
At 120 characters per second, the printer can print a page faster than
you can read it. Characters are naturally shaped, with true descenders.
• High-resolution near-letter-quality printing
Whenyou select
an NLQ type style, the printerslows down andemploys
a dense matrix
of up to 18 by 23 dots to print clear, well-formed characters.
• Graphics
The printer prints both standard eight-bit graphics and Commodore L
seven-bit graphics. I
II
• Large variety of type styles and sizes
The printer has one draft style and four NLQ styles (Courier, Sanserif, I
'I'
and Orator with small capitals or lower case), plus italics for all styles, plus U
condensed print, bold print, double-sized print, quadruple-sized print-see
the samples on the next page: l!

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OPERATING MODES ARE:
COMMODORE STANDARD MODE
WITH GRAPHICS CHARACTER SET
with business character set
COMMODORE DIN MODE
WITH GRAPHICS CHARACTER SET
with business character set
ASCII mode
TYPE STYLES ARE:
DRAFT CHARACTERS,
COURIER CHARACTERS.
SANSERIF CHARACTERS,
ORATOR WITH SMALL CAPITALS
6
OR
with lower case characters
6
and ITAL IeS Tor a 11 s.t Vl es..
PRINT PITCHES ARE:
PICA PITCH. ELITE PITCH.
CONDENSED PICA PITCH. CODJSID FJ.ITE PITCH
PROPORTIONAL SPACING FOR ALL PITCHES.
VARIOUS LINE SPACINGS:
~~
SPECIAL EFFECTS INCLUDE:
QUAD-SIZE~
DOUBLE-SIZE, EXPANDED~
EMPHASIZED. DOUBLE-STRIKE. UNDERLINING.
I~~~~~~. SUPERSCRZPT. SuaSCRZPT.
COLOUR PRINTING: REFER TO BACK COVER
DOWNLOAD CHARACTERS: ~~~~~~~~~~aaaaaaaaaa
DOT GRAPHICS:
s

TABLE OF CONTENTS
[;
Chapter 1 SETTING UP THE PRINTER 1 n
Locating the printer 1
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Unpacking and inspection 1
Check the carton contents
Setting up 3 n
Mount the platen knob
Remove the top cover r
Install the ribbon cartridge
Replace the top cover r
Connect the printer to the computer
Connect the printer's power cord
I:
Loading single sheets 6
Mount the paper guide
('
Semiautomatic loading
Manual loading
Loading and parking fanfold forms 8
I:
Paper parking
Paper unparking
(i
Test printing 12
Short self test
(',
Long self test
Interface test
Adjusting the printing gap
13
m
DIP switch settings 14
Chapter 2 CONTROL PANEL OPERATIONS
17
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Switches and indicators
17
Power indicator t
On Line switch
Paper Feed switch
[,
Print Pitch switch
NLQ Type Style switch
L:
Power-up functions
21
Short test pattern
l:
Long test pattern
Stay in panel pitch
Stay in panel style
Hexadecimal dump
Switch combination functions
23
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Paper parking
Page feed

1
1 Top
offonn
Forward micro-feed
rl
Reverse micro-feed
Left margin
1 Right margin
Chapter 3 BASIC PROGRAMMING FOR
THE PRINTER 27
I BASIC statements
27
Listing a program
29
I Coding printer commands
30
Printer modes and character sets
31
I Type style and pitch
34
Special effects
36
Page fonnatting
38
I
Dot graphics
41
Download characters 44
I Colour printing
47
Chapter 4 MAINTENANCE AND TROUBLESHOOTING
49
I Cleaning the printer
49
Replacing the ribbon
49
I Replacing the print head
50
Troubleshooting
52
I Appendix A TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
55
Appendix B PRINTER CONTROL COMMANDS
59
I Operating mode commands
59
Colour printing commands
60
I
Font control commands
60
Character set commands
63
) Character size
and pitch commands
64
Vertical position commands 67
Horizontal position commands 69
I Graphics commands
71
Download character commands 73
J Macro instruction commands
75
Other printer control commands 75
J Appendix C CHARACTER
SETS 77
Commodore Standard mode 78
J Graphics character set
Business character set
J Commodore
DIN mode 82
Graphics character set
J Business character set

ASCII character set
International character sets
INDEX
REFERENCE CARD
86
88
91
Inside the cover
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