Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!laidbak!obdient!ddsw1!ddsw1!point!wek
From: wek@point.UUCP (Bill Kuykendall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: C. ITOH vs Epson printer
Message-ID: <[2004.3]comp.ibmpc;1@point.UUCP>
Date: 20 Sep 89 19:00:07 GMT
References: <946NETOPRJW@NCSUVM> <3809.2514c431@uwovax.uwo.ca>
Lines: 32

>       1. Evenif I connect the serial printer to the serial port, it still
>doesn't work. My machine have two serial port, Com1 is for the modem, Com2
>is for the printer. (Actually, I am not sure.)

Assuming you use COM1 for your printer, add the following commands to your
autoexec.bat file:

MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1
MODE LPT1=COM1

Reboot your machine and then send a text file to the printer with the
command:

COPY AUTOEXEC.BAT PRN

9600 baud is the fastest speed that you can set up the port for with DOS. 
That is likely to be the way your printer is configured already.  If you
can't get documentation for the printer switches and you get gibberish when
you print with the above settings, there could be 2 problems.

If some of the characters are readable (and the text you sent!) the parity
is wrong.  Change 'N,8,1' above to 'E,7,1'.  If none of it is readable, the
speed is wrong.  Change '9600' above to one of the following:
'4800|2400|1200|300'.  You can type the MODE command interactively at the
'DOS prompt while testing; then put it in your autoexec.bat file when you
get it right.  MODE, by the way, is MODE.COM, and is found on your 'DOS
disk. (on a hard disk, your dos files should be in a subdirectory that is
included in your path)

Once you get the printer working as above, you may still have to configure
your software to use different printer control codes if any of your programs
were using bold, underline, etc features of the Epson.