Possible Reasons: 1.Check if the printer is switched on and properly connected to the computer. 2.Check whether you have selected the correct serial port. 3.Check if the selected baudrate and protocol for the serial port match the position of the switches in the printer. 4.Make sure the operation mode set by the switches is NOT LP-50 Compatibility– the printer does not work with the program, when in this mode. 5.Check if there is another application that uses the serial port. 6.If when switching on the printer you have printed a diagnostic info with the LF button, switch off /on the printer. 7.Switch off /on the printer and try again. The printer may be trying to receive some kind of data.

LP-50 label and paper roll width: 56 mm. Use the switch to select paper/label mode. The length of the labels can be different, the maximum value is 170 mm. The label roll MUST NOT be with a black line. LP-1000 label and thermal paper width: 79 mm and 56 mm (with the help of a plastic delimiter placed in the device). The maximum length of a label is 205 mm. The label stock must be a black line (dye cut labels).

There is a small difference between LP-50M and LP-1000: different label size, black-line label feed of LP-1000, higher print speed for LP-1000. LP-50 is an older model, which uses the same commands but the communication with the computer is different and DATECS Label Editor cannot manage it. LP-50 has only 4 fonts, does not use loadable fonts and supports few barcode systems. Data is stored in the operational memory and can be easily lost. Whereas LP-50M and LP-1000 use the flash memory. The memory of LP-50 is two times less than the newer models.

Some cases will require little corrections in the form after it is loaded in the printer. First you need to have the forms and graphics from the old printer saved on your computer. Extract them from the printer with the help of the program that is supplied with it. Connect the new printer and then go to File->Store Form to Printer – select the form files and load them in the printer, naming them. From File->Store Graphics to Printer load the graphics that are used by the forms. The names of the graphics MUST NOT be changed, otherwise the forms will not be able to find them. After loading the forms and graphics in the printer you should be able to view them if you go to File->Forms in Printer and File->Graphics in Printer. To view a form in the editor’s screen, select the form from the list and click the Edit button. Make the necessary changes and save it again. You can also save it as a label on the disk of the computer for later loading. You may need to edit the form in two cases: If the form contains line objects, you must delete and recreate them, since the line command for the old and new printer is different. The regular font of the new printer is wider. If this is not a problem, you may leave it as it is. If, however, you lack space for the text information, go to File->Label Setup and select Text type->Condensed – the symbol interval will become as that in LP-50.

No. You can only transfer the information from LP-50 in a newer model, as mentioned in the previous answer.

No, or at least to an limited extent. You can load a form that will be compatible with the most commonly used label printers (those of them that use EPL2 as a program language) if you: do not use modifiers in text and barcode data; do not use barcode text justification; do not use white and inverse colour for diagonal lines. You can even create a font for such type of printer. But a reliable communication and print from the program are possible only using the DATECS printers.

Yes. You must simply select the LP-50 Compatibility mode with the respective switch. But probably that will not be necessary. Learning to operate with the new program is worthwhile because, as you will come to know it yourself, it provides you with a array of options and greatly facilitates your work.

If you use the test print command, go to Settings and Diagnostic and check the status Test print. If the field selection is Use stored graphics and fonts and the graphic is not loaded in the printer, it will not be printed out. The same problem may occur with loadable fonts.

The serial port is probably loaded almost to its limits. If the connecting cable of the printer is longer that 2 meters, and especially if you are using two connected cables, you may be experiencing some problem with the 115200 baudrate and must change the speed. If this is not the case, check if the program uses a hardware protocol, and the printer – a Xon/Xoff one. With a larger data transfer this could be a reason for the problem. There may be some hardware problem with the computer or printer’s serial port.

Probably the printer power is low - the device is reset and “forgets” about the rest of the label. This may happen if your label has large black areas, especially if they are horizontally placed. Change the label design, if possible, otherwise decrease the print darkness and speed from the Label Setup button.

Maybe you set low darkness print from . The label paper may be of poor quality, or too old – this makes the paper less sensitive. Keep in mind that thermal print manages poorly the thin lines (of 1 pixel width), especially horizontal lines so avoid using them.

You have probably set a continuous paper working mode, or the type of labels you are using is not suitable. LP-50M labels must not have a black line, LP-1000 must work with black-line label paper. Check the quality of the black line – if the line is pale, or has thin areas, this probably deceives the sensor in the printer. If the printer recognizes every label but repeatedly fails to start at the beginning, go to Label Setup and check the values of Offset, Left margin and Top margin for any displacement.

With LP-50M the width of the printing area is 48 mm, which is less than the label width. You cannot change this, since it depends on the printing head width. With LP-1000 you should not come upon such a problem – all the printing area is covered.

When you want to print a label from another program and device, all the data that you want to change, must be placed in variables or counters. The elements of the label can be arranged as you like. Make sure you provided enough space for the texts and barcodes, when their data is of maximum length. Load the label in the printer. What the different application or device has to do is to activate the form, send the new values of the variables and counter and give a print order. This is done by sending direct commands to the printer through the serial port. Send (ASCII code 10) – this will clear the printer’s buffer. Send FR”FormName” command, where FormName is the name of the form in the printer. The quotation marks are obligatory, space between symbols is not allowed, the line finishes with . This command will set the form active. Send ? command. This tells the printer to wait for new values of the variables and counters. For each of the variables and counters, defined in the form, send a single-line text ending in (ASCII code 10). The variables are sent first, then the counters, by ascending number. If you want to preserve the old value of a variable, send a blank line (only ). Send print command Pn,m. m is the number of identical labels to be printed. n defines how many sets of m labels will be printed. This can be used when we work with counters – after printing a set of labels their value will change automatically. To print one label, the value of n and m must be 1. For more information read the An example of creating a label for digital scales and the manual for the printer.

The file size depends on the free memory space, but it cannot exceed 48 KB. The printers support only PCX monochrome format, but the program can load also monochrome BMP graphics by converting them before sending them to the printer. Since the PCX files are compressed, you may assume that the size, after conversion will decrease (graphics that are a result from a photo, make an exception – usually they cannot be compressed). If the graphic has X and Y values larger that the label’s, clip off the unwanted parts or resize it beforehand not to occupy memory space unnecessarily. Colour graphics can be converted to black-and-white images from Tools->Color to Black & White Converter or other application.

You may have entered unallowed barcode data. Usually this happens when the barcode uses a variable – the change in the variable made the barcode invalid. Invalid barcode will be displayed on the screen as crossed with a red line. Check the barcode data. You can reference EAN 13, EAN 8, UPC-A, UPC-E, Code 128, EAN 128, Code 39, Code 93 and Interleaved 2 of 5.

Yes. If you install a driver for a printer working with EPL2 language, you can print from any Win application. Download drivers at http://www.zebra.com. The Zebra LP2742 Zebra LP2742 comes closest to the label size and settings for LP-50M and LP-1000. The LP-50 Compatibility switch MUST be turned off.

Yes. However you can use only one font, and no print text parameters as bold, underlined etc. The commands for the printer are: @2 - Sets the printer in print text mode. @0 - Sets the printer in normal mode. Each command must be on a separate line ending in (ASCII code 10). Everything send between these two commands is printed as a text with a font 3 (12x20). If the line is longer that 32 symbols, the text is automatically transferred to a new line. It is advisable when working in this mode to use continuous paper media. Switching off the printer will set the device in normal mode.

The command language of DATECS printers is based on EPL2 (Eltron Programming Language). Compatibility is not 100 % but is enough for the printers to work properly with most of the programs intended for these printers. The DATECS printers have some new commands added mostly for the purpose of getting information from the printer, which is indispensable for DATECS Label Editor. Another addition are the modifiers of the variables and the option to print linear text – both are not part of the EPL2 language. The standard EPL2 commands do not support two-dimensional barcodes, all the settings, and choose the code tables for the languages in a different way.

When you switch on the printer, press down the LF button. The printer will issue a diagnostic information – printer’s version, language, baudrate, switches’ positions, printing head temperature, free memory space and current settings. Then you MUST turn off/on the printer, because it is in Dump mode and does not run commands.

PrintUtility is a Windows Mobile driver software package that allows you to print the different document formats on Windows Mobile device using the PP55 thermal printer. PrintUtility is package consist of printer driver, configuration tool (PrintConfig) and demonstration application (PrintDemo).

PrintUtility currently supports Windows Mobile 2003, Windows Mobile 2005, Windows CE.NET 4.20 and Windows CE.NET 5.00.

PrintUtility currently does NOT support USB on Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.

At the moment we can not say exactly when the problems will be resolved. For the moment we have communicating with Microsoft on some of the problems but have little success with support from Microsoft.

To install PrintUtility on PDA you need Windows Desktop System (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003) and Microsoft ActiveSync installed and the PDA attached to desktop. After installing the PrintUtility application onto your desktop, you must go to: Start->Settings->System->PrintConfig and chouse the right settings. All settings are explained into documentation. Note: If you use RS232 connection with printer, the IrDA port should be disabled using the following: Uncheck the “Receive all incoming beams” option which can be found under - Start->Settings->Connections->Beem->Receive all incoming beams. For Imate devices it is required.

Using test application PrintDemo you can print HTML content documents, PocketWord files as plain text and graphics images. Also you can print barcodes, read barcodes, read magstripe / payment cards and reset smartcards.

Windows CE.NET has build in support in almost all applications like Internet Explorer, Microsoft WordPad, Microsoft Image Viewer and so. There is no need from additional applications to use printer.

For software problems you can write to pocketpc@datecs.bg