UltraPort Serial Adaptors User Guide
Page 131
Problems with printer output
When you use transparent printing you may obtain incorrect printer output due to the
following reasons:
Graphics printers may misinterpret some characters output through transparent print. This
problem is more likely if the terminal is in 7-bit mode, because 8-bit characters will not be
printed.
Some terminals suppress the output of certain characters to their printer or AUX ports. Such
terminals can prevent essential control characters from reaching the printer thus generating
incorrect printer output. This occurrence is extremely unpredictable because of the large
number of potential hardware configurations.
The printcap.spd configuration file
The printcap.spd file defines the transparent print ON and OFF strings for each terminal type
available. When a host card receives data addressed to the transparent print device it
prefixes it with the transparent print mode ON string and appends it with the transparent
mode OFF string.
If you don’t configure a specific terminal type printcap.spd will use the default type which is
“unknown”
ansi ^X ^T
Terminal type.
Transparent print ON string.
Transparent print OFF