SATO CT400, CT410 manual Ieee 1284 Parallel Interface, Electrical Specifications, Data Streams

Section 5. Interface Specifications

The printer is able to continuously receive print jobs, compiling and printing other jobs at the same time. It acts much like a “print buffer” to maximize the performance of the host and the printer.

When using the RS232 Serial interface, the Multi Job Buffer uses either the Ready/Busy with DTR (pin 20) or X-On/X-Offflow control protocols. See these sections for more details. With an empty receiving buffer, the status of DTR is “high” (or an X-Onstatus if using X-On/X-Off), meaning the printer is ready to receive data. When the receive buffer is holding 1.95MB of data (1MB from being full), DTR will go “low” (or an X-Offis sent) indicating the printer can no longer receive data. This condition is called “Buffer Near Full.”

The receiving buffer will not be able to receive more data again until a “Buffer Available” condition occurs. This takes place when the receiving buffer has emptied so that only 1MB bytes of data are being held (1.95MB bytes from being full). At this time, DTR will go “high” or an X-Onis sent to tell the host that it can again receive data.

All printer error conditions (i.e., label out, ribbon out) will cause the printer to go busy (DTR “low” or X-Off) until the problem is corrected and the printer is placed on-line. The printer will also be busy if taken off-line from the front panel.

IEEE 1284 PARALLEL INTERFACE

The parallel interface for the CT printers conforms to the IEEE 1284 specification. It will automatically detect the IEEE 1284 signals and operate in the high speed mode. If it does not detect the IEEE 1284 signals, it will operate in the standard Centronics mode, which is significantly slower. For this reason, an interface cable and host interface conforming to the IEEE 1284 specification must be present to fully utilize the speed capabilities. This interface also operates bi-directionally and can report the status of the printer back to the host.

DSW-8 on the Configuration Panel must be in the ON position to activate the parallel interface.

ELECTRICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Printer Connector	AMP 57-40360 (DDK) or equivalent
Cable Connector	AMP 57-30360 (DDK) or equivalent
Cable Length	10 ft. (3 m) or less
Signal Level	High = +2.4V to +5.0V
	Low = 0V to -0.4V
DATA STREAMS

<ESC>A . . Job#1 . . <ESC>Z<ESC>A . . Job#n . . <ESC>Z

SATO CT Series Printers 9001069A Page 5-3