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Setting Up Printer Controls For Laser Printers

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Your screen usually shows the codes that were set up during your system’s installation. The codes you use depend on the printer model you use and how your printers are hooked up (to a terminal, the main computer, or a network). For this reason, you should verify each terminal’s printer setups.

The codes you use also depend on the type of invoice, estimate, and service review form you are using at your store: long form, short form, or plain paper formats. All of these forms fit on 8½” by 11″ paper.

  • The long form prints the invoice or service review information all the way down the page.
  • The short form prints invoice, invoice with estimate, or service review information. It does not print invoice or service review information on the bottom 2 inches of the page. However, if you are printing an invoice with estimate information, that information will appear at the bottom of the page.
  • Plain Paper invoice formats are dynamic. The length of the invoice depends on the content. For example, the invoice will be longer if there’s a checklist.
  • If you want to change forms, if you are not sure about the type of form you use, or if you are unsure of how your printer is installed, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

This article contains instructions for setting up laser printer codes, copying print codes between terminals, and enabling PDF report printing. If you have a Dot Matrix Printer, refer to the article Setting Up Printer Controls for Dot Matrix Printers. If you have a Laser Printer, follow the instructions below.

Use the following steps to set up your printer information:

  1. On the Main Menu, select System Setup Menu.
  2. Select Set Up Printer Controls (1) to receive a screen similar to the following.

  1. Fill in the following fields:

Main Invoice Printer

Fill in this field to send the invoicing output to the correct printer. Your invoice printer can be plugged into a terminal, computer, or network. Other options not listed below are available for this field. If you have a unique situation, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

If your invoice printer is: Fill in this code:
Attached to the computer and you want the invoices to be sent to the printer scheduler =inv
The same printer as your report printer Leave this field blank

Invoice Printer Initial Codes

Type 999 27 69 27 38 108 53 101 in these fields. The initial codes ensure the invoice is printed correctly when it gets to the printer. These codes are not just random numbers; each code has a specific purpose. The codes allow the output to flow to the printer and set the printer to the correct number of characters per inch.

Invoice Printer Open Drawer

These codes automatically open the cash drawer for cash sales. If these codes do not open your cash drawer, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

If your cash drawer is: Fill in these codes:
Connected to the invoice printer 7 7 7
NOT connected to the invoice printer Leave this field blank

Invoice Printer Final Codes

The final codes prepare the printer for the next print job.

If your invoices are… Fill in these codes:
Short Form 108 54 46 55 99 54 50 102 50 88
Long Form 108 54 50 102 50 88

Report Printer

This field sends reports to the correct printer. Your report printer can be attached to a thin client, computer, or network. If you have a unique situation, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

Note: If you have the Preventative Maintenance Module (PM), the printer entered here is the printer to which that report is sent. Therefore, if you have PM, the normal setup would be to put the PM printer (usually a separate printer) in this field for each bay terminal and to enter the report printer for the console.
If you want the reports: Fill in this code:
sent to the printer scheduler (this is the standard choice) Leave this field blank or =rpt

Report Type

Leave this set to 1 to continue using the codes referenced in the section below. Change to 2 if you want to use PDF reports. See the PDF Report Printing section later in this document.

Report Printer Initial Codes

Type 27 69 27 38 49 88 in these fields. The initial codes ensure the report is printed correctly when it gets to the printer.

Report Printer Final Codes

Leave these fields blank.

Auxiliary Printer

Fill in this field if you print service reviews or cash receipts on a separate printer, known as the auxiliary printer. Your service review printer can be attached to a terminal, computer, or network. Other options are available for this field. If you have a unique situation, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

If your auxiliary printer is: Fill in this code:
Attached to the computer and you want the service reviews to be sent to the printer scheduler (this is the standard choice) =srv
The same printer as your report printer Leave this field blank

Auxiliary Printer Initial Codes

Type 999 27 69 27 38 108 53 101 108 54 in these fields. The initial codes are used to have the service review print correctly when it gets to the printer.

Auxiliary Printer Final Codes

Type 46 55 99 54 50 102 49 88 in these fields. The final codes prepare the printer for the next print job.

Estimate Printer

If you have set up your LubeSoft system to create Estimates, fill in this field to send the estimate output to the correct printer. Your estimate printer can be plugged in to either a terminal, computer, or network. Other options not listed below are available for this field. If you have a unique situation, please call ISI Customer Support for help.

If your estimate printer is: Fill in this code:
Attached to the computer and you want the estimates to be sent to the estimate printer =est
The same printer as your report printer Leave this field blank

Estimate Printer Initial Codes

Type 999 27 69 27 38 108 54 101 54 99 in these fields. If you have set up your LubeSoft system to create Estimates, the initial estimate printer codes ensure the estimate prints correctly when it gets to the printer. These codes are not just random numbers; each code has a specific purpose. The codes allow the output to flow to the printer and set the printer to the correct number of characters per inch.

Thermal Auto Sticker Printer

Fill in this field if you are printing thermal auto stickers. This line will designate to which thermal auto sticker printer this terminal prints.

If your Thermal Auto Sticker printer is… Fill in this code:
Attached to the computer and you want the thermal sticker to be sent to the print scheduler (this is the standard choice) =ovation
Note: If you are using multiple thermal printers and you want to print to the scheduler, you will first need to set up your printer in CUPS.

Darkness Control

Enter a higher number to print darker text for stickers, or a lower number to print lighter text. Darker text causes more wear on the print head, so use the lowest setting that makes stickers legible. (Default is 50)

Horizontal Position

Enter a higher number to move sticker text to the left, or a lower number to move sticker text to the right. A change of 20 dots will shift the text by about one character or 1/8th inch (3 mm). (Default is 455)

Offset

If you have a Pennzprint sticker printer, enter a value to set the horizontal position of sticker text. Positive numbers move the text left, and negative numbers move the text right. (Default is 0)

Cash Drawer

Your cash drawer can be plugged into a computer or a network device. Call ISI Customer Support for help with setup.

If your cash drawer is: Fill in this code:
Attached to the back of the computer /dev/lp0 or lp1
Attached to a network print server =cashdrawer

 

  1. Press [F7] to receive the following screen.

Note: When you press [F7] to move to the next screen, your changes will not be lost. However, you must press [F4] before exiting the menu option to save your changes. Saving changes on one screen in a set of screens automatically saves changes to all screens in the set. A set of screens has the words Screen _ of _ in the upper right corner (see above).
  1. Fill in the following fields:

Compress

Type 27 38 107 50 83 in these fields. This information is sent to your printer when a report needs to be compressed to fit across a page. This field is not affected by the printer or form type. (Required for compressed reports to print correctly.)

Uncompress

Type 27 38 107 48 83 in these fields. This information is sent to your printer when compression is no longer needed to fit a report across a page. This field is not affected by the printer or form type. (Required for compressed reports to print correctly.)

Note: If a report cannot fit one line across a page and seems to wrap around to the next line, check to make sure that you have entered the compress and uncompress codes correctly for the terminal from which you are printing.
  1. Fill in the following fields to make sure your short form invoices and/or service reviews print correctly.
Field: Fill in these codes:
Enhance Print 27 40 115 52 66
Unenhance Print 27 40 115 48 66
Near Letter Quality 0 0
Undo NLQ 0 0
  1. Before you save your changes, test the compression options.
    1. Make sure you have plain printer paper in your reports printer.
    2. Press [F10] or to receive the following message: Prepare the printer, and press RETURN…
    3. To print a sample of the different types of print setup on your printer, press [Enter].
  2. After you fill in all information, press [F4] to save your changes and return to the System Setup Menu.

Once the first terminal printer information has been set up and tested for your specific operation, you can copy the first terminal’s printer information to the other terminals.

Copying Printer Information

Use the following steps to copy printer information from one terminal to another.

  1. Log in to the terminal to which you want to copy printer information and select Set Up Printer Controls (System Setup Menu-1).
  2. Press [Tab] to receive the Which Terminal ID would you like to copy from? message at the bottom of the screen. Type the Terminal ID for the terminal to be copied from. (The Terminal ID to copy from is in the bottom left corner of the Main Menu screen of the terminal from which you are copying.)

  1. To copy the printer information, press [Enter].
  2. To save your printer information changes and return to the System Setup Menu, press [F4].
  3. Exit the program to the login prompt and then log back into the system for your changes to take effect.

PDF Report Printing

If your laser printer accepts raw PDF documents, you can now utilize features such as printing in landscape (horizontally) or duplex mode (double-sided).

To activate PDF Report Printing:

  1. Select Report Type 2 under the Report Printer section. You will then be presented with the following notification:

  1. Answer Y to reset your Report Printer codes and switch to using the driver installed in the Operating System for the connected printer.
Note: Your original print codes will not be saved. If you switch back to Report Type 1, you will need to manually correct the codes for your printer setups.
  1. Press [F4] to save your changes and return to the System Setup Menu.
  2. As you print reports, you should notice that some reports have new options; Duplex and Landscape (for example, the Transaction Report and Statistics Report). Enter Y in the Duplex field to print the report on both sides of the paper. Enter Y in the Landscape field to print horizontally on the page, which allows the system to use a larger text for the report.

  1. To customize your End-of-Day reports to print in duplex and/or landscape mode, go to Set Up Closing Processes (1-6-3). As you enter through the columns, reports with a setting in the PER column will display a popup with the fields Lines Per Page, Duplex, and, for some reports, Landscape (see below). Enter Y in the Duplex field to print the report on both sides of the paper. Enter Y in the Landscape field to print horizontally on the page, which allows the system to use a larger text for the report. Press [F4] to save your changes.