
Read_Me file for Epson printers.
--------------------------------

This file is roughly in order of increasing
printer functionality, ie. the further down this
file the printer definition file is described, the
more features it requires the printer to support.
So if you are having problems with an Epson
compatible printer, try a printer definition file
further up than the one you are using. Note
however that you should not try to run a 24 pin
printer with the definition file for a 9 pin
printer or vice versa. If your Epson compatible
printer gives no additional information (eg. which
Epson printer it claims compatibility with) then
try the Epson.FX-80 file. Moving forwards from the
FX-80 file (towards the EX-800), more advanced
features of the printer are used. Moving backwards
from the FX-80 file the definitions become
simpler.

The following table lists other Epson products and
the suggested Printer Definition File to be used.
They have not necessarily been tested, but as
similar Control Codes are used, they should work:

Printer           File
-------           ----
EX-800            Epson.EX-800
FX-80             Epson.FX-80
FX-85             Epson.FX-85
FX-86             Epson.FX-85
FX-86e            Epson.EX-800 (do not select colour)
FX-185            Epson.FX-85
FX-286            Epson.FX-85
FX-286e           Epson.EX-800 (do not select colour)
FX-800/1000       Epson.EX-800 (do not select colour)
FX-850/1050       Epson.EX-800 (do not select colour)
FX-870/1070       Epson.EX-800 (do not select colour)
GX-80             Epson.FX-80
JX-80             Epson.JX-80
LX-80             Epson.LX-80
LX-86             Epson.LX-100
LX-100            Epson.LX-100
LX-400            Epson.LX-100
LX-800            Epson.LX-100
LX-850/1050       Epson.LX-100
MX-80-II          Epson.MX-80-II
MX-80-III         Epson.MX-80-III
RX-80/100         Epson.MX-80-III


LQ-100            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-150            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-200            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-400            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-450            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-500            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-500            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-510/1010       Epson.LQ-860
LQ-550            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-570/1070       Epson.LQ-860
LQ-800/1000       Epson.LQ-860
LQ-850/1050       Epson.LQ-860
LQ 860            Epson.LQ-860
LQ-870/1070       Epson.LQ-860
LQ-1060           Epson.LQ-860
LQ-2500           Epson.LQ-860
LQ-2550           Epson.LQ-860

Stylus 800        Epson.Stylus-800
Stylus 800+       Epson.Stylus-800
Stylus 820        Epson.Stylus-820
Stylus 1000       Epson.Stylus-800
Stylus Color      Epson.Stylus-Col
Stylus Color II   Epson.StyCol-II
Stylus Color IIs  Epson.StyCol-IIs
Stylus Pro        Epson.Stylus-Pro
Stylus Pro XL     Epson.Stylus-PXL

Stylus Pro XL+    See Epson.StyProXL+.!ReadMe

Stylus Color  400 See Epson.StyCol400.!ReadMe
Stylus Color  500 See Epson.StyCol500.!ReadMe
Stylus Color  600 See Epson.StyCol600.!ReadMe
Stylus Color  800 See Epson.StyCol800.!ReadMe
Stylus Color 1520 See Epson.StyCol800.!ReadMe
Stylus Color 3000 See Epson.StyCol800.!ReadMe

EPL-5000          HP.LasJet-III
EPL-5200          HP.LasJet-III
EPL-7500          PostScript
EPL-8100          HP.LasJet-III

Note that some Epson 9-pin printers and
compatibles support NLQ (ESC x) as used in the FX
85 but not Absolute Horizontal Position (ESC $) as
used in the FX 85. The FX 80 Printer Definition
File is a safe option to try as it does not
support either facility. If your printer has the
NLQ facility, but not Absolute Horizontal Position,
use the LX-80 file.

When using any of the Epson printer definition
files, with either an Epson printer or a printer
claiming to be Epson compatible, you should ensure
that any DIP switch called "IBM Mode" or "IBM
control codes" or anything similar is switched to
disable the IBM features.

When using any type of MX-80 printer with any of
the MX-80 definition files, the printer must have
its dip switches set for no auto line feed on
carriage return. This probably means setting DIP
switch 2-3 to OFF, but you should check the
documentation for your printer. In the unlikely
event that you need auto line feed set to ON, then
you can use !PrintEdit to remove the trailing
",10" from the "Line skip:" and "Line end 1:"
fields in the 60 by 72 and 120 by 72 DPI graphics
resolutions. It is not possible to modify the 120
by 144 and 120 by 216 resolutions to allow them to
work with auto line feed enabled.

The "Epson.MX-80-II" printer definition file is
for the Epson MX-80 Type II printer and should
work on virtually any EPSON compatible printer.
The 120 by 144 and 120 by 216 DPI graphics
resolutions are not guaranteed to work, as they
use ESC "J" for advance by n/216 inch. This is not
documented in any version of the manual, but has
been found to work on many Epson MX-80 Type II
printers. You should not use these resolutions if
your MX-80 Type II does not support ESC "J". The
text highlights available on this printer are
minimal (condensed and expanded text only). ISO
Latin 1 international character mappings are
supplied, but every character is simply mapped to
the closest available normal ASCII character. This
is because the MX-80 Type II cannot do backspace
over-printing nor does it support ESC "R"
international character set sequences. You should
set the DIP switches for the USA character set.

Note that there appears to be some discrepancy
about the features supported on the MX-80 Type II.
There are at least two different versions of the
MX-80 Type II manual, one of which details many
more control sequences (eg. ESC "R", ESC "E"/"F"
and more) than the other. The extra control codes
do not work on some MX-80 Type II printers so
there would appear to be two flavours of "Type II"
rather than the more likely explanation of the
commands originally being undocumented. The
MX-80-II file supports only the commands which
work on most or all Type II printers.

The "Epson.MX-80-III" printer definition file is
for the Epson MX-80 Type III printer and should
work on many EPSON compatible printers. Vertical
interlacing is used on the higher resolution
graphics modes, using ESC "J" for advance by n/216
inch. This is a documented command on the MX-80
Type III, unlike on the Type II. The text
highlights available on this printer are 
reasonable. The ISO Latin 1 international
characters are printed using ESC "R" international
character set sequences, using character sets 0
(USA) to 7 (Spain). Additionally, some characters
are printed by using backspace to overprint two
characters.

Note that on the MX-80 Type III there is a bug
which causes double strike  mode to be left on
after superscript or subscript has been used and
deselected. This file works around the bug by
turning double strike mode off after turning
superscript or subscript off. This should not
cause problems on a printer which does not have
the bug (double strike will be changed from off to
off) but it will cause problems if your printer
does not support ESC "H" (double strike mode off).
Note that ESC "G" and ESC "H" (turn double strike
mode on and off) are in fact undocumented commands
on the MX-80 Type III. However, double strike is
always used for superscript and subscript which
are documented, and the bug and ESC "G" and ESC
"H" are known to be present in all MX-80 Type III
printers.

The "Epson.FX-80" printer definition file is
considered the core file and should work on many
Epson compatible printers. The ISO Latin 1
international characters are printed using ESC "R"
international character set sequences, using
character sets 0 (USA) to 8 (Japan). Additionally,
some characters are printed by using backspace to
overprint two characters.

The "Epson.JX-80" printer definition file is the
same as the "Epson.FX-80" file, except that it
uses colour. Please note that although colour on
interlace graphics printouts (ie 120 by 144 DPI or
higher) is supported, it does involve a large
number of print head passes (8, 12, 16 or 24) and
on the second or subsequent interlace passes, the
light ribbon colours are printed on top of dark
colours already on the paper, which can result in
contamination of the lighter ribbon colour.

The "Epson.FX-85" printer definition file is the
same as the "Epson.FX-80" file, except that it
supports Near Letter Quality (NLQ) text printing
and the graphics definitions support leading zero
suppression using ESC "$". It should work on
virtually all Epson compatible 9 pin printers that
support  ESC "$" and NLQ printing.

The "Epson.EX-800" printer definition file is the
most advanced of the 9 pin Epson definitions, and
should work with all the newer 9 pin printers eg.
Star LC-10, Citizen Swift 9. ISO Latin 1 text
characters are obtained by using ESC "t" 1 and ESC
"6" to select the Epson character graphics (called
IBM character set 2 on some printers) instead of
italic characters for the top bit set printer
characters. In addition ESC "R" <n> sequences are
used to print some of the characters, using
commonly available international character sets.
Graphics leading zero suppression is performed
using ESC "$". Colour is available for all
supported resolutions, but the comments above
regarding interlaced colour printouts should be
noted. You should not attempt to print in colour
unless your printer has a colour ribbon installed.

The "Epson.LX-80" printer definition file is
similar to the Epson.FX-85 file except that use of
ESC "$" for white space skipping has been taken
out. This LX-80 file is for LX series printers
and compatibles which do not support ESC "t".

The "Epson.LX-100" printer definition file is
similar to the Epson.EX-800 file except that
colour is not supported and use of ESC "$" for
white space skipping has been removed.

The "Epson.LQ-860" printer definition file uses
many of the extra features of the Epson LQ-850 and
LQ-860 24 pin printers, and is only likely to work
on an Epson compatible printer if it performs full
Epson LQ-850 emulation. Most of the graphics
resolutions are 24 pin dumps. The 360 DPI vertical
resolution graphics dumps are interlaced and as
such require the support of the ESC "+" <n>
control sequence to set n/360 inch line pitch.
Colour is available for all supported resolutions,
but the comments above regarding interlaced colour
printouts should be noted. ISO Latin 1 text
characters are obtained by using ESC "t" 1 and ESC
"6" to select the Epson character graphics set
instead of italic characters for the top bit set
printer characters. In addition ESC "R" <n>
sequences are used to print some of the
characters, including use of the Legal
international character set (ESC "R" 64) which is
not supported on some Epson compatible 24 pin
printers (try the NEC.P6-Plus file instead). You
should not attempt to print in colour unless your
printer has a colour ribbon installed.

The "Epson.Stylus-800" printer definition file is
for the Epson Stylus 800 and 1000 inkjet printers.

The StylusCol printer definition file supports
both normal and microweave print modes.

Note that the 720 dpi modes are very high
resolution, and there are several special
considerations. Firstly, Epson recommend that
only special, coated paper be used. Secondly,
!Printers will only offer error diffused quality
options, not halftones, because the latter are
not recommended.

Note that some very early Epson LQ-850 printers
have a different version of the firmware, which
does not support the ESC "+" <n> command and hence
the 360 DPI vertical graphics resolutions (180 by
360 and 360 by 360) will not work. If you find
this to be the case on your printer, you should
contact Epson about a firmware upgrade.

You may find that the "NEC.P6-Plus" printer
definition file will work for some Epson
compatible 24 pin colour (and monochrome)
printers, except that the 360 DPI vertical
resolution graphics modes will not work unless the
printer is NEC compatible.

If you have a true 48 pin Epson compatible printer
(eg. the Star SJ-48 inkjet), then try the
Canon.BJC-800 printer definition file.

There are some Epson compatible 9 pin printers
which define ESC "J" (and ESC "3") in units of
n/144 inch instead of n/216 inch. This will cause
interlaced graphics resolutions to go wrong, but
non interlaced resolutions should work (ESC "J" is
not used unless it is necessary). You could try
the Star.DP-510 printer definition file, as this
printer uses ESC "3" for setting the line pitch to
n/144 inch. You may then find that text printing
does not work correctly as the Star DP-510 is
somewhat non standard in this area. If this is the
case you could use !PrintEdit to create a new
printer definition file, copying the text printing
definitions from an appropriate Epson file and the
graphics resolutions from the Star DP-510 file.

