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Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

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    Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

    My father uses alpha 4 version 6 on a windows 98 se computer.He has been using an epson 760 parallel printer fine for many years.Unfortunately its gone kerput and so has bought an epson 300(old, yes but brand new in box and never used).The printer driver for windows installed perfectly and the printer prints out in windows bob on.But in alpha 4 the printer starts up but it only prints some of the document and leaves big chunks out missing.
    He has tried changing the drivers setting to the new printer but nothing seems to work.When he plugs the other epson back in then alpha 4 defaults to it and works but when putting the epson 300 in the printer part is blank.
    It seems as if alpha doesn't see the printer and hence has trouble printing to it.The Epson 300 is also a parallel printer.
    Do you think it might be a driver issue? or are we doing something wrong?

    Any help would be most appreciated.
    Thanks
    John

    #2
    Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

    John;
    Yes, it probably is a printer driver issue. With A4v6, you have to print in DOS, so you need to select the proper driver. I believe your Epson 300 is an LQ 300. There is, I think, an Epson LQ driver in Alpha4v6.

    What you would need to do is set up a "new printer' in A4. From the MAIN MENU, select "Other", then select "Configuration", then "Printer Configuration", then "Create/Edit Printer Configuration". At this point you want to create a new printer configuration, so enter an unused letter "A" or "B" or "C" etc. to create a new one. A list of available DOS printer drivers should then be on your screen. Scroll down to the Epson series of printers (Epson LQ?) and select the appropriate driver.

    Hope this works.

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

      Thanks for the quick reply.A further update.

      In windows the default printer is set as the Epson 300.
      When you connect the other Epson 760 up and without changing the default printer in windows(from 300 to 760) then the 760 just works straight away in Alpha 4.
      This obviously points to a dos driver issue rather than a windows one.

      I personally think that Alpha 4 is stuck on the 760 setting and when we plug the 300 in the printer starts to print but because the circuitry is different in the 300 to 760 then it makes a hash of the output.

      When i go into the printer settings in Alpha 4 it is set on Epson LQ series.There is no mention of the 760 or the 300.
      I am assuming that the 760 is probably fully compatible with the LQ driver but the 300 is only half compatible.

      In another part of Alpha4 it comes to the option of printing out,either to the printer or the screen.In this section you can go to printer configuration and bring up a long list of printers.The Epson 760 and the 300 are listed as options but after selecting the right one the only option is F10 continue.

      If you then go back into this page the printer option is blank again.Its as if you need to press a special key to save the setting and without it ,it just forgets what you have set?

      I hope all that made sense.
      To recap Alpha4 doesn't see the 300 and only defaults to the 760.
      Any thoughts on why?

      If this was windows then it would be a case of installing the correct driver so that windows sees it.
      Is there a dos driver for Epson printers?
      I am not very conversant with 'dos' as i was in my teens when it was out and i had girls on my mind!I should have listened to the teacher more!

      Thanks for looking and sorry for such a long post.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

        You are going to have to do what Duncan suggests and create your own within Alpha. I checked Epson and they never provided a DOS driver for the 300. I would hazard a guess that the printer codes are somewhat different than your old printer or it would work. The fact that it printed something and then stopped indicates that it is using some of the codes correctly but others not. You would have to see if you can locate the printer codes (by internet searching) and then enter them as Duncan suggests.

        A good start is from the Epson FAQ:

        http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/s...526&foid=35447

        This gives you the most common ones.

        Update:
        Use the following link to get the PDF of the manual that Epson used to sell for the LQ-300. Starting at page A-10 are the printer codes:

        http://www.feedroller.com/Store/Serv...sers_Guide.pdf

        HTH
        Doug

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

          Thanks again for the quick reply.Our printer is an Epson stylus 300 not the older LQ or LX300.
          Those links refer to an older model than ours.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

            John;
            I am not familiar with Epson printers, so I really can't suggest any drivers that would be relatively compatible with your Stylus 300. I'm assuming the Stylus is an inkjet model. My suggestions are:
            -- try to find a DOS driver on the net or at the Epson web site which is at least relatively compatible
            -- play with and "tweak" the Epson drivers that came with A4v6 (see my post above)

            In either case, it seems like you will have to play around a bit to make things work.

            One final alternative, is to upgrade your father's A4 software. If he doesn't want to go to A5 (which is a Windows version and a major change over) he can upgrade to A4 version 8, which is still a DOS product. A4v8 is a really a "gussied up" v6. It appears and works exactly the same as v6. From your father's perspective, its advantages are:
            -- all his data, forms, reports etc. will work exactly as before
            -- it also has the advantage of being able to use windows drivers for printing. As long as he does not use typeset printing, his new Epson 300 should work fine.
            -- if he ever upgrades from Win98 to XP (not sure about Vista), A4v8 works fine. (The problem with v6, is that after Win98, if the database ever needs to be "reconfigured" Win ME, Win 2000, and XP can cause data corruption).

            Hope this gives you some viable options. Good luck!

            Duncan

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

              Now I know you said you were young when DOS was around, but the internet era is yours. You did try to search like I did above RIGHT? Anyway, here is the manual, complete with printer codes for the Stylus 300. http://files.support.epson.com/pdf/sty3__/sty3__u1.pdf If you follow Duncans suggestion above to copy an already existing Alpha driver for an Epson printer, then you can fill in the blanks. If it seems too difficult, perhaps his suggestion of upgrading to v8 would be advised.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

                Thanks for the replies.Where can i get a copy of a4v8? Can you still buy it or is it obsolete?

                I know my father tried version 5 and didn't like it as he said that they didn't have all the features that version 4 had.

                So a viable option would be a4v8.I just need to know where to get it.
                Thanks

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Trouble printing with Epson 300 printer

                  Where else? Alphasoftware.com https://www.alphasoftware.com/shop/AlphaFour/

                  Comment

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