Epson Stylus C43UX - ESC/P2 Commands

Greetings All,

I'm having a little problem with this printer.

I'm working with an old DOS program. Although I can print to the
printer (it's USB the printer dosn't comprehend the ESC/P2 commands
I send to the printer.

I've downloaded the ESC/P2 manual and the printer technical manual from
EPSON. The technical manual states that the printer interprets the
ESC/P2 commands. But that's not what's happening.

For instance:

To print condensed characters the ESC/P2 command I send is:
0x1B, 0x0F

and to print normal characters back I send
0x12

According to the manual I'm doing just right. But the printer doesn't
understand my commands and print everyting I send as normal characters,
ignoring the ESC/P2 commands.

Does anyone help me in this?

Regards,

Paulo

"MstrControl" <mstrcontrol@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1120050207.772931.85150@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> I'm working with an old DOS program. Although I can print to the
> printer (it's USB the printer dosn't comprehend the ESC/P2 commands
> I send to the printer.
>
> I've downloaded the ESC/P2 manual and the printer technical manual from
> EPSON. The technical manual states that the printer interprets the
> ESC/P2 commands. But that's not what's happening.
>
> For instance:
>
> To print condensed characters the ESC/P2 command I send is:
> 0x1B, 0x0F
>
> and to print normal characters back I send
> 0x12
>
> According to the manual I'm doing just right. But the printer doesn't
> understand my commands and print everyting I send as normal characters,
> ignoring the ESC/P2 commands.

DOS apps like WordStar and Q&A required a printer driver
(specific for each app and each printer). This recognized
the ESC as the prefix for a printer control command, as
distinct from text. Have you ever used this DOS app
successfully wthout a printer driver?

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

> To print condensed characters the ESC/P2 command I send is:
> 0x1B, 0x0F

> and to print normal characters back I send
0x12

> According to the manual I'm doing just right. But the printer doesn't
> understand my commands and print everyting I send as normal characters,
> ignoring the ESC/P2 commands.

Righto, silly thought, it's been a while since i've had to deal with a
dot matrix on this level.


[esc]
0x1B=27
[si]
0x0F=15
[dc2]
0x12=18

Have you tried using the binary equilivent by *holding* alt and typing
in on the numberic keypad the numbers I have listed? or for example
[esc]+alt15-alt text [esc]+alt18-alt

Alternativly +alt27-alt+alt15-alt text +alt27-alt+alt18-alt

"MstrControl" <mstrcontrol@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1120050207.772931.85150@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Greetings All,
>
> I'm having a little problem with this printer.
>
> I'm working with an old DOS program. Although I can print to the
> printer (it's USB the printer dosn't comprehend the ESC/P2 commands
> I send to the printer.
>
> I've downloaded the ESC/P2 manual and the printer technical manual from
> EPSON. The technical manual states that the printer interprets the
> ESC/P2 commands. But that's not what's happening.
>
> For instance:
>
> To print condensed characters the ESC/P2 command I send is:
> 0x1B, 0x0F
>
> and to print normal characters back I send
> 0x12
>
> According to the manual I'm doing just right. But the printer doesn't
> understand my commands and print everyting I send as normal characters,
> ignoring the ESC/P2 commands.
>
> Does anyone help me in this?
>
> Regards,
>
> Paulo

Although that printer is not sold in NA, it is probably like other recent
Epson printers that do not use ESC/P2...they use ESC/P Raster and may or may
not respond to the command codes...there is, apparently, a manual for these
codes and they may be similar to ESC/P2 but definitely not the same...I've
had limited success (support wise) in getting these printers to do anything
but some will work to a limited degree...

They usually only work in a Windows/Mac environment and are not meant to be
used in DOS at all...something about better graphics capabilities with the
new command set...and the gradual phasing out of DOS from Microsoft...