TransAct Windows Printer Mini-Driver with Language Monitor Install Instructions:

This driver is installed in the same way that a plug-and-play printer driver would be installed into the Windows operating system. Depending on the physical connection (serial, parallel, USB, Ethernet) and the version of Windows, when the printer is connected and powered on, Windows “Plug-and-Play” may automatically kick in and start the installation guidance “wizard”. Whether or not Windows automatically detects the printer, on any new install it will not usually have the required Transact drivers already placed in its print driver storage ready for an automatic install of the printer.

Note: Printer installation via Windows Plug-N-Play and whether or not printers are powered on at the time Windows boots as well as printer configuration affect the printer status message as seen in the desktop or Printers window. 

Options

The driver provides ways to get direct printer I/O, which is useful for cases where the Windows supplied print spooling interface does not privided some desired status value. This requires application programming and is documented in "Transact Windows Driver API Revx.pdf".  As of release version 3.0.2.6, the driver also provides a special print job translation function and an end of print bytes scrubbing option. These are documented in "Transact Windows Driver Install Manual RevG.pdf". Described is a token replacement by byte strings (a way for raw print job applications be written independent of printer manufacturer command codes), as well as discard of byte data (not intended for print out) that might have been appended to a print job. Setup for these optional features is done by providing a translation file and setting of registry values.

Once a desired setup has been developed, roll out of that can be automated via creation of batch file(s) and could contain registry settings that were exported for copying into new installations. The options for a utility that can set some printer properties are documented in "printui-dll usage.txt".   

An older utility application (Transact Language Monitor Config.exe) is provided in the install media directory to change the Language Monitor (LM) default operation if that is desired. This utility automates setting after install (or whenever the spooler service can be stopped) the values of registry keys that the Transact Printer Language Monitor (LM) uses. The set values are defaults for all Transact printers that are installed using the Transact Windows driver on a host PC and persist across PC re-booting cycles.

A update to that utility (TransactPrinterProperties.exe) can set defaults as well as per-named-printer properties, is available and should be run in administrative mode in OS versions Vista and newer as Transact per printer and default values are stored in the Windows registry.


1) Provided values for the TransactPeriodicStatus key string are "ENABLE", "AUTO", “OFF”, and “DISABLE”. The default is OFF, meaning that the application will call the API status fetch any time status should be reviewed.

	If ENABLE, every time the LM starts it issues  either a printer command to have periodic statuses sent or performs periodic polling and receiving of status depending on the currency of the printers' firmware release version.

	If AUTO, then every time the LM starts it will automatically select the most efficient choice depending on firmware revision; that is it will issue the command to have periodic statuses returned only if the firmware revision of the printer is sufficiently new; otherwise the LM will set itself to OFF.

	If OFF (default), then every time the LM starts it will act transparently as though an LM was not present. This is also the value that is set every time a printer is installed - manually or automatically by Plug-N-Play.

	If DISABLE then every time the LM starts it will issue commands to turn off any printer periodic sending of statuses and then the LM will set itself to OFF.

The following table lists the minimum Firmware release level needed for AUTO periodic status updating:
 
Model	FW Rev Level	   
IThern  280	2800-1.56	   
Epic    430	4301-1.14	   
BJ/PJ   1500	1600-2.42	   
BJ/PJ   1580	1680-1.10
BJ/PJ	  2500	All	

Note (A): A DISABLE setting will result at LM startup in a spurious "P" printout on printers with earlier firmware versions. An ENABLE setting used on older FW printers will result in somewhat diminished performance depending on the polling frequency that is configured, as status requests and print jobs compete for the printer.

Printers with earlier versions of Firmware: These do not have the capability to automatically send back a periodic status. If periodic status is desired, then set the key to ENABLE. Otherwise the only status changes shown in Microsoft’s print spooler (window that shows installed Printers & Faxes) or selected printer’s state window will be the integrity of the I/O link for some connection types, as was true in installations without the Transact LM component.

Note (B): Microsoft's port drivers and hardware buffers are used in all cases. The Operating System (OS version) promptness of displaying status and possible job incompleteness or loss when a printer cover is open or other printer not-ready condition also depends on the type of connection and printer model. The safest strategy is to not issue jobs when the printer is not-ready.


2) Practical values for the TransactStatusInterval key value in hex range from 1000 to 30,000 decimal milliseconds. The value must be converted to the hex equivalent when edited; the default is 2710 ( = decimal 10,000).


Install

A pdf install instruction is available in the documentation; the following is a text summary:

These steps may be used in an attended install of the Windows Print System driver for a Transact printer:

1) If you are installing a hybrid (15XX, 2500) printer, then a decision should have been made about which of the “trays” should be available to applications: receipt print only, slip print only, or receipt & slip printing. Installing of either slip or receipt or both option is done by using the correspondingly named directory.

2)  From the distribution media, copy the "Install" (or “RecInstall” (Receipt) or “SlipInstall” (Slip) directory to an install-time-accessible location in the possibly networked file system hierarchy. This location must be accessible to the local PC to be able to execute the driver install script, but once installed, that location is not used for running the printer.

3) When the printer is connected and powered on, point the wizard if one has already started to the saved install directory, where a file with the extension “.inf” should be present. If a wizard has not started, then open a “Printers and Faxes” window (available as a selection in Control Panel) and select “Add Printer” to start the wizard.

4) After choosing to either let the wizard find the .inf  file automatically (which requires the install to be in a place that is automatically searched, such as a CD drive), or instead telling the wizard that you will manually point the wizard to the install directory), there are a few more details that must be provided to complete the installation. You can accept the default name for the printer or you can change that to something more meaningful to you, and you have to decide whether you want to share the printer or if you want a Windows “test page” printed. Note that such printing would be inappropriate in case of installing slip only printers.

5)If the LM defaults need changing then the batch file may be run by double clicking it or from a command window; or the Language Monitor Configuration Utility can be used interactively.

6) Uninstall is done by either deleting from the Printers & Faxes window, or running the provided uninstall program: selecting the .exe will bring up an interactive window or that can also be run in a command line: LmUnInstall.exe “printer's name”. Note that this does not give up the physical port that the printer was using until a PC reboot/power cycle or the print spooler service is stopped and restarted.

Some alternates to the above steps:

3A) Installation before connecting the printer is also possible, but requires using either the spooler properties add-printer window or manual launching of the add-printer wizard and not requesting a test page print unless you want a print job waiting for the time when a printer is connected.

3B) When developing the install script for higher level software such as an application, it may be possible to add a reference into that script to execute the .inf that is provided with the printer install or to create a suitable batch script; this would most likely be similar to any previously used scripts.
