Epson TM/BA Series Thermal Printer Driver Manual

Contents
1. License agreement
2. Product descriptions
3. How to Set
4. Transmission function for a user-defined file
5. Multi-tone conversion tool (TM-88V only)
6. How to Uninstall

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1. License agreement
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This package is distributed under a non-free proprietary license.
Refer to the attached EULA.en.txt for the license details.

Copyright of all source code composing binary files of this package 
is held by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, and binary files are distributed 
under the SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT (refer 
to EULA.en.txt).


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2. Product descriptions
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This software is a printer driver for printing on a TM/BA series 
thermal printer from Linux using CUPS.

  Features:
  - A raster type printer driver for TM/BA series thermal printers.
  - The driver can instantly print out images, texts, and drawings
    displayed by an application.
  - Various printer controls on paper cut timing, cash drawers,
    printing speed, blank line saving, inverted printing, etc.


2.1. Supported models

  This software supports TM/BA series thermal printers.
  Check the included PPD files since a PPD file is provided for all
  available models.


2.2. Supported interface

    USB
    Parallel
    Serial
    Ethernet


2.3. Operational environment

* Operating System
  - openSUSE 11.1
  - Ubuntu 9.04

* Hardware:
  - Intel x86(32bit) architecture.
  - Intel x64(64bit) architecture.


2.4. Required software

* CUPS Ver.1.1.23 or later
      <http://www.cups.org/>

* Included back-end and communication modules.


2.5. Package contents

    non-free proprietary license modules:
        /usr/lib/cups/filter/rastertotmt
        /usr/bin/tmcupsbmptobin

    License files:
        /usr/share/doc/packages/tmt-cups/EULA.ja.txt (Japanese)
        /usr/share/doc/packages/tmt-cups/EULA.en.txt (English)

  Note)
    ! The above installation path is for openSUSE 11.1 (i586).
      The installation path may differ by distributions.
    ! The /var/lib/tmt-cups directory is created automatically during
      the installation.


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3. How to Set
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3.1. Registering the printer to CUPS

    Use CUPS WebAdmin <http://localhost:631/> to register the printer
    to CUPS.

    Refer to CUPS information using the following URLs.
          <http://localhost:631/help/>
          <http://www.cups.org/>

    - Select "Epson TM/BA/EU Printer" in the printer device selection
      screen.

      Example) For USB TM-T88IV
      Epson TM/BA/EU Printer (USB TM-T88IV)

      Refer to the back-end manual for details. The back-end manual is
      stored in the manual directory in this package.

    - Select the PPD file directly in the printer model selection 
      screen.
      The PPD file is stored in the ppd directory in this package.

    Note)
    ! Turn the printer on before registering the printer to CUPS.
    ! Cancel the automatic recognition screen if it is displayed by
      the printer setting tool included in the distribution.

3.2. Print settings

    Refer to the manual in the manual directory in this package for
    the available print settings.

    Example) For TM-T88IV
    TM-T88IV_Manual.ja.txt (Japanese)
    TM-T88IV_Manual.en.txt (English)


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4. Transmission function for a user-defined file
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4.1 Overview

    An ESC/POS command file created by a user is called a 
    user-definition file. Placing a user-defined file at the 
    designated location enables the user to transmit command data in 
    the file to the printer at a fixed timing for each page or job.

4.2 Transmission timing and naming conventions for the user-defined 
    file

    File storage folder: /var/lib/tmt-cups/
    
    Naming convention            | Transmission timing
---------------------------------+-----------------------------------
    {printer_name}_StartJob.prn  | When starting to print (after 
                                 | initializing the printer)
    {printer_name}_EndJob.prn    | After printing (before cutting the 
                                 | document)
    {printer_name}_StartPage.prn | When starting to print each page
                                 | (after initializing the page)
    {printer_name}_EndPage.prn   | After printing a page (before 
                                 | cutting the page)

    The printer_name indicates the registered printer name to CUPS.

    Example) When the registered printer name is tmt88printer and you
             want to output a logo at the beginning, register the
             following file.

             /var/lib/tmt-cups/tmt88printer_StartJob.prn

    Note)
    ! You need root privilege to store the user-defined file in 
      /var/lib/tmt-cups/.
    ! Grant the appropriate permissions to the user-defined file 
      according to its function. Transmission is not carried out if 
      the printing user does not have read permission to the 
      user-defined file.
    ! The printer may malfunction if the user-defined file contains 
      any graphic commands whose pattern matches real-time commands.
    ! If a user-defined file is stored in any of the subordinate 
      directories, uninstallation of this package does not delete the
      directory which contains the file. 

4.3 Printing text data

    You can print the text data if the user-defined file under 
    /var/lib/ contains text data.

    Example) When tmt88printer_StartJob.prn contains the following
             line of text data.
    ======
    Welcome!

    ======

    Note)
    ! The text data may not be printed correctly if the specified 
      character code is other than ASCII.
    ! Use <LF>(0x0A) for a line feed.
      Printing operations are not guaranteed if <CR>(0x0D) is used.
    ! The text data may not be printed correctly if a line feed <LF> 
      is not present at the end of a line.
    ! The printing result is not guaranteed if the user-defined file 
      is edited or deleted while printing.
      Do not change the user-defined file until printing is complete. 

    The above line is printed each time you print from tmt88printer 
    at the top of the page.


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5. Multi-tone conversion tool (TM-88V only)
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5.1 Overview

    This tool converts an image file into ESC/POS command data.
    You can use this tool to print multi-tone graphic data from 
    TM-T88V. Also, you can print a logo by registering the converted
    command data file in the folder where user-defined files are 
    stored.

  Note)
    ! This tool is available only for TM-T88V. Do not use this tool 
      for any other printers. The printer may malfunction.

5.2 Installation destination and the command name

    /usr/bin/tmcupsbmptobin

5.3 Tool options

    Syntax: tmcupsbmptobin [option] input_BMP_file   output_BIN_file

    Options (default settings are in [])
        [-16s], -2s                 Multi-tone, Monochrome
        [-80mm], -58mm              Paper width
        -left, -center, -right      Printing position
        -b65 to [-b100] to -b135    Brightness (in 5 units)
        -r180                       Rotation by 180 degrees
        
  Note)
    ! The tool supports Windows BMP files only.
      Uncompressed 1-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit BMP files are 
      supported.
    ! Take care that the image size does not exceed the paper width 
      of the printer.
      The image is not printed if it exceeds the paper width.
      TM-T88V - 80 mm paper: 510 pixels or less
                58 mm paper: 354 pixels or less
    ! White lines may appear on the printed image if you are using a
      serial or Ethernet connection. It is recommended to keep the 
      image height to 415 pixels or less.

5.4 Logo registration

    You can insert a log in the print page by registering a binary 
    file, which has been created by converting an image file into 
    command data, into the folder where user-defined files are 
    stored.
    See "4. Transmission function for a user-defined file" for 
    details.


5.5 Coupon file printing

    The following prints an image file such as a coupon promptly. 

    Example) When the registered printer name is tmt88printer.
    ======
    # tmcupsbmptobin  imagedata.bmp  /var/lib/tmt-cups/tmt88printer_StartJob.prn
    # echo "" | lpr -P tmt88printer
    =====

  Note)
    ! The above overwrites tmt88printer_StartDocStartJob.prn if the 
      file is already registered.


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6. How to Uninstall
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The following describes how to uninstall this software.

  - Uninstall the RPM package.

    # rpm -e tmt-cups

  - Uninstall the DEB package.

    # dpkg -P tmt-cups

  Note)
    ! You need root privilege to uninstall the software.
    ! The /var/lib/tmt-cups directory is not deleted if there are any
      user data under this directory.
    ! Delete the CUPS printer definition which is using this driver
      before uninstalling the software.

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Copyright (C) Seiko Epson Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.

Linux is the registered trademark or trademark of Linus Torvalds in 
the U.S.A. and other countries.

CUPS and the CUPS logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. registered in the
U.S.A. and other countries.

Novell and openSUSE are trademarks of Novell, Inc. which is the 
founder and sponsor of the openSUSE Project and has been designated 
by the project.

Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.

Other product names in this document are trademarks or registered
trademarks of respective companies.
