Tally Line Matrix Printers FAQs

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Q. Where can I find drivers for my Tally Line Matrix printer?

Q. What is the difference between the Standard Tally driver and the Tally Text driver?

Q. What is firmware?

Q. How do I get into Tech Access mode on my Tally Line Matrix printer?

Q. What is an emulation?

Q. How do I calibrate the paper out sensor on my Tally Line Matrix printer?

Q. Where can I find the model and serial number for my Tally Line Matrix printer?

Q. How do I create a custom paper size in NT 4.0?

Q. What does bad escape sequence mean?

Q. Why does my Tally Line Matrix printer print so slowly?

Q.Where can I find drivers for my Tally Line Matrix printer?

A.Windows platform drivers are found on the printer drivers and utilities page of TallyGenicom's website. This page will also show you a list of emulations supported by your printer. You should be able to use a corresponding driver found on the Windows installation CD.

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Q. What is the difference between the Standard Tally driver and the Tally Text driver?

A.Standard drivers are capable of printing: graphics, True Type fonts as graphics and printer-resident fonts. Text drivers print only printer-resident fonts.

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Q. What is firmware?

A.Firmware is the operating system of the printer (referred to as an OS) which is comparable to the Windows or DOS software that is the operating system of your desktop computer. The term "firmware" implies that the printer's operating system is loaded onto read-only memory (ROM) chips or non-volatile (random access memory (RAM) chips built into your printer, therefore making it more "firm" than software.

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Q. How do I get my Tally Line Matrix printer into Tech Access mode?

A.Take the printer offline. Press and hold the LINE FEED and ENTER keys until TECH ACCESS ON is displayed. The printer will be in TECH ACCESS mode until the power is turned off or the printer is reset. To turn off TECH ACCESS mode, follow the same procedure used to turn it on.

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Q.What is an emulation?

A.This term means that one printer can function like another printer made by a different manufacturer and has the same features (and limitations) as the original. A printer that offers more features than the model it emulates is termed an enhanced emulation.

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Q. How do I calibrate the paper out sensor on my Tally Line Matrix printer?

A.Stop any pending print jobs from going to printer.

1. Clear error by pressing CLEAR button.

2. When printer finishes current print job, clear buffer by pressing CLEAR button again, until CLEAR BUFFERS is displayed.

3. Press ENTER.

Paper-out sensor is located on bottom left tractor. With paper installed in tractor, calibrate printer to paper.

1. Press ENTER key and LINE FEED key at same time, holding for three to four seconds, until TECH ACCESS ON flashes on display.

2. Release keys.

3. If display now reads OFFLINE or OFFLINE DATA IN, go to step one of next section. If not, go to step four.

4. Press ENTER key and TOF key at same time. Hold until you see FOURFLT OFF

5. Release keys.

1. Press Mode button and UP arrow until display reads Offline Test.

2. Press Forms/1 button. The display will read Test Pattern.

3. Press the UP arrow to get to Test Diag.

4. Press the CPI/2 button. The display should read Diag Paprcal.

5. Press the LPI/3 button. The display should read Paprcal Pap Out.

6. Press the ENTER button and follow instruction on the display.

Note: When getting to point of removing paper, remove paper from tractor but then close tractor door/flap. Press ENTER.

Calibration is complete.

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Q. Where can I find the model and serial number of my Tally Line printer?

A.Typically, model and serial number are located on back of printer. Letter T usually precedes model number and S/N denotes serial number.

1. For line printers with exit hoods, look upward under hood.

2. For laser printers with Duplex option, open Duplex from top. S/N is on metal plate on base of printer.

3. For Model T9134, open side door (on control panel side). S/N is on metal plate to right.

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Q. How do I create a custom paper size in NT 4.0 on my Tally Line Matrix printer?

A.To create a new paper size on a Windows NT 4.0 system, or to add a custom paper size, user MUST add paper size in Windows NT itself-not in an application.

1. Make sure all application (program) windows are minimized.

2. On Taskbar (usually at very bottom of screen), select START, or on Keyboard, press WINDOW key (between CTRL and ALT)

3. When START menu pops up, select SETTINGS (click SETTINGS with left mouse button).

4. When SETTINGS menu pops out, select printer.

5. When printer control panel dialog appears, select FILE on menu.

6. When FILE menu pops down, select SERVER PROPERTIES.

7. Select (check) box CREATE A NEW FORM.

8. Type new paper size name at FORM DESCRIPTION FOR.

9. Change WIDTH and HEIGHT sizes to desired measurement (normally in inches, depending on operating system language setting).

10. Select SAVE FORM button.

11. Select OK button.

12. Close printer control panel dialog.

New paper size will be available inside any application, ready to use as needed.

Note: It is not usually necessary to close any programs, however if following modification does not become immediately visible to your application or to Windows NT, close and relaunch it.

To select new paper size within an application:

1. Open selected application.

2. Select FILE on menu.

3. When FILE menu pops down, select PAGE SETUP.

4. Select PAPER SIZE tab, if necessary.

5. In PAPER SIZE, tab, scroll PAPER SIZE list box to name of new paper size.

6. Select (highlight) new paper size.

7. Select, if necessary, Whole Document from Apply To list box.

8. Select OK button.

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Q. What does bad escape sequence mean?

A.Computers send data to printers in a digital format. This data is generally in eight (8) bit words. The printer must look at the data and determine what character to print.

Most prints use the ASCII code format to determine what character to print. This means the printer will compare the bit pattern it received to the values in an ASCII code table to determine what character to print.

For example, if the computer sends the printer a digital bit pattern that can be represented by the hexadecimal value of 41, the printer will look the hex value of 41 up in an ASCII table and find the it represents the capital letter A.

Some characters in the ASCII table represent special control characters: the hex value of 0D, for example, represents a CR/LF (carriage return/line feed).

Most printers give these ASCII escape characters special meaning. Thus, if such a character was encountered within the data for producing document text, a Bad Escape Sequence error would be displayed.

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Q. Why does my Tally Line printer print so slowly?

A.A number of things affect the speed of your printer: font style, characters per inch (CPI) settings, lines per inch (LPI) settings, and graphics mode. Each affects how many dots per inch the printer must print and how close together the dots must be placed.

printers run fastest in low quality draft mode because the printer does not use as many dots per character and the dots do not have to be placed with as high precision. Near letter quality fonts and graphics modes require the printer to precisely place a large number of dots on the paper to achieve the desired print quality. This slows down the printing process.

printer specifications list print speeds for various font styles. However, there are so many combinations that not all print conditions can be tested and shown on the specification. Therefore the only way to know how fast a specific application will print is to test that application with a specific printer.

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