IBM 4610 MODEL TI1 and TI2 FIRMWARE UPDATES October 1998 (C) Copyright 1994, 1996 IBM Corporation, All Rights Reserved IBM Retail Store Solutions 4610 SureMark Printer Firmware Notes This file contains one section: SECTION I. 4610 MODEL TI1 and TI2 FIRMWARE UPDATE CHANGE HISTORY Revision: SM_PRT24.HEX Release Date: October 16, 1998 ================================== 1. Fixed - If there is an error finding home on the DI station during power up, the buffer gets held and the CR station would not be allowed to work. Now the CR station will work in this condition. 2. Fixed - Could not write to the electronic journal when using RS232. 3. Added - For code page 850, ASCII D5 will now produce the Euro Currency Symbol. This only applies if your printer was manufactured with code level 1E or higher. 4. Changed motor timings for paper cut pulse width forward and reverse to quiet the cut. 5. Model 4 emulation - Fixed a problem - when we receive a document error the printer would send the error status back to the system, BUT then still print the line. This would case a terminal dump in some applications. 6. Improved error handling when using check flip commands. 7. Fixed - while printing on the DI station and opening the DI cover, a home error was created upon closing the DI cover if a release buffer command was received during the rehoming process. This caused the printer to reset. 8. Fixed - When the diwait command was issued, the delays would not get updated until the set station command was sent again, i.e. if the DI station was selected, and the delay command was sent from 0 to 1, the paper would not be readied. Revision: SM_PRT23.HEX Release Date: March 4, 1998 ================================== 1. Improvements made to paper handling during DI landscape printing with and without flipping. These improvements can help to eliminate instances of checks being dog-earred after being printed in DI landscape mode. 2. Fixed - When a DI error occurs due to no document being present in the DI station, when the document is finally inserted, the DI error status would indicate document present and then revert to indicating document not present and then back to document present. 3. Added - MCT 17 (11 hex), bit 14, when enabled allows CR cover open status to be sent prior to linecount being incremened. The default is for the CR cover open status to be delayed until after the linecount is incremented. MCT 17, bit 14 = 0 means this function is enabled MCT 17, bit 14 = 1 means this function is disabled, this is the default 4. Fixed - When a document is jammed in the DI station (both sensors stay covered) the printer will try to find the length of the document forever. The fix for this is that if unable to determine the length of the document the error status - status 7, bit 7, will be sent. (Note this status bit is only sent once.) 5. Fixed - when an eject command is sent to the DI station after a landscape print the Document Ready status bit is not getting cleared (set to "0") until the document is taken out of the sensor. 6. Added - MCT 30, (1E hex), bit 13, an MCT to not have the line feeding in the document station execute until the document station is ready. If this MCT value is cleared, the linefeeds (for portait mode) will not be executed until there is paper in the printer. MCT 30, bit 13 = 0 means linefeeds not executed until paper present in DI station MCT 30, bit 13 = 1 means linefeeds are executed whether or not paper is present in DI station (default) Note: This may be a problem for someone who sends the printer a bunch of line feeds to eject the document. After the document is ejected via linefeeds, any left over linefeeds will not execute until the next document is inserted if this MCT is set to zero ("0"). 7. Added - MCT 17 (11 hex), bit 13, an MCT to cut the paper after the CR cover is closed. MCT 17, bit 13 = 0 means to enable cutting paper on CR cover closing MCT 17, bit 13 = 1 means to disable cutting paper on CR cover closing 8. Fixed - When we get an unrecoverable home error when doing a 2 or more pass print in the document station, the transport motor will begin to buzz. 9. Added - code to determine if the 24 volt line has disappeared. This addresses the problem of battery backed up terminals. When the power goes down the printer "thinks" it is still printing when it is not and status is reported that the lines have been printed. New Status Byte: Status Byte 7, bit 1. When this status byte goes to 1 - the power is lost. This new status will work like the cover open status. The buffer will be held (if setup to hold the buffer on errors.) 10. Fixed - On some printers, when the DI cover is opened while the impact head is moving a home error occurs when we try to move the head to the ribbon loading position. 11. Fixed - Code 128 barcodes, code 66 bar/space pattern was not being printed properly. Revision: SM_PRT22.HEX Release Date: December 17, 1997 ================================== 1. Fixed - Multiple consecutive linefeed commands on the landscape station were resulting in false warning of the edge of the allowable print space due to a code error. This resulted in multiple blank lines. 2. Fixed - RS232 mode, cancel buffer command not working properly. 3. Fixed - RS232 mode, '0D' command modified in 1E.12 for Epson compatibility was not working properly causing the impact head to hit the left frame for several seconds (loud noise). 4. Fixed - RS232 mode, when printing in DI landscape mode, after a document is ejected (out of rollers but still covering top sensor) and non-printable characters are sent to the printer (i.e. 0D, 0A) before another document is inserted, these non-printable characters ARE executed rather than waiting for a document to be inserted. 5. Fixed - RS232 mode, more cancel buffer problems (see 22.02). This fix is changing the definition of cancel buffer to the following (note that this is only in reference to RS232 mode): 1. Cancel buffer is an immediate command and will reset the print buffer pointers to point to the start of the buffer AFTER the current command being executed is finished. Any commands or print data that have not been executed will be lost when the cancel buffer command is executed. Sending commands or print data after a cancel buffer command prior to receiving the command complete status will result in unpredictable results! 2. After completing execution, cancel buffer will force status out to the application/driver (status byte 1, bit 0 = 1) indicating that the command is complete. 3. The application/driver must NOT issue any commands after sending the cancel buffer until it receives status saying the command is complete. The application/driver should not issue a status requst command after the cancel buffer but should wait for the forced status to be returned. 4. CAUTION: Due to the immediate nature of the cancel buffer command, if the application/driver issues a status request command just before issuing the cancel buffer, the status request may or may not be processed depending on the timing of the cancel buffer. If the status request is processed, the application/driver must be careful not to confuse this status with the forced out status from the cancel buffer command. 5. In DTR/DSR mode, DSR will be driven inactive when cancel buffer command is received and will be driven active after cancel buffer command is executed. 6. Fixed - the power supply in system unit (early versions of 4693) going down during a flip command. 7. Changed - Boot Sector - changed the arrows and the Target bulls eye in the resident character set. 8. Fixed - The buffer gets held when it shouldn't, because the cancel buffer command is received while trying to do a DI ready command, because of a MICR read. The ready command fails, so the buffer is held, but now there are no more DI commands - so the buffer should not be held. Revision: SM_PRT21.HEX Release Date: October 17, 1997 ================================ 1. Fixed a problem that caused the printer to stop communicating. Problem occurs when the customer receipt station cover is opened while a document is being printed. 4690 OS customers may see this result in a "System Busy" message. Revision: SM_PRT20.HEX Release Date: October 1, 1997 ================================ 1. Fixed a problem that caused the printer to stop communicating. Problem occurs when MICR command is sent while customer receipt image buffer is being processed. Revision: SM_PRT1F.HEX Release Date: August 21, 1997 ================================ 1. Fixed a problem where the printer was reseting after a 2-pass MICR read when the line printed before was in the CR station and was centered or right aligned. Revision: SM_PRT1E.HEX Release Date: August 14, 1997 ================================ NEW FUNCTIONS ------------- 1. Model 3/4 Printer Emulation. 2. Support for proportional fonts. 3. European Common Currency symbol added to resident code page. ** Note: The resident code page is stored in the boot sector of the printer's flash memory. Printers manufactured with this level firm- ware will have the ECC currency symbol in the resident code page but printers updated with this level of firmware will not. Firmware updates do NOT update the boot sector. 4. Added an MCT (Microcode Controlled Tolerance) to allow Font B to be the default. 5. Added an MCT to ignore CR (carriage return) commands when RS232 attached. ** Note: For newly manufactured printers with this level microcode, the default is to ignore CR commands. CHANGED ------------ 1. Set DI Error during a MICR or Flip command when; - It is sent without a document present in the printer. - The printer tries to pull a document in but fails. ** Note: 1. When you receive a DI error (status byte 3-bit 2), the command stays in the printer buffer. When you receive a DI feed error (status byte 7-bit 7) the command is no longer in the buffer. 2. If setup to hold the buffer on DI error, these errors will hold the buffer. 3. If setup to NOT hold the buffer, the printer will continue to try the MICR command. The error will clear if it is succesful. FIXED ------------ 1. Several changes were made to improve the DI station, specifically check handling. 2. Unexpected printer resets ("poll timeouts"). 3. Bar Code 93. 4. Was not always printing the signal level during the MICR offline test. 5. Stopped incrementing line count during offline test. 6. Setting the hold buffer on a DI error without setting the error bit. Revision: SM_PRT1D.HEX Release Date: ================================ NEW FUNCTIONS -------------- 1. PDF 417 Bar codes. 2. Support for buffered EC request on RS232. 3. Added hex dump mode for RS232. 4. Adjust thermal printhead pulse width depending on supply voltage. FIXED ----- 1. Last thermal line not printed if physical line command complete not sent. 2. Not incrementing line count for bar code. 3. MICR two pass reading not working. 4. RS232 memory sector full bit not getting cleared. Revision: SM_PRT1C.HEX Release Date: February 4,1997 ================================ 1. Fixed bold printing to not overun the RS232 buffer. Revision: SM_PRT1B.HEX Release Date: ================================ NEW FUNCTIONS ------------- 1. Disabling of line count in RS232 mode. FIXED ----- 1. Not printing logo correctly if switching from a stored, document station logo to an "on-the-fly" customer receipt logo. Revision: SM_PRT1A.HEX Release Date: December 19,1996 ================================ 1. Fixed right align with bar codes. Revision: SM_PRT19.HEX Release Date: December 14,1996 ================================ NEW FUNCTIONS ------------- 1. Added bold printing in customer receipt station. FIXED ----- 1. Fixed user flash read of zero bytes. Revision: SM_PRT18.HEX Release Date: November 25,1996 ================================ First production level firmware.