******************************************************************** README file for Epson Stylus(TM) High Quality ESC/P 2 printer driver for Windows(TM) 3.1 ******************************************************************** Driver version 1.04 ******************************************************************** The software on this disk is provided to allow you to get the highest quality printing from your Epson Stylus printer. This README has the following sections: A. Important Legal Information B. Late-breaking news regarding your Windows driver I. User hints II. Application notes III. Using with older Epson Stylus printers C. Calibrating your printer I. Running the calibration utility II. Calibrating High Speed mode printing III. Aligning Black and Color output IV. Using a Mouse or Keyboard V. Notes A. Important Legal Information ============================== Software called the Epson Stylus High Quality ESC/P 2 driver for Windows 3.1 (the "Software") is provided "AS IS." NO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE GIVEN. The Software may be copied and distributed without charge only to users of Epson brand printers. All files on the disk must be copied without modification, including all proprietary marks and notices. All components of the Software must be distributed together. The Software may not be distributed for profit. Copyright (c) 1994 Seiko Epson Corporation Copyright (c) 1994 Software 2000 Ltd., Oxford, England. B. Late-breaking news regarding your Windows driver =================================================== I. User hints ------------- Printing is very slow Check your Print Options settings in the Media/Options screen. If MicroWeave is selected, monochrome printing will be much slower than usual. (Color printing speed is not affected by MicroWeave). Deselect MicroWeave to increase print speed. If you are printing in monochrome, MicroWeave should only be used for presentation quality printing. Other ways to speed up your printing include turning on High Speed mode, turning off halftoning, printing in monochrome instead of color, and printing in a lower resolution. Windows 3.0 The driver does not support Windows 3.0. Please upgrade to Windows 3.1 or a later version. EGA and CGA displays The driver does not function properly with EGA and CGA displays. Either use the standard Windows driver (available from Microsoft) or upgrade your display to VGA. Freeing up memory If you need to free up some additional memory when not printing, try closing the EPSON Spooler. Use Alt-Tab to switch to the spooler and close it in the normal manner. Image Settings image does not look good The image provided works best with displays that support 256 colors or more. Try changing your display driver (via the Control Panel) to display 256 colors or more. If your display adapter only operates at 16 colors and your display driver does not render the image nicely on screen, you can replace the image with another of your own choice. Simply double-click on the image. You can then load in any .BMP file which is 1-bit, 4-bit, or 8-bit type (Note that if you try to load a 24-bit type .BMP file, you will get an "Unsupported Format" error). Depending on the image you choose, the preview functions may not work. If in the future you wish to return to using the Epson-provided image, it can be loaded by double-clicking the image again. It is named EPSON.BMP and is found in your Windows \SYSTEM subdirectory. Dither options, Media Types, etc. cannot be selected The driver limits the choices you can make to those which produce useful output. For example, if you select 720dpi, only the Diffused halftoning methods are available. You must also use Special coated paper for 720dpi. Color text does not print correctly Use one of the Diffused halftone methods. EPSON Spool Manager fails to print Use the standard Windows Print Manager by checking the "Use Print Manager for this port" check box in the queue setup dialog of the EPSON Spool Manager window. "This driver cannot be updated because it is currently being used by Windows" a) This error may occur if you try to reinstall the driver. Close the EPSON Spooler and try again. b) This error may occur if "WINMEM32.DLL" has been used by the system, a device driver, or an application (e.g. Windows for Pen system, or C&T Wingine video driver). To avoid this problem, follow the installation instructions below. 1) Make a backup copy of the "EPSON Driver Disk." Use this backup disk during the following operations and keep the original disk in a safe place. 2) Make sure you disable write protect before inserting the backup disk into the disk drive. 3) Select "Run..." from the File menu of the Program Manager. 4) Type "A:\EXCHANGE" (or "B:\EXCHANGE") in the Command Line box. Be sure to use the correct drive letter (A or B) depending on which drive you inserted the disk into. 5) Then install the printer driver as you normally would from the Control Panel. First line near the top margin does not print correctly When printing at 720dpi with MicroWeave turned on, the output near the top margin may be slightly distorted. To avoid this problem, use your application program to lower the top margin position. II. Application notes ---------------------- Micrografx Designer 4.0 Imported grayscale images may print as black due to a bug in Designer. To print correctly, do one of the following: a) Change your Ink setting to Color (if you have a color printer), or b) Select a non-Diffused Halftone method, or c) Set your video display adaptor to 256 color mode, or d) Update your version of Designer Adobe Photoshop 2.5 Printing to a file may cause a General Protection Fault. Upgrade to ver. 2.5.1. S3 video drivers If your graphics card uses S3 chips, you may find that some parts of the driver do not display correctly on screen. This does not affect printing. Contact the manufacturer of your card for a video driver update. Bitstream FaceLift 2.0 The driver does not support FaceLift 2.0. Please turn off FaceLift and use another font. III. Using with older Epson Stylus printers ------------------------------------------ The Stylus 300, 800 and 1000 models are not supported. If you intend to use this driver with one of these printers, select Stylus 800+ when installing the driver and note the following restrictions: a) MicroWeave will not function correctly b) You must run the Calibration utility to enable High Speed mode c) Correct operation is not guaranteed C. Calibrating your printer =========================== I. Running the calibration utility ---------------------------------- TO GET THE HIGHEST QUALITY PRINTING YOU MUST CALIBRATE YOUR PRINTER! The Calibration utility is called CALIBRAT.EXE and is located in the root directory of the floppy disk that came with your printer. This utility runs in DOS, so you must either exit Windows or open a DOS window in Windows to run it. We recommend that you copy the utility to your hard disk and put it in a convenient directory such as C:\UTILITY. You can also run the utility from the floppy disk if you wish. Run the utility by moving to the directory where the utility is and typing: CALIBRAT Then press on your keyboard and follow the directions on the screen. II. Calibrating High Speed mode printing ---------------------------------------- Selecting High Speed mode in your printer driver causes your printer to print bidirectionally. Normally your Stylus printer prints from left to right only (i.e. unidirectionally). In High Speed mode, however, the printer prints from left to right and also from right to left. This lets you print much faster. Although your printer is calibrated in the factory, it may become uncalibrated during shipping. You should only have to calibrate your printer once. If you find it necessary to calibrate your printer again, you can easily use this utility to recalibrate your printer. If you suspect that your printer needs calibration, the easiest way to check is by turning off High Speed mode and printing your document again. If the output quality improves, you should recalibrate your printer. You should recalibrate your printer if: i) vertical lines in your output appear jagged ii) letters appear to be skewed or split iii) wavy gaps appear in halftoned images III. Aligning Black and Color output ------------------------------------ If you have a color printer (such as the Stylus COLOR), it may be necessary to align the Black print head with the Color print head. You should only have to align your print heads once. If you think that your print heads have somehow become misaligned, you can easily realign them with the calibration utility. You should realign your print heads if: i) Black output and Color output that should line up doesn't ii) Unwanted white spaces appear between Black and Color output IV. Using a Mouse or Keyboard ----------------------------- Using a Mouse If your mouse does not work when you run the calibration program, you need to exit the program and then install a mouse driver. You'll find the instructions for installing a mouse driver in the documentation that came with your mouse. Using the Keyboard If you don't want to use a mouse, simply use the following keys to move within the calibration program: Tab Moves you among the options on the screen Moves you to different items within an option Selects an option V. NOTES -------- This utility resets some of the default values in your printer to those listed below. To get best results from your printer using High Speed mode, we recommend that you do not change the print direction setting after using the utility. The other settings may be changed as necessary. Note that after using the utility, the settings made will not be saved to the printer unless you turn the printer off using the Operate switch. If you cut power to the printer by unplugging it or turn it off with a power bar, the settings will not be saved. After you have saved the settings the printer may be turned off as normal. Stylus 800, 1000 Auto print Direction: Off Network I/F mode: Off Mixed text/graphic mode: Off Auto line feed mode: Off Stylus 300 Auto print Direction: Off Network I/F mode: Off Mixed text/graphic mode: Off Auto line feed mode: Off Loading position: 8.5mm Stylus 800+ Auto print Direction: Auto Network I/F mode: Off Mixed text/graphic mode: Off Auto line feed mode: Off Stylus COLOR Print direction control: Auto Network I/F mode: Off Auto line feed mode: Off Enjoy using your "High Speed" Epson Stylus!