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PRINTER CONFIGURATION - FGL vs. PCL4
BOCA printers are factory configured for either FGL or PCL4 operation. FGL
mode is discussed in great detail in the programming guide. PCL4
mode is described in the "Windows Compatibility Supplement". Please note
that the printer cannot alternate between these two modes.
PCL4 is primarily a
legacy configuration for printers purchased before the development of
the FGL drivers. We strongly discourage the use of PCL4 drivers
for new Windows-based applications.
COMMUNICATING WITH
YOUR PRINTER
There
are three basic ways of communicating with a BOCA printer. The
simplest way to communicate with your BOCA printer is to
open a port (parallel, serial or USB) and to write directly to the port.
This method will work with any PC and any software while supporting full
bi-directional communication.
The second
means of communicating with a BOCA printer is over the Network via the
Ethernet interface (see Ethernet page).
The network interface can be designed for full bi-directional
communication and is the only means of working with a printer
independent of a PC.
The final
approach is to communicate with the printer using a printer driver (see
printer driver page). The printer driver
interprets the data from the application and writes to the port
(parallel, serial, USB or Ethernet). BOCA provides drivers for all
active Windows platforms (W2K and XP), Linux and Macs. These drivers only work with all
standard BOCA printers built from 2000 forward. (Older software
such as FGL II, IV, 20, 40, 21 and 41 will not operate with these
drivers. FGL22/42 rev C and above and all FGL24/44 are
compatible.) The Generic Text Printer Driver (in Windows) can be used for text based
applications on older printer models which do not support the FGL
drivers. However, the generic text driver has limited capabilities
and does not support certain functions such as graphics and true type
fonts.
While our printer drivers do not
support bi-directional communication, it is possible to
selectively bypass the driver in the Windows Environment in order to communicate bi-directionally
as described on the BiDirectional
Interface page. (We do not have tools for communicating
bi-directionally in Linux and Mac environments.)
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