[ale] Dot matrix printer/start of page problems.

John Pilman jcpilman at gmail.com
Fri Aug 30 13:26:10 EDT 2013


You didn't say if the printing is too low or too high on the form. If it is
too low you can tear off one check part way from the top.  That will give
you a new starting point.

...John
On Aug 30, 2013 9:58 AM, "Beddingfield, Allen" <allen at ua.edu> wrote:

> One of my clients for my consulting business has an umm…VERY legacy setup.
>  They have an old server that went out of warranty 8 years ago, running SCO
> Unix, and an old RM/COBOL-85 application.  They were mid-migration to a new
> Windows-based product, when the vendor for that product went out of
> business, so we are stuck with it for a while longer (another whole topic
> of discussion).
>
> Anyway, here is my issue:  They have three Okidata Microline 320 dot
> matrix printers with Axis print servers attached.  Each is assigned to a
> queue on the Unix box, and each does a special purpose.  One does forms on
> special paper stock, one prints checks, and one prints reports on plain
> paper.
> The one that prints checks recently had a mechanical failure, so I
> temporarily swapped the report printer with it so that they could print
> their monthly check run.  That is where things got weird.
> Apparently their procedure for years when printing checks has been to load
> the checks in the printer, crank the knob to line up the print head with
> the spot on the check where the first line (check number) should print,
> power cycle the printer, and print.  On the old printer, this left the
> print head lined up with that spot on the check, and it began printing at
> that spot.  When I put the other printer there, and they follow the same
> procedure, the printer repositions the paper back to the top of the sheet
> of paper before printing, putting the check number and everything else out
> of alignment.
> The person who used to support them is no longer around, and all they know
> is that "the last guy changed something on the printer to make it work that
> way".
> I've looked up the manual for the ML 320 printer, and it sounds like this
> may have something to do with a "page tear off" setting, or a "start of
> page" setting.  It has been 15+ years since I messed with a dot matrix
> printer, and then it was pretty much just to print normal paper through.
> Does anyone have any ideas of what to try with this?!
> They owe me a significant sum of money for a few months of work, so I have
> a lot of motivation to get their check printer working again!
>
> Allen B.
>
> --
> Allen Beddingfield
> Systems Engineer
> The University of Alabama
>
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