Ricoh SAVIN A741, Manual

Page 1: ...A741 Controller Print Server Manual RICOH GROUP COMPANIES ...

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Page 3: ...t a complex device the A741 Repro System solution is very versatile This document is intended to assist in the installation and configuration of the A741 Repro system It contains a wealth of information and experience With the information contained in this manual it will be possible to successfully install the A741 Repro controller and provide first line support ...

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Page 5: ...System Software installation 8 2 8 2 How to switch the A741 Repro System to a different language 9 2 8 3 How do I de install the A741 Repro System program 10 2 9 PC NETWORKING 11 3 FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A741 REPRO SYSTEM 13 4 TROUBLE SHOOTING 15 4 1 GENERAL 15 4 2 SIGNS OF PROBLEMS 15 4 3 PROBLEM LISTING 15 4 4 DETAILED CORRECTIVE ACTIONS 16 4 4 1 Check the operation of the network 16 4 4 2 ...

Page 6: ...1 7 6 USE OF STAMPS 31 8 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS GENERAL 33 8 1 WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE XI REPRO SYSTEM PRINT SERVER 33 8 2 WHAT ARE THE MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE A741 REPRO SYSTEM PRINT SERVER 33 8 3 CAN I USE THE A741 PRINT SERVER FOR OTHER JOBS AS WELL 33 8 4 CAN I USE AN EXISTING PC FROM THE CUSTOMER 33 8 5 WHICH SOFTWARE IS BUNDLED WITH A741 REPRO SYSTEM 33 8 6 WHAT IS THE DIFFEREN...

Page 7: ...ENT BEFORE PLOTTING PRINTING 43 11 2 CAN WE MODIFY THE IMAGE BEFORE IT WILL BE PRINTED 43 11 3 WHICH IMAGE HANDLING OPTIONS DOES A741 REPRO HAVE 43 12 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS NETWORK 45 12 1 CAN WE PRINT VIA A NETWORK 45 12 2 CAN WE PRINT FROM UNIX OR MACINTOSH SYSTEMS 45 12 3 WHICH NETWORKS PROTOCOLS CAN WE USE 45 12 4 CAN WE SUBMIT PRINT JOBS VIA E MAIL 45 12 5 WHAT IS CREATED WHEN THE RICOH ...

Page 8: ...ESTIONS PROJECT MANAGEMENT 51 14 1 WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A PROJECT 51 14 2 HOW MANY GROUPS CAN BE IN A PROJECT 51 14 3 HOW MANY PROJECTS CAN WE MANAGE WITH A741 REPRO SYSTEM 51 14 4 DO WE PROVIDE ANY KIND OF ACCOUNTING 51 15 GLOSSARY 53 16 DESCRIPTION OF LBTEST PROGRAM 61 16 1 PURPOSE OF DOCUMENT 61 16 2 LBTEST COMMANDS 61 16 3 COMMAND 1 61 16 4 COMMAND 2 61 16 5 COMMAND C 62 16 6 COMMAND I 62 16...

Page 9: ...13 mm Weight 314 kg 1 2 A741 Repro Specifications 1 2 1 File Formats The following fileformats and emulation s are supported by the A741 Repro System software Emulation s both vector oriented HP GL HP GL 2 CalComp 906 907 Vector Formats PostScript Level II future option AutoCAD DRW future option Raster Formats TIFF 6 0 B W only all compression formats supported ATT MS Bitmap BMP CALS Raster Type I...

Page 10: ...mage editing De speckle De Skew Invert Mirror Scale Rotate Image viewer Wang Imaging standard utility of Windows NT Project management Unlimited projects Per project plots can be organised into multiple sub projects Pensets and stamps can be assigned to the whole project to a sub project and to plots individually 1 4 A741 Repro functions Scanning Resolution 400 dpi 400 dpi Gray scales 2 Black Whit...

Page 11: ...rver only Processor Pentium Pro or Pentium II 200Mhz or faster Memory 128Mb minimum will not work with less memory Harddisk 2Gb IDE interface Actual storage space depends on storage requirements from the customer Monitor 17 or larger minimum resolution 800x600 Software Windows NT 4 0 workstation With SP 3 Network interface Any type Not fully implemented to be confirmed ...

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Page 13: ...found on the large label on the inside of the left cover or on the rear panel Clean the contact glass and rollers and perform SIM 120 γ auto adjust Press the clear key and all clear key select SIM 001 and return to the normal operation mode Switch the A741 off and on again 2 2 New SIMulations Several new SIMulations are used to control the A741 Repro System the 2 most important are discussed below...

Page 14: ... Remove the power cable from the PC Open the PC housing Install the A741 Repro Card into a free PCI slot Quick test Connect the A741 signal cable to the controller Switch on the PC and A741 and wait until the A741 is ready Make sure the A741 is on line Press the small button at the corner of the PCI card This should give a test print as seen below Note For a more detailed test procedure see chapte...

Page 15: ...ws 95 Windows NT 4 0 is not a plug and play operating system To avoid potential problems with the setup of the PCI cards we have to set the PC bios not to expect a PnP operating system The bios will then take care of the Interrupt and DMA assignments How to set check NOTE This procedure will work on many Mainboards systems like DELL Compaq etc have their own way of entering the BIOS setup and BIOS...

Page 16: ...alling a new version of the software Upgrading an existing installation In the list with options various items are de selected Do not alter this list otherwise you overwrite information which must be saved between updates accounting information etc Various hints Tips on installation User rights During installation and also normal operation of the A741 Repro Software on the Server PC the currently ...

Page 17: ...s software The current available languages are English German French Italian Spanish and Dutch For any language not listed English will be selected It is however possible to run the A741 Repro software in a different language Stop the Client program In the control panel double click on the Regional Settings applet Change the language setting to one of the languages as mentioned above Re start the ...

Page 18: ...case of a software update it may be necessary to de install remove the software In the control panel start the Add Remove software applet Make sure that the Littlebear driver and Server program are stopped See chapter 4 5 Starting stopping Littlebear driver and rfxServer Select the Install Uninstall tab Select The A741 Repro System from the list Hit the Add Remove button ...

Page 19: ...ork card Open the Control Panel Network Adapters Add Choose the MS Loopback adapter from the list and click OK Depending on uyour specific installation the Windows NT system disk may be needed Select the Protocols tab Choose the NetBEUI protocol and press Enter on the packet size question If NetBEUI is not listed go back to Add and select it from the list and click OK Close the Network routine and...

Page 20: ...rop down box select all adapters Note Both the network adapter s and the MS Loopback should be listed Highlight the network adapter s and press the Disable button Note Make sure the MS Loopback adapter remains enabled Close the network applet and re start the PC Verify the network operation by double clicking Network Neighborhood HINT When returning the PC to an active network environment disable ...

Page 21: ...printer only the card and driver software need to be replaced B Communication between driver and card C Network communication The Server and Client programs exchange status information via named pipes through the network If a Client detects that rfxServer is present on the same system it will be given the status of Local Client if the server is not present or not started the Client will assume the...

Page 22: ...ry for network clients RfxServer will constantly monitor one of these two directories based on the Mode setting of the Local client E Scanning Scanning is done directly by the local client At scan time the local Client will take over the control of the system from rfxServer Due to this method of communication and the need for interaction between the PC and A741 scanning is limited to the Local Cli...

Page 23: ...ctions or incorrect use of the client program A main sign of problems is the absence of the scan button when the Client program is started on the Server PC In this case check the operation of the network and try to restart the Server program see chapter 4 4 Detailed corrective actions Check the operation of the network and 4 5 Starting stopping Littlebear driver and rfxServer Another major problem...

Page 24: ...and alone you must see just one PC the Server PC If not check the network setup of the PC for a stand alone Server PC see chapter 2 9 PC networking Client PC Make sure the Server PC is working and configured properly including the network connection Double click on the Network Neighborhood icon of the Client PC and see if the Server PC is present if not find out why and correct the problem 4 4 2 M...

Page 25: ...iately at startup time To fix this problem delete all files in the Local Spool directory before re booting the system If the problem occurs when the Server PC is switched to the Network printing mode delete the problem file s in the Network Spool directory 4 5 Starting stopping Littlebear driver and rfxServer Normally the Littlebear device driver and Server program are started automatically when t...

Page 26: ...hapter 4 5 Starting stopping Littlebear driver and rfxServer Look in the event log file for a possible reason see chapter 4 7 Use of the Event log Start the rfxServer from in a DOS box Open the Program Files A741 Repro System directory Create a shortcut to rfxServer Select the properties of this shortcut Add the command switch C 7 to the command line after the closing double quote Close and then d...

Page 27: ...here are 2 important options System and Application Both can be inspected for signs of trouble The example below shows an Application event log by double clicking on an event more details are shown In this case it is a message that there is no controller present 4 8 Cannot maximize Client window In some cases only a part of the Client window is shown and it is not possible to maximize the window t...

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Page 29: ...eed as follows Using your mouse click on START PROGRAM WINDOWSNT EXPLORER C PROGRAM FILES RICOH CONTROLLER LBTEST EXE If the program will not start disappears again in a fraction of a second make sure that rfxServer is stopped 4 9 2 Press button on card Although not really part of the LBTEST program this is an important test The Little Bear card has a button on the corner futhest from the rear of ...

Page 30: ...elect P from the commands listed under t A more comprehensive test The LBTEST program will generate a checker board test pattern simulating the normal data transfer If this test works o k then basically the PC and the PCI card are working fine 4 9 6 Test command F ifo Select F from the commands listed under t This test is mainly used to test the communication between the software and controller ha...

Page 31: ... user account for that specific user and disable the Guest account Use the Start menu Programs Administrator tools User Manager User New User to create new users entries 5 3 Installing the Repro Sytem from CD ROM The supplied CD ROM contains Xi Repro System the program for plotter controller LittleBear Driver the driver which communicates between copier and interface card Installer program to inst...

Page 32: ... Files Xi Repro System Plots directory may be deleted Move any image files before uninstalling Xi Repro System 5 4 Installing the Remote Client system on remote PC s Insert the A741 Repro CD Rom or start the set up program via the network Follow the installation procedure as shown aboveexcept for the following two steps The Setup Type screen appears Select Client Software to install Xi Repro Syste...

Page 33: ...twork will be shown and can be selected at this point 5 6 View the status of a remote A741 printer Select the View Network System Status menu This will show the dialog box at right In this dialog box it will be possible to select and see the status of any A741 connected to the network ...

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Page 35: ...en lines Yes The user can now use the normal File Print option to print the AutoCAD file HINT make sure the A741 Repro is in the network mode if not the plots are stored in the Network Spool directory and will not print until the A741 Repro is switched to network mode From AutoCAD the user can select the desired output size The A741 Repro will automatically use the roll of paper best suited for th...

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Page 37: ...ser can determine the behavior of the program by changing various optional settings The picture below shows the most important of these settings 1 Units of measurements Set to desired units of measurement This will effect the units of measurement as shown by the A741 Repro program 2 Use of pensets Marking this option will use the pen information as defined in the HP GL or CalComp file If marked op...

Page 38: ... specific commands like paper roll selection etc When importing a document in a project the default settings are applied for that document With the dialog as presented when selecting the Tools Default Settings menu option you can set these defaults 7 4 Importing documents how are they processed It is important to understand which processes take place when importing a file and what happens when rfx...

Page 39: ...en importing a document pensets are applied as the document is RIPped If a penset is added to a project by group or individual files then initially these settings will have no effect until the file is re RIPped again To do so goto the print plot file properties and select the Names tab Press the RIP button At this moment only the RASTer file is re generated Any changes will not show up in the thum...

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Page 41: ...e 8 3 Can I use the A741 Print Server for other jobs as well You can use the A741 Repro System server for other jobs as well but printing specifically the RIPping part demands a lot of resources of the PC When sending frequent print jobs to the server it is advised not to use the server PC for other tasks 8 4 Can I use an existing PC from the customer Yes as long as the PC complies with the specif...

Page 42: ...smaller size Depending on the image complexity compression ranges of 40 1 are possible Typically a compressed 36x48 bitmap will be in the range of 1 5Mb to 5Mb Example of some raster formats TIFF BMP PCX HP RTL see also 8 8 10 7 Vector Vector images typically contain instructions about how to create an image In fact the file contains a global description of the page size orientation etc and a list...

Page 43: ...e drawing Streamline will produce an Adobe Illustrator vector file With this latter program you can easily modify the drawing For more information see the Adobe web site at www adobe com see also 8 7 8 9 11 2 Note Streamline has limits to the size of bitmaps it can handle and is therefore not suitable for large engineering drawings scans 8 11 If I want to scale an image which format will give the ...

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Page 45: ...enabled such as scanning In order to fully control the print job specify scaling paper size rotation etc the job must first be printed to file on a computer The print file must then be imported into a Client propram after which the job details can be specified The print job is then submitted to the A741 Repro System server after which it is printed The Client program is available only for the Wind...

Page 46: ...serial data signals for the communication Only this interface can be used to communicate with the A741 A741 Repro System software A CD ROM containing all the required drivers the server and client programs tools and diagnostics Cables A set of cables to connect the A741 to the Print Server PC 9 3 Can I use any existing A741 in combination with the A741 Repro System Print Server Yes any existing A7...

Page 47: ...t 650C this is the most universal HP GL 2 plotter emulation see also 10 1 10 5 Can we print from UNIX or Macintosh systems Yes but respecting 2 conditions The application or operating system e g Sun s Solaris or the Mac OS must be able to generate an output format like HP GL 2 CalComp 906 907 or TIFF see also 10 7 The plot data must be transferred to the Print Server either via a backup device or ...

Page 48: ...gth Apart from default paper sizes the user can select the desired paper length or let the program determine the actual size of the plot synchronized cut Image rotation The image can be rotated with 90º increments 0º 90º 180º or 270º Image scaling The user can scale zoom the output image from 5 to 3600 Furthermore the Autoscale option will enlarge reduce the image to maximally fit this image on th...

Page 49: ...ing time the operator would change the pen at the appropriate moment In more modern plotters the machine can automatically pick a pen from a group of available pens In modern environments like A741 Repro System we do not have physical pens anymore but these pens are generated electronically HP GL plots may contain a description of these pens color width pattern etc or we can use the penset as spec...

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Page 51: ... 9 8 10 13 3 11 3 Which image handling options does A741 Repro have The A741 Repro software will allow some basic image handling editing These functions are mainly designed to provide some cleanup of the image after scanning or to make some final modifications to the raster file before it is being printed The amount of De Skew or De Speckle cannot be controlled A741 Repro is using default settings...

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Page 53: ... 12 4 Can we submit print jobs via e mail Yes it is not necessary to have a direct network connection to print By using the built in e mail facilities we can submit the print job as an e mail message to the A741 Repro System Print Server The printer operator can then print the job see also 10 6 NOTE this function will be available around September 98 12 5 What is created when the Ricoh Controller ...

Page 54: ...r is TCP IP However other protocols may be implemented It is important to remember that the remote clients must support the same protocol as the A741 print server otherwise communication between the devices will not be possible Some of the protocols supported include TCP IP IPX SPX and NetBEUI 12 10 What Media Access Methods are compatible with the A741 Print Server The Media Access Methods suppor...

Page 55: ...etwork Remember when using the A741 Print Server in a stand alone configuration e g no network connections a simulated network environment must be created Refer to section 2 10 in the A741 Print Server Manual Make sure that when you install the MS Loopback Adapter in the A741 no network interface card is installed ...

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Page 57: ...tation see also 8 5 8 7 8 9 8 10 11 2 11 3 13 4 Can we reduce or enlarge the scanned image Yes documents can be reduced enlarged at scan time from 25 to 400 like when using the A741 as a copier After the document has been stored on the computer virtual unlimited reduction enlargement is possible with a variety of software programs 13 5 Can we scan a part of an image Before scanning the user can se...

Page 58: ...oth settings will have approximately the same effect on the filesize Resolution Scaling 400dpi 100 200dpi 50 100dpi 25 13 9 What is de speckle Scanned images may contain noise that is small black spots on the white background or small white spots in black area s De speckling will remove these spots as much as possible to improve the overall quality of the scanned image Many image handling software...

Page 59: ...projects can we manage with A741 Repro System Unlimited depends on the storage space of your computer The A741 Repro System client can only handle one project at a time 14 4 Do we provide any kind of accounting Yes accounting is standard For each print plot job we can select a cost center and or user ID which will be stored in an accounting database Multiple accounting databases can be used From t...

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Page 61: ... the printer and visa versa Fast and user friendly way to transmit data Also referred to as Bi tronics parallel Bit A single piece of electronic information Represented by either zero 0 or one 1 Eight bits make up one BYTE Bitmap A matrix of pixels representing an image Normally each pixel will have 2 states black or white bi level In a grayscale bitmap each pixel can have a distinct grey level e ...

Page 62: ... System A piece of software that enables the computer to interact with Application software Downloadable fonts Additional fonts which must be downloaded from the PC to the printer every time DPI The number of dots that the laser printer is able to place in a square inch The higher this number the better the print quality Drum A cylinder shaped part in printers and copiers which is used to transfer...

Page 63: ... found in Windows and MAC systems Hard disk A piece of hardware where data can be stored permanently Host PC A PC system with a dedicated task like print or file server HP GL This stands for Hewlett Packard Graphics Language and is a printer language specifically intended for plotters HP GL 2 is the more advanced version HTML HyperText Markup Language used to describe World Wide Web documents in a...

Page 64: ...ter fax scanner Previously the user needed a separate machine for each function NetBEUI A network protocol designed by IBM and Microsoft Network The terminology of linking 2 or more computers together to exchange information or to share resources such as printers Non impact printer A printing system in which it is not necessary to strike the page to form the image Examples are Laser and Ink Jet pr...

Page 65: ...mple is Adobe s Postscript Penset Description of a set of pens width color pattern used in HP GL plotting Pixel Short for Picture Element Describes a single element of an image PPM Pages Per Minute a measurement how many pages a printer can product in one minute Print Server Printer with embedded network connection serving a group of users Also a network connected PC which controls a printer share...

Page 66: ...nned once and the image is stored in memory Multiple copies prints are then made of this stored original Typically found in digital copiers SCSI Small Computer System Interface Very fast interface which can be used to attach up to 7 devices to a computer Serial interface Interface capable of transmitting data one bit at a time Server Powerful computers which performs certain services for other con...

Page 67: ...is described in pixels or dots Vectorising Conversion of a raster image into a vector graphic Watermark Fixed text or graphics included with each copy print Also referred to as Form Overlay Windows User friendly graphical shell which works on top of DOS Most recent version is Windows 98 and is manufactured by Microsoft WPS Windows Printing System used by Microsoft Windows to enable quick printing ...

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Page 69: ...ifos c Control i Initialize r Read Register s Status v Version w Write Register d Write Fifos Via DMA f Read Fifos Via DMA t Print Scan test Button or FIFO tests q Quit 16 3 Command 1 This command will reset the Littlebear device by asserting the reset line to the controller This will cause the controller firmware to reset all of its values to the initial state When this command is issued the cont...

Page 70: ...lue is used by the Littlebear controller to determine if a control command completed on time For commands that take arguments see the interface spec such as the Print setting 12h command all of the arguments need to be entered one line at a time The LBTEST program requires that six arguments be entered even if the command does not take six arguments In this case enter 00 for the remainder of the a...

Page 71: ... 00h Current engine status 01h Output placement 02h print scan status 10h Cover status 11h Paper misfeed status 12h Service call number 13h Scanner setting status 14h Command status FFh All of the status requests are described in the interface document and will not be described in detail in this document In general the user must enter the HEX number corresponding to the status to be retrieved LBTE...

Page 72: ...prompt for the value to be written to the address A two byte HEX address is expected then a one byte HEX value For example to write a B4 to the register at address 8081h enter 8081 when prompted for the register value then enter B4 when prompted for the value to write to this register To confirm the value just written you may issue the r command to check the current value However if the register j...

Page 73: ... progress of the print will be displayed as the print proceeds LBTEST will print up to 200 copies of this test pattern Data for the test pattern will be downloaded to the copier for each of the copies The s Scan test will instruct the copier to scan in a plot This plot can be any size however LBTEST will only read 18 of length data The data from the scan is stored in two files The first file TEST ...

Page 74: ... until Littlebear is found If it is not found go to step 1 If it is found make sure it is running If it is not running start it by highlighting it and then pressing the start button 3 Start the LBTEST program If a DOS window appears and then suddenly disappears this means that the LITTLEBEAR device driver is currently being used by another process You may either find the process that is using it a...

Page 75: ... will be printed This pattern should repeat for approximately 18 in length If nothing happens within 90 seconds perform this test again If there is still no printout within another 90 seconds the controller is not communicating with the copier Cycle the power on the copier and repeat from step 1 If the problem persists there is an unknown problem 8 If this step is reached with no problems perform ...

Page 76: ... a problem If the scanner engine could not be captured after several tries retrieve the status of the copier as described in the Command s section above See the interface spec for details of the status commands If there are no problems such as warming up or service call etc try the print again If the copier still does not print there is an unknown problem 10 If this step is reached with no problem...