Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • blackcat4866
    Master Of The Obvious

    Site Contributor
    10,000+ Posts
    • Jul 2007
    • 22960
    #1

    Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

    I'm in over my head again (no surprise there).

    After all the struggling to get the Kyoceras to print barcodes, now we're doing the same thing on Konica Minoltas, and of course it works differently.

    I've got Device Set-Up and the Font Management Utility loaded and functioning. I've put several fonts on the hard drive successfully. The new barcode fonts appear properly in the Font List, but do not appear in the customers documents, or in the barcode test documents I have. I have some clues though.

    Each of my installed barcodes has an escape sequence, for example: <esc>(19U<esc>(slp9.09h11.99v0s0b27312T00095
    I assume this is the way the font is specified.
    The font being specified by my customers document is escape sequence: echo "\033(0Y\033(s0p8.1h12v0s0b0T\c"
    It's also a 3 of 9 barcode font. I've got a zillon barcode fonts to choose from.

    Do the font # or Font ID matter? I'm thinking no.

    How do I program the escape sequence of the new font to match the one called for?

    Or, a broader question, What am I doing wrong?
    Owl? Are you out there? =^..^=
    If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
    1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
    2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
    3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
    4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
    5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

    blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=
    Tags: 312, customers, documents, konica, konica minolta, minolta, print, set, test, time
    • emujo
      Field Supervisor

      2,500+ Posts
      • Jun 2009
      • 3009
      #2
      Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

      Not sure if this is similar to your issue, but we had a 601 that printed barcodes, but scanner could not read them. Created a print driver using an HP laser 5 and customer olny uses this to print barcodes. Works fine and they know not to use this driver for anything else but LT(no finishing duplexing etc..). Emujo
      If you don't see your question answered in the forum, please don't think it's OK to PM me for a personal reply...I do not give out firmware and/or manuals.

        Comment

        • acusso1234
          Tecnico

          250+ Posts
          • Dec 2008
          • 250
          #3
          Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

          Originally posted by emujo
          Not sure if this is similar to your issue, but we had a 601 that printed barcodes, but scanner could not read them. Created a print driver using an HP laser 5 and customer olny uses this to print barcodes. Works fine and they know not to use this driver for anything else but LT(no finishing duplexing etc..). Emujo

          As usual I quote emujo.
          420 instead of 601 but the rest it's the same...
          ... In the minute that you're thinking of giving up, think about why you lasted so long ...

            Comment

            • RRodgers
              Service Manager

              1,000+ Posts
              • Jun 2009
              • 1947
              #4
              Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

              I was going to ask which drive but I think what is posted above whould fix it.
              Color is not 4 times harder... it's 65,000 times harder. They call it "TECH MODE" for a reason. I have manual's and firmware for ya, course... you are going to have to earn it.

                Comment

                • blackcat4866
                  Master Of The Obvious

                  Site Contributor
                  10,000+ Posts
                  • Jul 2007
                  • 22960
                  #5
                  Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

                  It wasn't printing barcodes at all. The printer was substituting OCR-B font.

                  The way to the answer is round-about. I had a job with barcodes sent to the Kyocera (CS-C4035E), at which I took a data capture.
                  From that data capture I isolated the escape sequence for the currently used barcode, then substituted the escape sequence for the new barcode. The only tricky part is the null characters. In Textpad you cannot type null characters (the little boxes), but you can cut/paste, or work around them just fine. The altered capture was then sent to the Konica Minolta, and then there were barcodes. Voila!

                  The new barcodes were just a little different proportion though, and the human readable text was overlapping the bottom of the barcode. After some more experimenting I isolated the correct spacing command: &a+.75R
                  then altered it to: &a+1.25R

                  It looks perfect from my captured/altered document. Now I need to work with the application programmers to see the results arrive at the printer. I don't have a clue how the next portion of this happens. I've been really fortunate this time to have found knowledgeable help.

                  There is a way to do data captures on the Konica Minolta, but for some reason I couldn't make it work. My ignorance, I'm sure. I will want to figure that out though, eventually. =^..^=
                  If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
                  1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
                  2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
                  3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
                  4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
                  5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

                  blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

                    Comment

                    • blackcat4866
                      Master Of The Obvious

                      Site Contributor
                      10,000+ Posts
                      • Jul 2007
                      • 22960
                      #6
                      Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

                      Just to tie up some loose ends, and clarify:

                      Originally posted by blackcat4866
                      The new barcode fonts appear properly in the Font List, but do not appear in the customers documents, or in the barcode test documents I have. I have some clues though.

                      Each of my installed barcodes has an escape sequence, for example: <esc>(19U<esc>(slp9.09h11.99v0s0b27312T00095
                      I assume this is the way the font is specified.
                      The font being specified by my customers document is escape sequence: echo "\033(0Y\033(s0p8.1h12v0s0b0T\c"
                      It's also a 3 of 9 barcode font. I've got a zillon barcode fonts to choose from.

                      Do the font # or Font ID matter? I'm thinking no.
                      Correct, the font number and Font ID are just sequential, and not significant. I prints out a little confusing on the font list. The escape sequence is longer than the space available in that column, so the escape sequence value pushes over the Font ID value, with no space in between (the last 5 digits "00095" are the Font ID)

                      Originally posted by blackcat4866
                      How do I program the escape sequence of the new font to match the one called for?
                      I got conflicting information from my different sources. The maker of the font told me that the printer dictates the escape sequence. The manufacturer of the MFP told me that the font dictates escape sequence. I concluded that the escape sequence is dictated by the font, and not programmable with my level of expertise. I've loaded the same barcode font .SFP file to 33 MFPs so far, and the escape sequence comes up the same regardless of what model, serial, or MAC address of the MFP. I suspect that each font is registered in some way to guarantee a unique escape sequence. The application calling for the barcode must be programmed to call the new escape sequence for the new barcode font.

                      I was way off base with this question. In my defense, from the beginning I was working both angles: changing the app versus changing the font's escape sequence.

                      Another difference I was not aware of, is that some fonts are fixed, and some adjustable. The fonts I was applying are fixed fonts. That is to say when this font is called it always appears exactly the same size and proportion. Naturally the adjustable version can appear different height or width. I don't know how those features are specified. Maybe I'll get to learn that on the next font project.

                      Note: The original barcode font called was only a portion of that line: <esc>(0Y<esc>(s0p8.1h12v0s0b0T
                      Perhaps the "/33" is another name for the null character?

                      I know it's still confusing, but maybe this will answer a few questions. =^..^=
                      If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
                      1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
                      2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
                      3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
                      4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
                      5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

                      blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

                        Comment

                        • blackcat4866
                          Master Of The Obvious

                          Site Contributor
                          10,000+ Posts
                          • Jul 2007
                          • 22960
                          #7
                          Re: Barcodes again. This time Konica Minolta

                          I've just finished loading fonts to 45 machines during production line assembly. Of those, ~15 took the font the first try, ~29 took two to five attempts for the font to "take". The bizhub C360's seemed more receptive than the bizhub 423's. And a single 423 just would not take the font regardless of how may attempts. After a logical reformat to the HDD it was more receptive. Of course the Movie and Audio data was lost. It takes about 1/2 hour to get that reloaded.

                          On a separate topic, there were only two setup problems. On two of the bizhub C360's, after initialization the MFP displays "Unable to identify original size ...". Also the Administrator Mode and User Mode were absent from the Utility/Counter menu. One of the tech reps identified a bad ADF pigtail. It was a very straaaaange one. The pigtail meters out just fine, but the problem can be moved from machine to machine with the pigtail. I imagine that there is some sort of crosstalk between the logic circuits. Also strange, two harnesses with exactly the same issue, within a few digits of the DF serial number. Maybe some shielding is called for? I'll be watching for an updated harness on the DF-617.

                          Overall, it went fairly smoothly. =^..^=
                          If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
                          1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
                          2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
                          3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
                          4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
                          5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

                          blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

                            Comment

                            Previous template Next
                            Working...