InterForm400 Printer Types
The InterForm400 system can be used in connection to the following printer types:
•Any HP PCL5e/PCL5c compatible printers.
•Any ZPLII (Zebra Printer Langugae) compatible printer.
•Any IDP (Intermec Direct Protocol) compatible printer.
•Any IPL (Intermec Printer Language) compatible printer - not recommended. See the limitations and announcement below.
•With the add-on module WinPrint any Windows attached printer can be used with InterForm400 (See details in the WinPrint manual).
Some differences exist between the function sets of various printers. You could experience differences in the printout according to the printer being used. Consult your printer distributor for information.
The definitions for an overlay is the same regardless of the defined printer type. You need however to use overlays within a label file set for ZPLII and IPL printers. Differences will not show until the final printout. You will therefore be able to use the same overlay on several printer types.
Laser printer types
Laser printers can be configured as described here.
*BW
For PCL5e compatible printers. Select this to generate a simplex, sharp black/white print output.
*BWD
Same as *BW except this will generate a duplex print out - provided the used overlays are using duplex.
*GREY
For PCL5c compatible printers. This generates a simplex print out with grey colors. Colored elements are printed as grey. Not all black/white printers supports this, but the printed quality is better than *BW, so select this over *BW if possible.
*GREYD
Same as *GREY except this will generate a duplex print out - provided the used overlays are using duplex.
*COLOR
For PCL5c compatible printers. This generates a simplex print out in color.
*COLORD
Same as *COLOR except this will generate a duplex print out - provided the used overlays are using duplex.
For backwards compatibility these other PCL printer types are also supported:
Black and white printer types
HP4
For HP4, HP5 and HP6 and compatible PCL5e printers (e.g. Lexmark Optra,and the Kyocera FS series). Note that some printers, such as OptraE are not preset to PCL, and therefore needs a PJL command to switch to PCL. In these cases the setting HP4_PJL must be used.
HP4_PJL
Same as HP4, but using PJL (Printer Job Control) language e.g. to set resolution to 600 dpi. Note that the use of PJL can in some cases delete downloaded resources.
HP4D:
For HP4Si, HP5Si and compatible PCL5e duplex printers. Note that some printers, such as OptraE are not preset to PCL, and therefore needs a PJL command to switch to PCL. In these cases the setting HP4D_PJL must be used.
HP4D_PJL
Same as HP4, but using PJL (Printer Job Control) language e.g. to set resolution to 600 dpi. Note that the use of PJL can in some cases delete downloaded resources.
Color printer types
HP5C
For HP5 Colour Laserjet and compatible color laser printers.
HP4500
For the HP4500 Laser Color Printer.
HP4500D
As for HP4500, with Duplex support.
Zebra printer types
ZPLII output can configured as described here.
ZEBRA203:
To be used for 203DPI Zebra printers
ZEBRA300:
Intended for 300DPI Zebra printers
QLZPL203:
Used for e.g. wireless Zebra QL220+, QL320+ and QL420+ printers. (Use the command APF3812/CALIBQL to calibrate the printer. The characters ‘^’ and ‘~’ are unsupported on these printers. Print mode: 2=Rewind is recommended for merges in InterForm400.
You can setup a Zebra ZPL printer to be used as a preview printer.
NOTE: We have seen examples of non-Zebra printers claiming to be ZPLII compatible even though they were not, so for ZPL printing a Zebra ZPLII compatible printer is recommended.
Intermec printer types
Generally regarding support for Intermec printers: The printers normally support multiple printer languages, and if possible, it is recommended to setup the printers in ZPL compatible mode, or IDP mode (Intermec Direct Protocol), or finally as the least recommendable: IPL mode. The default setting of overlays called, New behaviour is not supported for IPL, so IPL should be avoided if at all possible.
For Direct Protocol it is possible to preview the printed result via a printer (as it is for the ZPL print data stream).
IDP203
Use this printer type for 203 DPI Intermec printers, that supports the IDP language.
IDP300
Use this printer type for 300 DPI Intermec printers, that supports the IDP language.
IPL203
To be used for 203 DPI Intermec printers supporting the IPL language. Use IDP203 or ZPL203 instead if at all possible.
IPL300
To be used for 300 DPI Intermec printers supporting the IPL language. Use IDP300 or ZPL300 instead if at all possible.
This video covers the support for Intermec Direct Protocol:
Please notice this regarding Intermec IPL support:
Overlays should be created in a label file set (also used for Zebra printers).
If the used soft fonts (for Zebra/Intermec) are installed in an earlier version of InterForm400 (earier than a 2011 version), then you will need to reinstall soft fonts, if you want to use them for an Intermec printer. Also please notice that PDF417 and Datamatrix barcodes are placed with the upper left corner as the point of reference on an Intermec printer, where the point of reference is the lower left corner on Zebra and PCL/PDF.
NOTE: Even though the IPL output data stream is supported by InterForm400, there are limitations in some functionality caused by limitations of IPL compared to ZPL, so it is recommended to consider to buy ZPLII compatible Zebra label printers whenever possible.
The IPL output has these limitations compared with the ZPL output:
•IMPORTANT: The default new behaviour of overlays is NOT supported for IPL, and usage of IPL as an output format is not recommended.
•No IPL preview is available
•Extended remap window: Full justify is not supported for IPL output.
•Reference point for PDF417 and Datamatrix is upper left corner for IPL and lower left corner for ZPL, PDF and PCL, so you need a separate IPL overlay to produce the same output when using these barcodes.
•Triumvirate and Dot matrix fonts are printed as similar fonts in IPL, but are not 100% the same as the ZPL output.
•Relative widths on the fonts are not supported for IPL output. For IPL output the relative width is always 1.
Announcement regarding IPL support for Intermec (PM43) printers
It has come to our attention, that the new Intermec PM43 printer does not support the same selection of IPL commands as other, previous Intermec printers.
That means, that switching to such a printer will result in a different (wrong) result compared to other Intermec printers. (Soft fonts are not supported in the same way as they are on other Intermec printers).
We are currently considering if this kind of printer may be supported in the future, but the current output of InterForm400 may not look correct when using this printer model.
For those customers having Intermec printers that are ready for replacement, we can recommend to buy a (ZPLII compatible) Zebra printer. It can use all your label definitions without you have to change anything.
Intermec has chosen to withdraw support for the J-Command (used for soft font support) on this printer causing the problem above. It is unknown if support for the J-Command can be added with a future firmware upgrade of the printer. It is also unknown if other future Intermec printers may be shipped with the same missing support for this essential command.
