Gamebits, publisher of the sole remaining Apple ][ print publication, Juiced.GS, has announced two new online services for retrocomputer enthusiasts: Retro Roundup and a2.click.
Retro Roundup is a feed aggregator of retrocomputer-related sites (disclaimer: including this one!) which can be filtered in several ways. Interested users can read the feed “onsite”, subscribe to RSS feeds, or receive weekly updates via e-mail. Sites are being actively added by Gamebits, and site publishers can submit their own site for inclusion in the aggregator feed.
- Windows Drivers for Thermal-transfer Printers by Euro Plus (Windows 95/98, ME, NT 4, 2000, XP, 2003) NiceDrivers make it possible to use your thermal transfer printer in Windows environment as any standard Windows printer.
- The XD3-40d is a 4-inch (118mm) direct thermal desktop Barcode and Label printer featuring a compact design, key industry features and competitive pricing. Ideal for asset labelling, document management, patient and quest indentification, shipping and logistics labelling applications within Manufacturing, Retail, Warehousing and Logistics.
- The BIXOLON SRP-E770III offers a design that is synonymous with Direct Thermal barcode labelling. BIXOLON’s entry-level 4-inch (106mm) Direct Thermal printer offers a solution that ensures easy out-of-box setup and recognition of a range of media thanks to its Smart Media detection.Locally wired or wired Network, the 203 dpi printer supports market leading programming languages and offers.
Less data can be sent to the printer quickly, which results in fast label printing. No pause between label batch printing6. No pause between label batch printing Printer drivers usually send each label as a separate print job to the printer. Because each label is sent separately, the printer is constantly receiving the data. The label cannot.
a2.click is a URL shortener with an Apple ][ focus. Links on a curated whitelist of sites (disclaimer: this site is on the whitelist!) can be shortened to make them more easily shared. For example, after setting it up, rather than sharing “https://europlus.zone//////////resources/silentype-font-v2-0-released/” as a link to my Silentype font, I can now just share the link “https://a2.click/silentypefont” instead. Much easier!
I’ll be using both sites (and encourage you to do the same), and really appreciate the effort Ken Gagne at Gamebits puts into supporting the Apple ][ community in particular, and the wider retrocomputer community in general – thanks, Ken!
Overview
The EFPlus.com XPS Driver is a new 'virtual' printer driver with the abilityto overlay forms images on print jobs inside the workstation: It does notactually act as a driver for any specific printer, but instead passes onthe print jobs, to a 'real' printer driver which must also be installed onthe workstation. For example, if the workstation is connected to a laserprinter, and the driver for that printer is already installed and set asthe default driver, then normally programs on the workstation would printto that driver, and the physical printer would print out each job. When theEFPlus.com XPS Driver is installed along side of the printers driver, andconfigured to pass print jobs onto it, then the EFPlus.com XPS driver canbe set as default instead and when programs on the workstation print to theEFPlus driver, it will examine the print job, overlay the appropriate form(or no form) and then send the job onto the regular driver and so out theprinter. The end result is that each print job that needs a form is givena form in the workstation.
Note: Although the 'Hilton HPLJ4n' driver is shown here as the destination,a better choice is probably the 'HP Universal Printing PCL6' driver, or anymodern PCL6 driver. The '...HPLJ4n' drivers are very old.
Drivers Europlus Printers Driver
Installation
If theEFPlus.com XPS driver is not already installed on your workstation,contact us to purchase the software.It should already be installed on Hilton workstations refreshed after 1 JAN2012. You should also already have a standard printer driver installed, andbe able to print (without eForms) from OnQ. If not, please contact the HiltonHelp Desk (1-800-HELP-HELP) to correct this before continuing here.
Find the tray icon (the green and white EFP iconin the tray near the time in the lower right area of the screen) thenright click on it and open the Setup Wizard (not Support).Follow the prompts to select both the eForms and destinationprinters. The destination printer should be the 'real' printer driverfor your actual printer. In most cases, that would be the 'HP Universal PrintingPCL6' printer, or the HP Laserjet 3015 or 3010 series printer.
Afterinstalling the XPS driver, close the FrontDesk Program(if it was open) then open it back up, and log in. UnderReports / Reports List..., on the File / Printer Assignmentsmenu, set OnQ to print folios, registration, and white paper reportsto the EFPlus.com XPS printer, instead of the 'real' printer so that we canoverlay your eForms. If you have any problems you can always simply changethe Printer Assignment back to the 'real' printer and the EFPlus printerwill no longer have any effect. Make sure File / Personal PrinterAssignements (if that exists) are all set to Unassigned.
Finally,pickupyour eForms from
http://www.electronicformsplus.com/update/
and follow the directions to install them. Ifyou receive an error when installing the forms, please check here.
If you are using the Small Registration Key Packet stock please continueto setup OnQ and theprinter trays for that stock.
Support
Drivers Europlus Printers For Sale
Primary support for the EFPlus.com XPS driver for OnQ is available 24/7via the Hilton Help Desk at 1-800-HELP-HELP which should be your primarycontact for help. Vendor level support is available from Electronic FormsPlus, Inc. during normal business hours: 8-5 PST (west coast time) Mondaythru Friday only with a ticket number from the Help Desk.
If you can't print at all, first verify that you can print from thenormal destination printer. E.g. NOT the EFPlus.com XPS driver, but insteadfrom the actual, physical printers driver. In most cases, this would be somethinglike 'HP LaserJet P3010 UPD PCL 6' although it could be renamed to anythingsuch as 'Front Desk Left', etc... You should be able to right clickthat printer, select Printer properties from the middle of the popupmenu, then click Print Test Page in the lower left corner. If youcan't print from the physical printer, the problem is with the printer orworkstation and not our driver. Contact your Help Desk or printer vendor.
Once you can print from the regular printer driver, run the Setup Wizardby right clicking on the tray icon (the green andwhite EFP icon in the tray near the time in the lower right area of thescreen) -or- by right clicking on EFPlus.com XPS Driver thenPrinter properties, going to the Setup and Support tab, andthen clicking on Setup Wizard. Follow the promptsto select both the eforms and destination printers. The destination printershould be the 'real' printer driver for your physical printer, the one fromwhich you can actually print a test page.
If you can print via the EFPlus.com XPS driver, but the forms donot appear at all, first, in OnQ Frontdesk, under Reports / ReportsList..., on the File / Printer Assignments menu,set OnQ to print folios, registration,and white paper reports to the EFPlus.com XPS printer. Under File/ Personal Printer Assignments ensure all the printer groups areset to Unassigned. If you don't find the EFPlus.com XPS Driver inthe list of printers, it may have been deleted. It's easy to re-install,just use the Setup Wizard and Browse, then Add New...to put it back.
If you are seeing a popup message indicating that the eForm image filewas not found, install the forms from
http://www.electronicformsplus.com/update/Note: Unless you are seeing that message, this is very unlikely to be theissue!
Is the problem only with the Small Registration Key Packet stock?See the 'Known Issues' for that stock.
If random garbage prints from the physical printer, 1)right-click the EFPlus.com XPS driver and select Printerproperties from the bottom of the popup menu, then go to the Portstab and verify that the check mark is in front of the EFPlus port.The EFPlus.com XPS driver MUST always be set to print to our port!and click Apply then Ok. 2) On the destination printer(e.g. the Hilton or HP PCL6 printer driver) right click and selectPrinter properties, then on the Advanced tab, removethe check mark from (UN-check) Enable advanced printingfeatures and click Apply then Ok.
Do the group billing reciepts have the form, but print out of order?In the printer properties for both the EForms Plus XPS and the destinationprinter, right click and select Properties, then on theAdvanced tab, remove the check mark from (UN-check)“Print spooled documents first” . Also, on the same tab,make sure the driver is set to “Start printing after last page isspooled.”
TOCONTACT OUR SUPPORT:, please find the greenand white EFP icon in the tray near the time in the lower right area of thescreen. Right click that icon and select Support Wizard,then follow the prompts to capture a sample of the problem print job andsend it to us so we can see what is wrong. Be sure to actually press theCapture button on the Capture panel and then print the problem print jobbefore continuing. At the end, it may be best to save the support requestlocally and then attach it to an email.
If you are not able to capture a print job with the Support Wizard:
- If the job just prints out to the physical printer without being captured, check the printer assignments in OnQ FrontDesk under Reports / Reports List..., on the File / Printer Assignments menu to ensure they are all set to EFPlus.com XPS and ensure that the File / Personal Printer Assignments are all set to (Unassigned). It should look like this picture
If you don't find the EFPlus.com XPS Driver in the list of printers, it may have been deleted. It's easy to re-install, just use the Setup Wizard and Browse, then Add New... to put it back.
If the jobs still will not capture (especially if you are getting random garbage printed from the physical printer) right-click the EFPlus.com XPS driver and select Printer properties from the middle of the popup menu, then go to the Ports tab and verify that the check mark is in front of the EFPlus... port. If you need the forms to be printed to a different printer, use the Setup Wizard to change the destination printer driver. - If print jobs do not print at all, and instead just que up under the EFPlus.com XPS driver, please run the Setup Wizard by right clicking on the tray icon (the green and white EFP icon in the tray near the time in the lower right area of the screen) -or- by right clicking on EFPlus.com XPS Driver then Printer properties, going to the Setup and Support tab, and then clicking on Setup Wizard. Follow the prompts to select both the eforms and destination printers. The destination printer should be the 'real' printer driver for your physical printer.
If you have any questions or concerns, pleasecontact usor email support@efplus.com