Dot Matrix Printers

Thermeon discourages the use of dot matrix printers, even for printing rental agreements. If your operation is currently printing rental agreements on a dot matrix printer using multi-copy NCR forms, please contact Thermeon Customer support who will be happy to discuss the process of converting your rental agreement to a plain-paper, laser printer-compatible format. If a dot matrix printer must be used, CARS+ supports printers using the Epson Fx, Microline or IBM ProPrinter II emulations. Thermeon recommends the Okidata 320 configured for the IBM/Epson emulations (a different model is available with the Microline emulation, do not use this model).

Please note that in today's market, good quality laser printers can be purchased at lower cost than a dot matrix printer. Additionally, over time the expense of the toner for a laser printer is cheaper than the ink ribbons used by a dot matrix printer, and the output from a laser printer will look much nicer.

Laser Printers

In order to be used with CARS+, a laser printer must be equipped with the PCL emulation mode (but also refer to "Exception" section below). Any version of PCL is acceptable, however PCL level 5e and or level 6 is preferred. Please note that many entry level laser printer are not equipped PCL emulation. It is also highly recommended that a laser printer also include the PostScript level 3 emulaiton mode. While not necessary at the moment, Thermeon intends to make increasing use of PostScript documents in future releases of CARS+. Note that some printer manufactures give a brand-specific name to PostScript, such as Brother's "BrScript".

Good quality, reasonably priced laser printers are available from Hewlett Packard (HP), Brother, Lexmark and Tally-Genicom. If the printer is to be shared by more than one workstation, it is highly recommended that a model with an integrated network card be purchased. Many laser printers are available with a duplexing option (print on both sides of the paper). This is not required by CARS+, but can be used, if desired, to save paper when printing reports.

Ink Jet Printers

Thermeon discourages the use of ink jet printers. While they do produce nice-looking output, they are much slower and much more costly to use than a laser printer. Additionally, if the printed page gets wet, the ink from most ink jet printers will run. A laser printer will be more expensive to purchase but will be much less costly to operate over the long run, with the break point coming some time in the first year, depending on volume. If an ink jet printer must be used, it will need to be equipped with the PCL emulation mode (but also refer to "Exception" section below). Typically, ink jet printers will have PCL level 3. Please note that many "all-in-one" units (copier, scanner, fax, printer) are ink jet-based machines.

EXCEPTION

For laser and ink jet printers, the PCL emulation mode is required in order to print directly from CARS+ to the printer. Many entry-level printers do not have PCL and require the data to be passed through a manufacturer-specific Windows printer driver. CARS+ bypasses the Windows printer driver system and prints directly to the printer, which is why these printers do not work when printing directly from CARS+. It is possible to use these printers with CARS+ by printing indirectly. In this case, the CARS+Printing feature must be set up and all printing must be done through one of the "PDF" printer options installed by CARS+Printing. In this mode, all printed documents, including Rental Agreements, if necessary, will first open the local computers pdf application, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. The document is then printed from that application which is able to use the Windows print driver system. For more information on the CARS+Printing feature, please refer to the manual chapter Overview - Special Printing Features.

General Notes

• Always, always confirm a new printer's brand and model number with Thermeon Customer Support before purchasing a printer.
• The printer manufacture's website typically will tell you what emulation modes a printer is equipped with. This is usually found in the "specifications" section. "Emulation mode" may also be referred to a "print language". Entry-level printers that lack the PCL emulation are ofter referred to as "Windows only" or "Windows GDI".
• It is strongly recommended that network-ready printers be used. This means that the printer has an integrated network card and can be connected to the network itself instead of being connected directly to a specific workstation. This vastly simplifies the printer setup required, especially when sharing a printer between multiple workstations. If the printer does not have an integrated network card, and external Print Server can be used. Print Servers are available from any local computer store for under US $100. A Print Server will have a connection for the network and then one or more USB and/or Parallel connections to connect to the printer(s). If a printer is connected directly to a specific workstation and must be shared between multiple workstations, please see the next FAQ below.