Canon BubbleJet Printer Setup

A friend got a BJ-210 BubbleJet printer a while back and discovered there was no way to get it to print in Geos since there were no DIP switches to set the emulation to Epson mode (LQ mode). This, despite the documentation that came with it saying that it came from the factory in LQ mode. NOT!

After some hunting around I came upon Russ Wright's web page. He cooked up some Basic code that he said would work with any of the newer Canon printers. I have tried this on a friend's BJC-4100 printer and it works. Not only did I get it to work in Geos, but I got some very nice print outs with all kinds of Epson drivers. Perfect Print worked great as well.

I have written a short Basic program you can download that runs in 64 or 128 modes that puts all the printer commands in menu form. Or you can write your own version using the routines below.

Here is what you need to send to the BJC-210
LQ MODE
#$1b#$5b#$4b#$02#$00#$00#$1F 
'BJLSTART'#$0A'@SetControlMode = LQ'#$0A
'BJLEND'#$0A;

BJ MODE
#$1b#$5b#$4b#$02#$00#$00#$1F
'BJLSTART'#$0A'@SetControlMode = BJ'#$0A
'BJLEND'#$0A


Note : ' = quote for turbo pascal string
    = quote for turbo pascal string
       #$ is to convert a byte to char ie #$1B or #$1b = ESC or 27

In Basic 2.0 that would be...

'-------- Below is a command set for BJ-210/240/4100/4200/4550 

'-------------- Setting LQ mode

OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@SetControlMode = LQ";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4

'----------------------------------------------------------
'------------- Setting BJ mode
OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@SetControlMode = BJ";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4

'--------------- Printing a nozzle Test
OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@TestPrint = NozzleCheck";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4

'--------------- Printing a Status Print
OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@PrintStatusPage = ON";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4

'--------------- Print a Test Page A may not work on all models
OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0)HR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@TestPrint = A";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4

'--------------- Start Head Cleaning
OPEN4,4
PRINT#4, CHR$(27); CHR$(91); CHR$(75); CHR$(2); CHR$(0); CHR$(0); CHR$(31);
PRINT#4, "BJLSTART";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "@Cleaning = 1";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
PRINT#4, "BJLEND";
PRINT#4, CHR$(10);
CLOSE4
'---------------

These can be written up as small basic programs and run from your computer or sent through you word processor. With a serial interface use Transparent mode. The mode setting will be saved in the printer's NVRAM, so it needn't be run more than once for a p ermanent change.

          
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* Russ Wright                                                      *
* a site for Canon printer drivers and questions to be answered    *
* http://www.magmacom.com/~russrite                                * 
* Email russwright@ottawa.com or russrite@magmacom.com             *
*                                                                  *
                              *
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