33 | Micros Printer & Drawer Support

This article explains the setups required for Micros IDN Printer support.

Micros IDN Printers are a Proprietary Printer Interface developed by Micros and used in certain Epson Printers
The Interface is RS422 which is a balanced dropline network and is not compatible with other standard hardware - e.g., it can only run on Micros Tills
This interface has no Handshaking lines - hence a status request must be sent periodically to test if the Printer is there and ready
A Status Request is sent every 10 seconds if the Printer is OK and every 4 seconds when the Printer is in error
Sending Print Lines is interrupted to continually check if the printer is still OK - not the paper out, printer cover open, etc.
This slows printing down - by default, the status request is sent at the start of printing and every 10 lines that are printed; this can be configured

Login to BackOffice, navigate to and select Venue, Stores & Tills from the side menu
From the list of Venues, Stores & Tills highlight the desired Till to add the Printer to and click the Add New Device button in the header section
When prompted, select a desirable Device to Copy or select Blank Device; when the New Device window (Device and Interfaces Maintenance) opens, give the Device a relevant Name and select Printer as the Device Type
For the Device's SubType, select IDN Printer (this is a new Printer Definition)
In the Communications Settings section, set the Port Name as IDN4:1, set the Baud Rate to 19200 (suggested), set Bits to 8, Stop Bits to One, and Parity to None; handshaking flags are ignored
Set any additional configurations as required or desired and click OK

The default number of Printed Lines between Status Requests is 10
To change the number of Printed Lines between Status Requests complete the following steps:

Navigate to and open Printer Definitions within the System Setup menu on the sidebar
Locate PrinterType 'IDN Printer' (PrinterDefID '3020') in the list
Scroll right to locate the column called 'Status Port' (in the image below, the column has been dragged over for demonstration purposes)
Change the number in the field to the desired number of Printed Lines between Status Requests

Setting to 3 or below will slow down the process drastically
Conversely, setting much higher than 10 is not recommended, as when the paper runs out, the Status Requests will keep sending without knowing that the Printer is not ready

The Micros WS5A terminal has internal support for 2 Cash Drawers
PortIO commands are used to "fire" the Drawers which Bepoz already supported through the Device Type 'Drawer' and Sub Type 'PortIO - Custom Data', however, this did not support the Micros Drawer Open Sensing which required changes to be made
A flag has been added which controls the Drawer Sense Mask Bit - Bit Mask On When Open:

Previously, and by default, the specified Mask Bit is off for a Closed Drawer
Micros Terminal works in reverse - the Mask Bit is off for an Open Drawer - hence the new flag was added for compatibility

To set up a Micros Drawer connected directly to a Micros WS5A terminal complete the following steps:

Login to BackOffice, navigate to and select Venue, Stores & Tills from the side menu
From the list of Venues, Stores & Tills highlight the desired Till to add the Drawer to and click the Add New Device button in the header section
When prompted, select a desirable Device to Copy or select Blank Device; when the New Device window (Device and Interfaces Maintenance) opens, give the Device a relevant Name and select Drawer as the Device Type
For the Device's SubType, select PortIO - Custom Data
Within the Device Options section:

The DrawInst.exe utility must be installed - this loads and registers the DLPORTIO.DLL and DLPORTIO.SYS drivers