General Advice about Computer Ports: Serial, Parallel, USB, and Network
The Romeo, Marathon, and Thomas models are single-sided embossers from Enabling Technologies. They all share the same keypad and communication protocols. The major difference between these models is output speed. A Marathon operates at about ten times the speed of a Romeo RB20.
On some Romeo Attache units you may be getting double spacing when you want single spacing. To fix this you need to make a change in the Embossit Configuration. Click on Modify the Configuration. Go to the Advanced Tab, and change the End of Line Indicator to Carriage Return Only (MAC)and click OK.
For USB Connection Guidelines, click on the link above. For Parallel and Serial, see below.
The factory default menu 1 will normally work fine with this software, assuming that you connect through the parallel port, that the margins are to your liking, and that you are using 11 by 11 inch braille paper. To ensure that menu 1 is the menu selected at power up, do the following:
If you run into problems, we recommend selecting one of the custom menus (numbers 9 through 16) and altering one of them to fit your needs. Below are the suggested settings for the parameters.
| Parameter | Setting | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Make this the default menu. |
| 2 | 1 | Use parallel data port. |
| 3 | 9600 | Set baud rate to 9600. |
| 4 | 8 | Set data bits to 8. |
| 5 | 1 | Set stop bits to 1. |
| 6 | 0 | Set parity to none. |
| 7 | 0 | Use ASCII code. |
| 8 | 0 | Use Xon/Xoff handshaking. |
| 9 | 0 | Use 6-dot braille. |
| 10 | 0 | Turn word wrap off. |
| 11 | 1 | Allow perforation skip mode. |
| 12 | 1 | Keep the paper out detector on. |
| 13 | 0 | Do not automatically go to new line. |
| 14 | 42* | Set right margin to 42. |
| 15 | 1* | Set left margin to 1. |
| 16 | 0 | Emboss control characters off. |
| 17 | 27 | Set lines per page to 27. |
| 18 | 11* | Set page length to 11 inches. |
| 19 | 0 | Respond to internal sensors. |
| 20 | 13 | Carriage Return in control table. |
| 22 | 0 | Turn hot zone off. |
| 23 | 1 | Recognize escape sequences. |
| 24 | 0 | Turn off console bell. |
| 25 | 0 | Turn off external keyboard. |
| 26 | 0 | Local echo off. |
| 27 | 0 | Don't translate to grade 1. |
| 28 | 0 | Incoming data is not a screen dump. |
| 29 | 0 | Use USA character set. |
| 30 | 0* | Set top of form offset to 0 inches |
| 31 | 1 | Ignore eighth bit. |
*Any of the right margin, left margin, paper length, top-of-form offset, embossing mode, or paper grade may be unsuitable for your situation and need to be changed. We recommend you keep a record of the settings that work for your particular installation.
Below are directions for creating a custom setup. Let us assume that custom menu 9 is available and that you wish to use it for outputting files created by this software. If menu 9 is already taken for another purpose, use the next available menu (possibly as high as 16) and substitute that number wherever 9 is mentioned in the following steps.
If you are using a serial port, the factory default menu 2 should work fine assuming that the margins and paper size (11 by 11 inches) are to your liking. To make this the default menu. do the following:
If you run into problems, we recommend selecting and altering one of the custom menus. The suggested settings for the various parameters are included above in the parallel setup guidelines section. All settings are the same for serial except parameter 2 which should be set to 0.
Below are directions for creating a custom setup. Let us assume that custom menu 9 is available and that you wish to use it for outputting files created by this software. If menu 9 is already taken for another purpose, use the next available menu (possibly as high as 16) and substitute that number wherever 9 is mentioned in the following steps.
Take advantage of the fact that you can store up to 16 configurations via the 16 menus. We suggest leaving setups 1 through 8 at their factory defaults and using 9 through 16 for custom purposes. If you frequently change the paper size or if you drive the embosser with programs other than this software you will undoubtedly make good use of the multiple menus. Changing the menu is easier than changing multiple parameters within a single menu.
Parallel Output: The Romeo's menu number 1 is set for the parallel output. Item 2 in the menu determines whether the Romeo is set for parallel or serial (1=parallel. 0=serial). The default is parallel. Menu 1 unmodified from the factory is good for parallel connection to the PC. The following sequence selects menu number 1, allows escape sequences, and makes it the default: <off line> 0.1E 23.1E 1.0E 1.1E (done).
Serial Output: This sequence loads menu 1, changes it to use the serial port, and changes to 9600 baud with 8 data bits and no parity. Then it makes menu 1 the default: <off line> 0.1E 2.0E 3.9600E 4.8E 5.1E 6.0E 23.1E 1.0E 1.1E (done). Use a straight through female-to-female cable with a null modem adapter to connect the Romeo to one of your serial ports. Enabling recommends a null modem adapter that has wires 1 and 7 straight through, swaps wires 2 and 3, swaps wires 4 and 8, and ties 5 and 6 on each end and connects to wire 20 on the other end.
Total Reset: Some early Romeo units can lock up entirely. To totally reset the Romeo (but thereby lose all your stored menus!) enter the following: <off line> 0.0E 95E 96E 98E 99E 1E (done).
For technical support on the Romeo Embosser, contact Enabling Technology at 772-225-3687.