The Rip software uses two printer entities and the Epson driver to print your jobs.

The process is displayed in Figure 1. In order for it to work properly, Windows must see the Epson printer and the Powerrip Output Queue on the same port. This document shows how to align ports on Windows XP and Windows 7. Vista is the same as XP.

DTG RipPro Port Con guration

Figure 1

Step 1: Open Printers and Faxes (XP), Printers (Vista), or Devices and Printers (7). If the link is not in the Start Menu, it will be located in Control Panel. See Figures 2A(XP), 2B(7).

Figure 2B
Figure 2A

Step 2: Open the Rip Software. Click the Inputs button. See Figure 3. Locate your DTG printer in the Hot Folders section. You should only have your printer listed, and the name may be slightly di erent. In this case, the HM1 is listed as the KIOSK-MH. Then look at the Intended Output Section. Under Output Queue, take note of the number of the listed Powerrip Output Queue. In this case it is Powerrip Output Queue 1.

Figure 3

Step 3: Locate the Epson driver in the Printers screen. Right-click it, and choose Properties (XP, Vista, Figure 4A), or Printer Properties (7, Figure 4B). NOTE: Windows 7 combines printers that are on the same port. In Figure 4B, the Frontier Zx is another printer on the same port. Always look for the arrows that give you sub-menus, and make sure that you are selecting the correct printer.

Figure 4A Figure 4B

Step 4: Determine which port Windows has assigned to the Epson driver. On XP (Figure 5A), hover your mouse over the name of the checked port, and the yellow box will tell you which number. On Vista and 7 (Figure 5B), it is usually easy to tell, but hovering your mouse over the port name works there, as well.

Figure 5A

Figure 5B

Step 5: Open the Properties for the Powerrip Output Queue number you determined in Step 2 Figure 6A). Remember in Windows 7 you may have to navigate through sub-menus to get to the correct Output Queues properties (Figure 6B).

Figure 6A Figure 6B

Step 6: Select the same number USB port as you found in the Epson driver, as shown in Figure 7A. Then once selected, click Apply (as has been done in Figure 7B). Then click OK to close the Properties window.

Figure 7A

Figure 7B

Step 7: In order to get Windows to recognize the change, unplug the USB cable from either the printer or the computer for 15 seconds. Then plug it back in. On Windows XP and Vista you will see the Epson Printer and the Powerrip Output Queue dim, and then light up together when you re-insert the USB cable. On Windows 7, the Epson will dim when you unplug the USB cable, but when you plug it back in, only the Epson printer OR the Powerrip Ouput Queue will light up, and the other will disappear. This is because 7 groups the printers together, since they are on the same port. In order to access features such as the Epson Maintenance menu (for Nozzle Checks), right-click the Epson or the Queue, and navigate through the sub-menus, as in Figure 8.

Figure 8