Mimaki GP-604

Property Page:

To launch the printer properties for this driver, choose 'Setup' from the 'Print' menu, then select Mimaki GP-604 in the 'Printer Model' list, click on the 'Edit' button, and then click on 'Properties'.

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Heater/Color Separations:

The heater and color separation controls are located on the second tab. The separations controls are only available when using Monochrome modes.

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The heater controls are used to shorten dry time. If you have Use Printer Front Panel Heater Controls checked, the software does not control the heaters. If it is unchecked, you have the option to disable, or enable the heater at a certain temperature. If the heater is enabled, the heater will not be turned off at the end of the print, so that the heater remains at a constant temperature for the following print.

If the heater controls are enabled, and the current temperature of the heaters is less (or more) than the temperature setting, the printer will wait before sending the print until the set constant temperature is achieved. (This may take some time.)

The Color Separations controls are the same as those of other printers, and are only available if a monochrome mode has been selected on the Print Mode tab.

Position:

The position controls are located on the third tab. The position controls are only available when using a IEEE1394 physical connection.

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Use Laser Positioning System: Check this option to enable the laser positioning system.
Set Single Point: Use this setting when the LED POINT setting on the printer front panel is set to POINT. Prior to sending the print from SoftRIP, points P0 and P1 will need to be entered into the console of the printer (please refer to your Mimaki user manual for information on setting position with the LED pointer). Point P1 will determine the origin or placement of the image sent from SoftRIP as based on the settings below. (Point P0 is not utilized by SoftRIP)

Set Two Points (Define Area): Use this setting when the LED POINT setting on the printer front panel is set to AREA. Prior to sending the print from SoftRIP, points P0, P1, and P2 will need to be entered into the console of the printer (please refer to your Mimaki user manual for information on setting position with the LED pointer). Point P1 defines the upper left point of the print area. Point P2 defines the bottom right point of the print area. (Point P0 is not utilized by SoftRIP)

IEEE 1394 (Firewire) Interfacing:

IEEE 1394 is recommended to ensure an adequate data rate for this printer. Mimaki distributes their own driver component for IEEE 1394, that must be installed in Windows. This driver can also be found on the Wasatch SofRIP CD-ROM. Note that Mimaki's driver is for Windows 2000 or XP only.

Steps on installing Mimaki Firewire

After installing the Mimaki IEEE1394 drivers, go to the Print Setup window in SoftRIP. From the Printer Model menu, select your Mimaki printer. After selecting the Printer Model, select IEEE1394-x in the Physical Connection list (where x is the order that the Mimaki Device was detected, see notes below on Connecting to Multiple Mimaki IEEE 1394 Devices).

The following IEEE 1394 FireWire PCI Adapter cards have been tested at Wasatch and found to work well (every card we've tested thus far works fine):

Note on connecting to multiple Mimaki IEEE 1394 devices:

In order to print over IEEE 1394 to multiple Mimaki print devices simultaneously, the Mimaki IEEE 1394 driver v2.00 (or later) is required. To make use of this functionality, each Mimaki device must be connected to a separate IEEE 1394 (FireWire) PCI Adapter (up to a max of 4). Do not attempt to plug in multiple Mimaki devices into different ports on the same card, as hardware misdetection and other unexpected results may occur. Also, printing to multiple devices simultaneously may reduce communication speed somewhat due to the additional access time on your computers hard disc.

In addition please be aware of the following precautions provided by Mimaki: