ascii-photobooth/epson5kp-dipsettings.md

Epson DFX-5000+ DIP switch settings for ASCII Photobooth

Recommended physical DIP switch positions for running the DFX-5000+ with this project, matching printer.conf.epsondfx5kp.bak (PRINTER_A4=false, PRINTER_MAX_LINES=0, PRINTER_MAX_COLS=136 — continuous fanfold paper, parallel port, no fixed page length) and how txt2printr.sh talks to the printer:

• Writes raw ESC/P to /dev/lp0 (a parallel connection).
• Sends ESC @ to reset the printer, then the ascii-art body with each line explicitly terminated \r\n (CR+LF), then a form feed to clear the print for tear-off.
• Treats the printer as continuous/roll stock with no software concept of a page boundary — it never relies on the printer stopping mid-job at a perforation.

The DFX-5000+ has three DIP switch banks (SW1, SW2, SW3) — different from, and not a superset of, the plain DFX-5000's two-bank layout. Even switches that share a position number between the two printers can mean different things, so don't carry settings over from the non-"+" model.

Reference: Epson DFX-5000+ Product Information sheet (3/15/94), "Setting the DIP Switches".

SW1 — emulation, speed, character set

Switch	Position	Function	Why
1-1	OFF	ESC/P mode (not IBM mode)	Factory default. txt2printr.sh only relies on the generic ESC @ reset, which works the same in both modes, and staying in ESC/P mode is what makes 1-4 through 1-8 below select an international character set rather than the unrelated IBM-mode option bits (auto-CR-by-LF, code-page selection, etc.).
1-2	OFF	High draft speed	Fastest print speed on the datasheet's table (560 cps at 10 cpi) — this is a coarse ascii-art novelty print, not a document, so speed matters more than finish.
1-3	OFF	Draft quality (not NLQ)	NLQ is roughly 5-6x slower (84-101 cps vs. 420-560 cps) for characters that already look better rendered coarsely — draft keeps photobooth turnaround fast.
1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 1-8	OFF, OFF, OFF, OFF, OFF	International character set: Italic U.S.	Every other character set in the DIP table remaps one or more of # $ [ \ ] ^ \ { | } ~` to an accented/local character. Ascii-art density maps commonly use several of those symbols, so U.S. is the only setting guaranteed not to corrupt the art.

SW2 — zero shape, buffer, line feed, interface, baud rate

Switch	Position	Function	Why
2-1	OFF	Zero not slashed	Ascii-art density maps can use 0 as a shading character; an unslashed zero keeps its shape closer to what the art conversion intended.
2-2	OFF	Input buffer valid (enabled)	Lets the printer accept the whole raw write from txt2printr.sh without the host blocking on printer-speed backpressure.
2-3	OFF	Automatic LF by CR: invalid (disabled)	txt2printr.sh already appends an explicit CR and LF to every line (sed 's/$/\r/' before the trailing \n). If this were enabled, the printer would insert its own extra line feed on top of that CR, double-spacing the entire print.
2-4, 2-5, 2-6	ON, OFF, OFF	Parallel interface (forced, not auto-detect)	txt2printr.sh writes to /dev/lp0, a parallel port device. The factory default (all three OFF) is an auto-selecting serial/parallel mode that waits up to 30 seconds to see which interface receives data before locking on — forcing Parallel explicitly skips that standby delay on every print.
2-7, 2-8	—	Serial baud rate (don't care)	Only meaningful when SW2-4/2-5/2-6 select a serial mode; ignored once Parallel is forced above. Leave at factory default (OFF, OFF).

SW3 — paper handling

Switch	Position	Function	Why
3-1, 3-2	OFF, OFF	11-inch page length	Matches standard letter-width continuous fanfold stock. Mostly moot since PRINTER_MAX_LINES=0 means the software never treats this printer as page-bounded, but it keeps the printer's own top-of-form tracking sane.
3-3	OFF	Skip-over-perforation: invalid (disabled)	The printed art is a continuous strip with no page concept on the software side; if enabled, the printer would silently insert an extra line-feed gap wherever a perforation falls mid-image, splitting the art.
3-4	OFF	Paper memory area 1	Factory default. This only matters if you swap the same job between the front and rear tractors (each can remember its own top-of-form position); this project only ever uses one paper path.
3-5	OFF	Overlapping forms: invalid (disabled)	Factory default. This targets a specific overlapping multi-part form stock the project doesn't use — plain continuous paper.
3-6	OFF	Forms with a label: invalid (disabled)	Factory default. Not printing on label stock.
3-7	OFF	Skip binding: invalid (disabled)	Factory default. Not using bound multi-part forms.
3-8	ON	Automatic tear off: valid (enabled)	Not the factory default. When the input buffer goes idle after a print, the printer auto-advances the paper just far enough to reach its built-in tear-off bar (minimal waste), instead of relying only on txt2printr.sh's own form feed — which, in roll mode, feeds a full page length (11in, per SW3-1/3-2) forward on every single capture. Worth confirming on the actual hardware that this doesn't double-feed against the script's explicit form feed; the product info sheet doesn't document the exact timing interaction.