Setting Up the Fastback PowisPrinter With PowisPrint Software

System Requirements

The PowisPrinter and its software were actually developed quite sometime ago. As such the minimum requirements for the software are farbelow the standards for most current computers. According to PowisParker the minimum requirements are a 486/Pentium computer, 16MB ofRam, 20MB of Hard Drive space, a 17" monitor, a mouse, a serial portand a windows 95/98/NT/XP computer. Of these requirements, there areonly two that users may need to worry about. Many new computers may notcome with a serial port since most new devices use USB. Users without aserial port should be able to use a USB to serial port adapter that youcan find at most local computer stores. The other concern is that manynew computers come loaded with Windows Vista. In our testing thePowisPrint software did not work in Windows Vista. This is something tobe aware of at least until Powis comes out with a new version of theirsoftware.

Connecting the PowisPrinter to Your Computer

The Fastback P31 PowisPrinter is designed to be connected to yourcomputer using a standard 9 pin serial cable (included with theprinter). As we noted above, some computers no longer have serial portsincluded. You may need to invest in a USB to Serial port conversioncable. In order to connect the PowisPrinter to your computer you willneed to unplug the keyboard from the unit. You won't need the keyboardusing this configuration since you will use your computer to create thetitles.

Installing the PowisPrint Software

After your computer is connected to the PowisPrinter you will need toinstall the new PowisPrint software. In order to run this software youwill need to make sure that your display resolution is set to at least800 x 600. There aren't many users who run at resolutions lower thanthis anymore but at lower resolutions the software won't run. Toactually start the installation process just insert the CD into yourmachine, the installer should start automatically. If it doesn't startautomatically you can browse to the CD and run the setup.exe file.Follow the onscreen installation instructions and the software shouldbe installed in a few minutes. It will even create an icon inside thePrograms section of the start menu.

The first time that you goto run the software you will need to specify the COM port associatedwith the Serial port that the printer is attached to. More than likelythe printer will be attached to COM1 or COM2 (higher ports are usuallyreserved for modems). If you aren't sure which port to use, you mightbe able to check in your windows device manager. Otherwise you couldjust try one and then change the setting later if it doesn't work. Ifyou are using a USB to serial port adapter you might need to check theinstructions that came with the adapter to determine the COM port thatit uses.

After you have connected the printer and installedthe software, you should be ready to begin designing high qualityprinted Fastback strips. Using the PowisPrint software you can producefar more elaborate designs that are possible with the PowisPrinterkeyboard. You can even use your own fonts and graphics on the strips.Try it out for yourself. The possibilities are almost endless.