Reference Guide

Revision: 01 15
7. Higher Performance Monochrome Mode for The EPSON Stylus COLOR II
& Stylus 1500 only
If printing with only true Black ink (monochrome mode), printing speed can be enhanced by
selecting the following command. This command does not affect the ink used for printing, it only
affects internal buffering schemes which can improve performance.
The ESC/P2 command to select the “Higher Performance Monochrome Mode” or “Standard
performance Color Mode” is:
Format:
ASCII ESC ( K 02H 00H n1 n2
Hex 1B 28 4B 02 00 n1 n2
Dec 27 40 75 02 00 n1 n2
Parameter range:
n1 = 00
n2 = 00 selects default mode
= 01 selects higher performance monochrome mode
= 02 selects standard color mode
Function:
- Higher Performance Monochrome Mode
- before only monochrome data is sent, select higher performance
monochrome printing mode
- throughput is faster than printing monochrome data in standard mode
- Standard Performance Color Mode
- this is the standard mode which must be used if color data may be sent to
the printer during the current page.
Notes:
- this command must be executed before paper feeding.
- the default mode used when n2=00, or if no command is sent is as follows:
- If black and color cartridges are both installed, the Standard Color
Performance Mode is the default.
- If the color cartridge is empty or removed, the Higher Performance
Monochrome Mode is the default.
- this command is reset by the initialization command and the default mode is used.