To run the COMX emulator with the Thermal printer card select ‘thermal.bin’ in any available slot (CARD 1 if no expansion box is used), see example below (yellow ellipse):
For details on configuring other printer types, see Parallel Printer Support, Serial Printer Support and PL-80 Plotter Simulation.
When the first Thermal Printer input or output is done by the COMX an output screen is opened automatically. Alternatively open the output screen manually, either by pressing the F4 button or the printer icon before giving printer commands from the COMX.
When the printer output screen opens, the print, preview and setup buttons will be disabled. When the COMX is ready with the printout and a CARD T1 or CALL (@C050) is given these buttons will be enabled (yellow ellipse). After this it is possible to use the print button to send the printout to a real printer, use preview and/or change printer settings.
To start a new printout close the printer output screen. After this a new printer window will be created when the COMX starts the first output to the printer.
It is possible to disable the COMX status LEDs by clicking one of the LEDs, a red cross shows the LEDs are disabled (yellow ellipse). This will speed up printout especially when using higher CPU speeds.
The printer can be activated by using the CARD Tm commands as described below and in the Expansion Box chapter. If no expansion box is used the same commands can be activated by CALL statements:
| CALL Syntax | CARD Syntax | Function |
| CARD T0 | CALL (@C040, m) | Mode Selection |
| CARD T1 | CALL (@C050) | Switch off the thermal printer with 8 line feeds, (m = 0) |
| CARD T2 | CALL (@C060) | Enter the thermal printer Text mode (m = 1) |
| CARD T3 | CALL (@C080) | Switch on the printer and TV display (m = 3) |
| CARD T4 | CALL (@C0A0) | Disable keyboard input (m = 5) |
| CARD T5 | CALL (@C0C0) | Memory dump (HEX & ASCII) |
| CARD T6 | CALL (@C0D0) | Switch the printer to no line space (m = 8) |
| CARD T7 | CALL (@C0E0) | Self test (m = 9) |
| CALL (@C0F0,1) | Start screen capture | |
| CALL (@C0F0,2,y) | Print screen line 0 to 'y' | |
| CALL (@C0F0,3) | Stop screen capture | |
| CALL (@C106) | Switch off the thermal printer without line feed | |
| CALL (@C10C, S, D) | Memory Move from S (source address) to D (destination address) | |
| CALL (@C10F) | Memory Modify | |
| CALL (@CB05) | Help (m = 11) |
Note: if the expansion box is used the user should enable the standard printer card first before any assembly call is initiated. This can be done by the OUT 1 instruction or in BASIC by using any CARD Tm statement before the CALL statement.
When using the Screen capture function it is recommended not to use the F&M Screen editor or before use to turn it off by using POKE (@43F8,1). To start screen capture use CALL (@C0F0,1) to allow the COMX to store all screen data in regular RAM, after the data is printed on the screen use CALL (@C0F0,2,y) to print the screen lines 0 to y to the thermal printer. Stop the screen capture by using CALL (@C0F0,3).