DUET 400 Driver Release Notes

August 14, 2006
Sunnyvale, California, USA

PLEASE READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS PRIOR TO INSTALLING DUET.

DUET 400 Release 1.0.5.0 Notes

Compatibility

New features or changes with Release 1.0.5.0:

  1. Fixed various issues with Windows 2000 SP4
  2. Fixed issues and stability with canceling a print job.
  3. Fixed issue with the DUET Status Monitor "hanging" after killing the process.
  4. Changed printer reboot routine to not turn off the CD/DVD drive.
  5. Improved behavior when ink cartridge door is open.
  6. Fixed issue where it was possible to start a print job and perform a test print or ink nozzle cleaning at the same time.
  7. Further improved field support service routines and capabilities.
  8. Improved SDK support and stability for commercial developers.

Release 1.0.4.0:

  1. Not publicly released. Improved compatibility with Windows 2000 SP4

New features or changes with Release 1.0.3.0:

  1. Fixed firmware to improve stability of the Status Monitor and to prevent print jobs from hanging.
  2. Changed Status Monitor Duet System Tray Icon, to inadvertently prevent printing and also trying to stop the Status Monitor, perform a self-test, and clean the cartridge.
  3. Changed Status Monitor so that the system tray icon is correctly refreshed after a system Windows Explorer crash.
  4. Fixed firmware to prevent image "ghosting" at a secondary angular position or the image is stretched into the center of the disc.
  5. Changed the firmware to prevent the ink cartridge from drooling, which can lead to color cross-contamination.
  6. Improved firmware stability to handle cases where the USB cable is "yanked" in the middle of a print job. This will now force a cancel/abort of a print job.
  7. Improved field support service routines and capabilities. Added to the firmware a Duet memory diagnostic check to verify SRAM data integrity.
  8. An updated Sonic RecordNow is now included that will properly print CDs on Duet after performing the Disc Copy function.

Features or changes with Release 1.0.2.0:

  1. The optimized firmware to improve printing speed by 20% or more. Typically, depending on whether you are printing standard or hub-printable media, click-to-eject print times are approximately as follows:
  2. Improved system reliability when you exit the Status Monitor by  resetting each Duet. The Status Monitor restarts automatically with each new print job.
  3. Fixed a problem with a crash in the Status Monitor (task elaaserv.exe), resulting in a hung print job.
  4. Eliminated a redundant co-initialize call resulting in an error when printing from Visual Basic
  5. Improved ink jet cartridge maintenance wiping procedures to reduce fading or streaking
  6. Improved rendering time on slower computers, especially on the Mac.
  7. Plextor firmware 1aE9 for Duet is included. This speeds up printing consecutive Duet operations involving printing, such as burning-printing-burning-printing or just printing-printing-printing. 
    In addition, this Plextor driver also:
  8. DUET and the DUET SDK (for OEM developers) must used separately.

 

Setup Instructions for New DUET Installations

A. Perform a "software installation" of the driver:

  1. Unplug all DUET units from your computer.
  2. Insert the DUET Installation Disc into your PC's CD, not into DUET.
  3. If Installation does not start automatically, browse to the CD drive on your PC and begin installation, and run Setup.exe from the root directory of the CD drive.
  4. If you have previously installed a driver,
    1. Choose the "Uninstall Old Driver first" option.
    2. If so prompted, Reboot your PC
    3. Finish running or rerun setup upon restart (if necessary).
    4. Press continue for any unsigned driver warnings.

B. Perform the physical driver device install:

  1. Plug the USB cable to the DUET unit.
  2. Power on DUET.
  3. Plug the other end of the USB cable into a USB 2.0 (High Speed) port of your computer.
  4. Follow the on-screen installation wizard for the DUET printer driver.
  5. Choose to NOT look for new drivers on the Web.
  6. Follow the Suggested Installation
  7. Press Continue for any warnings of unsigned drivers. Elesys has thoroughly tested these drivers
  8. Repeat Steps 4-7 for the DUET Status Monitor installation.
    Windows should inform you that the device is installed properly. If not, reboot your PC and repeat Steps 1-7 if the Duet is again "discovered."
  9. A new DUET icon appears in the System Tray (lower right-hand corner), which has two red horizontal bars over a black one.  Wait until the Status Monitor system tray icon is ready and shows with no "X" on it . If not, reboot your PC.
  10. Right-click on the Status Monitor system tray icon and click "About." 
  11. The About menu shows the revision of the Driver, Firmware (and to its right, the Plextor drive firmware); and the Duet's serial number.
  12. Confirm that the driver version 1.0.5.0 is installed, with Duet Firmware version 1.0.5.0 and Plextor drive firmware version 1aE9.

C. Follow the remaining on-screen instructions for installing SureThing for DUET and the Sonic suite. 

For more details, see the file, DUET_400_User_Guide.pdf under the DOCUMENTATION directory on this installation disc.

Known issues:

NOTE: Many of the issues below are actively being addressed by Elesys, Inc. or were being internally tested as this driver version was released. Please check the Elesys website often via the Status Monitor "Updates..." menu for an updated driver that solves the issue.
 

  1. In select situations, cancel jobs from the Progress Bar rather than from the Spooler Print Queue with this release, as it causes partially completed print jobs to halt; the Host PC may need to be rebooted and the Duet must be power-cycled.
  2. Rebooting the Host PC with print jobs in the Print Queue may cause media in the Duet to restart and print upon reboot. First power off the Duet and clear the print jobs from the spooler before rebooting. If a print job appears to not remove from the spooler, try unplugging the Duet USB cable, then reinstalling it afterwards.
  3. Disable sleep mode on your host PC, since sleep levels S1 (sleep), S3 (sleep), S4 (hibernate), and S4 (hibernate) w/ reset can cause the print jobs to fail.

General Precautions:

NOTE: While the Duet Recorder Printer appears as a printer in the Windows operating environment, there are certain printing behaviors that have limited use or function for CD or DVD media printing, with limitations or a work-around as noted below: 

  1. Elesys maintains and exclusively distributes the Plextor firmware for Duet. NEVER download and use the non-OEM Plextor firmware from their website, as this will not work with Duet. The Elesys proprietary Plextor firmware contains custom spinning controls by which Duet properly prints.
  2. Elesys recommends using Prodisc, TDK, Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim inkjet printable media. These have been tested by Elesys and shown to be usable in the Duet 400. Other supplier’s disc may be usable as well, however, Elesys has not tested such.
  3. Do not use BenQ brand inkjet printable media, as the lowest level of ink density settings are still too dark. Black ink areas on the disc could remain wet and stain or damage your Duet 400 Printer.
  4. Discs with largely black backgrounds at any print quality setting or lots of Black text in the Text Mode print quality setting can be damp. Please lower the Ink Density slide and /or reduce the amount of black in your label design if this happens to you.
  5. Disc manufacturers make discs with some variation in height.  If you hear a disc contacting any part of the printer as it prints, cancel the print job, load a new blank disc or a different brand disc and try the print job again.
  6. Occasionally disc media manufacturers change the inkjet print surface without notice, and thus may change from the suggested ink density settings in the Size/Quality setting page of the driver. Try other settings if the ink prints too dark or light.
  7. Do not use the SureThing Calibration sheet; it will not give usable results for the Duet 400.
  8. The 20% and 10% ink warning messages occur once and then apply for the remainder of the life of that ink cartridge.
  9. Do not set a Separator Page on the Advanced Property Page for the driver; it is not supported for the Duet 400 and could cause an error.
  10. A limited number of early Duet 400 units did not recognize media brands like Ritek or Memorex. Please report to Elesys if your Duet unit experiences this problem, as it may need an upgrade. Contact support@elesys.net

Instructions for updating earlier-released Drivers

  1. These instructions assume you have a previously installed DUET.
  2. If you have a newer CD installation disc, place the Duet Driver installation CD in your PC and run the DUET_Driver_v1.0.5.0.exe program. Skip to step 4.
  3. Alternately, download all DUET driver files from the provided Elesys support website and place in a working directory:
    1. DUET_Driver_v1.0.5.0.exe
    2. DUET_400_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_1.0.5.0.exe
    3. 716A1aE9.exe (Plextor's latest OEM 1.09 firmware update for Elesys. NOTE: Never use Plextor firmware 1.09 from their website, as this will not work with Duet.)
    4. DUET 400 Release Notes.html (this file)
  4. If you have previously installed a driver; otherwise, skip to 4:
    1. Plug in the DUET unit using the currently installed older driver.
    2. Update the firmware by running the program, DUET_400_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_1.0.5.0.exe and follow the on-screen messages.
    3. Repeat 1-2 for any additional DUET units installed on this PC. (The driver only supports up to 8 Duet units simultaneously installed on one host computer.)
  5. Next, perform a "software installation" of the driver:
    1. Unplug all DUET units.
    2. Run the DUET_Driver_v1.0.5.0 .exe
    3. In the Installation Configuration, unselect all options except the DUET driver.
    4. If you have previously installed a driver,
      1. Choose the "Uninstall Old Driver first" option.
      2. If so prompted, Reboot your PC
      3. Finish running or rerun the DUET_Driver_v1.0.5.0 .exe.
      4. Press continue for any unsigned driver warnings.
  6. Next perform the physical device install:
    1. Plug the USB cable to the DUET unit.
    2. Follow the on-screen driver wizard.
    3. Follow the suggested installation
    4. Press Continue for any unsigned driver warnings.
  7. If you just installed the driver for the first time, you should now update the firmware.
    1. From the Installation CD under the DRIVER directory, execute the file, DUET_400_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_1.0.5.0.exe.
    2. Follow the on-screen instructions
    3. Power the Duet off 
    4. Wait 5 seconds
    5. Power the Duet on again
  8. Please perform a test print to ensure Duet is printing, by opening Duet printer in the Printers and Faxes, Printer-Properties-Print Test Page. This prints the standard Windows page, clipping the image to fit onto the disc. You may alternately choose to print using SureThing for Duet, supplied with the Installation disc.
  9. If you have problems installing or printing:
    1. Re-power on Duet
    2. Reboot your PC, with Duet attached and powered on.
    3. Wait until the Status Monitor system tray icon is ready with no "X" on it (the icon with the two red and on black horizontal bars).
    4. Right-click on the Status Monitor system tray icon and click "About." 
    5. The About menu shows the revision of the Driver, Firmware, and Plextor drive firmware, along with the Duet serial number.

For other issues, please contact:

Customer Support:
Telephone (USA): 408-701-3579
E-mail: support@elesys.net
World-Wide Web: http://support.elesys.net/