With reference to the letters in issue 90 regarding Brother to QL interfacing difficulties, I too had the same problems, but with help from Brother and the technical staff at Boots (my employers) I have finally cracked it. This letter is written with Quill and the Brother M-1009.

First, my Brother is J series. The more recent K series apparently requires a different lead. Check your serial number and if it starts with a K, contact Technical Support, Brother, on 061-330 6531 to ascertain what the correct lead connections are. My RS232C lead is configured (QL end first, Brother end second) 1-7, 2-2, 3-3, 4-20, 5-5, 6-6.

My dip switch settings are as follows:

1.1 off, 1.2 on, 1.3 on, 1.4 on, 1.5 on, 1.6 on, 1.7 on, 1.8 off
2.1 on, 2.2 on, 2.3 off, 2.4 on, 2.5 off, 2.6 off, 2.7 off, 2.8 off

I am told that on some printers the dip switches are only read at switch-on, so it may be good practice to turn off your printer each time you try a new setting.

When printing from Basic, I use the following opening statements:

10 BAUD 9600
20 OPEN #3,ser/shc

When printing from Quill, set up the printer install program (see page 2 of the information section of the QL manual) as follows:

PARITY			SPACE
BAUD RATE		9600
END OF LINE CODE	,
END OF PAGE CODE	
PREAMBLE CODE		NONE
POSTAMBLE CODE		NONE
EMPHASIZE ON		,E
EMPHASIZE OFF		,F
UNDERLINE ON		,O,
UNDERLINE OFF		,-,
SUBSCRIPT ON		,S,
SUBSCRIPT OFF		,T
SUPERSCRIPT ON		,S,
SUPERSCRIPT OFF		,T

I am not certain if there should be pre- and post-amble codes, or what they should be. However, the printer works set to NONE both codes.

Allan Postgate
Droitwich, Worcs