Technical Tips for VersaPoint Embossers

General Advice about Computer Ports: Serial. Parallel. USB. and Network

The VersaPoint is a single sided embosser that does graphics. It has both a serial and a parallel connection. We recommend using the parallel connection. If you use a serial connection, use a straight through female-to-male cable with a null modem adapter to connect the VersaPoint to one of your serial ports. TeleSensory recommends a null modem adapter that has wires 1 and 7 straight through, swaps wires 2 and 3, swaps wires 4 and 5, and ties 6 and 8 together on each end and connects them to 20 on the other end.

There are no DIP switches for setting the parameters on the VersaPoint. Instead, you go through a dialogue in braille as with the Thiel. The VersaPoint remembers 5 different collections of parameters (numbered 0 through 4), and it is easy to switch between them. It is much easier to switch between set up 0 and set up 4 than to go through the entire dialogue. So it helps to save the settings you need at different times as separate set ups. Note: Set up 0 is fixed (always goes back to its factory-set values when you turn off the VersaPoint).

There have been four models of the VersaPoint, designated by the letters A through D. The model D VersaPoint has a rocker switch for serial/parallel. Thus the same configuration can be used for serial and parallel. On the earlier models, the choice of serial versus parallel was built into the configuration questions.

To do a total reset on the VersaPoint: set the A/B switch to A; set the on line/off line switch to on line; turn off the unit, and hold down all four buttons while you power on. This resets all the set ups to their original factory settings. It sets the default set up to be set up 0. (The default set up means the set up that the VersaPoint uses when you turn on the power.)

Once you do a full reset the set ups are as follows: set up 0 is for the Apple II; set up 1 is also for the Apple II; set up 2 is for PC parallel; set up 3 is for PC parallel sideways; set up 4 is for PC serial.

To switch between these set ups: Hold down the LF button during power up. In the dialogue the FF button means yes, the LF button means NO, and the TF button means exit. A typical dialogue is as follows:

There is one major quirk about how the VersaPoint configuration process works. A set up becomes the default only through the act of being loaded, not by being saved. For example, suppose you load set up 4, make some changes, and then save the results in set up 3. You might expect that set up 3 (the revised parameters) would be the default. Not so. The last set up that was loaded (set up 4) is the default. However, once you load configuration three (which contains the changes you saved), it becomes the default set up.

When you save a set up, the configuration program offers you a chance to load that set up again. Do it. That saves that set up as the default.

For technical support on the VersaPoint. contact Freedom Scientific at 727-803-8600.