PQ Systems, Inc. | Quality Blog

Shortly after GAGEpack 9.0 was released last fall, we began to get calls from users who were having trouble printing labels after upgrading to the new version. Naturally, our GAGEpack development team grew concerned, and launched an investigation to track down the problem and resolve it. Our findings surprised us.

After talking with users who were experiencing these problems and doing a hefty bit of testing internally, we were eventually able to isolate the trouble to those systems that were using all three of these components: GAGEpack 9.0, Windows XP, and Brother printers. Any user running a different version of GAGEpack, a different version of Windows, or a different type of printer would have no label problems at all.

This was an extremely peculiar conclusion, because we knew that each of those three components will work correctly on its own or combined with just one of the others. If GAGEpack 9.0 works fine with Windows XP and it works fine with a Brother printer, why do we see problems when GAGEpack 9.0 tries to work with both Windows XP and a Brother printer at the same time? It was quite a mystery.  Our tech sleuths were all over it.

As it turns out, the trouble lies with the drivers that Brother has published to enable their printers to communicate with Windows XP. These drivers were last updated in March 2002. In software terms, they are ancient. This was not a problem in GAGEpack 8.5 because every version of GAGEpack released since the early 1990s had been written in Microsoft’s VB6 programming language. However, VB6 has been officially unsupported as a software development language since March 2008. GAGEpack 9.0 is written in the new VB.net, which was extremely young and not commonly used the last time the Brother Windows XP printer drivers were updated.

Windows XP is going to be around until at least April 2014, and we hope that Brother will update its antiquated drivers before then. In the meantime, if you are a GAGEpack 9.0 user struggling with this problem, we offer two solutions. The first option is to upgrade your operating system to a newer version of Windows. Windows Vista and Windows 7 both work great with the label printing. If you decide to go that route, I recommend Windows 7, for reasons far too numerous to discuss here. The second option is to replace your label printer. During our testing on this issue, we purchased a Dymo printer to replace the Brother p-touch that we’ve been using for many years. The new Dymo hasn’t given us any trouble.

Based on these findings, we’re recommending non-Brother printers to our customers who may be in the market for replacement printers.

When I do a product demonstration of GAGEpack and I arrive at the segment where I talk about GAGEmail, I often find myself introducing it by saying, “I wish more people knew about this.” In fact, it is not uncommon for me to come across veteran GAGEpack users who are unaware that they have a program like GAGEmail at their disposal.

GAGEmail is a tiny program designed to run in the background and continuously scan GAGEpack databases to watch for upcoming gage servicing events. When it finds an event, it will e-mail a reminder to the person responsible for that gage. This proactive approach to calibration reminders makes GAGEmail unique among GAGEpack‘s notification methods. Normally, users must remember to remind themselves of upcoming events by checking their reports or filtered gage lists. With GAGEmail, the reminder is entirely automated.

In addition to being automated, these reminders are also quite flexible. The user can specify which types of events trigger e-mails, how far in advance of the event they should be sent, who should receive them, and what they should say.

The reason I wish more people knew about GAGEmail is because it does not cost anything extra to use; GAGEmail is included with every license of GAGEpack purchased since version 8.5. In order to use it, customers simply need to install it using their GAGEpack disk or download it directly from the GAGEpack page on our website.

As always, I am available to offer assistance with setting up GAGEmail. You can call me at 800-777-5060, e-mail me at support@pqsystems.com, or leave questions for me below.

We celebrated the release of GAGEpack 9.0, the newest member of the PQ software family, this week. As the youngest child, it comes from good stock—GAGEpack has been known and loved by customers since the release of the first version more than 20 years ago.

Infant that it is, it has more grown-up features than you can shake a stick at, and will serve a highly mature audience of calibration professionals with new ways of assuring accuracy in records and proof of efficiency. But I still feel like a new, proud father as I look at the screen shots with their clarity and ease of use.

I hope you’ll have a chance to hold the baby…and take it for a free ride!

Learn more about GAGEpack 9.0.