Epson TM-T88V formatting

Question

I set up a little machine running Ubuntu Server 12.04 with an Epson TM-T88V plugged into it directly. At first I was able to print fine (using lp) but the auto-cutter wasn\'

Answer 1

There are two methods of printing to most thermal printers:

1. Normal (2D) - Such as printing from Libre Office
2. Raw (Generic Text/Raw PCL Commands) - Such as printing a raw file directly from the console.

The printer you mention, the TM88 is popular thermal printer used for printing receipts; it can do both; it's raw capable but with the right software can print from other applications. The raw language the TM88 uses is ESCP2 or more commonly ESC/POS. All TM-series printers from Epson are ESC/POS capable.

The trouble you are running into is you're trying to send raw commands to a driver that expects some 2D content. There are a few ways to achieve this.

1. Map two printers (one to the 2D driver, one to a Generic/Text driver -- This is called "Raw, Generic" in CUPS) print to one, then the other.
2. Learn the raw commands for the action you're preforming. In this case, it's generally: Hex: 0x1B 0x69 (cut paper)
3. Keep the driver installed, but force raw anyway by issuing the command directly to cups in raw mode using lpr -o raw with a flat file from the file system.

Bonus: Need to kick out a cash drawer? 0x10 0x14 0x01 0x00 0x05 (pulse/cash drawer). Warning, please cross reference all raw commands against your ESCP programming guide.