ESP8266 Community Forum

- Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:29 am #71607 Hi,
I was wondering if there is a way to send a print request to my network printer...
I want to just send a String to print this on paper.
Once a day the ESP8266 needs to print its measurements.

Hopefully there is a way without needing a computer or Raspberry Pi etc.

- Tue Nov 07, 2017 12:07 pm #71610 You might get better response on this question if you say what kind of printer you have. I expect it would be printer specific.

I assume it is connected with WiFi.

- Tue Nov 07, 2017 1:40 pm #71612 As Rudy says, the data format will/might be specific to your printer, but just as a thought, in the 'old days' we used to ftp a postscript format file directly to the IP address of postscript enabled laser printers, which is no different (in concept) to what you want to do. However, it really boils down to what data format your printer expects at its network interface; some printers still accept postscript in which case you just have to stick the necessary prologue and epilogue around your content.

- Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:56 am #71670 printing on a paper is like checking coal consumption of a cpu to you huh. what year are you in now?

most home/office network printers supports direct port access printing. even with usb printers connected to a pc or a router and being accessed over the network. so you won't need drivers specific on printers.
im doing it via php. haven't tried directly from ESP8266 though.

right now, a sure way to do it from esp, is, esp sends a HTTP request to a php file on a server.
well, that will require a server, like a pc or a raspberry pi, or in my case, an OpenWRT router ( at least I don't need to spare a raspi or a pc running 24/7 for a server when my router is running OpenWRT. my router is my small server too).
Then your php file will do the printing request to your printer.

1 paper a day for whatever you are measuring seems a lot (but not not comparable to checking coal consumption of a cpu).
can't you just log it on a database?
you can make a web app that display your measured value on a table. then you can add analysis, control, trigger, etc on you web app too. and you can always print your log files whenever you need to.

I do Web-based Paperless Equipment Monitoring in semicon industries. I attach ESP modules to their machines.
I always tell my customers, "go paperless and automated logging. when you shift to paperless, searching, backtracking of your logs will be very very easy. among other advantages of paperless logging".