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Hi. 1st time poster so apologies if this is in the wrong section.  

I'm working on a piece with an arduino.  On a switch press, I want a usb printer to print a single dot on a page (I'll have the images I want preprinted on the paper - all I really want to do is have the printer feed the page, but it has no feed button and printing a dot seemed to be the easiest solution).  I'm a total noob here, and have been searching for days now without joy. All the code I've found seems to relate to serial or thermal printers.  Can someone clarify if it's even possible to control a USB inkjet printer?  I have a Win XP SP2 machine for the project (has to be an older one as it's gonna stay in the gallery with the piece), and I'm working with an Arduino Uno, if that makes any difference.

Any help at all on where to start even would be hugely appreciated.

Replies(3)

I think you might get more help on the arduino forums (arduino.cc) in regards to this - I'm 100% positive it's possible to control your printer using Arduino.
Thanks for the response a_g :)  From the research I have, it seems the only way I can control a printer directly with arduino is if it's thermal or serial port.  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way with a USB one (I could be wrong there, but that seems to be what I'm finding online..).  Which is why I'm looking at Processing (and PureData - not getting very far with either!).  I'll try the arduino forums though - thanks..

If anyone has *any* suggestions or info, again I'd be eternally grateful. Show is in March and I'm starting to get worried.


Hi

Not sure if you've got this sorted yet.

You simply need to send down a Form Feed (FF) command. There is a comprehensive list of PCL5 commands here http://www.sxlist.com/techref/language/pcl/asciiprn.htm .If the printer you are using uses PCL5 then you can just send down the ASCII text string for form feed.

If it's not a PCL5 printer then there should be a corresponding FF command for your printer's printer control language.


Regards

Rob
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