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My goal is to integrate a USB POS thermal printer with a small demo Android app that I will using from an Android tablet.

I have two POS printers:

  • Epson TM-T88III
  • POS-5870

I also have a Sanei N10 tablet that I am connecting to the POS printer via a USB OTG dongle cable.

I downloaded the USB Host Diagnostic (from Google Play Store) to see if it would recognize the POS printers that I connected to the tablet. It recognized both printers, however the EPSON TM-T88III was recognized on the Android OS level while the POS-5870 was recognized only on the kernel level.

I also tried using the USB Printer Driver 2.1 DevEd app (from the Google Play store), however I couldn't set the any of the printers as the default printer to use.

I also tried using the POS Printer Driver (ESC) app (from the Google Play store), however, it couldn't connect with the printers.

I was wondering if there is any way I can get the POS printers connected to my Android tablet and perform a test print? In addition, is there any SDKs/source code that I can use to detect and perform a test print?

Kofi
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3 Answers3

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My 2 cents. I did an app that can print from Android(Bluetooth) to a Zebra printer. Bases on our search, it depends more on your printer provider. We couldn't find a "library" that can print to any printer. That's whay we went for Zebra printers, since they support Android. I'm not sure if Epson does provide Android libraries to use with their printers.

fr4gus
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    Hey fr4gus, thanks for your response. Actually Epson has an Android SDK that allows you to connect/print with a few of their POS thermal printers (http://pos.epson.com/mobilesdks/). Problem is buying an Epson POS printer can be a bit expensive (same with Star Micronics printers and their Android SDK). I'm hoping (and still trying to see) that I can connect/print to POS printer such as the POS-5870, which is really affordable. Can you tell me about the Zebra printers in terms of pricing, compatibility with Android, and difficulty of development/integration into an Android app? Thanks again. – Kofi Jun 04 '13 at 01:36
  • Pricing will vary depending on model, etc., but you easily find used ones on eBay that support Bluetooth for under $300. It really depends on what features you need. Zebra's mobile printers all have SDKs that work with Android and many sample applications available for testing. There is also a knowledgebase (km.zebra.com) with snippets of sample code. I myself have written a handful of apps for Zebra printers (on Android) and have found it easy. – jason.zissman Jun 04 '13 at 17:05
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i think the problem with epson api is that it only supports ARMv5TE architecture, I am not sure which tablet you are using, but if the tablet's processor is not ARMv5TE based then I dont think the printers will work, I havent looked at any of the zebra printers, or star for that matter but i assume their apis also must have some limitations in terms of what architecture they support. on that note Epson should release api for ARMv7 and ARMv8 all variants now as thats those are the latest chips and will be most widely used in the coming months.

bil
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As far I know, Epson have specific documentation about SDK API for mobile, you can find it in here EPSON SDK API. They provide useful information about specific device requirement and support printer.

halfer
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MrX
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