ESC/P commands via terminal to USB connected matrix printer

ralfbutler · 05-09-2015, 05:01 AM

Hello,

I added an Epson dot-matrix printer to my Ubuntu based system. The printer is connected via USB.

Code:

printf "Hello World!" | lpr

works fine, as well

Code:

echo -e "test" | lpr -o raw

But now I'd like to send some ESC/P commands to the printer. My preference would be to simply create a file with all ESC/P commands required and to just cat and pipe the file to lpr.

However, I got stuck on how those escape commands should look like. For test purposes I used the terminal and tried

Code:

echo -e "\x1B 3" | lpr -o raw

which clearly had an effect on space between characters. But when I try to reset the settings with

Code:

echo -e "\x1B @" | lpr -o raw

the space between characters on test printouts remains.

Would be great if someone has an example how he/she communicates with the printer via esc/p commands in Linux.

Thanks,
Ralf

ralfbutler · 05-09-2015, 05:14 AM

Ok,

Code:

echo -e "\x1B\x40" | lpr -o raw

initialises the printer.

Then I place all commands into one testfile and print it:

Code:

echo -e "$(cat testfile)" | lpr

Hope that is useful for anyone.
Ralf

ralfbutler · 05-09-2015, 08:41 AM

Hello again,

This question goes out to all of those who are familiar with ESC/P commands. I use an Epson PLQ 20 dot matrix printer and I want to specify absolute horizontal position:

Code:

\x1B\x28\x55\x01\x00\x0A
\x1B\x5C\x01\xF3

But unfortunately the printer starts printing from the far left. This is the complete code:

Code:

#Init
\x1B\x40
#Choose OCR-B
\x1B\x6B\x05
#Set unit
\x1B\x28\x55\x01\x00\x0A
#Set horizontal position
\x1B\x5C\x30\x05
test

I understand that this is not a Linux related question. But I couldn't find a forum for ESC/P commands and from recent post in LinuxQuestions are a few people that know something about ESC/P commands.

Thanks,
Ralf

michaelk · 05-09-2015, 09:04 AM

According to this reference https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/...l/escp2ref.pdf 1B 24 is absolute and 1B 5C is relative horizontal position commands.

ralfbutler · 05-10-2015, 03:19 AM

Hi michaelk,

Thanks for the super quick reply! Indeed x5C is for relative position. But even if I choose x24 for absolute position I cannot see any change in position.

I would much appreciate if someone could help me.

Thanks,
Ralf

michaelk · 05-11-2015, 12:52 PM

The absolute position command might not be available for your printer.

ralfbutler · 05-12-2015, 09:07 PM

Thanks Michael, I did solve the problem, by switching the printer off and on again :-/

michaelk · 05-12-2015, 09:35 PM

Great. If all else fails...