sending raw data through usb on linux

Question

I'm printing some labels on a Zebra TLP-2844 printer, and have been doing it fine on Windows by sending the EPL instructions to the shared USB printer as follows:

type Label.prn > \my-pc\zebra

and it seems to work with serial ports too, with

type Label.prn > COM1

Now I'm trying to to the same on Linux, but it's getting really hard! My first guess was:

cat Label.prn | /dev/bus/usb/005/002

since my printer is on bus 005, device 002 (checked it with lsusb command) but it doesn't work at all, as I get the following:

bash: /dev/bus/usb/005/002: Permission denied

Any guesses?

Answer 1

The command you did

cat Label.prn | /dev/bus/usb/005/002

will try to run /dev/bus/usb/005/002, which is not executable, hence "permission denied". The correct command would be, similar to windows

cat Label.prn > /dev/bus/usb/005/002

However, not sure if you actually can write anything to a printer like that in linux. If the printer is set up properly, you might also try:

lpr Label.prn

Answer 2

In case anyone else is trying to access raw USB printer ports; The "permission denied" problem is circumvented by adding your user to group "lp", like so:

$ sudo usermod -aG lp USERNAME

where USERNAME is your username.

Answer 3

Sorry by My english.

I tested here, my printer TLP2844 connect on USB, in my embedded arm9 board with linux.

I typed in command prompt:

printf "OD\r\nN\r\nD5\r\nS2\r\nZT\r\nQ128, 24\r\nq400\r\nA15,10,0,2,1,1,N,\"TESTE\"\r\nP1\r\nFE\r\n" > /dev/lp0

and... the TEST printed

Answer 4

1. You should change access mode for /dev/usb/lp0 device: sudo chmod a+w /dev/usb/lp0
2. And then you can print a label using copy command: cp test.zpl /dev/usb/lp0

Also you can create your own build system in Sublime Text for example:

{
    "cmd": ["cp", "$file", "/dev/usb/lp0"],
    "encoding": "utf8"
}

and send files to the printer by pressing Ctrl+B keys immediately after finishing edit the label.

Or you can try my tool to send zpl labels to the printer via TCP/IP: https://github.com/kashamalasha/AutoIt_ZebraTester

It was written on AutoIt Script language, so you need to install AutoIt to build it. Unfortunately there is no description on English, only Russian, but I can write it very soon, if you will need it.