How to connect or print to an ESC/POS printer?

Question

So I purchased an ESC/POS thermal receipt printer that shows up on my machine as a "Texas Instruments Generic Bulk Device". When I try to print it prints out the postscript commands instead of the actual content.

My question is, is there a way to connect to is (app, console, etc) and either print a document or stuff line by line?

Answer 1

You need a print driver for the printer, the vendor should have supplied this to you. Almost certainly this is not a PostScript printer. PostScript for such a printer would be insanely over-specified.

However I imagine the printer accepts text, try just sending that.

Answer 2

Most thermal receipt printers are not capable of printing graphics very well, most can only print text and raster graphics. Depending on what the specific printer model is, you will need driver software to do it, and it may only be possible to print text.