zebra-bridge

Redirect ZPL programs from a virtual COM port to a networked Zebra printer

This is a very simple program that you'll hopefully never need, unless you are stuck with an old piece of software that expects your Zebra printer to be attached to a real COM port.

Instalation

Download and install Python 3. Once installed, use pip to install pyserial:

pip3 install pyserial

Usage

Use com0com to link 2 virtual COM ports together. The program that wants to print uses one of the ports (e.g. COM1), and this script listens on the other one (COM2).

I had some issues with com0com 3.0.0.0 (unsigned driver), so I used com0com 2.2.2.0-x64-fre-signed instead.

> python zebra-bridge.py --help
usage: zebra-bridge.py [-h] [--port PORT] COM host

A simple program for redirecting ZPL print jobs from a virtual COM port to a
networked Zebra printer over TCP.

positional arguments:
  COM                   the virtual serial port created by com0com
  host                  the printer's IP address

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --port PORT, -p PORT  TCP port the printer listens on (default: 9100)

Start the script on COM2 with a printer at 192.168.1.3:

> python zebra-bridge.py COM2 192.168.1.3

Description

The printer closes incoming TCP connections after a while. TCP keepalive does not help. To avoid problems, we have to open the connection when we get ^XA and then close it again at ^XZ.

Reading stuff from the printer is not supported. Writing data is enough to get a label printed, but do not expect ^XA^HH^XZ to return anything. The printer will send a response, but this simple script will just ignore it.